manna

manna, in biblical literature, one or more of the foods that sustained the Israelites during the 40 years that intervened between their Exodus from Egypt and their arrival in the Promised Land. The word is perhaps derived from the question man hu? (“What is it?”), asked by the Israelites when they first tasted the substances that they found growing or deposited by the wind on the arid land that they inhabited. The manna was gathered and was used in part to prepare bread, and it was therefore referred to as “bread from heaven.”

The primary scriptural account of God’s provisioning of manna comes from Exodus 16:11–15:

The Lord spoke to Moses and said, “I have heard the complaining of the Israelites; say to them, ‘At twilight you shall eat meat, and in the morning you shall have your fill of bread; then you shall know that I am the Lord your God.’ ” In the evening quails came up and covered the camp; and in the morning there was a layer of dew around the camp. When the layer of dew lifted, there on the surface of the wilderness was a fine flaky substance, as fine as frost on the ground. When the Israelites saw it, they said to one another, “What is it?” For they did not know what it was. Moses said to them, “It is the bread that the Lord has given you to eat.”

The Israelites were instructed to take only what they needed for each day, and any manna collected in excess quickly bred worms and became foul. Since abstention from work was fundamental to the Sabbath observance, God miraculously provided a double portion of manna on Friday so that the Israelites would not be compelled to gather food during their Sabbath rest.

In the Christian New Testament, Jesus spoke of himself as the “true bread from heaven” (John 6:32), and manna consequently is a Christian symbol for the Eucharist. In the Lord’s Prayer, the petition “give us this day our daily bread” recalls God’s daily provision of manna for the Israelites.

There are a number of naturalistic explanations for the appearance of manna in the desert. The tamarisk manna scale (Trabutina mannipara), a mealybug insect of the region, is one potential source. The females produce large quantities of honeydew (a by-product of digestion) that solidify in thick layers on plant leaves in arid regions. This sugarlike material, still collected in parts of Arabia and Iraq, is considered a great delicacy. Another possible explanation is that the wind could have carried in the edible lichen Lecanora esculenta, which grows in the Sinai Peninsula and neighboring areas. It has long served as a food source for humans and domestic animals, particularly in times of famine, and can be made into lichen bread and manna jelly. The term manna also often refers to a variety of plant resins and products (see manna, plant product).