Manna
Encyclopedia
Manna or Manna wa Salwa , sometimes or archaically spelled mana, is the name of an edible substance that God provided for the Israelites during their travels in the desert according to the Bible
.
It was said to be sweet to the taste, like honey.
It is narrated in the hadith Sahih Muslim that the Muslim prophet Muhammad said "Truffles are part of the 'manna' which Allah, sent to the people of Israel through Musa (Moses), and its juice is a medicine for the eyes."
In the description in the Book of Exodus, manna is described as being "a fine, flake-like thing" like the frost on the ground. It is described in the Book of Numbers
as arriving with the dew during the night; Exodus adds that manna was comparable to hoarfrost in size, similarly had to be collected before it was melted by the heat of the sun
, and was white like coriander
seed in color. Numbers describes it as having the appearance of bdellium
, adding that the Israelites ground it and pounded it into cakes, which were then baked, resulting in something that tasted like cakes baked with oil. Exodus states that raw manna tasted like wafers that had been made with honey
. The Israelites were instructed to eat only the manna they had gathered for each day. Leftovers or manna stored up for the following day "bred worms and stank": the exception being the day before Shabbat
(Preparation Day), when twice the amount of manna was gathered, which did not spoil overnight; because, Exodus 16:23-24 [states] "This is what the LORD commanded: 'Tomorrow is to be a day of rest, a holy Sabbath to the LORD. So bake what you want to bake and boil what you want to boil. Save whatever is left and keep it until morning.' " 24 So they saved it until morning, as Moses commanded, and it did not stink or get maggots in it."
. The Babylonian Talmud states that the differences in description were due to the taste varying depending on who ate it, with it tasting like honey
for small children, like bread
for youths, and like oil
for the elderly. Similarly, classical rabbinical literature rectifies the question of whether manna came before or after dew, by holding that the manna was sandwiched between two layers of dew, one falling before the manna, and the other after.
Some scholars have proposed that manna is cognate with the Egyptian term mennu, meaning "food". At the turn of the twentieth century, Arab
s of the Sinai Peninsula
were selling resin
from the tamarisk tree as man es-simma, roughly meaning "heavenly manna". Tamarisk trees (particularly Tamarix
gallica) were once comparatively extensive throughout the southern Sinai, and their resin is similar to wax, melts in the sun, is sweet and aromatic (like honey), and has a dirty-yellow color, fitting somewhat with the Biblical descriptions of manna. However, this resin is mostly composed from sugar
, so it would be unlikely to provide sufficient nutrition for a population to survive over long periods of time, and it would be very difficult for it to have been compacted to become cakes.
In the Biblical account, the name manna is said to derive from the question man hu, seemingly meaning "What is it?"; this is perhaps an Aramaic etymology, not a Hebrew
one. Man is possibly cognate with the Arabic
term man, meaning plant lice, with man hu thus meaning "this is plant lice", which fits one widespread modern identification of manna, the crystallized honeydew
of certain scale insect
s. In the environment of a desert, such honeydew rapidly dries due to evaporation
of its water content, becoming a sticky solid, and later turning whitish, yellowish, or brownish; honeydew of this form is considered a delicacy in the Middle East
, and is a good source of carbohydrates.
The other widespread identification is that manna is the thalli of certain lichen
s (particularly Lecanora esculenta); this food source is often used as a substitute for maize
in the Eurasian Steppe
. This material is light, often drifting in the wind, and has a yellow outer coat with a white inside, somewhat matching the Biblical description of manna; it does need additional drying, but is definitely not similar to honey in taste.
A number of ethnomycologists
such as R. Gordon Wasson, John Marco Allegro
, and Terence McKenna
, have suggested that most characteristics of manna are similar to that of Psilocybe cubensis
mushrooms, notorious breeding grounds for insects, which decompose rapidly. This hypothesis, however, is confronted bluntly by the lack of documentation any sorts of hallucinations or other characteristic symptoms of ingestion of Psilocybin mushrooms, in, at least, connection with the Mana described in the Old Testament. These peculiar fungi naturally produce a number of molecules that resemble human neurochemicals, and first appear as small fibres (mycelia) that resemble hoarfrost. This speculation (also paralleled in Philip K. Dick
's posthumously published The Transmigration of Timothy Archer
) is supported in a wider cultural context when compared with the praise of Haoma
in the Rigveda
, Mexican
praise of teonanácatl, the peyote sacrament of the Native American Church, and the Holy Ayahuasca used in the ritual of the União do Vegetal
and Santo Daime
. The fact that manna is said to have risen 6 days a week, in the morning, and during the time of dew is another proponent to this theory.
Other minority identifications of manna are that it was a kosher species of locust
, or that it was the sap of certain succulent plant
s (such as those of the genus Alhagi
, which have an appetite-suppressing effect).
, manna is treated as a supernatural substance, created during the twilight
of the sixth day of Creation, and ensured to be clean, before it arrives, by the sweeping of the ground by a northern wind and subsequent rains. According to classical rabbinical literature, manna was ground in a heavenly mill for the use of the righteous, but some of it was allocated to the wicked and left for them to grind themselves.
, the Israelites are implied by some passages in the Bible to have eaten only manna during their desert sojourn, despite the availability of milk
and meat from the livestock with which they traveled, and the references to provisions of fine flour, oil, and meat, in parts of the journey's narrative.
As a natural food substance, manna would produce waste products; but in classical rabbinical literature, as a supernatural substance, it was held that manna produced no waste, resulting in no defecation among the Israelites until several decades later, when the manna had ceased to fall. Modern medical science suggests the lack of defecation over such a long period of time would cause severe bowel problems, especially when other food later began to be consumed again. Classical rabbinical writers say that the Israelites complained about the lack of defecation, and were concerned about potential bowel problems.
Many Christian vegetarians say that God
had originally intended man would not eat meat because plants cannot move and killing them would not be sin
ful: manna, a nonmeat substance, is used to support this theory. Further, when the people complained and wished for quail, God gave it to them, and those who ate it grew sick after.
Food was not manna's only use; one classical rabbinical source states that the fragrant odor of manna was used in an Israelite perfume.
remarks that although some were diligent enough to go into the fields to gather manna, others just lay down lazily and caught it with their outstretched hands. The Talmud states that this factor was used to solve disputes about the ownership of slaves, since the number of omers of manna each household could gather would indicate how many people were legitimately part of the household; the omers of manna for stolen slaves could only be gathered by legitimate owners, and therefore legitimate owners would have spare omers of manna.
According to the Talmud, manna was found near the homes of those with strong belief in God
, and far from the homes of those with doubts; indeed, one classical midrash says that manna was intangible to Gentiles, as it would inevitably slip from their hands. The Midrash Tanhuma holds that manna melted, formed liquid streams, was drunk by animals, flavored the animal flesh, and was thus indirectly eaten by Gentiles, this being the only manner that Gentiles could taste manna. Despite these hints of uneven distribution, classical rabbinical literature expresses the view that manna fell in very large quantities each day. It holds that manna was layered out over 2,000 cubit
s square, between 50 and 60 cubits in height, enough to nourish the Israelites for 2,000 years and to be seen from the palaces of every king in the East and West, probably a metaphorical statement.
(Sabbath) was instituted the first week the manna appeared. It states that twice as much manna as usual was available on the sixth mornings of the week, and none at all could be found on the seventh days; although manna usually rotted and became maggot-infested after a single night, manna which had been collected on the sixth day remained fresh until the second night. Moses stated that the double portion of Preparation Day was to be consumed on Shabbat; and that God
instructed him no one should leave his place on Shabbat, so that the people could rest during it.
Form critics regard this part of the manna narrative to be spliced together from the Yahwist and Priestly traditions, with the Yahwist tradition emphasizing rest during Shabbat, while the Priestly tradition merely states that Shabbat exists, implying that the meaning of "Shabbat" was already known. These critics regard this part of the manna narrative as an etiological
supernature story designed to explain the origin of Shabbat observance, which in reality was probably pre-Mosaic
.
15), but that it then ceased to appear once they had reached a settled land, and once they had reached the borders of Canaan (inhabited by the Canaanites). Form critics attribute this variation to the view that each expression of the manna ceasing derives from different lore; the "settled land" is attributed to the Priestly tradition, and "Canaan's borders" to the Yahwist tradition, or to a hypothetical later redaction
to synchronize the account with that of the Book of Joshua
, which states that the manna ceased to appear on the day after the annual Passover
festival (Nisan 14), when the Israelites had reached Gilgal
. The duration from Iyar 15 to Nisan 14, taken literally, is 40 years less one month.
There is also a disagreement among classical rabbinical writers as to when the manna ceased, particularly in regard to whether it remained after the death of Moses for a further 40 days, 70 days, or 14 years; indeed, according to Joshua ben Levi
, the manna ceased to appear at the moment that Moses died.
); it indicates that Yahweh instructed this of Moses, who delegated it to Aaron
. The Epistle to the Hebrews
states that the pot was stored inside the Ark. Classical rabbinical sources believe the pot was of gold
; some say it was only there for the generation following Moses, and others that it survived at least until the time of Jeremiah
. However, the First Book of Kings states that it was absent earlier than Jeremiah, during Solomon
's reign in the tenth century B.C. Form critics attribute the mention of the pot to the Priestly tradition, concluding that the pot existed in the early sixth century B.C.
By extension "manna" has been used to refer to any divine or spiritual nourishment.
For many years, Roman Catholics have annually collected a clear liquid from the tomb of Saint Nicholas
; legend attributes the pleasant perfume of this liquid as warding off evil, and it is sold to pilgrim
s as "the Manna of Saint Nicholas". The liquid gradually seeps out of the tomb, but it is unclear whether it originates from the body within the tomb, or from the marble itself; since the town of Bari is a harbor, and the tomb is below sea level
, there are several natural explanations for the manna fluid, including the transfer of seawater
to the tomb by capillary action
.
In the seventeenth century, a woman marketed a clear, tasteless product as a cosmetic, "the Manna of Saint Nicholas
of Bari
". After the deaths of some 600 men, Italian authorities discovered that the alleged cosmetic was a preparation of arsenic
, used by their wives.
In a modern botanical context, manna is often used to refer to the secretions of various plants, especially of certain shrubs and trees, and in particular the sugars obtained by evaporating the sap of the Manna Ash
, extracted by making small cuts in the bark. The Manna Ash, native to southern Europe
and southwest Asia
, produces a blue-green sap, which has medicinal value as a mild laxative
, demulcent
, and weak expectorant.
The names of both the sugar mannose
and its hydrogenated sugar alcohol
, mannitol
are derived from manna.
Robert Nozick
famously references "manna from heaven" in a thought experiment about distributive justice
.
Bible
The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
.
It was said to be sweet to the taste, like honey.
It is narrated in the hadith Sahih Muslim that the Muslim prophet Muhammad said "Truffles are part of the 'manna' which Allah, sent to the people of Israel through Musa (Moses), and its juice is a medicine for the eyes."
Biblical description
Book of Numbers
The Book of Numbers is the fourth book of the Hebrew Bible, and the fourth of five books of the Jewish Torah/Pentateuch....
as arriving with the dew during the night; Exodus adds that manna was comparable to hoarfrost in size, similarly had to be collected before it was melted by the heat of the sun
Sun
The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. It is almost perfectly spherical and consists of hot plasma interwoven with magnetic fields...
, and was white like coriander
Coriander
Coriander is an annual herb in the family Apiaceae. Coriander is native to southern Europe and North Africa to southwestern Asia. It is a soft, hairless plant growing to tall. The leaves are variable in shape, broadly lobed at the base of the plant, and slender and feathery higher on the...
seed in color. Numbers describes it as having the appearance of bdellium
Bdellium
Bdellium is an aromatic gum like myrrh that is exuded from a tree. A medieval Arab writer first made the identification with gum guggul, the species Commiphora wightii, although "bdellium" has also been used to identify the African species C. africana and at least one other Indian species, C....
, adding that the Israelites ground it and pounded it into cakes, which were then baked, resulting in something that tasted like cakes baked with oil. Exodus states that raw manna tasted like wafers that had been made with honey
Honey
Honey is a sweet food made by bees using nectar from flowers. The variety produced by honey bees is the one most commonly referred to and is the type of honey collected by beekeepers and consumed by humans...
. The Israelites were instructed to eat only the manna they had gathered for each day. Leftovers or manna stored up for the following day "bred worms and stank": the exception being the day before Shabbat
Shabbat
Shabbat is the seventh day of the Jewish week and a day of rest in Judaism. Shabbat is observed from a few minutes before sunset on Friday evening until a few minutes after when one would expect to be able to see three stars in the sky on Saturday night. The exact times, therefore, differ from...
(Preparation Day), when twice the amount of manna was gathered, which did not spoil overnight; because, Exodus 16:23-24 [states] "This is what the LORD commanded: 'Tomorrow is to be a day of rest, a holy Sabbath to the LORD. So bake what you want to bake and boil what you want to boil. Save whatever is left and keep it until morning.' " 24 So they saved it until morning, as Moses commanded, and it did not stink or get maggots in it."
Potential discrepancies
Some form critics posit conflicting descriptions of manna as derived from different lore, with the description in Numbers being from the Jewish tradition, and the description in Exodus being from the later Priestly traditionPriestly source
The Priestly Source is one of the sources of the Torah/Pentateuch in the bible. Primarily a product of the post-Exilic period when Judah was a province of the Persian empire , P was written to show that even when all seemed lost, God remained present with Israel...
. The Babylonian Talmud states that the differences in description were due to the taste varying depending on who ate it, with it tasting like honey
Honey
Honey is a sweet food made by bees using nectar from flowers. The variety produced by honey bees is the one most commonly referred to and is the type of honey collected by beekeepers and consumed by humans...
for small children, like bread
Bread
Bread is a staple food prepared by cooking a dough of flour and water and often additional ingredients. Doughs are usually baked, but in some cuisines breads are steamed , fried , or baked on an unoiled frying pan . It may be leavened or unleavened...
for youths, and like oil
Olive oil
Olive oil is an oil obtained from the olive , a traditional tree crop of the Mediterranean Basin. It is commonly used in cooking, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, and soaps and as a fuel for traditional oil lamps...
for the elderly. Similarly, classical rabbinical literature rectifies the question of whether manna came before or after dew, by holding that the manna was sandwiched between two layers of dew, one falling before the manna, and the other after.
Identifying manna
Arab
Arab people, also known as Arabs , are a panethnicity primarily living in the Arab world, which is located in Western Asia and North Africa. They are identified as such on one or more of genealogical, linguistic, or cultural grounds, with tribal affiliations, and intra-tribal relationships playing...
s of the Sinai Peninsula
Sinai Peninsula
The Sinai Peninsula or Sinai is a triangular peninsula in Egypt about in area. It is situated between the Mediterranean Sea to the north, and the Red Sea to the south, and is the only part of Egyptian territory located in Asia as opposed to Africa, effectively serving as a land bridge between two...
were selling resin
Resin
Resin in the most specific use of the term is a hydrocarbon secretion of many plants, particularly coniferous trees. Resins are valued for their chemical properties and associated uses, such as the production of varnishes, adhesives, and food glazing agents; as an important source of raw materials...
from the tamarisk tree as man es-simma, roughly meaning "heavenly manna". Tamarisk trees (particularly Tamarix
Tamarix
The genus Tamarix is composed of about 50-60 species of flowering plants in the family Tamaricaceae, native to drier areas of Eurasia and Africa...
gallica) were once comparatively extensive throughout the southern Sinai, and their resin is similar to wax, melts in the sun, is sweet and aromatic (like honey), and has a dirty-yellow color, fitting somewhat with the Biblical descriptions of manna. However, this resin is mostly composed from sugar
Sugar
Sugar is a class of edible crystalline carbohydrates, mainly sucrose, lactose, and fructose, characterized by a sweet flavor.Sucrose in its refined form primarily comes from sugar cane and sugar beet...
, so it would be unlikely to provide sufficient nutrition for a population to survive over long periods of time, and it would be very difficult for it to have been compacted to become cakes.
Hebrew language
Hebrew is a Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Culturally, is it considered by Jews and other religious groups as the language of the Jewish people, though other Jewish languages had originated among diaspora Jews, and the Hebrew language is also used by non-Jewish groups, such...
one. Man is possibly cognate with the Arabic
Arabic language
Arabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...
term man, meaning plant lice, with man hu thus meaning "this is plant lice", which fits one widespread modern identification of manna, the crystallized honeydew
Honeydew (secretion)
Honeydew is a sugar-rich sticky liquid, secreted by aphids and some scale insects as they feed on plant sap. When their mouthpart penetrates the phloem, the sugary, high-pressure liquid is forced out of the gut's terminal opening. Honeydew is particularly common as a secretion in the Hemipteran...
of certain scale insect
Scale insect
The scale insects are small insects of the order Hemiptera, generally classified as the superfamily Coccoidea. There are about 8,000 species of scale insects.-Ecology:...
s. In the environment of a desert, such honeydew rapidly dries due to evaporation
Evaporation
Evaporation is a type of vaporization of a liquid that occurs only on the surface of a liquid. The other type of vaporization is boiling, which, instead, occurs on the entire mass of the liquid....
of its water content, becoming a sticky solid, and later turning whitish, yellowish, or brownish; honeydew of this form is considered a delicacy in the Middle East
Middle East
The Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...
, and is a good source of carbohydrates.
The other widespread identification is that manna is the thalli of certain lichen
Lichen
Lichens are composite organisms consisting of a symbiotic organism composed of a fungus with a photosynthetic partner , usually either a green alga or cyanobacterium...
s (particularly Lecanora esculenta); this food source is often used as a substitute for maize
Maize
Maize known in many English-speaking countries as corn or mielie/mealie, is a grain domesticated by indigenous peoples in Mesoamerica in prehistoric times. The leafy stalk produces ears which contain seeds called kernels. Though technically a grain, maize kernels are used in cooking as a vegetable...
in the Eurasian Steppe
Eurasian Steppe
The Eurasian Steppe is the vast steppe ecoregion of Eurasia in the Temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands Biome. It stretches from Hungary to Mongolia...
. This material is light, often drifting in the wind, and has a yellow outer coat with a white inside, somewhat matching the Biblical description of manna; it does need additional drying, but is definitely not similar to honey in taste.
A number of ethnomycologists
Ethnomycology
Ethnomycology is the study of the historical uses and sociological impact of fungi , and can be considered a subfield of ethnobotany or ethnobiology...
such as R. Gordon Wasson, John Marco Allegro
John Marco Allegro
John Marco Allegro was a scholar who challenged orthodox views of the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Bible and the history of religion, with books that attracted popular attention and scholarly derision....
, and Terence McKenna
Terence McKenna
Terence Kemp McKenna was an Irish-American philosopher, psychonaut, researcher, teacher, lecturer and writer on many subjects, such as human consciousness, language, psychedelic drugs, the evolution of civilizations, the origin and end of the universe, alchemy, and extraterrestrial beings.-Early...
, have suggested that most characteristics of manna are similar to that of Psilocybe cubensis
Psilocybe cubensis
Psilocybe cubensis is a species of psychedelic mushroom whose principal active compounds are psilocybin and psilocin. Commonly called Boomers, Cubes or Gold Caps, it belongs to the Strophariaceae family of fungi and was previously known as Stropharia cubensis.-Taxonomy and naming:The species was...
mushrooms, notorious breeding grounds for insects, which decompose rapidly. This hypothesis, however, is confronted bluntly by the lack of documentation any sorts of hallucinations or other characteristic symptoms of ingestion of Psilocybin mushrooms, in, at least, connection with the Mana described in the Old Testament. These peculiar fungi naturally produce a number of molecules that resemble human neurochemicals, and first appear as small fibres (mycelia) that resemble hoarfrost. This speculation (also paralleled in Philip K. Dick
Philip K. Dick
Philip Kindred Dick was an American novelist, short story writer and essayist whose published work is almost entirely in the science fiction genre. Dick explored sociological, political and metaphysical themes in novels dominated by monopolistic corporations, authoritarian governments and altered...
's posthumously published The Transmigration of Timothy Archer
The Transmigration of Timothy Archer
The Transmigration of Timothy Archer is a 1982 novel by Philip K. Dick. As his final work, the book was published shortly after his death in March 1982 following a series of strokes, although it was written the previous year...
) is supported in a wider cultural context when compared with the praise of Haoma
Haoma
Haoma is the Avestan language name of a plant and its divinity, both of which play a role in Zoroastrian doctrine and in later Persian culture and mythology. The Middle Persian form of the name is hōm, which continues to be the name in Modern Persian and other living Iranian languages.Sacred haoma...
in the Rigveda
Rigveda
The Rigveda is an ancient Indian sacred collection of Vedic Sanskrit hymns...
, Mexican
Culture of Mexico
Mexico has changed rapidly during the 20th century. In many ways, contemporary life in its cities has become similar to that in neighboring United States and Europe. Most Mexican villagers follow the older way of life more than the city people do. More than 45% of the people of Mexico live in...
praise of teonanácatl, the peyote sacrament of the Native American Church, and the Holy Ayahuasca used in the ritual of the União do Vegetal
União do Vegetal
União do Vegetal is a Christian religion based on the use of Hoasca in a program of spiritual evolution based on mental concentration and the search for self-knowledge...
and Santo Daime
Santo Daime
Santo Daime is a syncretic spiritual practice founded in the 1930s in the Brazilian Amazonian state of Acre by Raimundo Irineu Serra, known as Mestre Irineu...
. The fact that manna is said to have risen 6 days a week, in the morning, and during the time of dew is another proponent to this theory.
Other minority identifications of manna are that it was a kosher species of locust
Locust
Locusts are the swarming phase of short-horned grasshoppers of the family Acrididae. These are species that can breed rapidly under suitable conditions and subsequently become gregarious and migratory...
, or that it was the sap of certain succulent plant
Succulent plant
Succulent plants, also known as succulents or fat plants, are water-retaining plants adapted to arid climates or soil conditions. Succulent plants store water in their leaves, stems, and also in roots...
s (such as those of the genus Alhagi
Alhagi
Alhagi is a genus of Old World plants in the family Fabaceae. They are commonly called camelthorns or manna trees. There are three to five species....
, which have an appetite-suppressing effect).
Origin
Manna is from heaven, according to the Bible, but the various identifications of manna are naturalistic. In the MishnahMishnah
The Mishnah or Mishna is the first major written redaction of the Jewish oral traditions called the "Oral Torah". It is also the first major work of Rabbinic Judaism. It was redacted c...
, manna is treated as a supernatural substance, created during the twilight
Twilight
Twilight is the time between dawn and sunrise or between sunset and dusk, during which sunlight scattering in the upper atmosphere illuminates the lower atmosphere, and the surface of the earth is neither completely lit nor completely dark. The sun itself is not directly visible because it is below...
of the sixth day of Creation, and ensured to be clean, before it arrives, by the sweeping of the ground by a northern wind and subsequent rains. According to classical rabbinical literature, manna was ground in a heavenly mill for the use of the righteous, but some of it was allocated to the wicked and left for them to grind themselves.
Use and function
Until they reached CanaanCanaan
Canaan is a historical region roughly corresponding to modern-day Israel, Palestine, Lebanon, and the western parts of Jordan...
, the Israelites are implied by some passages in the Bible to have eaten only manna during their desert sojourn, despite the availability of milk
Milk
Milk is a white liquid produced by the mammary glands of mammals. It is the primary source of nutrition for young mammals before they are able to digest other types of food. Early-lactation milk contains colostrum, which carries the mother's antibodies to the baby and can reduce the risk of many...
and meat from the livestock with which they traveled, and the references to provisions of fine flour, oil, and meat, in parts of the journey's narrative.
As a natural food substance, manna would produce waste products; but in classical rabbinical literature, as a supernatural substance, it was held that manna produced no waste, resulting in no defecation among the Israelites until several decades later, when the manna had ceased to fall. Modern medical science suggests the lack of defecation over such a long period of time would cause severe bowel problems, especially when other food later began to be consumed again. Classical rabbinical writers say that the Israelites complained about the lack of defecation, and were concerned about potential bowel problems.
Many Christian vegetarians say that God
God
God is the English name given to a singular being in theistic and deistic religions who is either the sole deity in monotheism, or a single deity in polytheism....
had originally intended man would not eat meat because plants cannot move and killing them would not be sin
Sin
In religion, sin is the violation or deviation of an eternal divine law or standard. The term sin may also refer to the state of having committed such a violation. Christians believe the moral code of conduct is decreed by God In religion, sin (also called peccancy) is the violation or deviation...
ful: manna, a nonmeat substance, is used to support this theory. Further, when the people complained and wished for quail, God gave it to them, and those who ate it grew sick after.
Food was not manna's only use; one classical rabbinical source states that the fragrant odor of manna was used in an Israelite perfume.
Gathering
Exodus says each day one omer of manna was gathered per family member, and may imply this was regardless of how much effort was put into gathering it; a midrash attributed to Rabbi TanhumaTanhuma
Midrash Tanhuma is the name given to three different collections of Pentateuch haggadot; two are extant, while the third is known only through citations. These midrashim, although bearing the name of R. Tanḥuma, must not be regarded as having been written or edited by him...
remarks that although some were diligent enough to go into the fields to gather manna, others just lay down lazily and caught it with their outstretched hands. The Talmud states that this factor was used to solve disputes about the ownership of slaves, since the number of omers of manna each household could gather would indicate how many people were legitimately part of the household; the omers of manna for stolen slaves could only be gathered by legitimate owners, and therefore legitimate owners would have spare omers of manna.
According to the Talmud, manna was found near the homes of those with strong belief in God
God
God is the English name given to a singular being in theistic and deistic religions who is either the sole deity in monotheism, or a single deity in polytheism....
, and far from the homes of those with doubts; indeed, one classical midrash says that manna was intangible to Gentiles, as it would inevitably slip from their hands. The Midrash Tanhuma holds that manna melted, formed liquid streams, was drunk by animals, flavored the animal flesh, and was thus indirectly eaten by Gentiles, this being the only manner that Gentiles could taste manna. Despite these hints of uneven distribution, classical rabbinical literature expresses the view that manna fell in very large quantities each day. It holds that manna was layered out over 2,000 cubit
Cubit
The cubit is a traditional unit of length, based on the length of the forearm. Cubits of various lengths were employed in many parts of the world in Antiquity, in the Middle Ages and into Early Modern Times....
s square, between 50 and 60 cubits in height, enough to nourish the Israelites for 2,000 years and to be seen from the palaces of every king in the East and West, probably a metaphorical statement.
Shabbat
According to RIKI, ShabbatShabbat
Shabbat is the seventh day of the Jewish week and a day of rest in Judaism. Shabbat is observed from a few minutes before sunset on Friday evening until a few minutes after when one would expect to be able to see three stars in the sky on Saturday night. The exact times, therefore, differ from...
(Sabbath) was instituted the first week the manna appeared. It states that twice as much manna as usual was available on the sixth mornings of the week, and none at all could be found on the seventh days; although manna usually rotted and became maggot-infested after a single night, manna which had been collected on the sixth day remained fresh until the second night. Moses stated that the double portion of Preparation Day was to be consumed on Shabbat; and that God
God
God is the English name given to a singular being in theistic and deistic religions who is either the sole deity in monotheism, or a single deity in polytheism....
instructed him no one should leave his place on Shabbat, so that the people could rest during it.
Form critics regard this part of the manna narrative to be spliced together from the Yahwist and Priestly traditions, with the Yahwist tradition emphasizing rest during Shabbat, while the Priestly tradition merely states that Shabbat exists, implying that the meaning of "Shabbat" was already known. These critics regard this part of the manna narrative as an etiological
Etiology
Etiology is the study of causation, or origination. The word is derived from the Greek , aitiologia, "giving a reason for" ....
supernature story designed to explain the origin of Shabbat observance, which in reality was probably pre-Mosaic
Moses
Moses was, according to the Hebrew Bible and Qur'an, a religious leader, lawgiver and prophet, to whom the authorship of the Torah is traditionally attributed...
.
Duration of supply
Exodus states that the Israelites consumed the manna for 40 years, starting from the fifteenth day of the second month (IyarIyar
Iyar is the eighth month of the civil year and the second month of the ecclesiastical year on the Hebrew calendar. The name is Babylonian in origin. It is a spring month of 29 days. Iyar usually falls in April–June on the Gregorian calendar.In the Hebrew Bible, before the Babylonian Exile, the...
15), but that it then ceased to appear once they had reached a settled land, and once they had reached the borders of Canaan (inhabited by the Canaanites). Form critics attribute this variation to the view that each expression of the manna ceasing derives from different lore; the "settled land" is attributed to the Priestly tradition, and "Canaan's borders" to the Yahwist tradition, or to a hypothetical later redaction
Documentary hypothesis
The documentary hypothesis , holds that the Pentateuch was derived from originally independent, parallel and complete narratives, which were subsequently combined into the current form by a series of redactors...
to synchronize the account with that of the Book of Joshua
Book of Joshua
The Book of Joshua is the sixth book in the Hebrew Bible and of the Old Testament. Its 24 chapters tell of the entry of the Israelites into Canaan, their conquest and division of the land under the leadership of Joshua, and of serving God in the land....
, which states that the manna ceased to appear on the day after the annual Passover
Passover
Passover is a Jewish holiday and festival. It commemorates the story of the Exodus, in which the ancient Israelites were freed from slavery in Egypt...
festival (Nisan 14), when the Israelites had reached Gilgal
Gilgal
Gilgal is a place name mentioned by the Hebrew Bible. It is a matter of debate how many of the places named Gilgal are identical.-The Gilgal associated peacefully with Joshua:...
. The duration from Iyar 15 to Nisan 14, taken literally, is 40 years less one month.
There is also a disagreement among classical rabbinical writers as to when the manna ceased, particularly in regard to whether it remained after the death of Moses for a further 40 days, 70 days, or 14 years; indeed, according to Joshua ben Levi
Joshua ben Levi
Joshua ben Levi or Yehoshua ben Levi was an amora who lived in the land of Israel of the first half of the third century. He headed the school of Lydda in the southern Land of Israel. He was an elder contemporary of Johanan bar Nappaha and Resh Lakish, who presided over the school in Tiberias...
, the manna ceased to appear at the moment that Moses died.
Pot
Despite the eventual termination of the supply of manna, Exodus states that a small amount of it survived within an omer-sized pot or jar, which was kept facing the Testimony (possibly, adjacent to the Ark of the CovenantArk of the Covenant
The Ark of the Covenant , also known as the Ark of the Testimony, is a chest described in Book of Exodus as solely containing the Tablets of Stone on which the Ten Commandments were inscribed...
); it indicates that Yahweh instructed this of Moses, who delegated it to Aaron
Aaron
In the Hebrew Bible and the Qur'an, Aaron : Ααρών ), who is often called "'Aaron the Priest"' and once Aaron the Levite , was the older brother of Moses, and a prophet of God. He represented the priestly functions of his tribe, becoming the first High Priest of the Israelites...
. The Epistle to the Hebrews
Epistle to the Hebrews
The Epistle to the Hebrews is one of the books in the New Testament. Its author is not known.The primary purpose of the Letter to the Hebrews is to exhort Christians to persevere in the face of persecution. The central thought of the entire Epistle is the doctrine of the Person of Christ and his...
states that the pot was stored inside the Ark. Classical rabbinical sources believe the pot was of gold
Gold
Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au and an atomic number of 79. Gold is a dense, soft, shiny, malleable and ductile metal. Pure gold has a bright yellow color and luster traditionally considered attractive, which it maintains without oxidizing in air or water. Chemically, gold is a...
; some say it was only there for the generation following Moses, and others that it survived at least until the time of Jeremiah
Jeremiah
Jeremiah Hebrew：יִרְמְיָה , Modern Hebrew:Yirməyāhū, IPA: jirməˈjaːhu, Tiberian:Yirmĭyahu, Greek:Ἰερεμίας), meaning "Yahweh exalts", or called the "Weeping prophet" was one of the main prophets of the Hebrew Bible...
. However, the First Book of Kings states that it was absent earlier than Jeremiah, during Solomon
Solomon
Solomon , according to the Book of Kings and the Book of Chronicles, a King of Israel and according to the Talmud one of the 48 prophets, is identified as the son of David, also called Jedidiah in 2 Samuel 12:25, and is described as the third king of the United Monarchy, and the final king before...
's reign in the tenth century B.C. Form critics attribute the mention of the pot to the Priestly tradition, concluding that the pot existed in the early sixth century B.C.
Later cultural references
For many years, Roman Catholics have annually collected a clear liquid from the tomb of Saint Nicholas
Saint Nicholas
Saint Nicholas , also called Nikolaos of Myra, was a historic 4th-century saint and Greek Bishop of Myra . Because of the many miracles attributed to his intercession, he is also known as Nikolaos the Wonderworker...
; legend attributes the pleasant perfume of this liquid as warding off evil, and it is sold to pilgrim
Pilgrim
A pilgrim is a traveler who is on a journey to a holy place. Typically, this is a physical journeying to some place of special significance to the adherent of a particular religious belief system...
s as "the Manna of Saint Nicholas". The liquid gradually seeps out of the tomb, but it is unclear whether it originates from the body within the tomb, or from the marble itself; since the town of Bari is a harbor, and the tomb is below sea level
Sea level
Mean sea level is a measure of the average height of the ocean's surface ; used as a standard in reckoning land elevation...
, there are several natural explanations for the manna fluid, including the transfer of seawater
Seawater
Seawater is water from a sea or ocean. On average, seawater in the world's oceans has a salinity of about 3.5% . This means that every kilogram of seawater has approximately of dissolved salts . The average density of seawater at the ocean surface is 1.025 g/ml...
to the tomb by capillary action
Capillary action
Capillary action, or capilarity, is the ability of a liquid to flow against gravity where liquid spontanously rise in a narrow space such as between the hair of a paint-brush, in a thin tube, or in porous material such as paper or in some non-porous material such as liquified carbon fiber, or in a...
.
In the seventeenth century, a woman marketed a clear, tasteless product as a cosmetic, "the Manna of Saint Nicholas
Saint Nicholas
Saint Nicholas , also called Nikolaos of Myra, was a historic 4th-century saint and Greek Bishop of Myra . Because of the many miracles attributed to his intercession, he is also known as Nikolaos the Wonderworker...
of Bari
Bari
Bari is the capital city of the province of Bari and of the Apulia region, on the Adriatic Sea, in Italy. It is the second most important economic centre of mainland Southern Italy after Naples, and is well known as a port and university city, as well as the city of Saint Nicholas...
". After the deaths of some 600 men, Italian authorities discovered that the alleged cosmetic was a preparation of arsenic
Arsenic
Arsenic is a chemical element with the symbol As, atomic number 33 and relative atomic mass 74.92. Arsenic occurs in many minerals, usually in conjunction with sulfur and metals, and also as a pure elemental crystal. It was first documented by Albertus Magnus in 1250.Arsenic is a metalloid...
, used by their wives.
In a modern botanical context, manna is often used to refer to the secretions of various plants, especially of certain shrubs and trees, and in particular the sugars obtained by evaporating the sap of the Manna Ash
Fraxinus ornus
Fraxinus ornus is a species of Fraxinus native to southern Europe and southwestern Asia, from Spain and Italy north to Austria and the Czech Republic, and east through the Balkans, Turkey, and western Syria to the Lebanon.It is a medium-sized deciduous tree growing to 15–25 m tall with a trunk up...
, extracted by making small cuts in the bark. The Manna Ash, native to southern Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
and southwest Asia
Asia
Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
, produces a blue-green sap, which has medicinal value as a mild laxative
Laxative
Laxatives are foods, compounds, or drugs taken to induce bowel movements or to loosen the stool, most often taken to treat constipation. Certain stimulant, lubricant, and saline laxatives are used to evacuate the colon for rectal and/or bowel examinations, and may be supplemented by enemas under...
, demulcent
Demulcent
A demulcent is an agent that forms a soothing film over a mucous membrane, relieving minor pain and inflammation of the membrane. Demulcents are sometimes referred to as mucoprotective agents. Demulcents such as pectin, glycerin, honey, and syrup are common ingredients in cough mixtures...
, and weak expectorant.
The names of both the sugar mannose
Mannose
Mannose is a sugar monomer of the aldohexose series of carbohydrates. Mannose is a C-2 epimer of glucose. It is not part of human metabolism, but is a component of microbial cell walls, and is therefore a target of the immune system and also of antibiotics....
and its hydrogenated sugar alcohol
Sugar alcohol
A sugar alcohol is a hydrogenated form of carbohydrate, whose carbonyl group has been reduced to a primary or secondary hydroxyl group . Sugar alcohols have the general formula Hn+1H, whereas sugars have HnHCO...
, mannitol
Mannitol
Mannitol is a white, crystalline organic compound with the formula . This polyol is used as an osmotic diuretic agent and a weak renal vasodilator...
are derived from manna.
Robert Nozick
Robert Nozick
Robert Nozick was an American political philosopher, most prominent in the 1970s and 1980s. He was a professor at Harvard University. He is best known for his book Anarchy, State, and Utopia , a right-libertarian answer to John Rawls's A Theory of Justice...
famously references "manna from heaven" in a thought experiment about distributive justice
Distributive justice
Distributive justice concerns what some consider to be socially just allocation of goods in a society. A society in which incidental inequalities in outcome do not arise would be considered a society guided by the principles of distributive justice...
.
See also
- AyahuascaAyahuascaAyahuasca is any of various psychoactive infusions or decoctions prepared from the Banisteriopsis spp. vine, usually mixed with the leaves of dimethyltryptamine-containing species of shrubs from the Psychotria genus...
, entheogenic sacrament of União do Vegetal - Gaz (candy)Gaz (candy)Gaz is the traditional name of Persian nougat originating from the city of Esfahan, located in the central plateau of Iran.The name gaz is associated with gaz-angebin which translates to "sap of angebin"; a desert plant member of the Tamarisk family and native to the Zagros mountain range located...
, a Manna nougat with chopped nuts from Isfahan, Iran - Fly agaric, Amanita muscaria, potential correlation with Christmas tradition
- PeyotePeyoteLophophora williamsii , better known by its common name Peyote , is a small, spineless cactus with psychoactive alkaloids, particularly mescaline.It is native to southwestern Texas and Mexico...
, entheogen and sacrament of Native American Church - PsilocybePsilocybePsilocybe is a genus of small mushrooms growing worldwide. This genus is best known for its species with psychedelic or hallucinogenic properties, widely known as "magic mushrooms", though the majority of species do not contain hallucinogenic compounds...
, "Flesh of God", teonanácatl - Tuf VoyagingTuf VoyagingTuf Voyaging is a science fiction novel by George R. R. Martin, first published in 1986. It is a darkly comic meditation on environmentalism and absolute power...
, a fictional account - White Manna
- AmbrosiaAmbrosiaIn ancient Greek mythology, ambrosia is sometimes the food or drink of the Greek gods , often depicted as conferring ageless immortality upon whoever consumes it...
External links
- Jewish Encyclopedia, Manna
- chabad.org, The Manna
- Catholic Encyclopedia, Manna
- Devotion and Use of the Manna of Saint Nicholas
- Lycaeum, Manna as a mushroom [psilocybe]
- Manna For Haiti