Nadene Goldfoot
The Israelites, unknowingly on a 40 year trek to Canaan, Jacob's old homeland starting around either 1579 BCE or even 1476 BCE, which was about 3, 600 years ago, were able to eat manna that appeared in the desert. (Exodus 16:4-35). It was found on the ground every morning except on the Sabbath (Saturday morning) and so a double portion was collected on Fridays, something Moses had forgotten to tell them in the beginning. As much as could be eaten was to be collected by the people, but no more. There was to be no waste.
In form it looked like something thin and rough, white in color, and tasted like honey-cake. In the same chapter, manna is described as “like coriander seed, white; and the taste of it was like wafers made with honey.”
Some was kept as a memorial. A jar of manna was placed permanently before the Sanctuary.
Manna came to the Israelites after complaining to Moses that they missed the bread and the pot of meat they had back in Egypt, and that they should have stayed and died in Egypt instead of starving on this trek.
Actually, The Egyptians ate a low-fat, high-fiber diet with a lot of grains. They ate a variety of plant oils and fats, bread, milk, lentils, cottage cheese, cakes, onions, meat, dates, melons, milk products, figs, ostrich eggs, almonds, peas, beans, olives, pomegranates, grapes, vegetables, honey, garlic and other foods. The Egyptians ate a variety of grains, including barley and emmer-wheat.
Different forms of Emmer Wheat
Evidently they were being tested to see if they would follow the directions that Moses was giving them. The test was this: in the afternoon they would have meat to eat and in the morning they would have enough bread. Toward evening quail came down and covered the camp. In the morning, there was a layer of dew around the camp. The layer of dew rose and upon the surface of the Wilderness Desert sand was something thin, exposed--as thin as frost on the earth. The Israelites saw it as a type of food. Moses verified it and said it was food. Each person could take one omer, according to the number of your people, everyone according to whomever is in his tent, 4 in a tent, they can take 4 omers of the food.
The Harvesting of the First Omer took place the night after the Passover Seder,(that is, the second night of Passover). The barley grain that is cut is used for the communal Omer grain-offering, which is brought on the next day, the 16th of Nisan. It was carried out by emissaries of the Beit Din (the court) , and many of the pilgrims and Jerusalemites would come and watch the festive occasion.
The omer (Hebrew: עֹ֫מֶר ‘ōmer) is an ancient Israelite unit of dry measure used in the era of the Temple in Jerusalem. It is used in the Bible as an ancient unit of volume for grains and dry commodities, and the Torah mentions as being equal to one tenth of an ephah, I would guess as being a whole armful that a man could carry, and something thin sounds very fragile. It's not weight, it's the size that counts.
It wound up that those on the Exodus took more than needed, and the left-over food became infested with worms and it stunk, causing Moses to be angry. The gathering happened in the morning, and by the time the sun was the hottest, it all melted.
The miracle happened during Shabbat. They had to gather it on Friday and bake what they wished to bake. It didn't appear in the field on Saturday morning, either. The people were able to rest on that 7th day.
Manna was formerly believed to be a shallow-rooted plant carried by storms; modern botanists have discovered sugary secretions on the tamaris mammifera-caused by insects. According to the aggadah, manna existed from the 1st Sabbath eve of creation (Avot 5:9).
Have the native Bedouins ever come across such a discovery? I don't believe they have reported seeing this in any of the deserts in the morning.
The Manna fell until the 7th of Adar, when Moses died, 40 years later, before the people that crossed the Jordan River into Eretz Yisrael. From then on, remnants of Manna remained in their vessels and they continued to eat it until the 16th of Nissan when they were in the land and were able to eat its produce.
This was all part of Israel's schooling to remember throughout eternity; they were not alone; the unseen G-d was with them.
What was this food? It was something mighty special, something that sated them. So it was filling, and must have been filled with vitamins. It kept them satisfied and healthy. It fell from the heavens, was the description.
One thing it didn't do, make them tall. By the time they arrived at their destination, the spies sent out thought the populace were extremely tall people. They must have felt that they themselves were the hobbits or munchkins while looking at these tall people. It was food somewhat like our scientists have invented for our space pilots to be; full of nutrition. Interesting, eh?
Resource:
The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia
http://blogspot14235.blogspot.com/2016/04/food-for-400-years-of-slavery-and-40.html
https://momentmag.com/manna-is-real-and-not-so-heavenly/
Tanakh, Stone Edition (Old Testament)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omer_(unit)
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