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"It is the name which has enshrined the surprise and joy of deliverance from
death . . . . . when it was picked up and tasted, the words of Moses flashed upon them and
the heart of Israel was swayed as the heart of one man . . . . . `It is a gift.' It was a happy
title, and the scripture thankfully records it."
We believe the meaning of the word manna in Exod. 16: is "It is a gift", but seeing
that the commonly accepted rendering is fairly strongly held, we felt it necessary to show
the authority we have for departing from the traditional meaning. We notice that this
bread from heaven was a special provision for the wilderness:--
"Until they came unto the borders of the land of Canaan" (Exod. 16: 35).
"And the manna ceased on the morrow after they had eaten the old corn of the land;
neither had the children of Israel manna any more" (Josh. 5: 12).
During the days of our pilgrimage here the Lord provides for our spiritual needs to suit
the circumstances, but we are ever to remember that when this life ceases, and we enter
into the life to come, the blessings and mercies of the days of our pilgrimage will appear
small when compared with the exceeding riches of grace and glory that shall then be
enjoyed. There is a sad addition to the story of Exod. 16: in Numb. 11: 6:--
"But now our soul is dried away; there is nothing at all, beside this manna, before our
eyes."
"This manna!" the gift of God, the bread from heaven, angel's food! To complete the
sad evidence against these people we read in Numb. 21: 5:--
"Our soul loatheth this light bread."
The word "light" means "exceedingly light", and the word "loathe" means "to be
weary", as Rebekah said:--
"I am weary of my life because of the children of Heth" (Gen. 27: 46).
It is a sad thing when the heart grows weary of the Lord's heavenly provision for His
people, yet the same liability to turn in heart away from Christ to the things that have
been left behind is not the malady merely of a past generation. It is with us still. The
man who could say he counted all things loss did so because of "the excellency of the
knowledge of Christ", and he could add:--
"This one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto
the things which are before, I press . . . . ." (Phil. 3: 8-14).
Those, on the contrary, who said "there is nothing at all besides this manna" and who
eventually sank so low as to "loathe" and call "contemptible" the bread from heaven, had
prepared the way for this rebellious spirit by an unholy remembrance. Unlike Paul, who
forgot those things that were behind, these said:--
"We remember the fish . . . . . the cucumbers, and the melons and the leeks and the
onions and the garlick" (Numb. 11: 5).