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and this apparent accident was overruled to emphasize the lesson that the heavenly
pilgrimage cannot be sustained with the bread of Egypt, and so the new food provided by
God is called `bread from heaven' (Exod. 16: 4). Psa. 78: 25 calls this bread
"angel's food". Manna, the name given to this bread from heaven, first meets us in
Exod. 16: 15:
"And when the children of Israel saw it, they said one to another, `It is manna', for
they wist not what it was."
It is usual to explain the word `manna' by saying that it is the Hebrew word uttered by
Israel as a question, `What is this?' The Hebrew reads:
"When the children of Israel saw it, they said one to another man-hu for they did not
know man-hu."
The A.V. gives an alternative meaning in the margin, reading:
"Or what is this? or it is a portion."
The Hebrew word man signifies a portion or a gift. Helen Spurrell's translation reads,
"It is the gift, for they knew not its name". Aaron Pick in his Bible Students'
Concordance reads MANNA, MON, a gift. The marginal note in Newberry's Bible is
man-hu, i.e. in Chaldee `what is it?' in Hebrew `it is an appointed portion'. Parkhurst
quotes from Bates in Crit. Heb. to the effect that:
"The children of Israel said man-hu this (is) a particular species, a peculiar thing, for
they knew not what it was."
This comes under manah, "to distribute", and so includes the word "kind" of
Gen. 1: 11, 12, the idea referred to above of `species' and also a distributed portion or
gift. Urquhart's comment is:
"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