MANNA — the food that God provided miraculously for the Israelites in the wilderness during their Exodus (Ex. 16:15, 31, 33; Num. 11:6–9).

As long as the Hebrew people wandered in the Sinai Peninsula, they were able to gather manna from the ground each morning (Ex. 16:35). They ate the manna for 40 years, “until they came to the border of the land of Canaan” (Ex. 16:35). According to Joshua 5:12, the manna did not stop until the Israelites had crossed the Jordan River, had camped at Gilgal, had kept the Passover, and “had eaten the produce of the land.”

“What is it?” (Ex. 16:15). This question, asked by the astonished Israelites, led to the name “manna” being applied to the “small round substance as fine as frost” (Ex. 16:14). Manna looked “like white coriander seed.” It tasted like “wafers made with honey” (Ex. 16:31) or “pastry prepared with oil” (Num. 11:8).

The manna appeared with the morning dew. The Hebrews were instructed to gather only what was needed for one day, because any surplus would breed tiny worms and be spoiled. On the sixth day, however, the Israelites were permitted to gather enough for two days; they were forbidden to gather any manna on the Sabbath. Miraculously, the two days’ supply of food gathered on the sixth day did not spoil.

Manna could apparently be baked, boiled, ground, beaten, cooked in pans, and made into cakes (Ex. 16:23; Num. 11:8). Moses even commanded Aaron to put a pot of manna in the ARK OF THE COVENANT (Ex. 16:32–34), so future generations might see the “bread of heaven” on which their ancestors had fed. The New Testament records that inside the holy of holies in the Temple, the ark of the covenant contained, among other things, “the golden pot that had the manna” (Heb. 9:4).

Numerous attempts have been made to identify manna with substances found in the Sinai Peninsula. Insects living on the tamarisk bush produce a small, sweet substance during the early summer that has been identified as manna by some scholars. But this substance does not fulfill all the biblical requirements for manna. Other suggestions have included resinous gums that drip from some wilderness shrubs. But such substances do not resemble the manna that the Hebrews gathered and ate. Manna certainly was nourishing, but it cannot be identified with any known food.

Manna was a visible reminder to the Hebrews of God's providential care for His people.