Manna from Heaven - the Food of
Angels
After the Israelites left Egypt they spent time in the wilderness. During this time God gave them food from Heaven each day. This is the account of the history of Manna, which is the food form Heaven.
Exodus 16:1-35 Manna and Quail
1 The whole Israelite
community set out from Elim and came to the Desert of Sin which is between Elim
and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after they had come out of
Egypt. 2 In the desert the whole community grumbled against
Moses and Aaron. 3 The Israelites said to them, "If
only we had died by the LORD's hand in Egypt! There we sat around pots of meat
and ate all the food we wanted, but you have brought us out into this desert to
starve this entire assembly to death."
4 Then the LORD said to Moses, "I will rain down bread
from heaven for you. The people are to go out each day and gather enough
for that day.
13 That evening quail came and
covered the camp, and in the morning there was a layer of dew around the camp. 14 When the dew was gone, thin flakes like frost on the
ground appeared on the desert floor. 15 When the
Israelites saw it, they said to each other, "What is it?" For
they did not know what it was.
Moses
said to them, "It is the bread the LORD has given you to eat. 16 This is what the LORD has commanded: 'Each one is to gather
as much as he needs. Take an omer for each person you have in your tent.'
"
21 Each morning everyone gathered as
much as he needed, and when the sun grew hot, it melted away. 22
On the sixth day, they gathered twice as much—two omers [ for each
person—and the leaders of the community came and reported this to Moses. 23 He said to them, "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.' "
31 The people of Israel called the
bread manna. It was white
like coriander seed and tasted like wafers made with honey. 35 The Israelites ate manna forty years,
until they came to a land that was settled; they ate manna until they
reached the border of Canaan.
Numbers 11:7-9 The manna was like coriander seed and looked like
resin. 8 The people went around gathering it, and then
ground it in a handmill or crushed it in a mortar. They cooked it in a pot or
made it into cakes. And it tasted like something made with olive oil. 9 When the dew settled on the camp at night, the manna also
came down.
Deuteronomy 8:2 Remember how the LORD your God led you all the way in the desert
these forty years, to humble you and to test you in order to know what was in
your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands. 3
He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna,
which neither you nor your fathers had known, to teach you that man does not
live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD.
4 Your clothes did not wear out and your feet did not
swell during these forty years.
Joshua 5:11-13 The day after the Passover, that very day, they ate some of the
produce of the land: unleavened bread and roasted grain. 12
The manna stopped the day after they ate this food from the land; there was
no longer any manna for the Israelites, but that year they ate of the produce
of Canaan.
Nehemiah 9:19 "Because of your great compassion you did not abandon
them in the desert. By day the pillar of cloud did not cease to guide them on
their path, nor the pillar of fire by night to shine on the way they were to
take. 20 You gave your good Spirit to instruct them. You
did not withhold your manna from their mouths, and you gave them water for
their thirst.
Psalm
78:23-25
23 Yet he gave a command to the skies above
and opened the doors of the heavens;
24 he rained down manna for the people to eat,
he gave them the grain of heaven.
25 Men ate
the bread of angels;
he sent them all the food they could eat.
During the time Jesus was on earth, said he was the bread of life the manna from heaven! Read the account at John 6:30-59
John 6:30-59 So they
asked Jesus, "What miraculous sign then will you give that we may see it
and believe you? What will you do? 31Our
forefathers ate the manna in the desert; as it is written: 'He gave them bread
from heaven to eat.
32Jesus said to them, "I tell you the
truth, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but it is my
Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. 33For
the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the
world." ( meaning himself )
34"Sir," they said, "from now on give us this
bread."
35Then Jesus declared, "I am the bread of life.
He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never
be thirsty. 36 But as I told you, you have seen me
and still you do not believe. 38 For I have come down
from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me. 39 And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose
none of all that he has given me, but raise them up at the last day. 40 For my Father's will is that everyone who looks to the
Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at
the last day."
41At this the Jews began to grumble about him
because he said, "I am the bread that came down from heaven." 42They said, "Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose
father and mother we know? How can he now say, 'I came down from heaven'?"
45 It is written in the Prophets:
'They will all be taught by God. Everyone who listens to the Father and learns
from him comes to me. 46 No one has seen the Father
except the one who is from God; only he has seen the Father. 47
I tell you the truth, he who believes has everlasting life. 48 I am the bread of life. 49 Your
forefathers ate the manna in the desert, yet they died. 50 But
here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which a man may eat and not die.
51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If
anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which
I will give for the life of the world."
52 Then the Jews began to argue sharply among themselves,
"How can this man give us his flesh to eat?"
53 Jesus said to them, "I tell you the
truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have
no life in you.
54 Whoever eats my
flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last
day. 55 For my flesh is real food and my blood is real
drink. 56 Whoever
eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him. 57 Just as the living Father sent me and
I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of
me. 58 This is the bread that came down from heaven.
Your forefathers ate manna and died, but he who feeds on this bread will live
forever."