Today’s author is Prince of Peace member, Debbie Jorgens.
When the layer of dew lifted, there on the surface of the wilderness was a fine flaky substance, as fine as frost on the ground. When the Israelites saw it, they said to one another, “What is it?” For they did not know what it was. – Exodus 16:14-15
I admire people who are adventurous enough to try all kinds of foods that they have never before eaten. I am not one of those people. It isn’t that I won’t attempt anything new but in general, whether or not I am willing to try it depends on the answer to my question: “What is it?” When it comes to food, at least, I prefer to play it safe and stick with what I know.
The Israelites have barely begun their wilderness journey when they complain about the lack of food. In response, God says to Moses, “I am going to rain bread from heaven for you” (16:4). Bread from heaven! Now that has a nice ring to it! I love bread! But as it turns out, the bread that falls from heaven looks nothing like a loaf of rustic Italian boule or dutchy crust Vienna or a mouth-watering French baguette!
Apparently it didn’t look like bread to the Israelites, either, because as soon as they saw the flaky substance covering the ground they asked, “Man hu?” (The Hebrew phrase translates to “What is it?” and is the origin of the word, “manna.”) Moses responds, “It is the bread that the Lord has given you to eat.” And so, whether out of sheer hunger or because they trusted that any bread coming from the Lord would surely be good, the people ate it.
Manna can still be found on the Sinai Peninsula today. The flakes themselves come from plant lice that feed on the local tamarisk trees. The lice excrete a yellow-ish white flake or ball. Rich in carbohydrates and sugars, it is gathered by the Bedouin people and baked into bread.
In her book, “Bread of Angels,” Barbara Brown Taylor writes that some people reject the correlation of this natural phenomenon in the Sinai Peninsula and the bread that God provided to the Israelites in the wilderness because they think it takes away from the miracle of manna. She writes:
…but I wonder about that. Does manna have to come out of nowhere in order to qualify as a miracle? Or is the miracle that God heard the complaining of hungry people and fed them with bug juice – with food it would never have occurred to them to eat? Or to put it another way, what makes something bread from heaven? Is it the thing itself or the one who sends it?
Faithful God, you are the giver of all good gifts. Thank you for hearing us – even our complaining – and for providing us with all that we need. Amen.