Manna from Heaven. What the Grossness? (Ex. 16)

The manna mentioned in Exodus is more a plot device rather than anything else. Lith is very likely right on the factual source, but it really doesn't matter.The point of the story is that the Sabbath should be kept.Exodus is a long folk tale that was designed to be told in small installments over many nights (gotta keep the storytellers fed) with some miracle or cliff hanger in each story.It's also one of the strange and unlikely tales found throughout Exodus that simply makes no sense on the face of it. In Exodus 16 the folk are only about two and a half months into their 40 year trek and also remember they took all their cattle, goats, sheep, herds with them when they left, and even in the story they get fed Quail in the evenings.The point of this part of the story begins in Verse 22: The manna is just a plot device to get to the place where the Sabbath rules could be reinforced.

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Aslan is not a Tame Lion

Manna from heaven is mentioned in two places in the Bible and the descriptions of the substance are totally different. This is not too surprising since the stories likely come from two different traditions, Exodus from the "J' tradition and Numbers from the "P" source.The Manna in Exodus has the taste of honey while the manna in Numbers is like oil; the manna in Exodus is gathered aand simply eaten while the manna in Numbers seems to require preparation.However: is simply nonsense. There is no indication that it was anything more than a bread substitute. That is also simply not supported by the Bible. There is no indication that manna played any part more than as a bread substitute. They still had their cattle, goats, sheep, wild life such as quail. Again, while the Conquest of Canaan is part of the Joshua story, there are no indications it ever happened in fact. Nor is there anything in the text to relate manna to any such event.As pointed out above, the purpose of the Exodus fable is to reinforce the Sabbath Laws while the tale in Numbers is about not appreciating what you have been given.Two different stories, two different mannas, two different traditions, two different purposes for the tales.

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Aslan is not a Tame Lion

Well, I wouldn't say it is a brain issue, more simply one of reading what is written and paying attention. The idea of manna as some bread substitute is reinforced by the mention in Joshua 5.While it was possible to take along the animals, to gather wild game and to harvest things like "manna" in the wilderness, a foraging lifestyle is not conducive to the agricultural lifestyle needed to grow and harvest grains. They could certainly harvest the wild grains that might be found, but none of those are really conducive to making bread or the equivalent of wheat, rye, oats or barley.The passage in Joshua affirms this description. Here we see the manna stopping as soon as they find access to agricultural products, in this case likely raiding the fields of the farmers in Canaan. Whether the manna itself stops or they simply return to the better source, grains, might be a matter of interpretation.In any case, manna is not seen in any of the stories as anything other than some less than desirable, stopgap food source, and manna is only used as a plot device in any of the stories and is not essential to any of the messages.Edited by jar, : fix sub-title

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Aslan is not a Tame Lion

Nonsense Buz, in fact that is the exact opposite of what the Bible says and a misrepresentation of what Jon said.The verses from right before the verse you quoted says that the people remembered fondly the food they had in Egypt. The people were sick of eating manna which was what Jon said, not that manna made them sick.

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Aslan is not a Tame Lion

The actual identity of manna is unknown, it could be the sap of trees, the secretions of bugs like aphids or something totally unknown today. The important point is how it is used in the various tales in the Bible.In Exodus, it is a bread substitute and the purpose of the story is to reinforce the tale about resting on the Sabbath. That is the significance of Exodus 16.In Number 11 it is again a bread substitute but the point of the story is slightly different. Here the point is to appreciate what you have been given and quit bitching.In Joshua manna disappears. Once the folk arrived back into settled areas where crops were grown, it was no longer necessary to use substitutes, the grains themselves were available, and so the substitute disappears from the story.But in none of the tales is manna the important thing. It is simply a less than satisfactory substitute for bread, a plot device used to make more important points.That God does provide.That we should take time to rest and reflect.That we should give thanks for what we do have because we really could have less.And finally, that better things may become available than what we have now.When all the attention is on the substance manna, we tend to lose sight of the important underlying purposes of the stories. It is not about what manna is, or even if it existed or even if the stories are true, but rather "What can we learn about ourselves from the stories?"

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Aslan is not a Tame Lion

I'm sorry but never has so little been said in so many words.Thanks for playing.

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Aslan is not a Tame Lion

Looks like I was wrong in Message 18. We have a new record.

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Aslan is not a Tame Lion

Heaven forfend. Not mocking jaywill, just his theobabble.

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Aslan is not a Tame Lion

Before you go.Manna shows up in several stories but in each case it is simply one of the plot devices used to make different points. The Manna mentioned in Exodus is one such example. The manna itself is not very important but is meant as one of the ways to get to the point, which in this case is that the Sabbath rules needed to be enforced. See Message 6.In Numbers Manna is again used as a way to get to the message "Appreciate what you have been given". See Message 11.In Joshua we again see manna used as a plot device, in this case it stops showing up once they have access to true grains for bread making. See Message 13.So manna is used through the Bible stories but only as a plot device to help illustrate some other point.

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Aslan is not a Tame Lion

That's fine, you are of course free to believe anything you want. However if you actually read the stories that is exactly how it is used, as a plot device. It's not symbolic of Jesus but just a bread substitute to be abandoned as soon as they got where they could buy or steal grain.By the way, trying to use Hebrews to support Exodus is just plain silly. It's also silly because if you actually read Hebrews you will find the author (whoever that really was), is comparing an earthly function to a heavenly one. The things being mentioned are all only normal earthly stuff, socially significant but that's it. It's also a hodgepodge of myth and folk lore. It is not talking about the events themselves but about the layout of a tabernacle from a much later date and tradition. It also, as so often happens in folktales, been changed and exaggerated. When you look at the passage in Exodus it is just a pot, but by Hebrews it is a Golden Pot and kept in the Ark.That's how folktales develop.

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Immigration has been a problem Since 1607!

There is no tabernacle in Exodus 16. The Hebrew's reference to a tabernacle is anachronism, where the author of Hebrew's whoever that was, mixed in Moshe and the Ark and a much later Tabernacle and changed the pot to gold, just to make his point about comparing earthy to spiritual worlds.

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Immigration has been a problem Since 1607!

I read the passages. LOL

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Immigration has been a problem Since 1607!

No one said it was made up. What was said was that in the story in Hebrew's the author took parts from several periods and traditions and mixed them together along with exaggeration to illustrate a symbolic point he wanted to express.

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Immigration has been a problem Since 1607!

We don't know. It says a Pot. The most likely type would be clay.The point is, whoever wrote Hebrews was mixing stuff up, a piece from here, a piece from there, and sew them all together with new cloth and add some embellishment as pointed out back in Message 37.However, the Manna mentioned in Exodus and Numbers and Joshua still has NOTHING to do with Jesus and is still just a plot device to talk about other things that were important.

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Immigration has been a problem Since 1607!

No jay, he did not. Sorry but if you read that it does NOT say what you claim.

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Immigration has been a problem Since 1607!