6. But presently after this first supply of food, he sent them a second;
for as Moses was lifting up his hands in prayer, a dew fell down; and
Moses, when he found it stick to his hands, supposed this was also come
for food from God to them. He tasted it; and perceiving that the people
knew not what it was, and thought it snowed, and that it was what
usually fell at that time of the year, he informed them that this dew
did not fall from heaven after the manner they imagined, but came for
their preservation and sustenance. So he tasted it, and gave them some
of it, that they might be satisfied about what he told them. They also
imitated their conductor, and were pleased with the food, for it was
like honey in sweetness and pleasant taste, but like in its body to
bdellium, one of the sweet spices, and in bigness equal to coriander
seed. And very earnest they were in gathering it; but they were enjoined
to gather it equally 3—the measure of an omer for each one every day,
because this food should not come in too small a quantity, lest the
weaker might not be able to get their share, by reason of the
overbearing of the strong in collecting it. However, these strong men,
when they had gathered more than the measure appointed for them, had no
more than others, but only tired themselves more in gathering it, for
they found no more than an omer apiece; and the advantage they got by
what was superfluous was none at all, it corrupting, both by the worms
breeding in it, and by its bitterness. So divine and wonderful a food
was this! It also supplied the want of other sorts of food to those that
fed on it. And even now, in all that place, this manna comes down in
rain, 4 according to what Moses then obtained of God, to send it to the
people for their sustenance. Now the Hebrews call this food manna: for
the particle man, in our language, is the asking of a question. What is
this? So the Hebrews were very joyful at what was sent them from heaven.
Now they made use of this food for forty years, or as long as they were
in the wilderness.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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