Exodus 16:31

And the house of Israel called the name thereof Manna: and it was like coriander seed, white; and the taste of it was like wafers made with honey.

The house of Israel called the name thereof Manna (see the note at Exodus 16:15 ): and it was like coriander seed, white. Coriander was a production of Egypt; and to use it therefore as a means of comparison with any other substance was quite natural in writing for a people whose residence in that country had made them familiar with its appearance.

And the taste of it was like wafers made with honey. In Numbers 11:8 it is said to have tasted like "fresh oil." The two passages are easily reconciled, though honey and fresh oil are by no means like each other in taste, when we consider the cakes of the ancients were frequently a composition of honey, oil, and flour; consequently, in tasting like one of these wafers or thin cakes, the manna might be said to resemble the taste of both-of oil mingled with honey (Harmer's 'Observations,' vol. 1:, p. 455, Clarke's edition).

There is a gum of the same name (the coincidence of the Arabic word monn and the Hebrew man, may be merely casual, or the modern name may have been given from the apparent resemblance of this substance to the Scriptural manna) distilled in some parts of the Sinaitic desert from the tamarisk, which is much prized by the natives, and preserved carefully by those who gather it. 'It is found in the form of shining drops on the twigs and branches (not upon the leaves) of the tarfa (Tamarix Gallica mannifera of Ehrenberg), from which it exudes, in consequence of the puncture of an insect of the coccus kind (Coccus manniparus of the same naturalist). What falls on the sand is said not to be gathered' (Robinson's 'Biblical Researches,' vol. 1:, p. 170). It is collected early in the morning, melts under the heat of the sun, and is congealed by the cold of night. In taste it is as sweet as honey, and was long supposed by distinguished travelers, from its whitish colour, its size like a small pea, the time and place of its appearance, to be the manna on which the Israelites were fed; so that, according to the views of some, it was a production indigenous to the desert; according to others, among whom is Hengstenberg, there was a miracle, which consisted, however, only in the preternatural arrangements regarding its supply.

But more recent and accurate examination has proved this gum of the tarfa tree to be wanting in all the principal characteristics of the Scripture manna. It exudes only in small quantities, and not every year-sometimes only in five or six years; and the quantity in general has greatly diminished. Moreover, it does not admit of being baked (Numbers 11:8) or boiled (Exodus 16:23). Though it falls with the dew, it may be exhaled by the heat, and admits of being kept for a long time in the cool shade, becomes quite solid, and resembles a small cake. It is, moreover, a medicine, not food; and it consists (according to the following chemical analysis by Berthelot, 1861) of cane sugar, 55; sugar modified, 25; dextrine and analogous products, 20 = 100. This manna, he adds, could not alone suffice for nutriment, since it contains nothing of the azotic principle (quoted by Tischendorf, 'Aus dem Heilige Lande,' Leipzig, 1862). It is well known to the Arabs in some parts of the desert, though not in the wilderness of Sin, which contains no manna-bearing tarfa tree in any part of it (Drew's 'Scripture Lands,' p. 57), while the Israelites were total strangers to their manna; and in taste, as well as in the fall of a double quantity on Friday, none on Sabbath, and in not breeding worms on that day, it is essentially different from the manna furnished to the Israelites.