When the Israelites fled Egypt, after over four hundred years of slavery, they spent forty years wandering in the wilderness before they entered the Promised Land. During this time, God provided substance for them to eat every day in the form of quail (meat) and manna (bread from heaven).
Psalm 78:24 and he rained down on them manna to eat and gave them the grain of heaven
Manna, basically a word that means “what is it?” is a bread-like substance that fell from heaven, and that tasted like honey.
Daily provision
We see manna first introduced in Exodus 16. Right before this, the Israelites complained to Moses, saying he brought them out to the desert to die, with no food substance.
The Israelites would go and collect a daily portion of manna each day, ensuring to get a double portion before the Sabbath (so they didn’t work for their food on the Sabbath). If they grabbed too much or too little, they suffered the consequences
Exodus 16:20 But they did not listen to Moses. Some left part of it till the morning, and it bred worms and stank. And Moses was angry with them.
Manna appeared for six days in a row. On Fridays, the Hebrews were to gather a double portion, because it did not appear on the next day, the Sabbath. And yet, the portion they saved for the Sabbath did not spoil.
They baked the manna
Numbers 11:8 The people went about and gathered it and ground it in handmills or beat it in mortars and boiled it in pots and made cakes of it. And the taste of it was like the taste of cakes baked with oil.
Jesus is the "bread from heaven"
Jesus refers to himself as the bread of life (John 6:35) and explains that we need the true bread from heaven for our spiritual survival.
John 6:35 Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.
Why Did God Send Manna to the Israelites?
God sent manna for a few reasons during the Israelites’ time in the desert.
First, and most practically, he wanted to meet a physical need. They didn’t have many options for food in the wilderness, and they’d begun to think that God had led them into a death trap. God provides food for them to show he meets our needs, even when situations seem most dire.
Secondly, God wants the Israelites to practice trust and obedience.
Some Israelites take too much manna on some days, and it rots in their tents, full of maggots. Other Israelites don’t obey God’s command to collect double portions before the Sabbath, and they end up hungry on the Sabbath because manna didn’t fall that day.
Manna in the Book of Revelation
Today, most Christian churches celebrate a communion service or Lord's Supper, in which the participants eat some form of bread, as Jesus commanded his followers to do at the Last Supper (Matthew 26:26).
The final mention of manna occurs in Revelation 2:17, "To him who overcomes I will give some of the hidden manna..."One interpretation of this verse is that Christ supplies spiritual nourishment (hidden manna) as we wander through the wilderness of this world.
