What is manna anyway?

Quote: FrGamble

God's loving care for his wayward people.

The story of manna is followed very quickly by the pronouncement of God to make Israel his "chosen people" or "treasured people".

ה וְעַתָּה, אִם-שָׁמוֹעַ תִּשְׁמְעוּ בְּקֹלִי, וּשְׁמַרְתֶּם, אֶת-בְּרִיתִי--וִהְיִיתֶם לִי סְגֻלָּה מִכָּל-הָעַמִּים, כִּי-לִי כָּל-הָאָרֶץ. 5
Now therefore, if ye will hearken unto My voice indeed, and keep My covenant, then ye shall be Mine own treasure from among all peoples; for all the earth is Mine;
ו וְאַתֶּם תִּהְיוּ-לִי מַמְלֶכֶת כֹּהֲנִים, וְגוֹי קָדוֹשׁ: אֵלֶּה, הַדְּבָרִים, אֲשֶׁר תְּדַבֵּר, אֶל-בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל. 6
and ye shall be unto Me a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel.'

Quote: Wizard

Seriously, I think most of these stories have some basis in fact and got exaggerated through the centuries. What do you think is really at the core of the manna story?

Personally, I don't think the story of manna is more or less believable than the idea that God chose one tribe of people out of all the populations of the world.

But I can't think of any basis in fact that would explain a hundred feet of magic food that falls for 40 years. The plagues of Egypt sound more or less like observed phenomena, but not manna.

Quote: Pacomartin

Personally, I don't think the story of manna is more or less believable than the idea that God chose one tribe of people out of all the populations of the world.

But you must admit, that one tribe has
done extremely well for itself. Check
the Nobel Prize roster. Without Jews,
the world would be much worse off.

An odd coincidence, at best.

Quote: Evenbob

But you must admit, that one tribe has done extremely well for itself.

Quote: David Duke

Jews are vastly over-represented by proportion of population and vastly over-represented over far better qualified non-Jewish students! Their over-representation Harvard and in the Ivy League is not only incredibly disproportionate against European American students, but also wildly disproportionate against every other racial group in America

Boy is David Duke going to be shocked when he dies and finds out that Jews really are the chosen people.

Quote: Pacomartin

Manna is a supernatural substance which fed the Israelites for 40 years. According to classical rabbinic tradition, the Israelites had not reason to defecate while eating manna, and that it fell in layers hundreds of feet high. It dissolved when gentiles tried to touch it.

It worries me that alleged adults believe these kinds of things...

Quote: Pacomartin

The story of manna is followed very quickly by the pronouncement of God to make Israel his "chosen people" or "treasured people".

This is getting off topic, but why did god lead his "chosen people" to the only place in the Middle East without oil?

Quote: Wizard

This is getting off topic, but why did god lead his "chosen people" to the only place in the Middle East without oil?

The reason they have Israel is because nobody
else wanted it in 1947, it was desolate and
worthless. No oil, no nothing. They turned
it into the vibrant place it is today.

Quote: Evenbob

The reason they have Israel is because nobody
else wanted it in 1947,

I think their history there goes back further than 1947.

Quote: Wizard

I think their history there goes back further than 1947.

Yes, but the reason hardly anybody complained
in 1947 was there wasn't any oil there. Nobody
else wanted it much.

Quote: Wizard

There was a question about manna on Jeopardy the other day. It got me to thinking, what is manna anyway? We know it was something god gave the Israelites to eat, I think when they were fleeing Egypt.

Also, is there any common etymology with the Spanish word manar, which means to flow. Perhaps because manna flowed from god?

The question for the poll is what food is the most similar to manna?

I have high expectations for a good answer from Nareed, Paco, and FrG.

Some people think manna might have been these seeds. The carob tree is related to locust trees, which make bean-like pods with hard seeds within. (I enjoy removing locust seeds from their pods and throwing each one as hard as possible against a hard wall or floor to hear the sound they make. Try it yourself but protect eyes! Can you figure out the cause of the unusual sound they make?)

Quote: Evenbob

The reason they have Israel is because nobody
else wanted it in 1947, it was desolate and
worthless. No oil, no nothing. They turned
it into the vibrant place it is today.

There were a million inhabitants displaced according to the Balfour agreement. Would you care to declare where the borders of Israel are and stop any further expansion beyond that line? Ever heard of "Haifa" oranges? Quite popular around the world before Balfour.

Please don't respond to this without reading it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Man...

Actually, it started in Biblical times when Isaac stole Ishmael's inheritance.In modern times it started in 1922(Arab armies-no Jews participated(outside of Arab Palestine, Jews fought with the Ottomans)-threw off the Ottoman Empire Occupiers(few Turks owned land in Arab Palestine)-the UN then assigned Britain as an occupier when the ILLEGAL Foreign European Jewish immigrants swelled Arab Palestine's(93% Arab) from less than 5% Middle Eastern Jews to 35%(mostly European Jews). These Jews became belligerent, demanding a chunk of Arab Palestine for a homeland from the British UN assigned occupiers. The British attempted to set up POLITICAL, NOT, land borders for Jews and Arabs-this is the British Mandate. The Jews were not satisfied and formed murderous Jewish terrorist groups, labeled as such by the British-Likud(oops, IRGUN before being elected), the Stern Gang, Lehi, Levi, Haganah, and many others and started slaughtering their Arab hosts and stealing THEIR land to ILLEGALLY form Israel(UN ratified a day AFTER the fact) in 1948. The Israelies continue stealing Arab land through murder up to the present.They must stop laying the blame on God and the British.

You want REAL terrorists- makes the Nazis look like pansies- type Irgun in your Google browser - they are a murderous Jewish group one of many labeled as such by the British. Irgun was OFFICIALLY labeled murderous Jewish terrorist group by the British.No one associates Jews with being terrorists- the Irgun were worse than ANY Arab terrorist group- Irgun used grenades and car bombs to kill Arabs, foreign dignitaries, EVEN Jews opposing their methods, they sniped innocent unarmed Arabs in the back, dropped Arab men women, children, and, babies off building roof tops, bull dozed houses using tanks with Arab families being buried alive, doused Arabs in kerosene and burned them alive, poisoned water sources,crushed Arab women's belly's by stomping on them or standing on enough men on them until they were killed,gang- raped Arab women and young girls 13 and under, then shooting them as they screamed in terror, in non vital areas, finally, a fatal bullet to the head where the infamous IDF term"Confirming the kill" arouse.THEY WERE SO BRUTAL AND MURDEROUS, ANOTHER SUCH GROUP,HAGANAH, ATTEMPTED UNSUCCESSFULLY, TO REIN THEM IN.

GEE- Bottomline- the Jews slaughtered the Arabs and stole their land.

Biblically, Ishmael(Arabs) was born 23 years BEFORE Isaac(Jews).Technically Abraham was not Jewish-his ancestry is from Babylon inside the Arabian, not, Jewish, Peninsula/ Canaan/ God's promised land. He was Semitic, possibly Hebrew(Jewish and Hebrew are not the same-although laypersons consider them the same), he was not Jewish-may well have been Arab.