Exodus 16:35 Wrote:And the children of Israel ate the manna for forty years until they came to an inhabited land. They ate the manna until they came to the border of the land of Canaan.
So the Israelites ate the 1 omer's worth of bread over 40 years? How often did they eat it? What portion sizes did they eat? Was it a formal part of a ceremony or ritual? Was it like Jesus multiplying the fish such that there was always a sufficient supply for all to eat? When Exodus 16:34 uses the term "preserved" does that describe not only the freshness of the bread but its quantity as well?
Robert's response:
The previous verses in particular verses 16, and 21 to 24, make it clear there was an Omer each day, though there was a double portion on Friday which lasted for both Friday, and Saturday the sabbath.
They ate it every day. The portions were up to the individual which they could take from daily Omer.
It was not part of any ceremony or ritual though they would have said a blessing as thanks to Hashem both before and after their meals.
The "mon" to be preserved with the Ark (verse 34), unless disturbed, would have remained as it was when new as confirmed by the words for your generations" in Exodus 16:32, below. This preservation would have been achieved either by the means available at the time, or by Hashem deploying supernatural power.
Quote:Exodus 16:32:
32. Moses said, This is the thing that the Lord commanded: Let one omerful of it [the "Mon" (Manna)] be preserved for your generations, in order that they see the bread that I fed you in the desert when I took you out of the land of Egypt.
Translation extract source:
https://www.chabad.org/library/bible_cdo...ter-16.htm