September 2, 2011
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The Victorious Life of Joshua Part 33
Jos 5:11 And they did eat of the old corn of the land on the morrow after the passover, unleavened cakes, and parched [corn] in the selfsame day.
Jos 5:12 And the manna ceased on the morrow after they had eaten of the old corn of the land; neither had the children of Israel manna any more; but they did eat of the fruit of the land of Canaan that year.
I kept wondering about this “old corn,” and why it is that the moment they ate it, the manna ceased. This is what I found on old corn and manna. I’m going to put the corn part first and the manna part after that, since the info is more extensive, and there are some points that I want to focus on that may take a few posts to get through.
Wheat – The most important cereal grass mentioned in the Bible. This was the bearded variety belonging to the genus Triticum. It was cultivated in Bible lands from early times (Gen.30:14). Egyptian wheat was the many-eared variety called “mummy wheat.”(I think this is the type most common in America, which many people have allergic reactions to.) This was also depicted on Egyptian monuments.
Wheat was sown after barley in November or December. It was usually broadcast and then either plowed or trodden into the soil by oxen or other animals (Is.32:20). This grain was used for bread (Ex.29:32) and was also eaten parched (Lev. 23:14; Ruth 2:14). It was used in ceremonial offerings (Lev.2:1; 24:5-7) and as an article of commerce (Ezek.27:17; Acts 27:38).
When corn is mentioned in the Bible, it refers to wheat, as corn was not known in Bible times (Ps. 72:16: Matt. 12:1; Mark 4:28). Jesus compared His death to a grain of wheat which must die to produce fruit (John 12:24).
Manna – the food that God provided miraculously for the Israelites in the wilderness during their Exodus from Egypt. (Ex. 16:35, 31, 33; Num. 11:6-9)
As long as the Hebrew people wandered in the Sinai Peninsula, they were able to gather manna from the ground each morning (Ex. 16:35). They ate the manna for 40 years, “until they came to the border of the land of Canaan” (Ex. 16:35) According to Joshua 5:12, the manna did not stop until the Israelites had crossed the Jordan River, had camped at Gilgal, had kept the Passover, and “had eaten the produce of the land.”
“What is it?” (Ex.16:15). This question, asked by the astonished Israelites, led to the name manna being applied to the “small round substance as fine as frost” (Ex. 16:14). Manna looked “like white coriander seed.” It tasted like “wafers made with honey” (Ex.16:31) or “pastry prepared with oil”(Num. 11:8).
The manna appeared with the morning dew. The Hebrews were instructed to gather only what was needed for one day, because any surplus would breed tiny worms and be spoiled. On the sixth day, however, the Israelites were permitted to gather enough for two days; they were forbidden to gather any manna on the Sabbath. Miraculously, the two days’ supply of food gathered on the sixth day did not spoil.
Manna could apparently be baked, boiled, ground, beaten, cooked in pans, and made into cakes (Ex.16:23; Num. 11:8). Moses even commanded Aaron to put a pot of manna in the Ark of the Covenant (Ex. 16:32-34), so future generations might see the “bread of heaven” on which their ancestors had fed. The New Testament records that inside the holy of holies in the Temple, the ark of the covenant contained, among other things, “the golden pot that had the manna”(Heb. 9:4)
Numerous attempts have been made to identify manna with substances found in the Sinai Peninsula. Insects living on the tamarisk bush produce a small sweet substance during the early summer that has been identified as manna by some scholars. But this substance does not fulfill all the biblical requirements for manna. Other suggestions have included resinous gums that drip from some wilderness shrubs. But such substances do not resemble the manna that the Hebrews gathered and ate. Manna certainly was nourishing, but it cannot be identified with any known food.
