Charles Ellicott Commentary Exodus 16:14

"And when the dew that lay was gone up, behold, upon the face of the wilderness a small round thing, small as the hoar-frost on the ground." — Exodus 16:14 (ASV)

Was gone up — that is, was drawn up by the heat of the sun.

A small round thing, as small as the hoarfrost.—What the manna was has been much disputed. There are two natural substances, quite distinct, with which it has been compared, and by some persons identified.

One is a deposit from the air, which falls indiscriminately on trees, stones, grass, etc., and is generally thick and sticky, like honey, but under certain circumstances is “concreted into small granular masses.” This has been described by Aristotle (Historia Animalium 5.22), Pliny (Naturalis Historia 11.12), Avicenna (p. 212), Aelian (Historia Animalium 15.7), Shaw, Forskal, and others. It has been called ἀερόμελι or “air-honey” (Athenaeus, Deipnosophistae 11, p. 500).

It is collected by the Arabs and eaten with their unleavened cakes as a condiment. It resembles the manna in that it comes with the dew, is spread upon the ground generally, and melts when the sun’s rays attain a certain power (Oedmann, Miscellaneous Collections, vol. 4, p. 7). However, it is never found in large quantities, it does not fall for more than two months in the year, and it is wholly unfit to serve as the principal food for humans, being more like honey than anything else.

The other substance is a gum which exudes from certain trees at certain seasons of the year, due to the punctures made in their leaves by a small insect, the Coccus manniparus. It has been described at length by C. Niebuhr in his Description de l’Arabie (pp. 128, 129); by Rauwolf (Travels, vol. 1, p. 94); Gmelin (Travels through Russia to Persia, Part 3, p. 28), and others.

It is comparatively a dry substance, is readily shaken from the leaves, and consists of small, yellowish-white grains, which are hard and have been compared to coriander seed by modern writers (Rauwolf, 50s.100).

The name “manna” is given in the East to this latter substance, which is used both as a condiment, like the “air-honey,” and also as a laxative. The special points in which it differs from the manna of Scripture are its confinement to certain trees or bushes, its comparative permanence (for it “accumulates on the leaves,” Niebuhr, p. 129), and its unsuitability as food. It also, like the “air-honey,” has only a short season—the months of July and August.

The manna of Scripture in certain respects resembles one, and in certain other respects the other of these substances, but in its most important characteristics resembles neither and is altogether sui generis. For:

1. It was suitable as the principal nourishment for humans and served the Israelites as such for forty years.
2. It was supplied in quantities far exceeding anything recorded of the natural substances compared with it.
3. It continued throughout the whole year.
4. For forty years, it fell regularly for six nights in a row and ceased on the seventh night.
5. It bred worms if kept to a second day when gathered on five out of the six days, but when gathered on the sixth day, it remained good throughout the seventh and bred no worms.

The manna of Scripture must therefore be regarded as a miraculous substance, created ad hoc, and not as a natural product. It pleased the Creator, however, to proceed, so to speak, on the lines of Nature and to assimilate His new creations to certain of His old ones.