MANNNA, a Scripture term, signifying a miraculous kind of food which fell from heaven for the support of the Israelites in their passage through the wilderness.

The critics are divided respecting the original of the word manna. Some think that man is put instead of the Hebrew word mah, which signifies What is this? and that the Hebrews, when they first observed the new food which God had sent them, cried to one another, man hu, instead of mah hu, What is this? Others contend that the Hebrews knew before what manna was; and that, seeing it in great abundance about their camp, they said one to another, Man hu. This is manna. Salmasius and some other moderns are of the latter opinion. They imagine that the manna which God sent the Israelites was nothing but the fat and thick dew which still falls in Arabia, which being instantly condensed, served as food to the people; that this is the same thing as the wild honey (mentioned in Matth. iii. 4), with which John the Baptist was fed; and that the miracle of Moses did not consist in the production of any new substance, but in the exact and uniform manner in which the manna was dispensed by Providence for the maintenance of such a great multitude. On the contrary, the Hebrews and orientals believe that the fall of the manna was wholly miraculous. The Arabs call it the "sugar-plums of the Almighty;" and the Jews are so very jealous of this miracle, that they denounce a curse against all who presume to deny the interposition of a miraculous power. According to our translation, and some others, Moses is betrayed into a contradiction in relating this story of the manna. In rendering it, they say, "And when the children of Israel saw it, they said one to another, It is manna; for they wist not what it was" (Exodus, xvi. 15); whereas the Septuagint, and several authors both ancient and modern, have translated the text according to the original, "The Israelites seeing it, said one to another, What is this? for they knew not what it was." We must here observe, that the word by which they asked, What is this? was in their language man,