The expression "manna from heaven" is heard by many. Often people use it, without even thinking about where it came from and what it means.
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The origin and meaning of phraseology
The most common meaning of phraseology is saving help, a very necessary gift, unexpected luck, miraculously received long-awaited benefits. This popular expression is often used in cases where help in difficult circumstances comes from nowhere and at a time when it was not expected at all.
Believers often use these words to denote spiritual or divine food, God's grace.
Nowadays, the phrase is often used in an ironic sense. If someone says about a person that he has to “eat manna from heaven”, this means that the person mentioned does not know what, can’t eat fully, is interrupted by casual earnings and can’t arrange his life. If they say about someone that he is “waiting for the manna from heaven,” this means that such a person does not want to exert his efforts and hopes that all problems will somehow be miraculously solved without his participation.
The legend of manna from heaven
The Bible details the origin of this expression. The story of manna from heaven is recorded in the book of Exodus; there are also references to it in the Numbers. In the first version, food arose like hoarfrost and resembled honey cakes, in the second it looked like hail, the size of a coriander seed, with the taste of cakes with oil.
When the Israeli people left Egypt, they had a long time walking in the desert.Exhausted by hunger and heat, people began to murmur and resent Moses, who brought them out of the country where, although they worked hard, they could eat normally and fully.
At the command of God, manna began to fall from the heavens to the earth in the form of a cereal resembling hoarfrost.
This happened only in the morning, and when the rays of the sun began to warm the earth, it disappeared. Heavenly food appeared every day, except Saturday, during the whole time of the wandering of the Israelites in the desert. On Friday, Jews were supposed to collect twice as much cereal to cook food for two days immediately. The rest of the time, it was necessary to raise exactly as much manna from the earth as needed for one day, and prepare food from it, consuming everything to the end. The remainder of cereals or cooked food spoiled overnight. Some people were naughty and collected too much manna in reserve, but in the morning they saw that worms wound up in the semolina and it became unusable. Others also disobeyed the instructions of the Lord and yet went out in search of the cereal on Saturday morning, but it was nowhere to be found. Because of this, God often punished the people.
The Almighty ordered to collect bread from heaven into a jug and store it in the Ark of the covenant to remind future generations of the timely help of the Creator. The manna stored in the Ark did not deteriorate or disappear for many years.
This biblical story is full of secrets and mysteries. Scientists are still not able to explain how this could happen and put forward various hypotheses. One of the most common is about unique lichens, from which small balls of white color spilled out when the fruits cracked. However, it is difficult to imagine how much of this plant was supposed to grow in the desert in order to feed a multimillion-dollar Israeli society for four decades. Another common version is about plant sap.
Examples from writers
In the writings of famous domestic and foreign writers, this expression is quite common (F. Dostoevsky, O. de Balzac, J. D. Selinger). It is used both literally and in an ironic sense. This helps to emphasize the negative or positive qualities of the character, to outline his character, lifestyle.
Use cases in Islam
Islamic tradition also has a similar belief. The Qur'an mentions that Allah sent manna and quails to the people of Israel. But here with this word they mean not white cereals, but any products that can be easily collected in a natural way. However, divine help did not benefit the people, who further continued to murmur and resent, while harming themselves.
Another view of the origin of manna from heaven
Our usual semolina or semolina has nothing to do with the biblical product. But still, many believe that it was named after the manna that came down from heaven. In Aramaic, such a word sounds like "Man-hu." According to legend, the Jews constantly asked this question to their leader, seeing an unknown white substance on earth. There is also the Arab origin of this winged expression. It is believed that it came from the word "mennu" - food or food.
