1. The Messiah was also expected to bring down manna.
Midrash Ecclesiastes 1:9 (9B): R. Berekhiah (ca. 340) said in the name
of R. Isaac (ca. 300), “Like the first redeemer (i.e., Moses), so also the last
redeemer (= Messiah). As it says of the first redeemer, ‘Moses took his wife
and sons and let them ride on a donkey’ (Exod 4:20), so also it will be with
the last redeemer; see Zech 9:9, ‘Low and riding on a donkey.’ Just as the
first savior brought down manna, ‘Behold, I will rain upon you bread from
heaven’ (Exod 16:14), so also the last savior will bring down manna, ‘Wheat
bread will lie upon the earth’ (Midr. Ps. 72:16). Just as the first savior
caused the well to rise, so also the last savior will cause water to rise; see
Joel 3:18, ‘A spring will go out from the house of Yahweh.…’ ” ‖ On Mid.
Ruth 2:14 (132B), see § Matt 2:15, toward the middle. There, it says toward the
end of the citation, “R. Isaac b. Marion (ca. 280) said, ‘In the end, God
reveals himself to them and lets manna descend upon them, for there is nothing
new under the sun.’ ” Parallels can be found in Pesiq. Rab. 15 (72);
Pesiq. 49B; Midr. Song 2:9f. (100A); Num. Rab. 11 (162B). In the last two
passages, it is the Messiah himself who lets the manna come down.—See further
at § Rev 2:17.
2. Glorification of manna.
TanḥumaB בשלח
§ 22 (34A): The peoples of the world could not taste it (the manna) because it
was like bitter wormwood in their mouths. What did they do? They caught a
gazelle that drank of it (after it had melted [Exod 16:21]), and so they got a
taste of manna. And they said, “Blessed are the people who have this!” R. Yose
b. Hanina (ca. 270) said, “The taste of manna was not the same for children as
it was for the old men. How did it taste for them? To the children, it tasted
like milk; see Num 11:8, ‘Its taste was like the fat of the mother’s milk’
(according to the Midrash, which associates לשד
in Num 11:8 with שַׁד
the mother’s breast). To the young men, it had the taste of honey; see Exod
16:31, ‘Its taste was like honey cakes.’ To the old men, it tasted like bread;
see Exod 16:4, ‘Behold, I will rain upon you bread from heaven.’ To the sick
man, it tasted like fine flour mixed with oil and honey, like barley grain made
for a sick man; see Num 11:8, ‘They boiled it in a pot.’ And where is it said
that it had the taste of fine flour and honey? Ezekiel 16:19 says, ‘And the
meat which I gave you; fine flour and oil and honey, I gave you to eat.’ Every
man had a different taste of it in accordance with his strength.”—Parallels are
in SNum 11:8 § 89 (24B); b. Yoma 75A; Exod. Rab. 25 (86B). ‖ Mekhilta Exodus
16:21 (58A): R. Joshua (ca. 90) said, “Whoever desired something baked, it
(manna) was baked for him. Whoever desired something cooked, it was cooked for
him.” R. Eleazar of Modiim († ca. 135) said, “Whoever desired something baked,
he tasted (in the manna) everything baked in the world. Whoever desired
something boiled, tasted everything boiled that there is in the world.” ‖
Mekhilta Exodus 18:9 (66B): “Then Jethro rejoiced in all the good” (Exod 18:9).
R. Joshua (ca. 90) said, “The good manna is what the Scripture is talking
about.” They said to him (Jethro), “In the manna that God has given to us, we
taste the taste of bread, the taste of meat, the taste of fish, the taste of
locusts, the taste of everything in the world.” ‖ Numbers Rabbah 7 (147B): “And
now our soul is dried up, nothing is there for our eyes except manna” (Num
11:6). R. Simeon b. Yohai (ca. 150) said, “Did they ask for meat? Did they not
taste all the delicacies of the world in the manna? He who desired meat tasted
it (had the taste of meat); he who desired fish had the taste of it; he who
desired chicken or pheasant or peacock had the taste of anything he desired.
Why then did they grumble? They were looking for an excuse to return to Egypt.”
‖ A baraita in b. Yoma 75B: “ ‘The man ate the bread of the strong’ (Ps
78:25). It (manna) was the bread that the angels of service eat.” These are the
words of R. Aqiba († ca. 135). When these words were said before R. Ishmael (†
ca. 135), he said, “Go out and tell Aqiba, ‘Aqiba, you are mistaken. Do the
angels of service eat bread? Does it not say in Deut 9:9, “I did not eat bread,
and I did not drink water”? But how do I explain “bread of the strong” (Ps
78:25)? Bread that was eaten up by the 248 members אֵבָרִים (interpretation of אַבִּירִים in Ps 78:24) (so that no excretion was
necessary).’ ” Parallel passages are in Mek. Exod. 16:15 (57B); SNum 11:6
§ 88 (24A); Midr. Ps. 78 § 3 (173A). (Philip W. Comfort, New
Testament Text and Translation Commentary: Commentary on the Variant Readings
of the Ancient New Testament Manuscripts and How They Relate to the Major
English Translations [Carol Stream, Ill.: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.,
2008], 2:554-55)
