Manna
The word translated as “manna” in Exodus 16 is the masculine noun מן (man). It comes from a root word meaning “what, how, why, how much, etc”. Basically an all-purpose question word like “huh?”. The word translated “maneh”, the unit of measure, is the masculine noun מנה (maneh), and comes from the word meaning “to count, number”.
The words are similar not just in spelling but also in idea. Because to answer the question of “what/how much/why” (manna), one way to answer that is to “count/number/investigate it” (maneh). By an extension of the idea of “counting”, the word also means “allotment”.
Each day, the Israelites gathered a portion of the bread. Daniel 1:5 uses maneh this way, “the king allotted [maneh] them a daily portion of the king’s food...”. A daily measuring out of what you eat, a maneh according to this scripture, is precisely what the Israelites did, measuring no more or less than an omer for 40 years! Why does that matter?
The seeds in a sheaf of grain defined the omer as a bowl containing about 2.5 pounds (1.1kg) of grain. The volume of that bowl in turn defined the golden talent at 96 pounds (43.5kg). 1/50th of that golden talent is a golden maneh which weighs the exact same as the amount of manna in an omer!
One omer of gold by volume is a talent!
One omer of gold by weight in manna is a maneh, 1/50th of a talent! How amazing is that!
What’s more amazing is that these two cornerstones of God’s monetary system even look alike!
Now if you’re paying close attention, you noticed I played some shell games with the numbers there. An omer of barley is 2.5 pounds. A maneh of gold is is 1.92 pounds. These are in a similar range, but not close enough. But if you were paying attention, I also said that the maneh was equal to the weight of a bowl of MANNA, not barley! Why do I stress that?
Numbers 21:5 And the people spake against God, and against Moses, Wherefore have ye brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? for there is no bread, neither is there any water; and our soul loatheth this light bread.
This light bread! Bread that weighed less than barley! We know that the manna was “oily” and therefore, had a high fat content, which would be necessary for health if that was your sole food. Fat weighs significantly less than carbohydrate by volume, so a given volume of fatty “grains” of manna would be much lighter than a given volume of pure barley!
