Manna

Question:

God could not send the manna until all the wheat and grain were gone.

Comment:

The phenomenon of “manna from God” for the Israelites in the wilderness is discussed extensively in Exodus 16, although I can find no specific statement that "God could not send the manna until all the wheat and grain were gone." Certainly it was their inability to feed themselves in the desert that prompted the crisis—and it seems to be a characteristic of the human experience that it's only after exhausting all our own efforts to solve the problem on our own that we turn to Spirit to find the resources we need. There are many ways in which the manna illustrates the availability of divine support—and the ways in which our ego minds can complicate things. It cannot be saved or accumulated, for example; it was “sufficient unto the day” and no more. Accumulation is based in fear—fear that God may not provide tomorrow—and God does not respond to fear. Further, once the Israelites reached their own land and could provide for their own needs, the manna stopped. It's not that God stopped providing. It's that God now provided through farming, cultivation and the process of life.   The Talmud—Jewish commentaries on Scripture—are filled with embellishments and interpretations of the manna events. The Wikipedia article on manna is a good place to start, with lots of references for further exploration.   Blessings!

Rev. Ed