And had rained down manna upon them to eat, and had given them the corn of the heavens.
Psalm 78 retells Israel's story, and this verse is God's answer to doubt: heaven opens, and food falls on the desert floor. Commentators ask why God fed people who did not trust Him, and what this bread pictures.
God had already given water from the rock. Still the people doubted He could set a table in the desert. One writer shows what God sent, and what they did with it.
He had opened heaven and rained down manna, giving them the bread of the mighty. The people, however, turned from the manna and desired flesh. God sends them the flesh in greater abundance than the manna. This wonderful display of God's power should have led them to condemn their own grumbling. Instead, they used it as an excuse for their lust.
Faith cannot live on memory alone.
The past mercy and faithfulness of God will not give courage for a present difficulty. We must know God by a present faith. No reasoning from former mercies will give us confidence. "Can God furnish a table in the wilderness? … he struck the rock … can he give bread also!" Experience of goodness and power will not make a person trust it when a new need comes, or when lust is at work… The moment I assume anything cannot be for blessing, I limit God. This is a great sin — doubly so, when we think of all He has done for us.
The wording here is picture-language. Older translations read "the corn of heaven" where the ESV has "the grain of heaven."
These words are figurative. Psalm 78:24 speaks of "the corn of heaven." Psalm 78:25 is better translated: "man ate the bread of the mighty: he sent them food to the full." It doubtless refers to the manna.
A place that produces nothing is where God's own supply appears.
But this truth of the wilderness is not in itself a pleasant thing, but a bitter one. The good of it lies in the necessity which brings God in. The wilderness is the place where God displays His power and love most wonderfully. The people's need is what calls out this display. Had the desert brought forth bread for them, there would have been no bread from heaven. Had it produced water, there would have been no need for the water from the rock. We must not say God's supplies are merely measured to the need. They are far more than enough. But the need is what calls them out.
The name of this bread was a question. Years later the same question met the One it pictured.
"What is it?" asked the Israelites when they saw the manna for the first time, for they did not know what it was (Ex. 16:15). So this bread from heaven was called manna, which means "What is it?" Centuries later the Son of God stood before them, the heaven-sent fulfilment of the manna. They did not know Him either, although God had promised Him, just as He had promised the manna. When He told them He was the Bread from heaven, they said, "Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does he now say, 'I have come down from heaven'?" The Bread of life was there, and they did not know Him.
This food gives strength for the road. One writer links it to the food that once carried the prophet Elijah.
This food of the mighty gives such strength that we can walk through the wilderness of this world without growing weary. As "honeyed wafers," the sweetness of our blessed Saviour gladdens our souls. As fresh "oil," the energy of the Holy Spirit revives and renews us daily with the ministry of Christ. In this same wilderness, on his way to the same mountain, weary Elijah received a special cake from God. He went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights to Horeb, the mount of God (1 Kings 19:8). That was indeed the food of the mighty. God has given us "provision to the full" (Ps. 78:25).
- Need opens heaven. Had the desert grown bread, there would have been no bread from heaven. Empty ground brings God in.
- Grace answers doubt. They asked whether God could spread a table in the desert. He opened heaven and rained down the answer.
- Unbelief limits God. Old mercies do not carry you through a new trial. The moment you decide something cannot be for blessing, you have limited God.
- The name is a question. "Manna" means "What is it?" — and when the true Bread from heaven stood among them, they still did not know Him.
- The bread is for the road. Sent "to the full," it gives strength to walk the wilderness without growing weary — as Elijah walked to the mount of God.
Man did eat the bread of the mighty; he sent them provision to the full.
Psalm 78 retells Israel's story, and here the psalmist reaches the peak of God's giving: bread rained down on people who had nothing. Two questions follow: whose food is this, and what became of the nation that ate it?
Not everyone renders the Hebrew as "angels' food." One reference work calls the wording figurative and prefers a different translation.
These words are figurative. Psalm 78:24 speaks of "the corn of heaven," and Psalm 78:25 is better translated "man did eat the bread of 'the mighty': he sent them food to the full." It doubtless refers to the manna.
Does the name mean angels really eat? One writer weighs it, then stops where Scripture stops.
We read of angels taking food. How and why they do so we do not know. Manna is called "angels' food" (Psalm 78:25), but this is probably not to be taken literally… But as Scripture is silent on the subject, it is useless to speculate.
Read as "the bread of the mighty," the verse points to what the food did in those who ate it. The second half adds that it left them needing nothing else.
He dwells on it as bread from heaven, and then on the strength it gave. That is surely what is meant by calling it "the bread of the mighty" — bread that produces might… The marvel was great, and well suited to appeal to the heart: the food which the desert soil denied came to them from heaven! Think of the exact measure, double on the sixth day, following them wherever they went for forty years, until it stopped just after they crossed the Jordan. It was a stupendous miracle. No wonder imagination pictured it as "angels' food," as the Septuagint does, though the Hebrew does not. No wonder it really was "bread of the mighty," prepared in such a way and with such abundant care — like the food in whose strength Elijah went forty days and forty nights, through this same wilderness, "to Horeb, the mount of God." It was "provision to the full," leaving no possible need of anything else.
The manna's name asks a question. Another writer hears that same question again when Christ came.
"What is it?" asked the Israelites when they first saw the manna, for they did not know what it was (Exodus 16:15). So they called this bread from heaven manna, which means "What is it?" Centuries later the Son of God stood before them, the heaven-sent fulfilment of the manna, and they did not know Him — though God had promised Him, as He had promised the manna. When He told them He was the Bread from heaven, they said, "Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does he now say, 'I have come down from heaven'?" The Bread of life was there, and they did not know Him.
Psalm 78 sets this gift inside a record of rebellion. The people fed on this bread despised it and asked for meat instead.
The children of Israel despised the manna, God's gracious, all-sufficient provision for the wilderness. With hard hearts they said, "Oh that we had meat to eat! We remember the fish we ate in Egypt that cost nothing, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic. But now our strength is dried up, and there is nothing at all but this manna to look at."
after_note: DELETE… Let us beware, dear reader, that we are not guilty in the smallest degree of despising Christ, the true Manna, as the food of our souls, for let us not forget, this was the first point of departure with the children of Israel: they turned from the manna.
The same writer brings it to us. If we are weak, the fault cannot lie in the food.
God had provided for them, so how could that provision be anything but perfectly suited to their need? In fact, it was food to nourish a race of mighty men. Yet that wilderness food was only a picture of ours. What strength and courage this spiritual manna ought to produce in us! What spiritual heroes we ought to be!… If this is lacking, it is not that God's provision has failed, for that cannot be, but that we have despised it and turned away from it.
- Heaven's source. The desert soil gave nothing, so the food came from above. It fell in exact measure, doubled on the sixth day, and lasted forty years until Israel crossed the Jordan.
- Might given. "Bread of the mighty" means bread that produces might, like the meal that carried Elijah forty days to Horeb.
- Full measure. "Provision to the full" means the food left them needing nothing else.
- The true bread. Manna means "What is it?" Israel asked that of the bread, and Christ's own people asked it of Him when He came as the Bread from heaven.
- Might refused. Israel's first step away from God was turning from the manna. If strength is missing in us, the fault lies with the eater, never with the food.