In today’s story, I would like to take a closer look at a rather unusual thing that the Israelites had while wandering in the Sinai Desert after leaving Egyptian captivity.
For 40 years of wandering, the people of Israel ate manna every day, which they collected (they received 1 omer per family) 6 days a week, and on the 6th day they received a double portion (2 omers) to supply themselves for the 7th day.
One omer (or gomer) is a measure of volume, approximately 3.634 liters.
According to the Bible, manna fell from heaven, providing food throughout their 40-year journey.
Exodus 16:4-5,13-16,22,26,31
4 And the Lord said to Moses: Behold I will rain bread from heaven for you; let the people go forth, and gather what is sufficient for every day: that I may prove them whether they will walk in my law, or not.
5 But the sixth day let them provide for to bring in: and let it be double to that they were wont to gather every day.
13 So it came to pass in the evening, that quails coming up, covered the camp: and in the morning a dew lay round about the camp.
14 And when it had covered the face of the earth, it appeared in the wilderness small, and as it were beaten with a pestle, like unto the hoar frost on the ground.
15 And when the children of Israel saw it, they said one to another: Manhu! which signifieth: What is this! for they knew not what it was. And Moses said to them: This is the bread which the Lord hath given you to eat.
16 This is the word that the Lord hath commanded: Let every one gather of it as much as is enough to eat; a gomor for every man, according to the number of your souls that dwell in a tent, so shall you take of it.
22 But on the sixth day they gathered twice as much, that is, two gomors every man: and all the rulers of the multitude came, and told Moses.
26 Gather it six days; but on the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord, therefore it shall not be found.
31 And the house of Israel called the name thereof Manna: and it was like coriander seed, white, and the taste thereof like to flour with honey.
Some scientists identify the manna from the desert with some plant that the Israelites may have collected, such as an edible lichen known as almond tree, or dried tamarisk sap. But in this case, the harvest would take place 7 days a week, not 6. According to the Bible, the Israelites tried to find manna on the 7th day, but found nothing.
Exodus 16:27
27 And the seventh day came; and some of the people going forth to gather, found none.
This means that the manna was not a plant form that grew in the desert and produced fruit all week, otherwise it could also be harvested on the seventh day.
The Jewish Book of Zohar, which is a commentary on the Bible (actually the Torah), written by the Spanish Jew Mozes de Leon, and whose author is probably Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, contains an interesting description of a creature called the “The Old Man”. This “Old Man” consisted of a large head with several concavities, equipped with a beard, a nose, eyes, and two testicles and a penis. The head was transparent, and inside it was a lantern or other light source. In the upper part of the Old Man’s head there was supposed to be a brain in which “heavenly dew was distilled”, which, passing through other parts of the Old Man’s body, traveled from top to bottom, all the way to the testicles, where it was stored, and finally found an outlet in the outside through the penis.
This description intrigued two Englishmen, Rodney Dale and George Sassoon, thanks to which they developed a theory, written down in the book “The Manna-Machine”. They both studied natural sciences at Queen’s College, Cambridge, but devoted themselves to a different specialty, machine design.
According to the description in the Zohar, the English came to the conclusion that the “Age Old Man” was a machine powered by a small nuclear reactor (it operated continuously for 40 years), which produced food in a form similar to semolina from algae, e.g. chlorella.
According to the Zohar, the Bible and other accounts, the following conclusions can be drawn:
1. Only trained men had access to the machine, Aaron, Moses’ brother, and his sons.
2. They had to wear different clothes than their everyday clothes; the machine could emit a small amount of radiation, so there was a possibility of contamination.
3. There was a complete ban on using/eating dishes using yeast, because the machine, taking in air from the environment, could be contaminated, and with it the entire production of manna (Jewish Matzah may be the result of this).
4. Once a week the machine had to be turned off and washed, which meant overproduction on six days, which delivered a double portion on the sixth day, for the seventh day (Jewish Shabbat (or Shabbos) as the seventh day of the week, a day off from work may be the result of this).
5. The machine produced heat, which in the form of steam was visible above the tent in which the Old Man was kept.
Zohar
All holiness comes from the upper head of the three skulls (…) It is a blessing that flows in the vessels of the body until it reaches the organs called the army or testicles. It remains there until it is accumulated and passes from there to the holy beginning. It is white and is therefore called grace. This grace is found in the Most Holy (tabernacle) as it is said in the Psalm. (…) The heavenly Dew falls from the head into the skull and is stored there. (…) From this Dew they grind manna of the righteous for the world to come.
Taking into account that manna was SPECIFIED to each family (1 omer), the question arises whether, when collecting manna from heaven, they complied with quantitative norms and whether they collected as much manna as they could collect.
Second question: if it is not manna “from heaven” but a plant, why did the Israelites gather it only 6 days a week?
But the most important question for today is: is it possible that a technologically advanced alien civilization supported the development of one selected social group by giving them a technically advanced device that produced food in the desert for 40 years?
As usual, I leave the interpretation to each individual.