This passage describes the miracle of the manna, a heavenly form of sustenance God provides for the Israelites during their forty years in the wilderness.
Manna was a small, round substance (see Exod. 16:14)
Manna appeared like a hoar (white) frost on the ground (see Exod. 16:14)
Manna looked like a coriander seed (see Num. 11:7)
Manna was the color of bdellium, similar to the color of a pearl (see Num. 11:7)
Manna tasted like fresh oil (see Num. 11:8)
Manna also tasted like wafers made with honey (see Exod. 16:31)
Manna was called “angels’ food” (see Ps. 78:25)
Manna was called the “corn of heaven” (see Ps. 78:24)
Christ says He is the “living bread which came down from heaven,” comparing Himself to the manna in the wilderness (see John 6:23-51). The manna represented salvation, as it nourished the people of Israel in the wilder- ness; without it they would have perished. Manna was crushed and beaten before it was eaten (see Num. 11:8), just as the body of Christ was beaten and bruised for man’s redemption (see Isa. 53:4-5).
The phrase hoar frost (v. 14) is unique. The root word for hoar frost in Hebrew is kephowr, a word akin to the word kippur. Yom Kippur is the Hebrew phrase meaning “Day of Atonement,” the sixth appointed season of Israel’s seven feasts. It was the day when the high priest entered the Holy of Holies and sprinkled the blood on the mercy seat of the Ark of the Covenant to “atone” for himself, the priests, and the people. The word atone- ment is mentioned eighty times in the English Bible; the Hebrew word is kaphar, meaning “to cover, to appease and to purge,” is used seventy-five of those eighty times. It is a word used to describe what happened once a sacrifice was offered before God. When the Lord saw the blood being poured out, the sacrificial blood was cover- ing the sin and purging the conscience of the offender. Many blood offerings were atonement offerings for sins and transgressions.
How unique that manna fell from heaven, covering the ground like a frost. It was as though God was looking ahead in time when the true bread from heaven, Christ, would come down and spill His blood on the ground to atone for all mankind, providing the eternal covering for all who would receive this eternal Bread of Life.
From Page 150 of the Perry Stone Hebraic Prophetic Old Testament Study Bible
