173
ROYAL ARCH.
The Pot of J:lanna. The manna was a small, round thing" as smu,]1 as the honr-frost on the ground. It is described in Scripture as being like coriander seed, ",-hite, and t.he taste of it like wafers made with honey. "" The nalue is supposed by scholars to be derived from the t,YO words: ?nan'J'Lu, 'what ,is this? For forty years this article was miraculously supplied to the Israelites, while sojourning in the wilderness, it having ceased while they were encan1ped at Gilgal, immediately after they had celebrated the passover for the first time in the promised land. Three distinct miracles accompaniecl the gift 6f manna, all wrought in attestation of the sanctit.y of the Sabbath; and \vhich, in this connection, serve to remind the 1\10S011 of those early instructions which he receiv'ec1 as a Fello'w-Oraft t\1lc1 1'Iark 1\:I:aster. These miracles were as follo\ys: 1. A double quantity \vas supplied on the sixth day; 2. On the Sabbath, or seventh clay, none was furnished; 3. That 'which was kept fro1l1 the sixt.h to the seventh day'wa.s good and gweet, while that which \vas kept from any other day to the next day bred worms and became offen... sive. To commemorate this long-continued and 'wonderful miracle, ]rIOSES "ras instructed that a golden pott should be provided, and that an omer or one man's portion of the manna should be put therein, and be laid up in the side of the ark. There it was to remain for their genera.tions so long as the ark itself existed, as a 'menlorial of the miraculous manner in which the children of Israel were supplied 'with that article of food for forty)"'enrs in the wilderness. This pot is depicted on Samaritan roec1als in the fornl of an urn, with a lid or cover. The Rabbins considered the mallna to be a type of the Jewish lfessinh, who was to be the spiritual food of his people. It masonically teaches lIS that as the Isrnelites fed on nl~1nlla from heaven, so shoulc1 'we spirituall)' feed on that Truth, which is t,he great object of our investigations.
* Exodu~, xvi., 31.
t Hebrews, iX., 4:.