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In our modern day, a wide variety of vitamins and supplements are available. What nutrients are necessary and beneficial? What if scientists had the original manna God sent the Israelites from heaven for food to analyze to see its’ nutritional value to engineer similar diets & supplements?
When it comes to our health, diet is important. For our soul, diet is insufficient. Even with a God-given diet of manna and meat, God was spiritually disappointed with most of the people, illustrating the lack of spiritual value in observing numerous ‘religious’ dietary restrictions that seem godly merely on the surface. The Lord is much more interested in our following him. The Son of God made this clear, explaining it’s what emanates from the heart that defiles a person rather than what one eats.
What is manna? It is a flaky white bread like honey flavored wafers provided by God. Because this was a key part of the people’s diet, either God fortified this flavored bread with added nutrition or the bread contained nutrition naturally.
The description of the flaky manna bread described in the Bible is reminiscent of Baklava, though it is not Baklava. Baklava is present in Turkish and Greek food, and other cultural food, with the Greek variety having a greater honey emphasis.
Exodus 16:32-35 (ESV):
32 Moses said, “This is what the Lord has commanded: ‘Let an omer of it be kept throughout your generations, so that they may see the bread with which I fed you in the wilderness, when I brought you out of the land of Egypt.'” 33 And Moses said to Aaron, “Take a jar, and put an omer of manna in it, and place it before the Lord to be kept throughout your generations.” 34 As the Lord commanded Moses, so Aaron placed it before the testimony to be kept. 35 The people of Israel ate the manna forty years, till they came to a habitable land. They ate the manna till they came to the border of the land of Canaan.
Matthew 15:16-20 (ESV):
15 And he said, “Are you also still without understanding? 17 Do you not see that whatever goes into the mouth passes into the stomach and is expelled? 18 But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person. 19 For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. 20 These are what defile a person. But to eat with unwashed hands does not defile anyone.”
1 Corinthians 8:8-9 (ESV):
8 Food will not commend us to God. We are no worse off if we do not eat, and no better off if we do. 9 But take care that this right of yours does not somehow become a stumbling block to the weak.
Exodus 16:12-15 (ESV):
12 “I have heard the grumbling of the people of Israel. Say to them, ‘At twilight you shall eat meat, and in the morning you shall be filled with bread. Then you shall know that I am the Lord your God.'” 13 In the evening quail came up and covered the camp, and in the morning dew lay around the camp. 14 And when the dew had gone up, there was on the face of the wilderness a fine, flake-like thing,fine as frost on the ground. 15 When the people of Israel saw it, they said to one another, “What is it?” For they did not know what it was. And Moses said to them, “It is the bread that the Lord has given you to eat.
Exodus 16:31-32 (ESV):
31 Now the house of Israel called its name manna. It was like coriander seed, white, and the taste of it was like wafers made with honey. 32 Moses said, “This is what the Lord has commanded: ‘Let an omer of it be kept throughout your generations, so that they may see the bread with which I fed you in the wilderness, when I brought you out of the land of Egypt.'”
Baklava
(1) http://www.kitchenproject.com/history/Baklava.htm
(2) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baklava
(3) http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Baklava
(4) http://www.sarahmelamed.com/2010/04/baklava-arabian-delights/
(5) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israeli_cuisine
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Courtesy of 
BibleOpia Blog 
