Exodus 16:13-15 And it came to pass, that at even the quails came up, and covered the camp: and in the morning the dew lay round about the host.… Bonar gives the following twelve reasons why manna cannot be identified with the exudation of the tarfa-tree. 1. The tarfa exudes only small quantities. The Arabs could not live on it for a week. 2. The tarfa only exudes at certain seasons — March and April. 3. The tarfa does not yield its exudation regularly, even once a year. 4. The exudations of the tarfa come out from the branches of the tree, they do not come down from the air or sky. 5. The tarfa exudations are in composition and consistency somewhat like honey. They are quite unfit for grinding, or pounding, or baking, or boiling. 6. The taste of manna is said to have been as fresh oil (Numbers 11:8). No one who has tasted the tarfa-manna would compare it to oil. 7. The tarfa-manna does not stink, or breed worms, in a single night. 8. The tarfa-produce does not evaporate as soon as the sun arises (ver. 21). 9. Tarfa-manna does not give particular quantities on particular days. 10. The tarfamanna is purgative medicine, not food. 11. The Israelites knew well the tarfatree, but they did not recognize the manna. 12. Israel could not have subsisted so long on this one food. Parallel Verses KJV: And it came to pass, that at even the quails came up, and covered the camp: and in the morning the dew lay round about the host. |
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