274 Treatise on 
known, under the fame Name, to the Ifraelites ; 
who perhaps afligned it afterwards to that Celeftial 
Food which God fent down for their Support in the 
Defert, only becaufe it had fome Refemblance of 
the Manna they were before acquainted with *. 
The ancient Greeks by the Word MaW under- 
ftood the fmall Pieces of Frankincenfe, as we have 
obferved Chap. VII. Artie . VI. and the fweet Juice 
which was imagined to fall down in the Form of 
Dew they called AgocropiXi, E (viz.) 
Honey -Dew, aerial Honey , and Honey -Oil. Under 
thefe, or other Terms of the like Purport, it fre- 
quently occurs in their Writings. Ariftotle feems 
* That the Manna, wherewith the Ifraelites were miracu- 
loufly fupported in the Defert, was a Subftance of a peculiar 
Nature, and different from all other Sorts of Manna, may rea- 
fonably be concluded from its having different Qualities, 
which rendered it proper for Food ; but that the Ifraelites 
were acquainted with any Sort of Manna before they came into 
the Defert does not fo evidently appear. M. Geoffrey fuppofes 
that the Word Man has the fame Signification in the Hebrew 
with Manna , and therefore that the Words Man-hu, Exod. 
c. xvi. v. 1 5. the Expreffion of the Ifraelites upon finding it, 
ought to be tranflated it is Man or Manna ; whence it would 
feem that fome fuch Thing was known to them before. For 
this Interpretation he brings the Authority of Salmajius : I 
fhall however take the Liberty to fubjoin, in Defence of the 
common Tranflation, Part of a Note which I find in an old 
Edition of the Bible (viz.) “ When the People of Ifrael in 
the Defert had fpent their Prouifion of Meate brought from 
JEgypt, and according to God’s Promife had receiued Store 
“ of Quailes ; going forth in the Morning they fa we a ftrange 
“ Thing lye upon the Ground like to hoare Frolt, whereat 
“ maruelling they faid one to an other : What is this / in their 
“ Language Man hu ! Whereupon , faith Iheodoret (q. 30. in 
(i Exod.) their Demand was turned into the Name , and it was 
“ called MannaN This indeed feems the moft probable Inter- 
pretation, becaufe the Words immediately following inform us, 
that they knew not what it was. But we mull leave the De- 
cifion of this Point to thofe who are verfed in the Hebrew 
Tongue. 
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