taken from the Christian Living Today website
... there is no bread, neither is there any water; and our soul loatheth this light bread.
Numbers 21:1-9
This is another name given to the manna by men. At best the word translated ‘light’ means insubstantial, and at worst ‘despicable’ or ‘disgusting’, coming from a root sometimes translated despised or cursed. Linked with this is another strong word. “Our soul ‘loatheth’ this light bread”. This word, according to Gesenius’ lexicon, is onomatopoeic and suggests the sound of vomiting. At best, Strong says it signifies ‘to be weary of’. Perhaps the range of aversion to the manna suggested by the words used existed among the people. This description of the manna suggests not now Christ incarnate or unrecognised but Christ rejected. “He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief” (Isa 53:3).
The manna is said to have resembled coriander seed. Coriander seed is almost spherical, and this helps us to interpret the word translated ‘round’ (Exod 16:14), for it can have other meanings. Does it not speak of the eternal coming into time? It is also small and white, telling us of His amazing humility and absolute purity. On closer examination, this little seed reveals what lies behind the meaning of its name and thus yields another very precious picture of the Saviour. Coriander means ‘furrowed’: the seed is not smooth but has longitudinal furrows covering its entire surface. Thinking of these furrows our minds go to Psalm 129:3 “The ploughers ploughed upon my back: they made long their furrows”. We hear the rejected Christ say “I gave my back to the smiters” (Isa 50:6). It has been said that the manna “bore the marks of rough usage”.
Before the manna could become food for God’s people it had to be subjected to pressure and to heat (Exod 16:23; Num 11:8). Both of these things speak of trial, of suffering. Dwelling on the sufferings of the rejected Christ we too are strengthened for our journey through a hostile world. Paul, when “pressed out of measure, above strength” (2 Cor 1:8) rejoiced, “For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ” (2 Cor 1:5). He was comforted by the one who had passed the way before. Peter, speaking of “the fiery trial” (1 Pet 4:12) exhorted the suffering saints to “rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings” (4:13). Both were feeding on the manna of a rejected Christ.
