00:00How are you, my dear brothers?
00:03Greeting you again in this section of Knowing to Love,
00:07with the idea of getting to know our faith better and thus being able to love God and his church more.
00:13Today we have an interesting question from our brother Luis Fernando,
00:19The person writing to us from Tampico says,
00:23Father, I would like to ask you about the manna,
00:27And some experts—he puts it in quotes—
00:31I've been told that it's not really a gift from heaven,
00:35but it has a scientific explanation.
00:37This person told us that in the desert region where the people of Israel lived,
00:43During the exodus, there is a certain type of tree whose fruit is like very large pods.
00:49These pods open at night and a type of resin is added.
00:53that solidifies with the cold of the night,
00:58And this is what the Jewish people gathered in the mornings.
01:03But since I didn't know the origin of this resin,
01:07then they considered it bread from heaven.
01:11He also explained to us about the quail that the Jews caught during the exodus,
01:17This occurred because they were on a bird migration route.
01:24It turns out, then, that I'm confused.
01:28Is manna really bread that fell from heaven?
01:31Or is it tree resin?
01:32My dear Luis Fernando, this question you ask us is certainly very interesting,
02:01But in order to solve it, we will need to review some basic concepts.
02:06and give you an answer in a couple of sessions.
02:10Certainly, many of the events recounted in the Bible
02:14They are intended to be, or can be, explained by scientific reasons.
02:19But at the heart of it all is always the action of God
02:22that saves and performs true miracles.
02:26There are several explanations for the name of manna.
02:30One of them, which is the one offered to us by the Bible,
02:34The people, upon seeing the manna, did not know what that whitish layer covering the ground was.
02:40And they exclaimed,
02:42Manu, which in the popular translation offered by the author of Exodus means,
02:47what is this?
02:49Other authors believe that the Hebrews ate a similar food
02:54when they were in Egypt and whose name was precisely Manu
02:58and that the question should be translated rather,
03:03Is this Manu?
03:05But that's something we don't know.
03:07since the definition or meaning of the term
03:11It is still dark, it is opaque,
03:14We don't know exactly how to translate that expression into Hebrew.
03:18As for the tree that produces it,
03:22There is certainly a tree in the Sinai desert area,
03:25the place where the Israelites camped at that time,
03:29which is a type of tamarisk,
03:31whom the Bedouins call Man.
03:34On the other hand,
03:36This product also does not rot or breed worms.
03:40as the scripture says happened with the manna,
03:43because the resin in this product can be stored indefinitely.
03:48Finally,
03:49This resin is practically glucose.
03:51which could hardly have been the basis of the people's diet
03:55for all the time they were in the desert.
03:58Furthermore,
03:59While it is true that this tree surely existed
04:02in a greater quantity than exists today,
04:06There could hardly have been enough resin
04:09for all the people who ate it.
04:12So we can hardly explain,
04:16scientifically based at least on this resin,
04:20Let this be the manna that the Holy Scriptures tell us about.
04:24We'll end our explanation here.
04:26We'll continue in our next segment.
04:30Meanwhile,
04:30I wish that the Lord will always fill you with blessings.
04:33And I ask you,
04:34If these catechesis sessions are helpful to you,
04:37Share it with other siblings
04:38so that they too may know
04:39and love the Lord more.
04:41Many blessings to all.
04:43Until next time.
04:44Thank you!
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