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Beshalah

The Sun Grew Hot and the Manna Melted

Not only the Israelites enjoyed the manna. They would gather it in the morning, and later in the day the sun would melt all the manna that remained. The animals enjoyed that liquid, and in their wake, other nations enjoyed the manna as well.

“And the sun grew hot and it melted” (Exodus 16:21). Once the sun shone upon the manna, it would gradually liquefy, and streams of it would flow and reach the Mediterranean Sea. The deer, the gazelle, the fallow deer, and all the animals would drink from it. Thereafter, the nations would come and hunt those animals and eat them, and taste in them the taste of manna that would fall for the Israelites. (Mekhilta deRabbi Yishmael, Beshalah, Mesekhta deVayisa 10)