correction (manna in Ark of the Covenant)

Followup: wasn’t manna placed in the Ark of the Covenant?

May 21, 1999

Dear Straight Dope:

I am writing in response to the Mailbag article on the Ark of the Covenant. In your answer, you said, “the Ark housed the tablets with the original Ten Commandments … nothing else.” However, all my years of Sunday School must have done me some good because I remember something about a jar of manna in the Ark. So, I looked it up, and sure enough, Exodus 16:33-34 says Moses told Aaron to get a container and put two quarts of manna in it and to keep it in a sacred place from generation to generation. Aaron did this, just as the Lord had instructed Moses, and eventually it was kept in the Ark in the Tabernacle. Then, I looked up the verse you quoted, I Kings 8:9 and, behold, you were right too. So, my question now is, what happened to the jar of manna?

— Jamie R., Ohio

SDStaff CKDexterHaven replies:

You have to read these things more carefully, Jamie.

In Exodus 16:33-34, Moses instructs Aaron to place the jar of manna “before the Lord, to be kept throughout the ages.” Aaron follows instructions, and places the jar “before the Pact, to be kept.” The Hebrew is very clear–the preposition is “before” (L-P-N-Y) not “in” (B-) … and you are correct that this is shorthand for “before the Ark that contains the Pact.” The Pact is the covenant, the Ten Commandments. So the jar of manna was put in front of the Ark, not in it.

Similarly, after the revolt of Korah, in Numbers 17:19-25, Aaron’s rod is placed “before the Pact”–same Hebrew.

So there’s no contradiction here. The Ark was kept (eventually) in the center room of the Tabernacle, later the Temple. The only thing IN the Ark were the two Tablets, as per Kings and Chronicles … and the jar of manna and Aaron’s rod were put next to (in front of) the Ark. What happened to them? Unknown; they’re not mentioned again. Best guess would be that they got lost somewhere during the time of Judges (say, 1200 to 1000 BC) when the Ark and Tabernacle roamed around the land, before David thought of bringing it to Jerusalem.

But as long as you brought it up, I’d like to remind you that the manna lasted only one day; by the next morning, “it became infested with maggots and stank.” (Exodus 16:20) … so I suspect that the jar of manna wasn’t real attractive a few days after Aaron scooped it up. Maybe Moses changed his mind about keeping it around.

As an interesting aside, the word translated as “jar” (Hebrew: Ts-N-Ts-N-T) is unique, no one knows what kind of vessel it means. The Septuagint (Greek translation) renders it “stamnos” (jar for storing wine); but Jeremiah 32:14 suggests earthen jars were used to store things “to last a long time.” Sealed with wax, this type of jar was an effective (and common) way to store valuables. Some of the Dead Sea Scrolls found in the caves at Qumran (say, around 50 BC - 50 AD) were preserved in such earthenware jars.

So, who knows? Maybe that jar of manna is still somewhere around to be found. But more likely not.

— SDStaff CKDexterHaven, Straight Dope Science Advisory Board


The SDStaff response above is incorrect. Please read Hebrews 9:4 which states “which had the golden censer and the ark of the covenant overlaid on all sides with gold IN which were the golden pot that had the manna, Aaron’s rod that budded, and the tablets of the covenant”

This belongs more in Comments on Columns. I’ll move it over there for you.

Also, welcome to the Straight Dope Message Board. I hope you’ll enjoy your stay here. We have fun.

Here’s a link to the original column.

First of all, you don’t have to copy and paste the entire column. A link is enough: If you don’t know how to make a fancy link like I just did, you can just copy and paste the address.

Second, what language are you reading that in, and if it’s any language other than ancient Hebrew, what translation are you reading?

Dex has responded to this before, I believe. The claim in Hebrews was written centuries if not millennia later. All it really does is say that the author of Hebrews interpreted the manna as being inside the Ark.

I do note he was making an assumption, though: that the rod was not placed in the Ark, either. If it was, then there’s no inherent reason you have to read “before the Pact” as meaning “before the Ark that contains the Pact.”

Still, it would seem odd that these would be lost if they were in the Ark, so Dex’s interpretation makes sense.

Dex suggests that these items may have been lost during the Judges period, when the Ark moved around a lot. During a part of this period, the Philistines had physical possession of the Ark (during which time, it caused them all sorts of troubles). So anything could have happened during that time.

Maybe when Aaron tossed his rod down next to the jar, the jar turned into a snake.