Deuteronomy 8 Footnotes

8:3 The assumption that all Israel had to eat for forty years was manna is unfounded. On special occasions they ate quail (Nm 11:31-34), and since they were a pastoral people, they obviously maintained and consumed sheep, cattle, and other domesticated animals. We today have no idea of the nourishment value, or even the taste, of manna (see Nm 11:7), and it may not have been as undesirable as some believe. The real issue, of course, is whether or not God could provide for his people in such a miraculous manner; that question is a matter not of science but of faith (see Jn 6:31).