18, 19. (a) What was the manna that Jehovah provided for the Israelites? (b) What manna was hidden? (c) What is symbolized by the eating of the hidden manna?

¹⁸ In Moses’ day, Jehovah provided manna to sustain the Israelites during their wilderness journey. That manna was not hidden, for each morning​—except on the Sabbath—​it appeared miraculously, like a flaky hoarfrost covering the earth. It was a divine provision to keep the Israelites alive. As a memorial, Jehovah commanded Moses to keep some of this “bread” in a golden jar inside the sacred ark of the covenant “throughout [Israel’s] generations.”​—Exodus 16:14, 15, 23, 26, 33; Hebrews 9:3, 4.

¹⁹ What a fitting symbol! This manna was hidden in the Most Holy compartment of the tabernacle, where the miraculous light that hovered over the Ark’s cover symbolized the very presence of Jehovah. (Exodus 26:34) No one was permitted to penetrate that sacred place in order to eat the hidden manna. However, Jesus said that his anointed followers who conquer would eat “the hidden manna.” Like Christ before them, they get to enter, “not into a holy place made with hands, which is a copy of the reality, but into heaven itself.” (Hebrews 9:12, 24) At their resurrection, they put on incorruption and immortality​—a marvelous provision of Jehovah, symbolized by their being given the imperishable “hidden manna.” How privileged that small group of overcomers is!​—1 Corinthians 15:53-57.

[Picture on page 45]

A portion of manna was hidden in the ark of the covenant. Being given symbolic hidden manna means for conquering anointed ones that they receive immortality