Numbers 11:4 and 5 say, "Now the mixed multitude that was among them lusted exceedingly; and the sons of Israel also wept again, and said, Who will give us meat to eat? We remember the fish we ate in Egypt for nothing, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic." Here we see that those who lusted for meat remembered the food in Egypt. In Egypt they had fish, cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions, and garlic, food which signifies the enjoyment of the world, but in the wilderness they had only manna (vv. 6-9).
Verse 6 goes on to say, "Now our soul is dried up, and there is nothing at all but this manna before our eyes." Manna signifies the heavenly Christ as the daily food for God's people. This is pointed out by the Lord Jesus Himself in John 6:29-35.
In the wilderness the people became bored of eating manna. Day after day, they received the miraculous supply of manna. No matter where they were, there was enough manna in the morning to feed more than two million people. This surely was a miracle. But even though the children of Israel witnessed this miracle daily for forty years, they were not affected by it in a positive way. Instead, they became tired of manna, even bored of eating it.
Manna is a type of Christ. If we are honest, we will admit that just as the children of Israel were bored of eating manna, we have sometimes become bored of eating Christ as our daily food.
"Now the manna was like coriander seed" (Num. 11:7a). This indicates that as food Christ is full of life. This food is a seed. When we eat Christ, He comes into us as a seed. Compared to corn or wheat, the coriander seed is tiny. Although this seed is very small, it is full of life, and it brings the life element into our being. As such a seed, Christ grows within us.
The appearance of manna was like that of bdellium (v. 7b). This indicates that manna was bright in appearance. Bdellium has been interpreted to signify two different substances, both a white transparent gum and a white pearl. The pearls produced by resin from certain trees are very much like the pearls produced by oysters. When the resinous gum that flows out of these trees hardens, it forms pearl-like balls. The word bdellium in 11:7b may refer to these balls. Both kinds of pearls are bright and transparent.