Bread of Angels

Psalm 78 is the great historical psalm of the Book of Psalms — a maskil of Asaph, the second-longest in the entire book. Part 1 opened the gateway: we tell the coming generation. Part 2 told the wonders of the sea and the rock. Part 3 faced the daring question — "Can God furnish a table in the wilderness?" — and the doors of heaven opened. In Part 4 the table is truly set: the bread comes down, the meat arrives on the wind, the people eat their fill — and then comes the painful turn.

Part 4 (verse 1 and verses 25-31) is the story of the greatest abundance in the wilderness: man eats the bread of angels, winds carry meat like dust and sand of the seas, and it all falls straight into the camp, to the full. Yet at the very peak of plenty hides the fall — the craving that cannot stop. The food is still in their mouths, and the wrath already rises.

The central verse, chosen as the name of the song, is:

"Man did eat angels' food: he sent them meat to the full"

This is the heart of the chorus: the manna is not mere food — the Sages taught it is the bread of the ministering angels, bread from heaven's table set before a man in the desert. Not a ration of survival — provision to the full.