<P> Form critics regard this part of the manna narrative to be spliced together from the Yahwist and Priestly traditions, with the Yahwist tradition emphasizing rest during Shabbat, while the Priestly tradition merely states that Shabbat exists, implying that the meaning of "Shabbat" was already known . These critics regard this part of the manna narrative as an etiological supernature story designed to explain the origin of Shabbat observance, which in reality was probably pre-Mosaic . </P> <P> Exodus states that the Israelites consumed the manna for forty years, starting from the fifteenth day of the second month (Iyar 15), but that it then ceased to appear once they had reached a settled land, and once they had reached the borders of Canaan (inhabited by the Canaanites). Form critics attribute this variation to the view that each expression of the manna ceasing derives from different lore; the "settled land" is attributed to the Priestly tradition, and "Canaan's borders" to the Yahwist tradition, or to a hypothetical later redaction to synchronize the account with that of the Book of Joshua, which states that the manna ceased to appear on the day after the annual Passover festival (Nisan 14), when the Israelites had reached Gilgal . The duration from Iyar 15 to Nisan 14, taken literally, is forty years less one month . </P> <P> There is also a disagreement among classical rabbinical writers as to when the manna ceased, particularly in regard to whether it remained after the death of Moses for a further forty days, seventy days, or fourteen years; indeed, according to Joshua ben Levi, the manna ceased to appear at the moment that Moses died . </P> <P> Despite the eventual termination of the supply of manna, Exodus states that a small amount of it survived within an omer - sized pot or jar, which was kept facing the Testimony (possibly, adjacent to the Ark of the Covenant); it indicates that God instructed this of Moses, who delegated it to Aaron . The Epistle to the Hebrews states that the pot was stored inside the Ark . Classical rabbinical sources believe the pot was made of gold; some say it was only there for the generation following Moses, and others that it survived at least until the time of Jeremiah . However, the First Book of Kings states that it was absent earlier than Jeremiah, during Solomon's reign in the tenth century B.C. Form critics attribute the mention of the pot to the Priestly tradition, concluding that the pot existed in the early sixth century B.C. </P>

When did manna stop falling from the sky for the israelites