like manna from heaven

Used to describe an unexpected benefit or assistance, especially when it comes at the time when it is needed most. The phrase is a reference to the Biblical story of the food that God miraculously provided to the Israelites as they wandered in the wilderness. I had no idea we would be getting a bonus this year, but it was like manna from heaven—just in time to pay some of my holiday bills. Having my family near me during this tragedy has been like manna from heaven for me.

manna from heaven, like

Any sudden or unexpected advantage or help. The word manna is used in the Bible, in Exodus (16:15), where it means a miraculous food that suddenly appears to succor the children of Israel on their journey from Egypt to the Holy Land. Exactly what it meant is no longer known, but it may have been a corruption of the Egyptian word mennu, the sweet, waxy exudation of the tamarisk tree. In English the term came to mean an unexpected welcome gift from heaven or some other benevolent source. It was already being used humorously in the early eighteenth century by Matthew Green (1696–1737), who wrote (in The Spleen), “Or to some coffeehouse I stray, for news, the manna of a day.”