Bread in the Bible – Epiousios is my post on this great concept that first appeared in the Lord’s Prayer in Matthew. My second thought about this word/concept comes as I have mused on its possible meanings and origins. I will count myself as one who sees if it is in the New Testament, it has as a foundation in our Old Testament. So, what was Jesus thinking about in the Sermon on the Mount, and saying in Hebrew or Aramaic, that Matthew wrote in Greek with a brand-new word? I hope this gives you something to think about.

There are two separate provisions for food that caught my attention. I will say that even these flow from Father God’s desire for our faith to be proved as we pray for the miracle.

Manna for the Sabbath

Israel had seen the power of their God in the plagues He used to set them free. They walked through the Red Sea and danced about because of the deliverance. Then they complained instead of seeking that awesome God about water and food. What if? Father may your will be done and forgive us our debts. Yes, I have come a long way and still have some to go.

Exodus 16:22 is the instructions to collect a double portion AND that it would stay good for the seventh day. Work for six and fellowship on the seventh, nobody went hungry and not a lot of cooking. Prep and planning were needed, but that was still on the workday.  

The Year of Jubilee – This event/term gets thrown around a lot, but I am not sure that the “resting” part is properly brought into the sermons. See Leviticus 25:8. Jubilee is a second year of rest FOR THE LAND and the Children of God. It only happens every 50^th year and follows the Sabbath Year of rest, see Leviticus 25:1. Yes, the Father wanted His land to rest eight years out of every fifty. The exile to Babylon is tied to Israel’s failure to give the land its rest (See 2 Chronicles 36:21). Yes, there is more to that story. Yes, other things happened during Jubilee.

Work six and rest one, does that sound familiar? The Children had to have the faith that God would provide in the sixth year for the seventh, and in Jubilee that the sixth year would produce enough for two years and the following year until the crop had matured.

I want to believe that during Joshua’s lifetime that it was observed. We have to remember that in the travels of the Exodus they did not plant or store supplies. It is not recorded anywhere that Jubilee was observed. “What if” is the only thought that echoes in my mind.

One for a Gentile Widow and Elijah

1 Kings 17 has two narratives about miraculous provision. Elijah was fed by the ravens and the widow was able to feed Elijah and her family during a drought because of believing God’s word. These may not fit the pattern I gave, but they are still part of the lesson for faith and provision.

Give us today our epiousios bread.