Bread in the Bible – The Meal He Wanted to Share

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The trail of “breadcrumbs” in the Book of Matthew starts with the devil tempting Jesus, goes to the Sermon on the Mount, nourishes thousands (including Gentiles), rises to challenge Pharisees and Sadducees, and comes to Matthew 26:26 and His last meal before the crucifixion. Those loaves of bread, leavened and unleavened, were physical and metaphorical. That bread feeds the body and soul of the Kingdom Jesus brought to His people and the world.

A true smorgasbord of facts, opinions, beliefs, and doctrines have fed the Christian world for hundreds of years. I have read recipes, mixed ingredients, risen and kneaded this study for a while. When heat is applied, a crust will still form with a soft inside and supply energy to the eater, but I am sure not everyone will want to finish their piece.   

Food, Eating, and a Meal

As this post I pondered, my mind wandered through the Bible from beginning to end. Our story (people) began in a garden eating and goes to a garden city where we will have a banquet. Many of our Bible stories and favorite characters have food or eating as part of their story. Jesus’ parables frequently featured food, fishing, farmers, or feasting. This last koinonia or fellowship Jesus wanted to share with His disciples was an evening meal. He sent John and Peter to prepare/arrange for the meal (Luke 22), they “sat” at a table, Jesus even washed the disciples’ feet (part of the “greeting” going into a Hebrew home). This party even had singing.

The Sacrament of Christian Communion started as two parts of a Jewish dinner. “Breaking bread” (G2800) and “broke bread” (G2806) both have references to eating a regular meal and communion (See Luke 24:30). Jesus’ last meal had unleavened bread (no yeast, it was Passover), it may have been a “matzah”. Not all “flat breads” are dry, hard crackers or convenient, tasteless wafers. I will stop and leave our denominational traditions alone.

This is a list of communion references, this is not a list of “body and blood” references Paul uses in his Letters – Matthew 26, Luke 22, Mark 14, John 6, and c. John’s reference about Jesus’ Body and Blood is in Chapter 6 after the Feeding of the 5,000 when Jesus is addressing people on the other side of Lake Galilee. John’s account of the last meal is in Chapter 13. Okay, I am going back to bread and SOME of the symbolism of His Body.

Bread

As I thought about bread in the Bible, the Holy Spirit reminded to include the seeds or grain, in this Kingdom teaching, that the finished loaf is made from. Oil, water, salt, yeast, and flavorings may be added as another study, but not today. Jesus used a sower, farmers, gardeners, and a bread maker when He taught about His Kingdom. Joseph saving grain in Egypt, Gideon preparing and protecting his grain, and Ruth in the fields of Bethlehem are important introductions of God’s thoughts on His Kingdom.

Passover is at the beginning of barley harvest; the wheat harvest is around Pentecost (See Ruth). Both of these grains were important to Israel. Sometimes it clearly says barley or wheat, but not always. Flour is ground up seeds of grain and does not always mean wheat. Unless it was a new crop, the bread that Jesus’ broke was stored away from the previous harvesting season and could have been either barley or wheat.

Unleavened bread (no yeast) is quick to make and bake, think about leaving Egypt. Yeast bread takes longer to make and bake and is really just a different loaf of bread. Yeast is not always bad. The grain offering at Pentecost was two loaves of yeast bread, that symbolizes Jews and Gentiles (Leviticus 23). The woman mixed yeast into a large amount of flour to represent how the kingdom should grow (Matthew 13:33).

For Jesus to have that loaf of bread to break the ground had to be prepared, seeds had to be sown, the grain was harvested and the poisonous tare seeds removed. Threshing to remove the husk was the last step before storing it until needed. Then many individual grains had to be ground together to make flour, so the final loaf of bread could be baked in a fire or hot oven. All of that sounds like Kingdom work to me.

Take and Eat

Matthew 26:26 – Jesus took bread, blessed and broke it, gave it out, and said, “Take and eat; this is my body”.

1 Corinthians 10:16 – Is the cup of blessing which we bless not a sharing in the blood of Christ? Is the bread which we break not a sharing in the body of Christ? (NASB)

The Body of Christ is an important topic in Paul’s writings. 1 Corinthians 12 and Romans 12 highlight his vision of the Body. In 1 Corinthians 11, Paul makes a point that he got the communion service “from the Lord”. You can get the feeling that Paul had some powerful times in the Lord’s presence. As a part of that revelation Paul and Luke add that communion should be a time of remembrance of the Lord and His Body -Luke 22:19 and 1 Corinthians 11:24 and 25. That word is used only one other time, Hebrews 10:3 and it is in connection with the sin sacrifice.

κοινωνία | Free Online Greek Dictionary | billmounce.com  koinonia or fellowship

ἀνάμνησις | Free Online Greek Dictionary | billmounce.com remembrance

Final Thought

Jesus’ last meal, before He said, “Tetelestai”, had wine and bread in it. In Matthew 26:28 He said His blood was poured out for the forgiveness of sins. In 1 Peter 2:24 it says that He took our sins in His body and put them on the cross and that His wounds were for our healing. His wounds bled and covered His body with His blood so that we could be saved and healed.

Mary through the Gospels

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Zechariah and Mary each asked a question in the Gospel of Luke; Zechariah was concerned about what the future held for him and Mary asked about the present and how God would fulfill His will. Zechariah got nine months of no speech and Mary received charitoo. This study of Mary came about because I wanted to see her journey through the Gospels.

When Mary said “yes” to God, I am pretty sure she was aware of how a pregnant, unwed teenager in Nazareth would be treated. She still said, “yes” and set an example for anyone who would follow her Son and His Father. The customs and traditions of 1st century Galilee are not our modern customs or verbiage. There has been a lot of ink used on the legends, traditions, and dogma that surrounds Mary, the mother of our Lord. Hebrew thoughts and familial relationships that were recorded in Greek have occupied some of this maelstrom of ink. The multiuse thought of “brothers” and kinswoman/female-relative did show up in this study. I did find that “cousin” was used once in reference to Mark and Barnabas.

συγγενίς | Free Online Greek Dictionary | billmounce.com kinswoman used 1x for Elizabeth

ἀνεψιός | Free Online Greek Dictionary | billmounce.com  Mark the cousin of Barnabas, 1x

God, “the Father of her Child” was her shield and buckler. The words of Gabriel, Elizabeth’s greeting, and Joseph‘s dream formed a wall around the obedient, young woman. Personally, some of the things I found were interesting, but they do not change the facts. The Virgin Mary’s Son willingly offered Himself as a “sin sacrifice” and rose from the dead. He now sits at His Father’s righthand waiting to come back and claim His Bride.

To find the references to Mary was not as easy as you may think. The translation you use will affect search terms and possible the number of times something is listed. I used several translations to check myself and I am still not sure I got them all. The terms I found and used include Mary, parents, His mother, dear woman, and mother of Jesus. In the RSVCE Matthew used Mary, in referring to Jesus’ mother, five times, Mark once, and Luke twelve times. John does not use her name, Mary, at all; instead, he refers to her as “Jesus’ mother”. My takeaway, Jesus had a mother who was descended from David and was called Mary. It was clear He loved and respected her His whole life.

John – “The disciple who Jesus loved.” On the cross Jesus transferred the care of His mother to John. We know John went and spent time in Asia and we assume Mary went with him. It would seem Luke had a personal interview with her, so Ephesus seems like a great location for that to have taken place. (Or Jerusalem, when John left Judah is unclear.) At first, I thought it strange John not using the name Mary, but now I view it as respect and separating himself from any thought that she was his birthmother.

I did not expect to change anyone’s thoughts or beliefs about Mary, but here are all of the times I found her referred to in the Gospels and Acts.

 Introduction – Luke 1:27, Matthew 1:18

Mary and Gabriel – Luke 1:30,34,38

Mary and Elizabeth – Luke 1:39, 41, 43, 46-55 this is Mary’s song of praise, 56

Mary and Joseph, Bethlehem, and Jerusalem – Matthew 1:18, 20, 24;Luke 2:5, 16, 19, 33, 34, 39

Mary and the Wisemen, to and from Egypt – Matthew 2: 11, 13, 14, 20, 21

Mary and Joseph in Jerusalem at Passover – Luke 2:41, 43, 48, 51

Mary (the mother of Jesus) and the Cana Wedding – John 2:1, 3, 4, 5, 12

His/Your Mother and His/Your Brothers – Matthew 12:46, 47, 48, 50; Mark 3:31, 32; Luke 8:20

Mary and His Brothers – Part 2 – Matthew 13:55; Mark 6:3; John 6:42

Mary the Mother of James. I have included these but there were many women named Mary at the Cross and Grave. Matthew 27:56 and Luke 24:10

His Mother and John at the Cross – John 19: 25, 26

Mary the Mother of Jesus – Praying   – Acts 1:14

Epiousios a Second Thought

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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 50th 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.

Zechariah and Mary – Christmas 2024

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Last Sunday I watched Brother Past, our unobtrusive head usher, welcome Mr. Present, the current chairman of the board, and Future, a new prospective member. Present and Future demanded Past seat them on the front row; it was tense.

Back in school, Ms. Uno told me that in the future; I, Trey, would be parsing words. Everyone actively laughed at me. Well, this present post will get to the root of the words of two important people in Luke 1 – Zachariah and Mary.

The tension, for me, comes the fact that both ask “how” and use an “indicative 1 singular” verb. Well, that is the way most modern translations read. Zechariah (1:18) and Mary (1:34) receive two different responses from Gabriel. Elizabeth got nine months of blissful silence, and Mary received charitoo. In Mark’s translation it would read, “How can I know?” In the Greek both verses share the word – ginōskō. At this point I will encourage factchecking, so use MOUNCE, Strong’s G1097, Luke 1:18 Greek Text Analysis (biblehub.com), and Luke 1:34 Greek Text Analysis (biblehub.com).

I view this as adding to my other Christmas post on Zechariah, and Mary. See Christmas Light | Mark’s Bible Study (ificouldteachthebible.com) for the star.

Zechariah or Zachariah (Not the Old Testament prophet)

This old cohen, who had faithfully served many years had been chosen for a special honor. He was to go into the empty Holy of Holies and burn incense, this was done in the seventh month on the Day of Atonement. (See Leviticus 16 and 23.) Paradigms and definitions, compare the meaning of cohen to priest.

Oh, the hallowed copy of the Ark that Moses had constructed has not been found; the real one was/is in Heaven. Metaphorically, we might say the Chest was about to be placed in Mary, (See The Poles and The Mercy Seat)

I looked but could not find an age requirement for serving as a cohen. Levities had to stop serving at the age of fifty (Numbers 8:25). In 1 Samuel 4:18 Eli was 98 and he had started at 58. How do you think his sons were doing as cohen?

Mary or Mariam

This teenage granddaughter of King David, through Nathan not Solomon, has a special place in history. Tradition and legend have been added to her story. She is found in the Gospels doing things at key points in Jesus’ story. I want to focus on two; her willingness to submit to the Father and her comment to the servant at the wedding, “Do whatever He tells you.” (NIV)

Two Forms of Ginōskō

Zechariah uses gnosomai and Mary uses ginōskō. Zechariah’s word is a future, middle voice form that shows he was concerned about himself and how it would affect him. Mary’s is a present, active voice that wonders how God is making this happen.

Compare and Contrast

Old vs. New. Law vs. Charitoo. Known vs. That Can’t Happen. Elijah vs. Elisha. Father God talked many times about Gentiles being part of His Family, and how the heart played into being a “branch on that vine”. Both were given a task: Zechariah would father a child that would announce that salvation was being provided; Mary would carry the Child that would provide the final offering, so we could be accepted again. Zechariah “knew” the Torah and may have been a Sadducee. Mary had some training, but she “knew” that a virgin of Judah would have a Child, and probably held to the teachings of the Pharisees. A light translation of that is no angels or miracles vs. angels exist and God can do anything He wants.

My parsing may not have been great, after all it is Grammer to me. My BIG takeaway is the new levels that Zechariah and Mary represent in the story of the Father sending His Son to bring His Family together.

Have a Merry Christmas and think about the Little Lamb who was born in Bethlehem.  

Bible 911 Exodus

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Exodus 9:11 – And the magicians could not stand before Moses because of the boils; for the boil was upon the magicians, and upon all the Egyptians. (KJV)

Exodus 9:11 is part of what God did to set His people free from bondage by bring them out from Egypt. This narrative is about the plague of boils verses 8 – 12. We will start with 9:11 and then look at the rest of this plague.

This is not the first time the magicians have been part of trying to keep Israel in Egypt, but it is the last time we hear about them. They played a role with the rod that became a snake, the water being blood, the frogs, and the gnats. In 8:19 they finally admit that “the finger of God” had done this. I want to think that was an admission of how great God is, but I am not sure of that. They could be part of the “officials” that were there to advise Pharoah. Their inability to “stand” before Moses is a serious blow to the aura of Egypt’s power and their beliefs. Anyway, they are not heard from again, I wonder if they recovered from their boils. This is on par with their later counterparts in Babylon not being able to supply what Daniel could give.

Strong’s Hebrew: 2748. חַרְטֹם (chartom) — an engraver, writer (biblehub.com)

Stood – These words for Moses before Pharoah and the magicians come from the same root but are different forms of the word. Strong’s Hebrew: 5975. עָמַד (amad) — to take one’s stand, stand (biblehub.com) Moses’ word means to stand and the magicians’ word implies not able to stand, it is the first time it is used in the Hebrew text. You can imply several aspects of the word but do your homework first. I just find it amazing that Moses was allowed to be standing and not made to kneel in the presence of this self-proclaimed god.

Boils – Strong’s Hebrew: 7822. שְׁחִין (shechin) — a boil, eruption (biblehub.com) The King James will have the word blains in this verse, look it up. This affliction was on man and beast, this is a first. Yes, the flies and gnats bothered both and may have left bites. The goddess Isis is the deity that the Lord is embarrassing here, she was over medicine and peace. This is a great pdf for the plagues. 10_Eqyptian_gods_10_Plagues.pdf (rice.edu) 2 Timothy 3 gives a name to these priests – Jannes and Jambres. Historical fact or legend, I do not know but that is what they have been called. Please note that only two names are listed.

The Egyptian people and the magicians or “soothsaying” priest took the brunt on this. Boils are not nice, so this must have been an attention getter. The text uses several words that our modern thinking may run together. Exodus 5:3 and 9:15 is deber, it is also used in 2 Samuel 24:15, when David counted the men. Strong’s Hebrew: 1698. דָּ֫בֶר (deber) — pestilence (biblehub.com)

Moses and Aaron

9:8-12 is about the boils, but it has several special things associated with it. The Lord addressing Moses and Aaron is also with the snake story (7:8, the first sign) and with the Passover (12:1, the last thing). The other ones are addressed just to Moses. I believe this shows plague #6 (number of man) that personally affects the Egyptians is significant. Why stress that both are present and told? Aaron was needed as the second witness to confirm the matter (he also was “speaking” for Moses). Two witnesses are seen again in Revelations 11:6.

“The Lord said” or its variations are used many times in the Bible, it is a very common statement/thought. I think we tend to overlook the importance of it. Strong’s Hebrew: 559. אָמַר (amar) — to utter, say (biblehub.com) (This is just one word for this statement or speaking.) Once upon a time I had started that study, I lost the notes, but it is more complex than you may think.  

How were they spoken to? An audible voice? Dreams or visions? Was a priest or elder in the Israelite community giving voice to the Holy Spirit? I know Moses was special, however, do not let modern paradigms limit your supernatural God. I am thankful that the Father gave us His written Word to help direct us, but Moses and the Prophets did not have that luxury. They had some of it, but they were writing it for us.

Soot

The carbon/mineral residue from burning fuel. Moses and Aaron took this black or gray powder from a kiln or furnace that may have been used by God’s Children. The NIV has “handfuls” of this carried before Pharoah and thrown into the air. This is one of the special things about Plague #6, so we will look at soot. Strong’s Hebrew: 6368. פִּ֫יחַ (piach) — soot (biblehub.com)

When this dust multiplied and settled all over Egypt, it metaphorically turned the country into a furnace. This is reflected in Deuteronomy 4:20, 1 Kings 8:51, and Jeremiah 11:4. In these verses Egypt is referred to as an “iron furnace” that held the Family. I will give you some links; thoughts and “facts” that can run all over the place.

Use a text analysis tool and study the other words like scattered, and abroad. The connections here are interesting.

Moses took a product of the slavery and just threw it into the air with his hand. No staff, proclamations, striking the ground, or warnings, just boils taking out the magicians and covering the people.

Moses did something to announce the plagues. That almond tree limb was present with every sign and wonder that Moses did.

  1. Staff-blood
  2. Staff-frogs
  3. Staff-gnats struck the dust
  4. Spoke-flies
  5. Spoke-animals die
  6. Moses threw soot in the air nothing was said to Pharoah-boils
  7. Stretch out your hand-hail
  8. Stretch out your hand-locusts
  9. Stretch out your hand-darkness
  10. Warned them about the coming death

I need to revisit my post The Wonders that Plagued Egypt; more study adds to your thoughts.

Contrary to the noise I heard during COVID about Jehovah “causing or letting” that plague occur; I see that He announced the plagues He sent, so there was no mistake. That does include the one that David picked when he counted the fighting men.

Pharoah

The snake that got eaten in Chapter 7. His role was pretty limited from one respect, do what the Lord wants or have your false support system exposed and judged. This politician-god tried to control the narrative by ignoring or haggling with Moses and God. With each haggle he was hardened, and his losses were compounded. It is interesting that his people, more or less, supported him through all of this.  

Exodus 911 has moved a few “tent pegs” in my thinking.