Throughout the Bible, bread was of great importance. It was a source of food, a currency of exchange, an example of hospitality, and even a gift from God. Because bread was of such great importance in the Israelites lives, it became a term that represented the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus became known as the “Bread of Life.” This paper will go into more depth about the importance of bread and the “Bread of Life.”
1. The Old Testament
In the Old Testament bread was thought of as one of the main basic human needs to sustain life. It was a main food source and was important for life. In the Old Testament in particular it is a source of hospitality and thanksgiving to God.
In Genesis 18, the Angel of the Lord and two other Angels visit Abraham to inform him about his future child. Abraham shows hospitality to his angelic guest by providing an extravagant meal, which included bread. Sarah even took the time to bake fresh bread for them. Another form of hospitality including bread is in Exodus 2:20. Moses helps Reuel’s. or Jethro his future father-in-law, daughters water their flocks. As thanks for helping his daughters, Reuel asks Moses to eat with them, or “break bread.”
In Exodus, the Lord tells the Israelites to bake unleavened bread for their deliverance from Egypt. The Israelites had to leave Egypt quickly and they were told to make unleavened bread because they did not have time for the bread to rise.
After the Israelites were delivered from Egypt, they were nomads for many years and were completely dependent on God to provide for them. God provided Manna, a flaky substance that was baked into bread, for them so that they could eat. God created rules about how much they could collect so that the Israelites would trust Hi...
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...ut the Old and New Testament. As Christians we should share the “Bread of Life” with others, just as Reuel shared with Moses and Abraham shared with his angelic guests. We cannot keep the “Bread of Life” hidden away to ourselves; we have to share it with all non-believers so that they can partake in the bread, or the Lord’s Supper, too.
Works Cited
Eliade, Mircea. The encyclopedia of religion . New York u.a.: Macmillan u.a., 1987.
The Zondervan expanded concordance . Grand Rapids: Zondervan Pub. House, 1968
Sakenfeld, Katharine Doob.The new interpreter's dictionary of the Bible . Nashville, Tenn: Abingdon Press, 2006.
Roehrs, Walter Robert, and Martin H. Franzmann.Concordia self-study commentary . Saint Louis: Concordia Pub. House, 1979.
Vermès, Géza. The complete Dead Sea scrolls in English . New York, N.Y., U.S.A.: Allen Lane/Penguin Press, 1997.
Bread Givers is a book about Jewish heritage and culture. The plot is about the touching story of a young woman growing up, finding herself, trying to find her way to success, while dealing with day-by-day problems. It is about four daughters, their caring and gentle mother and their very bossy and tyrannical father. The father married them off, one by one to men that they did not really like. For the most part, these men turned out to be complete morons and self-cente...
The Bible: The Old Testament. The Norton Anthology of World Masterpieces. Ed. Sarah Lawall et al. Vol 1. 7th ed. New York: Norton, 1999. 47-97.
A primary concern of the Campbell’s was the restoration of “the ancient order of things,” mostly to bring the church and its worship to the standards of New Testament. Rediscovering worship in the light of scripture they observed that the New Testament church regarded two major elements in their worship, to gather the first day of the week and to break bread. Hence, the weekly breaking of the bread became the trademark of the Disciples of Christ worship.
Passover and Exodus explains the promise god made to Abram he will restore blessing to his children and the next generation. Passover is the time god decided that he will never his suffer again. Passover was made for a sacrifice to god and even Jesus had a Passover before he died for our sin to be forgiven. After my reading from the Jewish ADONAI spoke to Moshe and Aharon in the of Egypt. God told them to begin your calendar with this month. Speak to all the assembly of Israel and say on the tenth day of this month each man is take a lamb or kid for his family one per household except that if the household is too small for a whole lamb or kid, then he and next door neighbor should share one, dividing it in proportion to the number of people
...s and have nothing to eat” (Mark 8:2). Jesus commanded his disciples to give them something to eat. This wellspring of concern for those in need is like a genetic trait passed down to the followers of Jesus. While the book of James is perhaps the most forthright in expressing the church’s need to honor the poor and warn the rich, concern for those in need pervades the New Testament.
of merely a few pieces of bread sprinkled in salt or dipped in wine, and with a
Harris, Stephen. Understanding The Bible. 6 ed. New York City: McGraw-Hill Humanities/Social Sciences/Languages, 2002. Print.
Following the creation story of the book of Genesis is the book of Exodus. In Genesis, God promised Abraham a “great nation from which all nations of the earth will be blessed (Gen 12:1-3)” and in Exodus God completes this promise through the creation of the holy nation, Israel. Exodus tells the story of the God who rescued his people out of Egypt because of the promise he had made to Abraham. God calls to Moses to complete his promise. God’s call to Moses is not only important because he liberates the Israelites but also because God reveals His name(s) along with His true Nature. God calls upon Moses and tells him that He’s back to help the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt and that Moses is to lead them. God then gives him full instructions on what to tell the Pharaoh and, more importantly, the Israelites, who are promised, land “flowing with milk and honey”.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993. Beale, G.K. The Book of Revelation. The New International Greek Testament Commentary. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1999.
Hospitality as a theme in any literary work may not seem that it is important. However, in two pieces of work it becomes important to the telling of the story. The Odyssey is a classical Epic poem of Greek literature, written by Homer in 8th century B.C and translated by Robert Fagles. The Bible books Genesis and Exodus are collections of writings that were written down a very long time ago. Although there is one main story of the Bible, there are many translations, the New King James version which will be a source that I refer to later on. The characters in the Odyssey and the Bible show hospitality through food, banquet, welcoming in strangers and being humble in similar ways. …….Hospitality through the welcoming of strangers in The Odyssey and in both books of The Bible plays the most important role. There are certain rules of hospitality that are needed, you must invite a stranger into your home, do not ask them their name before they have sat and dined at your table, and sometimes you would be able to give gift offerings. If these rules of hospitality are not carried out, the consequences are very severe. Hospitality is to be given to all by all no matter . Being a good host is very important. It is a sign of respect for all no matter where they are from or how poor they appear to be. This rule of hospitality would mean that as soon as you see a stranger, you invite them into your home to sit at your table just as King Nestor in The Odyssey did “As soon as they saw the strangers, all came crowding down, waving them on in welcome, urging them to sit” (Homer, trans.1996, p.38). King Nestor did not hesitate to...
Once they lost hope and faith they began to become disobedient by creating and serving other gods. They looked to other deities and fail to recall the specific and all around one of the most important rule that was given to them. Because of their disregard of rules they were punished. The simple fact that they were so quick to build not one but many other gods because they were tired of waiting on Moses to come back from talking to God, shows how they really struggled with
Carson, D, & Moo, D. (2005) An introduction to the New Testament. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.
The New Interpreter's Study Bible: New Revised Standard Version with the Apocrypha. Nashville: Abingdon Press, ©2003.
Holy Bible: Contemporary English Version. New York: American Bible Society, 1995. Print. (BS195 .C66 1995)
“I have a ration of bread under the sack. Divide it among you three. I shall not be eating anymore”