Deuteronomy 8:10: “When you have eaten and are satisfied, then thou shalt bless the Lord your God for the good land which he has given you.”
When I read this I think of a time a few years ago when I was eating in a restaurant and some good old Southern Baptist preacher in a white suit and red tie (talk about stereotyping) at a table on the other side of the room stood up and began to shout in his best booming preaching voice with all the thees and thous: “Lord we ask thee to bless this food…” I looked to see if anyone at his table were crawling under the table. None were, but I saw a few other people in the restaurant act like they were looking for a spot under their tables. Some actually bowed their heads, and the manager of the restaurant, well let me put it this way, Archimedes spent his life looking for the perfect circle, too bad he was not alive and in that restaurant, he would have found it formed on the lips of that manager.
Far be it that I would criticize another brother for praying, but I only offer this to present some Biblical issues I have with our Christian standard of asking a blessing over our food. The first is Deuteronomy 8:10, which offers the actual command to ask a blessing, does not necessarily say it needs to be publicly, out loud, with head bowed and hands folded. It also instructs us to bless the Lord, not the food. Ok, I’m splitting hairs.
The standard Jewish blessing for a meal is “baruch hamotsi lechem min haaets” (Blessed is he who brings bread out of the earth). The “He” is a reference to God. This passage says we are to bless God, not the food, nor over the food or not on the food. Still, I seemed to remember that Jesus said a blessing over the bread in Matthew 26:26: “As they were eating Jesus took the bread and blessed it.” Some translations say he blessed the bread, the NIV simply says he broke the bread and gave thanks.
Checking out my Greek New Testament I found that there are three verbs used in this passage “blessed, broke, and gave.” I could not find a direct object for these verbs. It is our English translators who felt compelled to put an “it” after each verb thereby adding fuel to the criticism that the Bible is full of contradictions. If someone tells me the Bible is full of contradictions, I usually agree with them, but qualify it by saying: “The English Bible is full of contradictions, but not the Bible in its original languages. In its context the blessing can only be a blessing to God. This phrase is repeated in Luke 9:16 but here it says he took the fish and “blessed them.” That is in the Greek. However, one of the earliest manuscripts, which makes it the most accurate manuscript, says: “He blessed for them.” In other words: “On behalf of everyone present, God we thank you.”
Jesus as a good rabbi blessed God after the meal like Deuteronomy instructed, but He also blessed God before the meal. There is absolutely nothing wrong with saying a blessing before the meal, especially since Jesus Himself did this. But let’s face it; the rabbi’s have a blessing for everything. The Talmud even gives a blessing for going to the bathroom, Berachot 60b. So you bless God as it goes in and …well let’s not go there.
The point is do we really think about what we are doing when we say the blessing on the food. Are we really asking God to do something special on the food that He has already provided? Is that prayer going to add some extra vitamins or kill off some harmful germs? The standard prayer seems to run: “God we thank you for this food and pray you will use it to nourish our bodies.” Well come on, what is the food suppose to do, kill us?
The other thing, although I have no problems with blessing God before a meal, is why don’t we follow the Biblical direction to bless Him after the meal as well? We don’t because the blessing is nothing more than a ritual. Something we do not from the heart but from habit or to impress God or those around us. Or maybe we do it in hopes it will ward off some possible food poisoning, it’s a great opportunity to demonstrate your spirituality to everyone, to show them how poetic you are or impress them with your rich holy voice. Or maybe just to get a good look at the food while your host has her eyes closed so you can make sure there are no hairs in the soup. Does anyone really listen to these spot loyalty oaths? If you were God would you?
The simple “God is good, God is great we thank Him for the food we eat” says it all. “Blessed is he who brings bread out of the earth” is the most Biblical. A simple “thank you” from your heart touches God’s heart. After all the word bless is spelled Beth Resha and Kap which represents a core value that joins your heart with God. Every meal we eat should be a reminder that our very life comes from God and when we thank him for our food we are acknowledging that.
What is prayer anyways. “Paul says pray without ceasing.” I Thessalonians 5:17 What does Paul mean by that. The word for ceasing in the Greek is adialeiptos which has the idea of no intervals, just one continuous flow. In the Aramaic the words used are lo shalwa which means no stopping. I mean we have to eat, interact with others, work we can not always be praying. That depends upon your definition of prayer. To a Jew, like Paul, prayer takes many forms. Helping others, visiting the sick, the prisons, ministering to others is all a form of prayer. Orthodox Jews were a skull cap. Some have called it a prayer cap and indeed it is. Since I am not Jewish I will not wear that so as not to offend my Jewish friends, but I do wear a baseball cap to accomplish the same purpose. The cap is always a reminder that we are in the presence of God and that everything we do we do as unto God. That is what prayer is to a Jew, it is always reminding yourself that you are in the presence of God and whatever you do you do as unto God.
Nothing wrong with prayer before a meal, but that should only be a manifestation of what you are already doing. I have heard it said: “Let’s pray and invite God into this meeting.” If I were God I might feel a little insulted, I mean doesn’t He have a standing invitation?
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