Food(meal, meat)
“Food, from the verb to eat”
Summary
The substances consumed for nourishment, including vegetable and animal products, with the Mosaic law providing detailed regulations distinguishing clean from unclean foods.
☩Original Vegetable Diet
The original grant of the Creator gave man the use of the vegetable world for food. Orientals in general are vegetarians rather than flesh eaters, and there is reason to believe primitive man was a vegetarian. Not until after the Flood was animal food explicitly permitted to Noah, accompanied by a prohibition against eating flesh with the blood, which is the life.
☩Types of Food
The diet of eastern nations has always been light and simple, with vegetable food more common than animal. Among the Hebrews, bread was the staple food, accompanied by milk, butter, cheese, parched grain, legumes like lentils and beans, fruits, honey, olive oil, and wine. Fish was also consumed extensively, especially in Egypt and around the Sea of Galilee.
☩Mosaic Regulations
The Mosaic law specified which animals were clean for food: beasts that part the hoof and chew the cud; fish with fins and scales; clean birds excluding carnivorous and scavenging species; and certain locusts. Blood was strictly forbidden because 'the life of the flesh is in the blood' and it was appointed for atonement. Fat covering the intestines was also forbidden, being consecrated to God.
☩New Testament Teaching
Jesus used the term 'food' figuratively for spiritual nourishment which He Himself could give, describing His body as 'food indeed.' He taught that nothing entering a man from outside can defile him, declaring all foods clean. The early church debated dietary practices, with Paul teaching that all food is clean in itself and to be received with thanksgiving.
Related Verses374 mentions
See Also
References
- 1.John McClintock and James Strong, "Food," in Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature, vol. III (Harper & Brothers, 1867–1887).
- 2.James Orr (ed.), "Food," in International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, vol. II (Howard-Severance Company, 1915).
- 3.Andrew Robert Fausset, "Food," in The Englishman's Critical and Expository Bible Cyclopædia (Hodder & Stoughton, 1878).
- 4.F. N. Peloubet & M. A. Peloubet (ed.), "Food," in Smith's Bible Dictionary (Porter & Coates, 1884).
- 5.James Hastings (ed.), "Food," in Dictionary of Christ and the Gospels, vol. I (T. & T. Clark, 1906–1908).