Food in the Bible
From Genesis to Revelation, food
has a vital role in the Biblical account. Eating the forbidden fruit led
to the Fall of mankind from grace. Jesus ate broiled fish when He appeared
to His disciples after the Resurrection as proof that He had indeed risen
bodily from the dead.
God originally intended
man to be vegetarian. In Genesis 1:29, God tells Adam:
"Behold, I have given
you every herb yielding seed which is upon the face of the earth and every
tree in which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be
for food."
Staple foods in the
time of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were grains (wheat and barley) and legumes,
particularly lentils, supplemented by a variety of vegetables and fruits.
This diet would have been nutritious and balanced, providing proper proportions
of carbohydrate and protein, as well as healthily low in fat.
Grain was eaten in several
ways--the simplest being to grab some heads of grain in a field--anybody's
field, since such was not considered stealing if it was done by hand.
"When thou comest into
the standing corn of thy neighbor,
then thou mayest pluck the
ears with thine hand;
but thou shalt not move a
sickle into thy neighbor's standing corn,"
(Deuteronomy 23:25)
This practice was still
common in Jesus's time, and His disciples were known to eat grain in this
manner:
"At that time Jesus
went on the Sabbath day through the corn;
and his disciples were hungry,
and began to pluck the ears of corn, and to eat."
(Matthew 12:1)
Raw grain was hard to
digest, so under normal circumstances grain was cut (by its owner) when
ripe and threshed by trampling it with large animals or beating it with
sticks. Whole grain was also milled into flour.
Grain was not always
ground into flour. It was also eaten "parched." a process accomplished
by toasting ripe ears of grain over a fire for a short time (Leviticus 2:14).
Both wheat and barley
were grown, but while wheat was preferred because of its superior flavor
and ability to rise when leavened, barley was more often sown since it
was easier to grow in Palestine's poor soil and dry climate.
While wheat and barley
were the principle grains cultivated in Palestine, they were not the only
ones. As noted in the story of Ezekiel, millet and spelt were also grown
(Ezekiel 4:9). Spelt is mentioned in Exodus 9:32; it is similar to wheat
in appearance and taste, but has larger kernels or "berries." Spelt is
better tolerated by allergic individuals than wheat, and it contains more
protein, fat, fibre, as well as monopolysaccharide carbohydrates which
are thought to stimulate the body's immune system.
Lentils were the most
popular legume in Bible times, no doubt due to their ability to thrive
in dry, poor quality soil. Lentils are mentioned several times in the chronicles
of David, and also in Ezekiel's bread recipe.
Nebuchadnezzar's table
would likely have included meat and other rich delicacies. Four hundred
years before Daniel's time, Samuel the prophet had predicted "a king who
will reign over you.", (1 Samuel 8:11). In the King James Version of the
Bible, the king's food is referred to as "meat", but the American Standard
Version of 1901 calls these foods "dainties." Babylonian dainties, according
to Harper's Bible Dictionary, "may have been delicate meats, rich cakes,
or confections".
Dainties are referred to in
Psalm 141:3-4:
"Set a guard over my
mouth O Lord, keep a watch over the door of my lips:
Incline not my heart to any
evil, to busy myself with wicked deeds.
In company with men who work
iniquity And let me not eat of their dainties!"
And in Proverbs 23:1-3:
When thou sittest to
eat with a ruler, consider diligently what is before thee:
And put a knife to thy throat
if thou be a man given to appetite.
Be not desirous of his dainties for they are deceitful meat.
As for the "pulse" or vegetables Daniel asked for, pulse (from the Latin "puls") specifically
refers to legumes such as lentils and beans, but in this instance may have simply been a
generic term for vegetables of any sort. "Pulse" may also have been a "trail mix" for long
journeys made with dried vegetables, fruit and grains in grape seed oil and walnut oil.
Daniel 1:15 states "at the end of ten days it was seen that [Daniel and his three friends] were
handsomer and stronger than all the youths who had been eating the king's food." Thus Daniel won
his suit, and was permitted to continue eating a vegetarian diet.
In Biblical times, most common people were vegetarians, but more out of necessity than religious
reasons. Only royalty and the wealthy could afford to eat meat regularly. And there was no practical
way to store meat as salt was also a commodity of the wealthy.
Meat was usually reserved for holiday feasts or receptions when enough people
would be present to eat all of the meat. Size may also have had something to do
with the Hebrew partiality for veal -- the "fatted calf" mentioned on several
occasions (Genesis 18:7; 1 Samuel 28:24; Amos 6:4; Luke 15:25-32). A calf is a
smaller, more manageable amount of meat to consume without waste. Goats were also
eaten, as noted in the story of Jacob and Esau; and lamb was a fairly common
meal since it was the preferred sacrificial offering.
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