Thought for the Month

Bread is one of two things which are bought when people panic‑buy at the shops here in Britain. Bread is one of the basic foodstuffs in many other countries such as in Egypt where according to Reuters about two‑thirds of the population eat bread subsidized by the government to prevent starvation. During the 1970s in Egypt there were riots when the government tried to reduce food subsidies. It illustrates how essential bread is.

One early reference to bread in the Bible was when Melchizedek, the priest of the most high God, brought Abraham out bread and wine. Melchizedek was going to bless Abraham whom God had delivered from his enemies. It does not seem that it was bread to eat for daily sustenance but as a solemn ceremony. (Gen.14:18)

Isaiah seems to combine these two thoughts in Isa.33:16. Israel had their enemies and there were threats of subservience and invasion. But the promise was that their bread would be sure. God would care for them when they trusted in Him and looked to Him for help; to trust and believe in Him and his promises as Abraham did in his day.

In Exodus God delivered the Hebrews from slavery in Egypt. In chapter 12 before the last of the ten plagues they were told to prepare a Passover lamb on the afternoon of the 14th of the month of Nisan. But also to eat unleavened bread with that meal. Bread, unleavened bread, was part of the meal they were to eat in haste. One can imagine the Hebrews, probably Hebrew women preparing the bread. The firstborn of the house were saved from death so long as the blood was on the doorposts. That Passover they were then to keep every year as a memorial. It would be forty years before Israel would keep the Passover in the promised land of Israel of our day.

At the Last Supper a new memorial was instituted by our Lord Jesus when he "took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is my body." (Matt.26:26) It is now this season of the year.

The apostle Paul clearly talks about the churches keeping that annual memorial of the Lord Jesus’ death as the Passover lamb. The surroundings in cities like Corinth were quite different to those in Israel. The people there had been involved with pagan worship mainly the Greco‑Roman gods prior to the gospel reaching them. Some were still being involved in pagan ceremonies as well as the bread and wine in memorial of Jesus’ death. Paul was stressing the importance of this memorial and its broader application when he said, "The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ? For we being many are one bread.and one body: for we are all partakers of that one bread." (1 Cor.10:16‑17) For they as a group were part of one loaf of bread. Mixing this with pagan worship was ruining the import of this solemn event, especially if they wished to be part of the body of Christ in heaven.

Paul at two other times reminds the brethren in ancient Corinth to examine their hearts and minds before partaking of the emblems of the bread and wine when one should have our Lord Jesus in our minds. (1 Cor.5:8; 1 Cor.11:27‑29)

This unleavened bread would have been simple and fairly quick to prepare. The recipes would be just flour and water. The dough would be placed in an oven for baking.

Barley was used to make the unleavened bread. The Passover coincided with the first harvest of the year in Israel which was the barley harvest. The wheat harvest came weeks later. Barley was cheaper than wheat and therefore used by the humble everyday folk. Jesus humbled himself on the cross as a ransom for the whole world to balance out the sin of the first man, Adam.