Eating

Eating for survival

Nehemiah 5:1–2 NASB95

Now there was a great outcry of the people and of their wives against their Jewish brothers. For there were those who said, “We, our sons and our daughters are many; therefore let us get grain that we may eat and live.”

See also Ge 28:20–22; 1 Ki 17:12; 1 Ki 19:3–8; 2 Ki 25:3

Eating as a sign of life and health

Deuteronomy 4:28 NASB95

“There you will serve gods, the work of man’s hands, wood and stone, which neither see nor hear nor eat nor smell.

See also 2 Sa 13:5–10; Ps 102:4; Mk 5:35–43; Lk 24:36–43; Jn 6:48–58

Metaphorical references to eating

Jn 6:50 Coming to faith in Jesus Christ; Re 3:20 Having fellowship with Jesus Christ.

See also Ps 14:4; Ps 141:4; Pr 1:29–31; Pr 4:17; Pr 18:21; Pr 31:27; So 5:1; Is 55:1–2; Eze 3:1–3; Mic 3:1–3; Re 2:7; Re 10:9; Re 17:16; Re 19:17–19

Enjoyment of eating as a gift of God

Ecclesiastes 3:13 NASB95

moreover, that every man who eats and drinks sees good in all his labor—it is the gift of God.

See also Ge 27:1–25; Ec 2:24–25; Ec 5:18; Ec 8:15; Ec 9:7

God blesses his people with sufficient food

Psalm 37:25 NASB95

I have been young and now I am old, Yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken Or his descendants begging bread.

See also Le 26:3–5; Le 26:23–26; Dt 8:16; Dt 11:15; Dt 12:7; Jos 24:11–13; Ps 22:26; Ps 78:23–29; Ps 127:2; Ps 128:1–2; Pr 13:25; Is 1:19; Is 7:22; Is 65:13; Is 65:21–22; Joe 2:26; Am 9:14; Mic 6:9–16; Hag 1:5–11

Eating should not be one’s chief priority

Matthew 4:1–4 NASB95

Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And after He had fasted forty days and forty nights, He then became hungry. And the tempter came and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.” But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.’ ”

See also Dt 8:3; Nu 11:4–34; Mt 6:25–34; Lk 12:16–20; Col 2:13–17

Eating as a religious observance

Sacrificial meals

Exodus 18:12 NASB95

Then Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, took a burnt offering and sacrifices for God, and Aaron came with all the elders of Israel to eat a meal with Moses’ father-in-law before God.

See also Ex 29:32–33; Ex 32:6; Le 6:14–7:10; Le 8:31; Le 21:21–23; Nu 18:8–13; Dt 15:19–20; 1 Sa 1:1–5; 1 Sa 9:11–13; 1 Sa 20:24–29; Eze 44:3; Ho 8:13; Heb 13:9–10

Sacrificial meals for pagan gods

Exodus 34:15 NASB95

otherwise you might make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land and they would play the harlot with their gods and sacrifice to their gods, and someone might invite you to eat of his sacrifice,

See also Eze 18:5–6; Eze 18:14–15; Eze 22:9; 1 Co 8:4–13; 1 Co 10:23–28

The Passover and Feast of Unleavened Bread

Exodus 12:1–11 NASB95

Now the Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, “This month shall be the beginning of months for you; it is to be the first month of the year to you. “Speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying, ‘On the tenth of this month they are each one to take a lamb for themselves, according to their fathers’ households, a lamb for each household. ‘Now if the household is too small for a lamb, then he and his neighbor nearest to his house are to take one according to the number of persons in them; according to what each man should eat, you are to divide the lamb. ‘Your lamb shall be an unblemished male a year old; you may take it from the sheep or from the goats. ‘You shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month, then the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel is to kill it at twilight. ‘Moreover, they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and on the lintel of the houses in which they eat it. ‘They shall eat the flesh that same night, roasted with fire, and they shall eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. ‘Do not eat any of it raw or boiled at all with water, but rather roasted with fire, both its head and its legs along with its entrails. ‘And you shall not leave any of it over until morning, but whatever is left of it until morning, you shall burn with fire. ‘Now you shall eat it in this manner: with your loins girded, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and you shall eat it in haste—it is the Lord’s Passover.

See also Ex 12:14–20; Le 23:4–8; Nu 28:16–25; Dt 16:1–8; Mt 26:17–19

The Lord’s Supper

Matthew 26:26–29 NASB95

While they were eating, Jesus took some bread, and after a blessing, He broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is My body.” And when He had taken a cup and given thanks, He gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you; for this is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for forgiveness of sins. “But I say to you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in My Father’s kingdom.”

See also 1 Co 11:23–34

Restrictions on eating

Genesis 9:1–4 NASB95

And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth. “The fear of you and the terror of you will be on every beast of the earth and on every bird of the sky; with everything that creeps on the ground, and all the fish of the sea, into your hand they are given. “Every moving thing that is alive shall be food for you; I give all to you, as I gave the green plant. “Only you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood.

See also Ge 2:15–17; Ge 3:1–7 Eve and Adam eat the fruit of the tree; Ge 3:22; Ge 32:22–32; Ge 43:32; Ex 22:31; Le 7:19; Le 7:22–27; Le 11:1–47 clean and unclean food; Le 22:4–8; Le 23:6; Nu 6:1–4; Dt 12:23–25; Eze 44:31; Mk 7:14–19; Ro 14:1–3; Ro 14:19–21

Eating and hospitality

Eating at a royal court

1 Kings 2:7 NASB95

“But show kindness to the sons of Barzillai the Gileadite, and let them be among those who eat at your table; for they assisted me when I fled from Absalom your brother.

See also 2 Sa 9:1–13; 1 Ki 18:19; Da 11:26

Eating as a guest in another’s home

Genesis 18:3–5 NASB95

and said, “My Lord, if now I have found favor in Your sight, please do not pass Your servant by. “Please let a little water be brought and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree; and I will bring a piece of bread, that you may refresh yourselves; after that you may go on, since you have visited your servant.” And they said, “So do, as you have said.”

See also Ge 19:3; Ge 43:16; Ex 2:18–20; Jdg 19:5–9; 2 Ki 4:8; Pr 23:6–7; Mt 9:9–13; Mt 26:6–7; Lk 14:1–14

Fasting

Esther 4:16 NASB95

“Go, assemble all the Jews who are found in Susa, and fast for me; do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my maidens also will fast in the same way. And thus I will go in to the king, which is not according to the law; and if I perish, I perish.”

See also 2 Sa 3:35; Mt 4:1–2

Cannibalism

Deuteronomy 28:53 NASB95

“Then you shall eat the offspring of your own body, the flesh of your sons and of your daughters whom the Lord your God has given you, during the siege and the distress by which your enemy will oppress you.

See also 2 Ki 6:24–29; Je 19:9