Category Archives: Uncategorized

Before leaving the topic of hospitality, two more examples come to mind. Both are in the Old Testament and both involve anonymous women—one a widow and one apparently a person of means.

The widow of Zarephath

Things were not good in the nation of Israel. King Ahab committed a great sin and married Jezebel, the daughter of Ethbaal, king of the Zidonians. She brought with her a pagan religious system complete with 450 prophets of Baal and 400 prophets of Asherah (I Kings 18:19). Her husband allowed the idolatrous system to exist and even thrive.

English: Ahab was king of Israel and the son and successor of Omri (1 Kings 16:29-34). (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Herbert Lockyer says, “Baal had no more dedicated devotee than Jezebel” (All the Women of the Bible, “Jezebel”). Full of religious enthusiasm she sought to convert all Israel by attempting to exterminate the worship of the true God.

“The pagan religion imported by Jezebel horrified devout Israelites, and it also found many new followers….for centuries the Israelites themselves had often given in to the temptation to blend the Lord and local gods into a single cult. Within a few years, many of the people of Israel had embraced paganism” (Great People of the Bible and How They Lived, Reader’s Digest, 1974, page 207).

Deliver the message and go!

As a result fear and religious turmoil prevailed, and more importantly, God was highly displeased with Israel. As a result He sent his prophet Elijah to deliver a stern message to King Ahab: “As the Lord God of Israel lives, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, except at my word” (1 Kings 17:1). Anticipating a murderous reaction, the word of the Lord instructed Elijah to flee to the safety of the Kerith Ravine where there was water, and where he would be miraculously fed.

Eventually even the brooks and tributaries of the Jordan dried up. The Lord told Elijah to move on to Zarephath, a Zidonian town in the very homeland of his furious adversary, Jezebel. “I have commanded a widow there to provide for you” (verse 9).

Not enough to spare?

Now picture this non-Israelite widow as the prophet of Israel’s God approached and requested the customary amenities of hospitality: water and bread. Imagine the distress in her voice as she replied, “As surely as the Lord your God lives, I don’t have any bread—only a handful of flour in a jar and a little oil in a jug” (verse 12). These meager amounts represented a last meal as she and her son prepared to finally succumb to starvation.

Elijah pledged if she filled his request for precious sustenance, she would never run out of flour or oil as long as the drought lasted. What a test of faith! She took him at his word, prepared him some food, and lived to experience the miraculous “hospitality” of God, just as He had promised.

The Shunammite woman

Now it happened one day that Elisha went to Shunem, where there was a notable woman, and she persuaded him to eat some food. So it was, as often as he passed by, he would turn in there to eat some food. And she said to her husband, “Look now, I know that this is a holy man of God, who passes by us regularly. Please, let us make a small upper room on the wall; and let us put a bed for him there, and a table and a chair and a lampstand; so it will be whenever he comes to us, he can turn in there” (2 Kings 4:8-10)

What a different set of circumstances for Elisha to encounter. Here we have a prominent woman in the community voluntarily extending hospitality to him as a holy man of God. The Expositor’s Bible Commentary mentions that this woman was well-to-do, literally in the Hebrew, “a great woman.” (See 2 Kings 4, Note 8.) The Note continues, “Being a pious woman, her concern for the prophet was purely spontaneous and bears the impress of a genuinely godly sense of hospitality.” Her home became a frequent way station for Elisha as he traveled the countryside.

Let’s compare

It’s interesting to consider the actions and reactions of these two women. Both extended hospitality. However one did so by request and the other voluntarily out of her plenty. One complied with certain misgivings, thinking she was sure to hasten impending starvation; and the other acted out of an innate sense of respect and altruism, having no threats of looming consequences.

Both enjoyed the Lord’s graciousness. The widow and her son avoided death by starvation. But later her son became ill and died; the distraught mother came to Elijah asking why? Elijah turned to God in passionate prayer, and her son’s life was mercifully restored.

English: Elijah Resuscitating the Son of the Widow of Zarephath (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The prominent woman had at least one ongoing sorrow: She was childless. As a result of her generous ministering to Elijah’s needs, God miraculously granted her a son. Like the widow, her son, too, got sick and died. Elisha followed Elijah’s example, placing his petitions for mercy before the Lord. God heard, and the woman’s son enjoyed life once more.

My hope

It is my hope that these series of posts will add a new dimension to Bible reading by alerting readers to the many subtle threads of hospitality woven throughout the fabric of its pages. We have only touched the surface.

Who is this David? Who is this son of Jesse? Many servants are breaking away from their masters these days. Why should I take my bread and water, and the meat I have slaughtered for my shearers, and give it to the men coming from who knows where?

With an insulting dismissal, Nabal confirmed he was a foolish, shortsighted and contemptible man. In a time when hospitable treatment of others was a duty, and those in need of food and shelter had a right to request it, Nabal flouted the courtesies expected of a rich man.

A sacred duty

“It was believed to be a sacred duty to receive, feed, lodge and protect any traveler who might stop at one’s door” (Unger’s Bible Dictionary, “Hospitality”). Hospitality is rooted in scripture: The stranger who dwells among you shall be to you as one born among you, and you shall love him as yourself; for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God  (Lev.19:34).

In the time of Nabal “any lack of civility or kindness to a guest meets severe reprobation” (Hastings Dictionary of the Bible, “Hospitality”). This proved true for Nabal because his selfishness ended in death. Were it not for the bravery of his wife Abigail, Nabal would have died by the sword rather than from heart failure.

The arrogance of a very rich man

Nabal was a rich man. He had three thousand sheep, a thousand goats and many servants. David and his men resided in the wilderness where Nabal pastured his sheep. Without taking anything for themselves, they protected Nabal’s sheep and herdsmen. At the festive time of sheep shearing, David expected some hospitable acknowledgment of their efforts. As strangers who aided Nabal’s business, David requested a donation of food for himself and his men. David’s appeal was “the epitome of courtesy” (Expositor’s Bible Commentary, p. 755), asking only for what Nabal might spare (I Samuel 25:8).

Nabal had plenty to spare–cash from selling wool and provisions for the shearing festivities. And Nabal knew David, at least by reputation. His shepherds commended David’s men. These men were very good to us. They did not mistreat us, and the whole time we were out in the fields near them nothing was missing. Night and day they were a wall around us all the time we were herding our sheep ear them (I Samuel 25:15-16).

Mending offenses

Stung by Nabal’s arrogance, David prepared to avenge himself. Having been informed of her husband’s rash behavior, Abigail acted without hesitation and averted David’s anger. At the time, did she understand the power of hospitality to change someone’s perspective? Was she a practiced giver-of-hospitality? Did she know by nature the essentials necessary to turn David from revenge?

David and Abigail (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

She delivered a large gift of food accompanied by an attitude of humility and self-sacrifice. David was “stopped in his tracks” by the size of her offering: dressed sheep, two hundred loaves of bread, wine, bushels of roasted grain, hundreds of cakes of dried fruit. Abigail also met David’s needs for respect and appreciation. She spoke to him of God’s purpose (I Samuel 25:26-31) and that placed her generosity in the best context. ♦ Mary Hendren

***

Abigail’s actions still resonate today as examples of courage, wisdom, and artful hospitality.

While many of the threads of New Testament hospitality are rather inconspicuously woven into the fabric of larger accounts like Luke 10:25-37, the Old Testament gives several examples where hospitality comes off in a bold pattern. One of these is found in Genesis 18:1-16. It is the account of Abraham and his three special guests.

The pattern

As the scene unfolds, Abraham is sitting in the tent door in the heat of the day and sees three men nearby. Immediately the rules of hospitality kick in:

• He greets them and invites them to stay.
• He offers them water so they can wash their feet.
• He offers them food.
  

  Abraham Receiving the Three Guests (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

   

Once they accept, Abraham enlists Sarah to make cakes out of “fine meal,” arranges to have a “tender and good” calf killed and cooked, and then, as a gracious host, serves his guests under the welcoming shade of the terebinth trees. Once their repast is finished, Abraham fulfills his final duty by seeing these strangers on their way.

The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia describes this vignette as “an exquisite example of the etiquette of hospitality” (article, “Hospitality”).

Pattern repeat

His nephew Lot responds to two angels in much the same manner (Genesis 19):

• He sees them and bows before them.
• He issues an invitation to put them up for the night.
• He offers them water to wash their feet.
• He makes them a feast.
• He acts as their protector (although in a way I find hard to comprehend).

And repeats

Here are several other examples for further consideration:

• Genesis 26:28-30  Isaac provides food and lodging.
• Genesis 29:13  Laban welcomes Jacob.
• Exodus 2:18-20  Jethro scolds his daughters for lack of hospitality.
• Job 31:32  Job says he opened his door to the traveler.

 ***

While the principals in the above accounts are men, there are several examples of hospitable women in the Old Testament. Mary Hendren will be introducing us to one of them in our next post. Her name is Abigail.

As I sift through a treasure trove of information on hospitality, especially in the Old Testament, I focus on something that has somehow eluded me in times past. I’ve found it in two separate scriptures:

• Deuteronomy 10:18  “He [God] administers justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the stranger, giving him food and clothing.”
• Psalm 146:9 “The Lord watches over the strangers; He relieves the fatherless and the widow….”

A comment from the JewishEncyclopedia.com article, “Hospitality,” lends even greater acuity:

“The ‘ger,’ the sojourner who lived with a Hebrew family or clan, was assured by the Biblical law not only of protection against oppression (Exodus 23:9) and deceit (Leviticus 19:33), but also of love from the natives (Deuteronomy 16:14), who were to love him even as themselves (Leviticus 19:34)….”

God Himself loves the stranger and keeps him under His special protection. By His actions He models the scope, depth, and meaning of true hospitality.

Ancient cookbooks discovered

In wrapping up this series on food and cooking, I thought I’d share a couple of bits of trivia. In The Woman’s Study Bible, under the topic, “Cooking: What’s for Supper?” there is an interesting note about what is perhaps the world’s oldest cookbook. It consists of three clay tablets dating back about 4000 years. Following is one of the recipes:

“Take some meat. Prepare water; throw fat into it, then add leek and garlic, all crushed together, and some shuhutinnu [probably onion].”

The note continues that one tablet “has twenty-five recipes, including four vegetable dishes and twenty-one meat dishes (featuring deer, gazelle, lamb, pigeon, and wild dove).”

You might find the following links about ancient cookbooks and recipes interesting:

http://www.latimes.com/features/food/la-fo-050208-story,0,7456100.story

http://articles.latimes.com/1985-05-23/food/fo-8362_1_ancient-recipes

***

Have you tried….?

If your family is bored with your menus lately, perhaps you could suggest locusts, a food quite familiar in New Testament times. Joseph L. Gift, in his Life and Customs in Jesus’ Time, includes the following citation originally written in 1895 by Edmund Strapfer:

Desert locusts feeding. (Photo credit: Wikipedia) Lunch on the wing

“Four kinds of locusts were edible. …We learn from the Arabs of our day how locusts are dressed for food. Sometimes they are simply roasted and eaten with a little water and salt….But usually, the preparation was more elaborate. After killing the locusts, they were dried in the sun; the head and claws were taken off and the body ground to a powder, either by a mill or in a mortar. Flour was mixed with this powder, and it was made into a sort of bread slightly bitter; camel’s milk or honey was added to correct this’” (page 21).

Locusts are commonly eaten in some parts of the world today.

That most bread is sliced, soft and wrapped for freshness saves time. With sliced bread you can put together a quick meal and eat on the run. Sliced bread makes great sandwiches that can be cut into portions, and kids make their own snacks and lunches with sliced bread. The words “sliced bread” have become a motto for innovation. “There’s nothing like it since ‘sliced bread.’”

English: cadifus (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

With the popularity and convenience of sliced bread, we may have forgotten that in times past the act of breaking bread, not slicing it, symbolized eating together and hospitality. Originally “breaking bread” meant the literal breaking of a loaf of bread. In time the phrase “breaking bread” expanded to mean, “to engage in a comfortable, friendly interaction” over a shared eating experience (Urbandictionary.com, “Breaking Bread”).

The phrase is “a standard Jewish expression from pre-Christian times which refers specifically to the action of ‘breaking bread’ at the commencement of a meal, and then by extension, to the meal itself” (The New Testament Speaks, “The Meaning of ‘Breaking Bread’” on-line resource).

Customarily the father or an honored guest usually broke the loaf at a meal and asked a blessing over it. The family and guests shared a common meal, taking their portion from the broken loaf—ideally joined for a brief time in the pleasure of eating and conversation.

On many occasions Jesus broke and blessed bread: when He fed four thousand followers (Matthew 15:35-36), when He fed the five thousand (Matthew 14:19), when He instituted the new Passover symbols (Matthew 26:26). Jesus, as the honored guest of Lazarus, Mary and Martha, would likely have broken the bread at the meal He ate with them (Luke 10:38-42). When Jesus ate with two disciples on the way to Emmaus, He assumed the honored role and broke bread at their meal.

Now as it came to pass, as He sat at the table with them, that He took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they knew Him; and He vanished from their sight (Luke 24:30-31).

Breaking bread was a meaningful practice in which an honored father or guest broke the loaf of bread, the essential “staff of life.”  In asking the blessing over the bread and the meal to follow, he acknowledged God as the Provider of life’s essentials and of life itself.

We will probably continue buying loaves of sliced bread for convenience. At times we should buy or bake a crusty baguette, break off a hunk, hear the crust shatter, and enjoy the uneven nooks and crannies.  ♥ Mary Hendren

The first-century wife in Palestine—I’ll call her Martha—faced the same daily challenge that we moderns do: what to feed her family. She didn’t know about a nutritional pyramid like the one designed by the Harvard School of Public Health, but Martha made her choices loosely based on that scheme nonetheless: meat, milk, grains, veggies, and fruit.

Bread

At the top of her list of menu staples was bread, usually made from wheat or barley. Every morning Martha poured grain into her mill, turned the handle with the help of her daughter, and watched the flour pour from between its discs. Sometimes she sifted it and ground it again to get the fineness she desired.

Then, as automatically as getting up in the morning, Martha added water, salt, and a lump of leavened dough saved back from the day before. She kneaded the mixture into pliant dough, and put it in a warm place to rise for a few hours. Finally she shaped the dough into flat loaves and baked them in a clay oven in her courtyard. These loaves would find their way into lunches and dinners.

The word “bread” is found 84 times in the New Testament and 346 times in the whole Bible, which attests to its importance. Some types mentioned are: showbread, unleavened bread, wafers (Exodus 16:31), cracknels (KJV) or cakes (I Kings 14:3), and the ubiquitous leavened bread.

Meat

Red meat was a treat, and on special occasions Martha would cook beef, goat, lamb, or occasionally, wild game. Fish was a favorite food in Palestine, and large quantities were caught in the Sea of Galilee. It was cooked and eaten immediately, or salted and dried to be eaten at a later date. (See Mark 8:1-9; John 21:1-13.)

Milk products

Martha did not have the luxury of refrigeration, so she often churned milk into curds or butter, or made a type of cheese. Chances are that none of these would taste familiar or be especially pleasurable to our “refined” palates.

Vegetables and fruits

Martha grew many of her own vegetables, regularly carrying water from the well to keep her plants alive. She dried beans, lentils and peas, storing them in clay jars. In August and September, she looked forward to the fruit harvest of grapes, figs, and pomegranates. The local market was sure to have a good selection of what she could not grow herself.

Olive Oil

The fruit of the olive tree was harvested in the fall and then pressed into olive oil to be used in cooking, for fueling lamps, grooming the hair and skin, and for religious rites. Martha kept hers in a small earthenware container called a cruse.

Olives (Photo credit: wollombi)

Salt and spices

While Martha used salt (probably obtained from the Dead Sea area) to season her food, more importantly she used it to preserve food such as fish. She also used herbs and spices such as cumin, dill, mustard, parsley, sage, thyme, and mint to add a special dash of flavor to add welcome variety to her menu for the day.

Honey

Honey, the sweetener mentioned throughout the Bible, was harvested from the hives of wild bees. Martha occasionally made another type of  “honey” by boiling dates and locust beans to make a syrup.

***

While Martha may have used other foods to supplement her family’s meals, the  foods listed above appeared regularly on her table.

As I think about the topic of food, a hazy scenario comes to mind. Imagine Adam and Eve, newly created human beings, eying a dazzling array of food—not genetically-altered, not flavor-enhanced, not vitamin-enriched. Just perfect, exquisite food in a garden “planted” by their Creator, on wing or hoof, or in pristine waters.

Heade Martin Johnson Hummingbird And Apple Blossoms (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Was there a learning curve for them? God specified which foods were proper to eat, but did He show them how to prepare them? Imagine the sensual delight as they touched and tasted and smelled first one kind of food and then another for the very first time!

Judging by the fateful encounter of Eve with the serpent, it seems there was mature fruit on the trees in the garden shortly after her creation. Were grains ready for harvest, and olives ready to be pressed for their multipurpose oil—both foods that would be staples for generations to come? There is no way of knowing, of course, but one thing is for sure. God provided them with all the food they and their offspring needed, and we enjoy it even to this day.