You may be gluten free, but the Bible isn’t.
In the Bread-ginning… [Unfortunately, the bad puns are here to stay]
The early chapters of Genesis lay the foundation for God’s redemptive plan for His creation. Humankind is made in God’s image and declared by Him to be part of His “very good” work. The Lord places the man in the garden of Eden, where humankind has the opportunity to enjoy the sustaining presence of the Lord forever. They also have the opportunity to rebel against the Lord and eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for which the Lord says they will surely die. Following the deception of the serpent, the man and the woman eat from this tree. In response, the Lord renders judgment: the serpent and the ground are cursed and the man and the woman receive consequences. These consequences for the man and the woman include harsh labor for food, difficulty in childbirth, and conflict in the marriage relationship. Despite these consequences, the Lord’s intention to provide for humankind is made clear. This is seen in the promise of the seed of the woman who will crush the serpent’s head, in the Lord sacrificing an animal to make a covering for Adam and Eve, and in that Adam and Eve will still be allowed to procreate and fill the earth. Another obscure, though no less crucial, implication of the Lord’s provision is found in the promise of bread, a theme which is seen throughout the biblical text.
In Genesis 3:19, when pronouncing consequences to Adam, God says “By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground,” (ESV). The mention of bread here is striking. While it is possible that “food” is the proper translation of the Hebrew ”לָ֫חֶם”, my aim in this post is to show that the traditional rendering of “bread” best illustrates the building theme of the Lord’s provision in the Scriptures. To bolster this position, the Septuagint uses “ἄρτον” in this passage, which has a similar semantic range to ”לָ֫חֶם”, but primarily translates to “bread” as well. Until the declaration of this consequence in the Genesis narrative, the man and the woman were only given fruit to eat. Fruit is food that is ready to eat with little work or preparation. Bread on the other hand requires a great deal of work to prepare before consumption. Grain must be threshed, mixed with water, kneaded, and baked. At first reading, this sounds purely negative. It is indeed a consequence for the man’s rebellion. From this point forward, humankind will live in suffering, having to work a cursed ground that will produce thorns and thistles. No longer will they be able to just reach out and pluck fruit off a branch as their primary form of sustenance. However, provision is still promised. God does not say you will no longer receive any food. Rather, the man will still have something to eat, despite the reality that he is deserving of immediate eternal death. This object lesson of bread begins the deeply embedded paradigm that the Lord will provide for His people, despite their rebellion against Him.
This paradigm is also observed when Abram is visited by the mysterious king and priest Melchizedek in Genesis 14:18-20. He brings out bread and wine to Abram to celebrate the rescue of Lot. While Melchizedek is only mentioned twice in the Old Testament, the author of Hebrews reveals that Jesus is also a priest in the order of Melchizedek, who Aaron paid tithes to through Abram (Hebrews 7:9). Some have even suggested that Melchizedek is a Christophany, or preincarnate appearance of Christ. He is king of Salem, which was ancient Jerusalem. He is both a king and priest of the one true God. Abram accepts provisions from him and pays tithes to him, then immediately refuses to do either of those with the king of Sodom. There is even some possibility here that the bread and wine that he brings to Abram are meant to foreshadow the Lord’s Supper. At the very least, his provision of bread for Abram testifies to the Lord’s plan to bless and provide for the world through Abram.
In another poignant example, Abraham shares bread with the Lord in Genesis 18. There are several references to Eden in this passage. The Lord appears in the heat of the day instead of in the cool of the day, as He did prior to the curse. The great trees of Mamre remind the reader of the Tree of Life, which Abraham rests in their shade with the Lord. Abraham meeting with God at the door of his tent is reminiscent of God seemingly meeting with Cain and Abel at the door in Genesis 4. This connection is further developed in Abraham offering the Lord bread made from fine flour, which would be a type of first fruits in contrast with Cain who did not bring the first fruits. Sarah has had no children and is beyond the age of childbearing, an extension of the consequence for Eve that procreation will be made painful and difficult. Abraham offering bread to the Lord in this context is a symbol of his trust that the Lord will provide for Him according to the covenant God has made with him.
Several generations later, the Lord raises up Joseph to provide for his brothers and father in the midst of a great famine. The provision of the Lord that comes through Joseph is in the form of grain that he has stored up as a leader in Egypt. This grain would obviously be used to make bread. Joseph was a son who was–presumed to be–dead, but found to be alive. In this way, Joseph is often called a type of Christ, as his life and deeds parallel the life and deeds of the coming messiah. Bread, as a symbol of the Lord’s provision, plays an integral role in this account.
The Appetizer of the Exodus
Hundreds of years later, once again bread is an essential part of the story that points to God’s provision. After generations of Israel were subjected to harsh slavery, working by the sweat of their brow, the Lord delivered His people in the Exodus. When the time came, the Lord commanded the people to make unleavened bread. This was bread that could be made in haste because the people had to flee quickly from the land of Egypt (Exodus 12:1-20). The Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread were given as annual festivals for Israel to remember the Lord delivering them from the house of slavery and providing for them as they went.
After the children of Israel crossed the Red Sea, they began to complain that they are going to die of starvation in the desert. At this, the Lord provided bread from heaven, which the people called manna (Exodus 16). Each day, the people received a daily portion and no more, except for the sixth day when they were provided with enough to last through the sabbath day. This event marks an important deviation from the paradigm of bread discussed so far. Here the people are given a significant reprieve from the curse: they are given bread without having to work by the sweat of their brow. In His deliverance, the Lord provided bread without dispensing the consequences of the curse on the people. The Lord commanded Moses and Aaron to gather some of the manna in a jar to be kept in the ark of the covenant for the people to remember how the Lord miraculously provided for them in the Exodus.
However, Moses makes it abundantly clear in Deuteronomy 8:3 that bread is not an end in itself. Rather, the manna was given to show that “man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD.” This represents another shift in the paradigm surrounding bread as provision from the Lord. He does not desire merely to provide for physical needs according to this life, but also for spiritual needs according to eternal life. Here bread is paralleled with the Law of the Lord, which is given as a guardian and tutor to teach the people of God about their need for Him in light of sin and death.
Bread is the Law of the Land
According to that law, each year, the people were not allowed to eat any new bread or grain until they offered the grain offering during the Feast of Firstfruits. This offering acknowledged the Lord as the provider of the barley harvest. The Feast of Weeks included making loaves of bread and offering them as a wave offering before the Lord. This acknowledged the Lord as the provider of the wheat harvest. There are also various other grain offerings given in the Law as well. In each of these, the term fine flour is prescribed for the offerings. This is the same term used when Abraham offers bread to the Lord in Genesis 18. The use of bread as an object lesson for the provision of the Lord is deeply embedded in the feasts and offerings of Israel.
The Lord Himself is pictured in the Bread of the Presence, or Showbread, of Exodus 25:30. This bread was to be continually placed before the Lord on the table of acacia wood in the tabernacle. Twelve loaves of bread were put out, picturing the Lord as provider for all twelve tribes of Israel. The priests ate this provision as representatives of all the people of God. In 1 Samuel 21:1-7, David is permitted to eat this bread, something generally only permitted for the priests to do. Here we see another example of the Lord providing, through the symbol of bread, apart from the curse. David is not condemned for partaking of this bread. In fact, Jesus puts this event in the context of the Lord desiring mercy and not sacrifice from Hosea 6:6 (Matthew 12:1-8). Through these progressive revelations, it becomes more clear that it was the Lord’s intention from the outset to provide reprieve for the curse.
The reprieve from the curse is not only for the nation of Israel. In the book of Ruth, Naomi and Ruth the Moabitess are provided for during the barley and wheat harvests by Boaz. By law, the women of Moab could not be accepted into the family of Israel until after the 10th generation (Deut. 23:3). Despite this, Ruth, a first generation Moabitess is accepted in Bethlehem–literally “house of bread”–and through her lineage comes David and ultimately the Lord Jesus. Further, in 1 Kings 17, Elijah performs a miracle of multiplying bread for a widow and her son in Sidon, despite a drought. These examples of the Lord’s provision for those outside the family of Israel hint at the Lord’s intention to bless and provide for all the earth.
The Bread of Life
Coming to the New Testament, the devil tempts Jesus after he fasts for 40 days telling him to turn stones into bread. Jesus replies by quoting Deuteronomy 8:3, “man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.” Jesus’ fasting in the desert for 40 days is analogous to the children of Israel wandering in the desert for 40 years. Here He echoes the lesson from the manna, that ultimately God is the provision for humanity, not a full stomach. Further, the temptation here is for Jesus to bypass the curse: to secure bread apart from the sweat of His brow. However, Jesus knew that He came to take the curse upon himself and that a time was coming when the sweat of his brow would be as drops of blood (Luke 22:44). In order to provide a reprieve for the curse, He had to take up the curse in His own body.
In The Lord’s Prayer, Jesus gives the ultimate eschatalogical vision for creation: that the will of God would be done on earth as it is in heaven. Next, He teaches His disciples to pray for their daily bread. This refers back to the manna from heaven. This is a prayer for provision from the Lord without the consequences of the curse. The Lord’s vision for His creation is not that it would forever be under a curse. Rather, the creation was subjected to futility that at the proper time it might be liberated into the freedom of the children of God (Romans 8:18-21). The Lord’s Prayer reveals God’s intention to redeem and reconcile His creation from the curse and to make provision for His people without visiting its consequences upon them.
Jesus Himself is this provision from the Lord. In John 8, He calls Himself the bread of life. Elements like the showbread and the words of the Law pointed to the ultimate revelation of God’s provision for His people: Himself. The Lord refers to His flesh as spiritual food and his blood as spiritual drink. This is celebrated when followers of Jesus partake of the Lord’s supper. First and foremost, they celebrate his broken body and the New Covenant in His blood, testifying to His death and looking forward to His return. This is a celebration of His provision for all people, whereby they may be freed from the law of sin and death through faith in Him. This provision is pictured in literally partaking of bread.
In the book of Revelation, Jesus tells John to write to the Church in Pergamum, “To the one who is victorious, I will give some of the hidden manna.” The manna in the earthly ark of the covenant is nowhere to be seen today, yet that manna came from heaven. Jesus says that He has manna in the heavenly temple to share with those who are victorious. However, Revelation 5:1-10 reveals that none are victorious but one: the Lion of Judah; the Root of David; the Lamb of God. He is the victor. Who is it that will partake of the hidden manna with Jesus except the one who believes that He is the Son of God? “For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?” (1 John 5:4-5) Through faith in Him, mankind may lay down the curse and receive the provision of God.
Conclusion
In Genesis 3:19, the Lord reveals His intention to provide for His people despite the curse. This is pictured through the symbol of bread. Throughout the Scriptures, the Lord builds on and subverts this paradigm. He provides not just despite the curse, but as a reprieve from the curse. He provides not just to the house of Israel, but even to those outside of the Old Covenant. He provides not just bread, but His law and presence. Finally, He reveals that this paradigm of provision through bread has been pointing to the reality that the only provision that will truly sustain His people is Himself. Then He gives Himself sacrificially as provision for the world to receive everlasting life through faith in Him.
This post converted from a paper I wrote in December 2021 for a class in seminary. It was a fun paper to write and I hope it helps you to have a deeper appreciation for the Lord’s provision today.
Dylon Beamer Blog 
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