Redeemer of the Bread

Abigail and Dolley readers bakers will tell you, that once you learn the science of bread baking, it becomes an art.  The nuisance of flour, water, yeast, humidity, and temperature insure that no loaf of bread is identical.   Much like the daily walk of faith, we experience the richness of our lives in the variety of the bread.   We bake a lot of bread around here; the theme of bread is spread through the Scripture.   Bible believing Christians should reject the evolutionary theory diets and consider the wholesome and heady art of homemade bread; we've never looked back.

From a Biblical perspective, the rule of first mention finds the term to be one of struggle to feed.  Genesis 3:19 is where God is passing sentence on mankind and the earth for the fall.  The context of bread is that it will cause man to sweat to eat it, toil and hardship from the ground.  The world suffers from hunger and toil; the soil is cursed because of the fall.  The Hebrew word is Lechem and means bread, food, grain but the root word of Lacham means to fight and to do battle.  We also have Unleavened Bread with first mention in Genesis 19:3 of the word Matshsah, in context, Lot is hosting the two angels who have come to destroy Sodom and he feds them unleavened bread.  We also see Chametz in Exodus 12:15 used to describe unleavened bread and used in the same sentence as Matshsah.  Chametz has as it's root word Chamets which means to be cruel, sour, or red.  Manna in Exodus 16:15 from the Hebrew word Man which literally means, "What is it?" it's root word being Mah and is used the first time, when God says to Cain, "What have you done?" Genesis 4:10. Expanding further, we have Challah and Raquiyq as cakes and wafers introduced in Exodus 29:2 which was the consecrated bread of the priests.  For centuries, the Jews have celebrated the Passover Seder never realizing the Messianic significance of the breaking of the bread, the hidden bread broken and hidden away.  The matzah bread eaten on the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread is a symbol of the pierced, stripped, and broken body of Christ.  The process that Jewish bakers employ to insure there is absolutely no yeast or rising of the bread is heroic in its adherence to the law but yeast exists in the air, it grows on our bodies; it symbolizes sin.

Conversely, in the New Testament, the word is Artos which means bread or to eat – Matthew 4:4 the first mention being made by Satan, when he tempts the Lord to turn rocks into bread.  Christ quotes Deuteronomy 8:3 where the Hebrew word Lechem is used.  Jesus tells us he the bread of life, (John 6:35) that those who would partake of his sacrifice will live and reign with Him forever.   At the Last Supper, he took the bread and broke it, the giving it to his disciples and commanding them to partake in his body, broken for them.  After His resurrection, it was the breaking of the bread that revealed his identity to the two disciples that had walked with him on the road to Emmaus.  (Luke 24:30-31).

Where man has had to struggle since the fall under the weight of sin and death, Jesus Messiah's sacrifice did what no mere man could have ever done, He redeemed the bread.

To learn more about how Jews and Christians share in this celebration, I'd ask you to watch this video: