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Bible Dictionaries
Bread
Vine's Expository Dictionary of OT Words
or Lechem (לֶחֶם, Strong's #3899), “bread; meal; food; fruit.” This word has cognates in Ugaritic, Syriac, Aramaic, Phoenician, and Arabic. Lechem occurs about 297 times and at every period of biblical Hebrew. This noun refers to “bread,” as distinguished from meat. The diet of the early Hebrews ordinarily consisted of bread, meat, and liquids: “And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord …” (Deut. 8:3). “Bread” was baked in loaves: “And it shall come to pass, that every one that is left in thine house shall come and crouch to him for a piece of silver and a morsel of bread …” (1 Sam. 2:36). Even when used by itself, lechem can signify a “loaf of bread”: “… They will salute thee, and give thee two loaves of bread …” (1 Sam. 10:4). In this usage, the word ialways preceded by a number. “Bread” was also baked in cakes (2 Sam. 6:19).A “bit of bread” is a term for a modest meal. So Abraham said to his three guests, “Let a little water, I pray you, be fetched … and I will fetch a morsel of bread, and comfort ye your hearts …” (Gen. 18:4-5). In 1 Sam. 20:27, lechem represents an entire meal: “… Saul said unto Jonathan his son, Wherefore cometh not the son of Jesse to meat, neither yesterday, nor today?” Thus, “to make bread” may actually mean “to prepare a meal”: “A feast is made for laughter, and wine maketh merry …” (Eccl. 10:19). The “staff of bread” is the “support of life”: “And when I have broken the staff of your bread, ten women shall bake your bread in one oven, and they shall deliver you your bread again by weight: and ye shall eat, and not be satisfied” (Lev. 26:26). The Bible refers to the “bread of the face” or “the bread of the Presence,” which was the bread constantly set before God in the holy place of the tabernacle or temple: “And thou shalt set upon the table showbread before me always” (Exod. 25:30).
In several passages, lechem represents the grain from which “bread” is made: “And the seven years of dearth began to come, according as Joseph had said: and the dearth was in all the lands; but in all the land of Egypt there was bread” (Gen. 41:54). The meaning “grain” is very clear in 2 Kings 18:32: “Until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land of corn and wine, a land of bread and vineyards.…”
Lechem can represent food in general. In Gen. 3:19 (the first biblical occurrence), it signifies the entire diet: “In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread.…” This nuance may include meat, as it does in Judg. 13:15-16: “And Manoah said unto the angel of the Lord, I pray thee, let us detain thee, until we shall have made ready a kid for thee. And the angel of the Lord said unto Manoah, Though thou detain me, I will not eat of thy bread.…” In 1 Sam. 14:24, 28, lechem includes honey, and in Prov. 27:27 goat’s milk.
Lechem may also represent “food” for animals: “He giveth to the beast his food, and to the young ravens which cry” (Ps. 147:9; cf. Prov. 6:8). Flesh and grain offered to God are called “the bread of God”: “… For the offerings of the Lord made by fire, and the bread of their God, they do offer …” (Lev. 21:6; cf. 22:13).
There are several special or figurative uses of lechem! The “bread” of wickedness is “food” gained by wickedness: “For [evil men] eat the bread of wickedness, and drink the wine of violence” (Prov. 4:17). Compare the “bread” or “food” gained by deceit (Prov. 20:17) and lies (23:3). Thus, in Prov. 31:27 the good wife “looketh well to the ways of her household, and eateth not the bread of idleness”—i.e., unearned food. The “bread of my portion” is the food that one earns (Prov. 30:8).
Figuratively, men are the “food” or prey for their enemies: “Only rebel not ye against the Lord, neither fear ye the people of the land; for they are bread for us …” (Num. 14:9). The Psalmist in his grief says his tears are his “food” (Ps. 42:3). Evil deeds are likened to food: "[The evil man’s] meat in his bowels is turned, it is the gall of asps within him” (Job 20:14). In Jer. 11:19, lechem represents “fruit from a tree” and is a figure of a man and his offspring: “… And I knew not that they had devised devices against me, saying, Let us destroy the tree with the fruit thereof, and let us cut him off from the land of the living, that his name may be no more remembered.”
Matstsâh (מַצָּה, Strong's #4682), “unleavened bread.” This noun occurs 54 times, all but 14 of them in the Pentateuch. The rest of the occurrences are in prose narratives or in Ezekiel’s discussion of the new temple (Ezek. 45:21). In the ancient Orient, household bread was prepared by adding fermented dough to the kneading trough and working it through the fresh dough. Hastily made bread omitted the fermented (leavened) dough: Lot “made them a feast, and did bake unleavened bread, and they did eat” (Gen. 19:3). In this case, the word represents bread hastily prepared for unexpected guests. The feasts of Israel often involved the use of unleavened bread, perhaps because of the relationship between fermentation, rotting, and death (Lev. 2:4ff.), or because unleavened bread reminded Jews of the hasty departure from Egypt and the rigors of the wilderness march.
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Vines, W. E., M. A. Entry for 'Bread'. Vine's Expository Dictionary of OT Words. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/vot/b/bread.html. 1940.
