The principal meal of the whole day was the Sflwvov, wliich was eaten after the day's work was hnished (see Lk 17'). This would naturally be about the time of the going down of the sun, which will explain tiie Lukan narrative of Jesus and the two disciples at Emmaus (irpbs eairepav, Lk 24-^^- )• This was the time of tiie day when Jesus is recorded by the three Synoptists to have mira- culously fed the multitudes {iopa iroWrj, Mk 6^^ ; o^la^ ok yevopievTjs . . . Kai tj upa ij5r] Tra.prfKQev, Mt 14^^; i) 5e T]^epa Tjp^aro KXiveiv, Lk 9'-). The Passover was also eaten during the evening, and it was at the conclusion of that festal meal (/ierd to deLirv-rjcrai) that Jesus instituted the Feast memorial of His death.
We find numerous references to the S=7t>ov in the writings of Josephus, from whom we learn incidentally that this was usually an elaborate meal and closely connected with sacrificial feasting ; that sometimes it was prolonged to a late hour, which may explain the Preacher's reference to the dangerous habit of over-eating before retiring to sleep (Ec S'l, cf. To 81 ; Jos. Vita, 44, 63, Ant. VI. iv. 1, xiv. xv. 11, etc. ; 3 Mac 5i-i).
The principal constituent of every meal was bread, which Avas regarded, indeed, as the meal' itself. So much so was this the case, that the word ' bread ' (Dnjr) was used by the ancient Hebrews either for bread in particular or for food in general (see Encyc. Bibl. art. ' Bread,' vol. i. col. 604). It was over the bread that the blessing was pro- nounced which was thus supposed to have been spoken over all the rest of the solid food eaten during the first part of the meal. So strongly was this held by all Jews, that for them bread assumed a qurtsi-^?icved character, and elaborate rules were devised for its treatment at table (see Edersheim, op. cit. vol. ii. pp. 205-210).
The Hebraistic cxyiiy ipTiv occurs again and again as a svnonvm for an ordinarv meal (Mt 152, jik "2, Lk 14i- 15, cf. Jn 2113, Gn 4816 [LXX], Ex "320 [LXX], etc., see art. Bread above and in Hastings' DB, vol. i. p. 315b). Keeping this fact in mind, we are enabled to feel the force of Jesus' words in His great sacramental discourse (Jn 6'-6-59)^ and also to understand the true reason for the rejection by the Jews of His reiterated claims. It was not that their interpretation of His words was carnal (cf. vv.52o8). ' There was no gross misunderstanding on their part, but a clear perception of the claim involved in the Lord's words' (Westcott, Gospel of .?f. John, ad loc.). The phrases in which He couched these claims were such as would jsresent no real difficulty to a thinking Jew, as they might easilv be paralleled out of his sacred literature (i apro; t?,; Zuf,;, ' ^ . - ^^^^^_
0 ocpro; tou bioZ,
«//Tov 0 ^wv, 0 otpros 0 i^ O'jpetvo'j xccto.,
Bread, which is the representative and symbol of all earthly food, is the type of Him who is the Representative Man, impart- ing life to all who will partake of His Spirit.
On three different occasions we are told that Jesus was the invited guest of aPharisee ; and, so far as the circumstances in each instance testify, it was at one of their ordinarj' meals that He was present. It is remarkable that it is St. Luke who records all these occurrences, and at the same time it is noteworthj' that he uses tliree different expressions in his wording of the formal invita- tions (IVa (pdyji fjL€T aiiTov, Lk 7'^® ; Stfws dpicrTTjar] Trap' avTw, IP" ; aa'fi^dTu} (payelv aprov, 14^). Not onlj' are the invitations couched in varying phrases, but St. Luke uses different words when referring to the attitude of tlie guests at the meals (KareKXidr), 7^ ; dveireffev, IP'; avfavaKei/xevii)!', 14'^). There is every probability that in each case it was the mid-day meal to which Je-sus was invited. It became customary amongst the Jews to make three elabo- rate meals on the Sabbath day ('Ob.serva diem Sabbati; non Judaicis deliciis,' quoted by Plummer, o/>. cit. p. 354). So much so, indeed, was this the case, that specially devised rules were made for carrying out the observance of the Sabbath feasts, and special spiritual benefits were supposed to be conferred on those who, overcoming the difficulties interposed by poverty, supplied themselves with the choicest procurable food for that daj' (see PcoA, viii. 7, and the examples quoted from shabbath by Lightfoot in his Hor. Hcb. et Talm. on Lk 14' ; cf. Edersheim, op. cit. ii. 52, 437 ; Farrar, Life of Christ, ii. 119 n.'^). It was on the occasion of one of these Sabbath meals that a fellow-guest of Jesus, on hearing Him speak, answered with the exclamation, ' Blessed is he that shall eat bread ((pd-yeraL dprov) in the kingdom of God' (Lk 141^), referring, of course, to the popular Jewish idea that the Messianic Kingdom was to be ushered in by a banquet, and that feasting was to be the chief occupation of those who shared its glories (cf. Is 25^), — an idea which finds a place in the illus- trative teaching of Jesus on the universal char- acter of the future Kingdom of God (cf. dvaKXidrj- aovrai. iv rri ^aaiXeia rod dead, Lk IB"^ ; see ^^ endt, Lehre Jesu, Eng. tr. vol. i. pp. 217, 221).