By Brad H. Young
The Thanksgiving holiday creates many images for us, from Pilgrims and Indians sitting down together at a table and giving thanks to God to football games and colorful parades. In essence, the holiday is a special time for family togetherness, which provides an opportunity for expressing gratitude to God for His goodness and blessings.
However, it is often forgotten that in the daily life of Jesus and His disciples, thanksgiving and blessing were an integral part of their everyday experience and customary practice. Reflected both in early Jewish literature and in the daily liturgy of the synagogue from Bible times to modern, it is a fact that the Jewish people have made giving thanks a significant part of every aspect of daily life.
Not only is the concept of blessing and giving thanks reflected in the Gospel story of the life of Jesus, but it is also clearly seen in the Pauline Epistles. Here we will examine the Jewish sources and the New Testament evidence in order to gain deeper insights into the early Jewish approach to giving thanks.
The Bible was the source book of Judaism in the time of Jesus, The precepts and lifestyle taught in the sacred pages of the Scriptures and their interpretation by the Jewish sages form the basis of Jewish life and practice. The Jewish people are people of the Book. The five Books of Moses were carefully examined in order to understand the way of life which God desired from His people. Not surprisingly, the Jewish people developed an approach to life which emphasized God’s Lordship and sovereignty over all that He created. They emphasized God’s goodness and His genuine concern for each individual who was created to dwell in the world designed by God for man’s enjoyment and fulfillment.
The rabbis viewed all men as stewards of God’s benevolence. Man was created in God’s image. He was given responsibility to obey God in God’s domain and to care for the beautiful world which had been made for him by God. The foundation of the Jewish understanding of thanksgiving and blessing was formed upon the belief in God’s goodness and His creation. The people were taught to give thanks to God for His goodness. In fact, the sages developed a radical approach to life in which a person blesses God and gives thanks for all the benefit which he receives from God’s creation. Hence at every meal a person must give thanks to God for His provision. The written word itself provided the basis for this approach to God’s provision.
In the Torah we read, “You shall eat and be full, and you shall bless the LORD your God for the good land he has given you” (Deuteronomy 8:10). This verse provides the basis of the Jewish concept of giving thanks to God in the form of a blessing for a meal. The phrase, “and you shall bless the LORD your God,” was understood in part as a way of giving thanks to God for His goodness to man. Note the fact that one blesses the LORD Himself and not any material object. In reality, the concept of blessing goes much deeper than mere praise, because in essence it is a full recognition of God’s Lordship and sovereignty. In fact, you could say that you are actually acknowledging the Kingdom of God, His rule and reign as Sovereign Lord of His creation. Often it has been asked: How can I as a human being bless God? The Hebrew term barach in this context (Deut. 8:10) does not mean provide a blessing but rather to worship Him by acknowledging His Kingdom and His authority which also influence your conduct in daily life.
The Hebrew theology of blessing recognizes the innate good in God’s creation. Unlike the Gnostic or Greek religions which often viewed the material universe as being inherently evil, the Jewish version of creation in Genesis proclaims that God made the world and that it is good. The failure to bless God for benefit received from the world is to deny His goodness and His authority over all that He created. The Jewish people have developed blessings to be recited in praise of God for specific occasions. When one eats bread he says, “Blessed art thou O Lord, King of the Universe who brings forth bread from the earth.” God created the world in which man received this benefit. An equally suitable blessing is recited over wine, “Blessed art thou O Lord, King of the Universe who brings forth fruit from the vine.” Such blessings are used during meals, and certainly Jesus would have employed these blessings with His disciples, not only during the Passover but as a daily practice on many occasions. A special blessing can be recited when one comes to a place where God has worked a miracle, when one sees a King, or even when one performs his natural body functions. In fact, one tractate of the Jewish oral tradition, Berachot in the Mishnah, is dedicated to the subject of blessings. Both the Jerusalem and the Babylonian Talmuds give extensive commentary to this tractate of the Mishnah. The rabbis developed a theology of blessing God for every aspect of man’s life. Each person is required to acknowledge God’s sovereignty and to live in a God-consciousness no matter what his line of work may be.
The Jewish sages based their theology of thanksgiving to God upon Psalm 24:1. In an illuminating passage from the Talmud we read, “To enjoy anything of this world without a blessing of thanks is like making personal use of things consecrated to heaven, since it says ‘The earth is the LORD’s and the fullness thereof’ (Ps. 24:1)” (b. Ber. 35a). Interestingly, another Jewish teacher, who studied under the eminent Rabban Gamaliel, also employs this passage from Psalm 24:1 when he discusses the pastoral problem of food and drink in the mixed congregation of Jews and Gentiles in Corinth. With some stipulations, Paul gives the advice to accept what is set before you with thanks, because, ‘The earth is the LORD’s and the fullness thereof’ (I Cor. 10:26). It would be difficult to deny that Paul’s Jewish upbringing and his study of the Scripture influenced his choice of proof text and his approach to the issue at hand. The earth is the LORD’s and hence, whenever a person benefits in any way from God’s created world, he must give thanks and praise to God who made it.
Strangely enough, in Christian practice, often the custom at mealtime has been to ask God “to bless this food to the nourishment of our bodies.” This phrase in prayer has been employed in many religious contexts but actually represents a basic misunderstanding of blessing. One does not bless the object. No, one blesses the source of all creation – the Lord Himself who made it. The mistake of blessing objects instead of God who gives all good things in this world is probably a result, not only of a misunderstanding of the Jewish custom in Jesus’ time, but also of a wrong reading of the Gospels. Often we read about how Jesus blessed, broke, and gave bread to His disciples. In the miracle of the multiplication or in the Last Supper, He blesses, breaks, and gives. The image of blessing is familiar in Jewish sources. The famous R. Akiva taught, “A man is forbidden to taste anything before saying a blessing over it” (b. Ber. 35a). Before eating, Jesus would say a blessing. Jewish readers would have understood that the blessing was said in praise to God for the food. Then the bread was broken and given to the disciples. At an early period, the idea of blessing the food developed. Interestingly, as was pointed out to me by David Flusser, in a very important Greek manuscript of Luke 9:16 we find a clear reference to the original wording of this text, which describes how Jesus blessed God for the food.
The usual version of the saying from Luke 9:16 reads, “And He took the five loaves and the two fish, looking up to heaven, He blessed them and broke them…” (Luke 9:16, NAS). From the translation, “He blessed them,” many have adopted the practice of blessing the food before a meal. However, in a number of very important New Testament manuscripts, including the uncial Codex Bezae, we discover a significant textual variant. Instead of blessing “them,” these texts insert a preposition before the direct object, “them,” – so that the text reads, “he said a blessing over them.” In other words, the better Greek manuscripts preserve the image of the original – Jewish practice of giving thanks to God who provides the food. Jesus said a blessing to God over the food. This makes the miracle of Jesus that much more meaningful. He gave thanks to God for His provision, and the five loaves and the two fish were miraculously multiplied to feed the five thousand. Even the leftovers of the twelve baskets far exceeded the small meal given to Jesus. The Jewish custom of blessing God before tasting anything demonstrated Jesus’ approach to life, which was based upon the Jewish understanding of God’s goodness and grace. One may bless his children and give them to the Lord for His service. He may even dedicate possessions or other material assets for the Kingdom of God. Nonetheless, the blessing of food is based upon a misunderstanding of the New Testament. God who provided good provision to man should be blessed for His benevolence. God is the source of everything. As study will clearly demonstrate, the Gospels and the rest of the New Testament reflect the early Jewish practice of reciting a blessing in praise and honor of God for His unmerited favor.
Why should God be blessed? The foundation of ancient Jewish thought and faith is “Hear O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD is one” (Deut. 6:14). The acknowledgment of the “Hear O Israel” affirmation of faith and commitment was understood as man’s total denial of other gods and his acceptance of God’s authority. God’s reign and Lordship is manifested when men acknowledge that, indeed, He alone is God. He created this world and the source of all of life comes from Him. The sanctity of life which God has given is often obscured by the mundane worries and concerns which can eclipse each person’s God-consciousness. True faith acknowledges God’s presence in every aspect of his life. Giving God praise and blessing for all benefit derived from His creation is a way that we sanctify life and receive the kingdom into all parts of our daily experience, both for our sometimes dreary routines as well as for our great spiritual highs. Awareness of God’s grace and presence gives deeper meaning to the mystery of life. During this Thanksgiving season, it is important to focus upon God’s Kingdom as we remember His gracious care and provision in the past, accept His power and authority in the present, and look to His goodness and grace in the future. But the true spirit of Thanksgiving can only be realized when we truly discover the sanctity of life by blessing the LORD Himself, as we acknowledge His sovereignty in each aspect of our lives, during every season of the year and at all times day by day.
