Meat

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MEAT.—This word is used in AV [Note: Authorized Version.] for food in general, as it is in Scotland still. Thus 2Es_12:51 ‘I had my meat of the herbs’; cf. Hall, Works i. 806, ‘There was never any meat, except the forbidden fruit, so deare bought as this broth of Jacob.’
Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible
Edited by James Hastings, D.D. Published in 1909


Not in our sense, "flesh." Thus of the three divisions of offerings "the burnt, the meat, and the peace offering," the meat offering is a "present or oblation" (minchah from a root "to send or offer"), consisting only of flour, grain, and oil, flesh never being in it as in the other two. In Psa_111:5, "He hath given meat (tereph) unto them that fear Him," literally, spoil such as Israel brought out of Egypt (Exo_12:36), and which God had covenanted to Abraham, Gen_15:14 (Kimchi). Rather, the manna and quails, a heaven-sent "booty" (treasure trove) to the hungering people. Tereph is used for "meat" in general (Pro_31:15; Mal_3:10). In 1Co_8:13, "if meat make my brother to offend," etc., and Rom_14:20, "for meat destroy not the work of God," brooma means food in general, not merely flesh.
The minchah denotes generally a gift from an inferior to a superior, whether God or man (Gen_4:3-5; Gen_32:13); qorban or korban afterward expressed this general sense. Minchah then was restricted to the unbloody offering, zebach to the "bloody sacrifice". Necek, "drink offerings", accompanied the minchah. In Leviticus 2; Lev_6:14-23 the law of the meat offerings is given. Their ingredients, flour and oil, were the chief vegetable foods of Israel; so in them the Israelite offered his daily bread to the Lord, but in a manner distinct from the merely dedicatory first fruits of grain and bread (compare 1Ch_29:10-14; Deu_26:5-11). The latter loaves were leavened, and neither they nor the first fruits sheaf were burial upon the altar (Lev_23:10-11; Lev_23:17; Lev_23:20). Each meat offering on the contrary was to be prepared without leaven, and a portion given by burning to Jehovah for a sweet savor upon the altar.
The rest as a most holy thing was to be eaten in the holy place by the priests alone as the mediators between Jehovah and the people. Therefore, the meat offerings did not denote merely the sanctification of earthly food, but symbolized the spiritual food enjoyed by the congregation of the Lord. If even the earthly life is not nourished merely by the daily bread but by the divine grace which blesses the food as means of preserving life, much less can the spiritual life be nourished by earthly food, but only by the spiritual food which a man partakes of by the Spirit of God from the true bread of life, the word of God. As oil symbolizes the Spirit as the principle of all spiritual life, so bread from the seed of the field symbolizes the word of God (Luk_8:11; Deu_8:3). Sanctification consists in the operation of this spiritual food through the right use of the means of grace for growth in holiness (Mat_5:16; 1Pe_2:12). This inner food fills the inner man with peace, joy, and blessedness in God.
This fruit of the spiritual life is shadowed forth in the "meat offerings." They must be free from the "leaven" of hypocrisy (Luk_12:1) (the leaven of the old nature, Kurtz), malice, and wickedness (1Co_5:8), and from the "honey" of carnal delights, both being destructive of spiritual life. "The salt of the covenant of God" (i.e. the purifying, strengthening, and quickening power of the covenant, whereby moral corruption is averted) and the incense of prayer were to be added, that the fruit of the spiritual life might be well pleasing to the Lord (Qeri). Wine symbolized vigor and refreshment (Psa_104:15). The priests' own meat offerings were to be wholly burnt. The sin offering implied atonement for sin; the burnt offering self dedication to God; the meat offering spiritual sustenance through the word and Spirit.
"The prayer to God, Give us this day our daily bread, is accompanied by the demand on God's part, Give Me today My daily bread. This demand is answered by the church when it offers to God in good works that for which God has endowed it with strength, benediction, and prosperity." (Hengstenberg, Dissertation on the Pentateuch, ii. 531.) The meat offering was to be for a "memorial" reminding God of His people; so Cornelius' alms and prayers (Act_10:4). The minchah, as a sacrifice, was something surrendered to God, which was of the greatest value to man as a means of living. It was not merely grain, but grain prepared by man's labor. Hence the minchah, expressed a confession that all our good works are wrought in God and are due to Him (Speaker's Commentary, Lev_2:14).
Fausset's Bible Dictionary
By Andrew Robert Fausset, co-Author of Jamieson, Fausset and Brown's 1888.


Meat. It does not appear that the word "meat" is used in any one instance, in the Authorized Version of either the Old or New Testament, in the sense which it now almost exclusively bears of animal food. The latter is denoted uniformly by "flesh." The word "meat," when our English version was made, meant food in general; or if any particular kind was designated, it referred to meal, flour or grain. The only real and inconvenient ambiguity caused by the change which has taken place in the meaning of the word is in the case of the "Meat [Meal] Offering." See Meat Offering.
Smith's Bible Dictionary
By Dr. William Smith.Published in 1863


mēt (βρῶμα, brṓma, βρῶσις, brṓsis): In the King James Version used for food in general, e.g. ?I had my meat of herbs? (2 Esdras 12:51); ?his disciples were gone away into the city to buy meat,? the Revised Version (British and American) ?food? (Joh_4:8). The English word signified whatever is eaten, whether of flesh or other food.

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
PRINTER 1915.


Jdg_14:14 (c) The lion is the eater and the honey is the meat. It is a lovely picture of the sweet, precious and delightful food which we find in the Lord JESUS CHRIST as we partake of Him for the blessing of our souls.

Psa_42:3 (a) There are those who feed upon their sorrows. Their griefs are never comforted, and their conversation is continually about the troubles they have had. They are never satisfied unless they weep over former losses.

Psa_69:21 (a) When our Saviour was hanging on the Cross hungry, thirsty and torn with grief and sorrow, they gave Him the bitter gall instead of the comfort and the water that He so much needed.

Pro_23:6 (a) The wicked seem to have every kind of blessing that the heart desires. Often these riches have been obtained by dishonest means and methods. The Lord wants us to be satisfied with that which He provides, and which we obtained by honest efforts. Let us not crave to have that which the devil gives.

Dan_1:3 (c) The rich food which came from the king's table had been offered first to an idol. Daniel would have none of that which was highly esteemed among men, and especially among royalty. It was defiled food. Let us remember that the finest that the world can give is not the portion of GOD's people.

Joh_4:12, Joh_4:34 (a) Our Lord indicates by this type that the will of GOD satisfied the longings of the heart of the Son of GOD, and that he flourished and grew on the service of His Father. We too should feed on the will, the words and the work of GOD.

Joh_6:27 (a) The Lord is using this figure to indicate worldly gain and worldly goods upon which men feed for satisfaction. Rather He offers us the blessings of the Christian life as food for our souls and hearts.

Joh_6:55 (a) This passage refers definitely to a very intimate association with CHRIST wherein He Himself in His own person becomes priceless and precious to our hearts' affections. The mother says to her baby, "I could eat you up!" It is a figure which indicates that the heart, soul and life are wrapped up in the Son of GOD.

1Co_8:13 (a) It is quite evident that Paul uses this figure to show that he would not do anything which his own soul desired, if the doing of it would hurt the heart and the feelings of one of GOD's dear children.

Heb_5:12 (a) The word in this passage is used to illustrate the deep truths of the Word of GOD. Those Christians had to receive the simplest kind of teaching because they had not learned to think through the doctrines and the philosophies of the Word of GOD.

Heb_13:9 (a) The heart is not to be influenced by human arguments, man-made theories, and various religious devices. GOD wants our souls to be strong and healthy because we are resting upon the facts of the Scriptures, and not on the fancies of men.
Wilson's Dictionary of Bible Types
press 1957.


Meat
I. It does not appear that the word “meat”‘is used in any one instance in the Authorized Version of either the O. or N. Testament in the sense which it now almost exclusively bears of animal food. The latter is denoted uniformly by “flesh.”
1. The only possible exceptions to this assertion in the. O.T. are:
(a) Gen_27:4, etc., “savory meat ;” Gen_45:23,” corn and bread and meat.” Here the Hebrew word, מִטְעִמַּיםmatammim', which in this form appears in this chapter only, is derived from a root .which has exactly the force of our word “taste,” and is employed in reference to the manna. In the passages in ,question the word “dainties” would be perhaps more appropriate.
(b) In Genesis the original word is one of almost equal rarity, מָזוֹן, mazon'; and if the Lexicons did not show that this had only the general force of food in all the other Oriental tongues, that would be established in regard to Hebrew by its other occurrences, viz. 2Ch_11:23, where it is rendered “victual;” and Dan_9:12; Dan_9:21, where the meat spoken of is that to be furnished by a tree.
2. The only real and inconvenient ambiguity caused by ‘the change' which has taken place in' the. meaning' of the word is in the case of the “meat- offering,” the second of the three great divisions into which the sacrifices of the. Law were divided-the burnt-offering, the meat-offering, and the peace-offering (Lev_2:1, etc.)and which consisted solely of flour, or corn, and oil, sacrifices of flesh being confined to the other two. The word thus translated is מַנְחָה, minchah', elsewhere rendered “present” and “oblation,” and derived from a root which has the force of “sending” or “offering” to a person. It is very desirable that some English term should be proposed which would avoid this ambiguity. “Food offering” is hardly admissible, though it is perhaps preferable to “ unbloody or bloodless sacrifice.” SEE MEAT OFFERING.
3. There are several other words, which, though entirely distinct in the original, are all translated in the A.V. by “meat ;” but none of them present any special interest except טֶרֶ, te'reph. This word, from a ‘root signifying “ to tear,” would be perhaps more accurately rendered “prey” or “booty.” Its use in Psa_111:5, especially when taken in connection with the word rendered “good understanding” in Psa_111:10, which should rather be, as in the margin, “good. success,” throws a new and-unexpected light over the familiar phrases of that beautiful Psalm. It seems to show how inextinguishable was the warlike, predatory spirit in the mind of the writer, good Israelite and devout worshipper of Jehovah as he was. Late as he lived in the history of his nation, he cannot forget the “power” of Jehovah's “ works” by which his forefathers acquired the “heritage of the heathen;” and to him, as to his ancestors when conquering the country, it is still a firm article of belief that those who fear Jehovah shall obtain most of the spoil of his enemies-those who obey his commandments shall have the best success in the field.
4. In the N.T. the variety of the Greek: words thus rendered is equally great; but dismissing such terms as ἀνακεῖσθαι or ἀναπίπτειν, which are rendered by “sit at meat”'-φαγεῖν, for which we occasionally find “meat” - τράεζα (Act_16:34), the same- εἰδωλοθύτα, “meat offered to idols”- κλάσματα, generally “fragments,” but twice “broken meat”- dismissing these, we have left τροφή and βρῶμα (with its kindred words, βρῶσις, etc.), both words bearing the widest possible signification, and meaning everything that can be eaten or can nourish the frame. The former is most used in the Gospels and Acts. The latter is found in John and in the Epistles of Paul. It is the word employed in the famous sentences, “for meat destroy not the work of God,” if meat make my brother to offend,” etc. SEE ALISGEMA.
II. Meat, however, in the proper modern sense (בָּשָׂר, basar', flesh, as it is rendered in the Auth.Vers.), i.e.. of clean beasts (Leviticus 11.), namely, lambs (Isa_53:7; Amo_6:4), calves (1Sa_28:24; Gen_18:7; Amo_6:4; Luk_15:23; comp. Russell, Aleppo, 1:145), oxen (Isa_22:13; Pro_15:17; 1Ki_4:23; Mat_22:4), kids (1Sa_16:20; Jdg_6:19), also venison (1Ki_4:23), and poultry (1Ki_4:23; see Gesenius, Thes. Hebrews p. 715; Michaelis, Mos-Recht. 4:198), was a favorite dish among the Hebrews, either roasted entire, or cooked with choice vegetables and eaten with bread (2Sa_6:19; 1Ki_17:6); yet only royal personages partook of it daily (1Ki_4:23; Neh_5:18), the less wealthy merely on festive occasions (Luk_15:23; comp. Niebuhr, Besch. p. 52), especially at the great sacrificial festivals; and we find that the modern Arabs, namely, the Bedouin, as a general rule. but seldom eat flesh (Shaw, Trav. p. 169; comp. Burckhardt, Trav. 2:1003; Wellsted, 1:248; those of the peninsula of Sinai live mostly on sour milk, dried dates, and unleavened bread, Rtippel, p. 203; but among the ancient Egyptians flesh was very commonly eaten, Exo_16:3; comp. Rosellini, Monum. cir. 1:151). The shoulder was the -most esteemed piece of the animal (1Sa_9:24; comp. Harmar, 1:311). Flesh which contained the blood, was forbidden (Lev_3:17; Lev_7:26; Lev_17:10; Deu_12:16; Deu_12:27), because the life was regarded as residing in the blood (Gen_9:4; comp. Oedmann, 6:89 sq.). SEE BLOOD. The pieces of flesh were taken by each guest from the common dish with his fingers. SEE EAT; 4. The Jews were very careful to avoid the flesh of heathen victims (Aboda Sara, 2:3). SEE CLEAN; SEE OFFERING.
III. As above noted, in the English version the word “meat” means food in general; or when confined to one species of food, it always signifies meal, flour, or grain, but never flesh, which is now the ‘usual acceptation of the word. SEE FLESH.
A “ meat-offering” in the Scriptures is always a vegetable, and never an animal offering; and it might now be rendered a bread-offering, or a meal-offering, instead of a meat-offering. It does not appear that the ancient Hebrews were very nice about the dressing of their food. We find among them roast meat, boiled meat, and ragouts. SEE COOK.
Their manner of living would be much like that of the ancient Egyptians, among whom they had long resided. Wilkinson says, “No tray was used on the Egyptian table, nor was it covered by any linen; like that of the Greeks, it was probably wiped with a sponge or napkin after the dishes were removed, and polished by the servants when the company had retired. The dishes consisted of fish; meat, boiled, roasted, and dressed in various ways; game, poultry, and a profusion of vegetables and fruit, particularly figs and grapes during the season; and a soup or pottage of lentils. Of figs and grapes they were particularly fond. Fresh dates during the season, and in a dried state at other periods of the year, were also brought to table.” SEE FOOD.
Among the Hebrews meats that were offered were boiled in a pot (1Sa_2:14-15). They were forbidden to seethe a kid in the milk of its dam (Exo_23:19; Exo_34:26). They might not kill a cow and its calf on the same day; nor a sheep or goat and its young one at the same time. They might not cut off a part of a living animal to eat it, either raw or dressed. If any lawful beast or bird should die of itself or be strangled, and the blood not drain away, they were not allowed to taste of it. He that by inadvertence should eat of any animal that died of itself, or that was killed by any beast, was to be unclean till the evening, and was not purified till he had washed his clothes. They ate of nothing dressed by any other than a Hebrew, nor did they ever dress their victuals with-the kitchen implements of any but one of their own nation.
The prohibition of eating blood, or animals that are strangled, has been always rigidly observed by the Jews. In the council of the apostles held at Jerusalem. it was declared that converts from paganism should not be subject to the legal ceremonies, but that they should refrain from idolatry, - from fornication, from eating blood, and from such animals as were strangled, and their blood thereby retained in their bodies; which decree was observed for many ages by the Church (Act_15:20-29).
In reference to “meats offered to idols,” it may be observed that at the first settling of the Church there were many disputes concerning the use of meats offered to idols (1Co_8:7; 1Co_8:10). Some newly-converted Christians, convinced that an idol was nothing, and that the distinction of clean and unclean creatures was abolished by our Saviour, ate indifferently of whatever was served up to them, even among pagans, without inquiring whether the meats had been offered to idols. They took the same liberty in buying meat sold in the market, not regarding whether it were pure or impure, according to the Jews; or whether it had been offered to idols or not. But other Christians, weaker or less instructed, were offended at this liberty, and thought that eating of meat which had been offered to idols was a kind of partaking in that wicked and sacrilegious offering. This diversity of opinion produced some scandal, for which Paul thought that it behooved him to provide a remedy (Rom_14:20-21; Tit_1:15). He determined, therefore, that all things were clean to such as were clean, and that an idol was nothing at all; that a man might safely eat of whatever was sold in the shambles, and need not scrupulously inquire whence it came; and that if an unbeliever should invite a believer to eat with him, the believer might eat of whatever was set before him (1Co_10:25, etc.). But at the same time he enjoins that the laws of charity and prudence should be observed; that believers should be cautious of scandalizing or offending weak minds; for though all things might be lawful,” yet all things were not always expedient. SEE SACRIFICE.

CYCLOPEDIA OF BIBLICAL, THEOLOGICAL AND ECCLESIASTICAL
press 1895.





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