“After Meal Grace or Before”

“When thou hast eaten and art full, then thou shalt bless the LORD thy God for the good land which He has given you. Beware that thou forget not the LORD thy God, in not keeping His commandments and His ordinances, and His statutes, which I command thee this day,”  Deut. 8:10-11

Orthodox Jewish people pray twice for their meals; they pray the ‘Ha Motzi‘ the prayer for the bread, “Blessed art Thou O Lord our God, Creator of heaven and earth, Who brings forth the fruit/bread from the earth.” Amen! Then they break off a piece of the  bread, dip it in some salt and pass it around, eat it and enjoy their meal. This establishes a salt covenant at their table fellowship, a very sacred covenant (one of three, salt, shoe, blood). Then they have an, “After Meal Grace” based on Deut. 8:10-11. Christians usually pray before they eat as do many other religious organizations or people. However, praying after the meal is a custom known only among the Jewish faith as far as I know.

The Jewish people also do not bless the food like Christians and others do either because they have already consumed  it, rather they acknowledge the One who provided them with their daily provision. To the Jewish people the dinner table is like a an altar before the Lord where they partake of other sacrificed life forms like chicken, fish, beef, etc, so that they ourselves might live. So, after they eat God’s provision for them, they are obligated to offer a blessing to God for all He has provided for them and for His protection and and care for them as well.

The full Jewish grace said after meals is called the ‘Birkat Hamazon‘ and it is rather long and involves several blessings and it can be found in a Jewish prayer book called a ‘Siddur.’  A shorter alternative would be as follows, “Blessed art Thou, O LORD our God, King of the universe, Who nourishes the whole world in goodness, with grace, kindness, and compassion. He gives bread to the flesh, for His mercy endures forever. And through His great goodness we have never lacked, nor will we lack for food forever, for the sake of His great Name. For He is God, who nourishes and sustains all, and does good to all, and prepares food for all His creatures which He created. Blessed art Thou LORD, who nourishes all. Amen.”

Why was this command given by Moses? Why do they have this, ‘After Meal Grace?’ Isn’t the ‘Ha Motzi‘ sufficient? Isn’t the blessing before the meal enough? Does God demand more or do we need more? You really need to read the whole chapter to get the context, chapter eight is a whole thought by itself, Moses is looking backward and forward. Also in v.1 Moses tells them, “Every commandment which I command you today you must be careful to obey, that you may live and multiply.” The reason for this is so, you don’t forget where your blessings come from when you are full. It is easy to remember the Lord, to cry out to God, when the hunger pains hit you or your family.  But when you are full, satisfied, satiated, that is when you have a tendency to forget God and where your blessings really come from. That is why verse eight starts out with the word, “Beware, (sha-mar – to keep your guard, to watch and ward off ) lest when the table is full, and your barn is full, and your wallet is full, you say, v.18, “Mine hand has gotten me this wealth!”

That is the whole purpose of ‘Tithing‘ giving God the first-fruits of all He has given you, so you are remembering Him always, before and after. Remember, it is ‘Tithes & Offerings’ and you can’t ‘Out Give’ God and you can’t ‘Out Bless’ Him either. When we get into our cars and go on a trip we ask God for traveling mercies, or we should anyway, for His angels to guide us on the highways of life, it’s scary out there, an accident happens every 3 seconds! However, how many of us take the time to thank Him for a safe trip when we arrive at our destination or our home? When Noah got off the Ark the first thing he did was to build an altar and have family worship and thank God for his family’s safety. If you go back two chapters to Deut. 6:11 it says, “The houses were full (mala – this is the same word you have in Isa. 6:1 where “the Lord’s train filled (mala) the temple” filled to overflowing, fully-full!) And when thou hast eaten and art full (saba– satiated) “Then beware, lest you forget the LORD!”

This is the great passage where they are to teach their children v.7 ff when they sit, walk, stand, lie down, and rise up and they are to bind the ‘Word of God’ on their arms and between their eyes to remember it. This is the ‘Great Shema‘ passage in Deut. 6:4-5, that even Yeshua/Jesus quoted, one which all the Jewish people pray three times every day. It is the heart and soul of all Judaism; all three major branches pray it as well as the minor branches. It is interesting that this principle of Moses, the “After Meal Grace” falls right in the middle of this great teaching principle, or is it a coincidence? One of the important keys of this principle is, “Not to put the LORD your God to the test!” v.16.  This is exactly what happened in Ex. 17:7 with the lack of water in Massah. I wonder how often we put the LORD to the test in our lives and ministries by being ungracious, or unthankful? An ‘After Meal Grace’ may not be such a bad idea for Christians to adopt before they jump up from the table and grab their cell phones or i-pads and go off into the cyber-world. Amen?

I believe that’s why Solomon wrote in Prov. 3:5-10, which you are all very familiar with, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not unto your own understanding…” but he goes on and tells us, “To honor the LORD with the substance, and with the first-fruits of all thine increase.” ‘To honor Him, (kabad) to glorify Him God, with our substance (hown) wealth and riches, and with the first-fruits (raysheit) the first of the first fruits, the head, the chief, the beginning, the choice part, the first in time, place, order, rank; of ALL thine increase (tebuwah) income, revenue, gain, crops, profit.” Any more questions? Now do you see why ‘Tithing‘ is so important to God? It is the principle that is important to Him, not the money, He owns it all anyway! It is the principle that you are putting Him ‘FIRST’ and recognizing that He provided ‘ALL’ you have gained, Not you, He did it! And it is important to ‘Bless Him For It!’ Not the Gift but the Giver! The Jewish people do not bless the provision, they bless the Provider! After they have partaken of the provision, so they won’t take any credit for it’s supply or it’s production even if they are the farmer.

We have something all wrong in our thinking, should I tithe from the gross or from the net? Do you realize how ridiculous that question really is? But you say, “I’m not under the Law?” Neither was Noah, or Abraham, or Jacob, or Joseph or possibly even Jesus who was God and made the Law but kept every jot and title. However, we are talking about a principle of recognizing God first in our lives, a principle for living, a God ordained principle like gravity, or love, or grace, or forgiveness. I am not trying to build a case for tithing, although I firmly believe in it and have been tithing since January 1974, from the gross and we owe nothing and we want for nothing either. We learned a long time ago, you can’t out give God and if you will make, His business your business, He will make your business His business. Just put Him first in everything and you can’t lose!

The point Moses is trying to make here is, “Bless The Provider” for His provision at all times, lest you begin to say in your own heart, v.17, “My power and the might of mine own hand has gotten me this wealth.” That my friend is the whole point of the ‘Birkat Hamazon” the “Grace After Meals” set up by Moses, and it is not such a bad idea for believers in Christ to adopt such a principle in their own lives either. After all, it is a ‘Biblical Principle,’ Moses said so! Till next time, I’ll see you, “…Between The Lines…” 

“After Meal Grace or Before” Deut. 8:10-11  12/13/17