Simple, Nourishing Foods of Jesus' Day

The Jews of Jesus' day were early leaders in the production of wholesome organic foods with a selection of nourishing breads, grains vegetables, fruits, fish and meat used to create nourishing meals from breakfast to dinner as well as for special feasts.

Grains such as wheat, barley, oats, spelt and millet were grown by Jewish farmers in Jesus' day and formed a major part of the first century Jewish diet with each person consuming nearly 200 kilograms of cereals each year. This provided them with about half of their caloric intake. A good part of these grains or cereals were in the form of bread.

Like today different types of bread could be bought in the market but in most cases Jewish women made their own bread in stone ovens after spending up to three hours or more grinding wheat or other grains into flour. And bread formed only part of the meal.

The breakfast meals, especially for people living near coast also included fresh fish, bread, nuts, raisins and olives. This is likely the type of breakfast Jesus offered some of his disciples after they had spent an entire night fishing without much luck. Remember how Jesus called out to them on this occasion described in John 21: 9-13: "Come, take your breakfast."

Like many of us the midday meal or lunch was often light. According to the book, Life in Biblical Israel the Jewish often prepared a meal from bread, some type of grain, as well as olives and figs.

The evening meal varied widely depending on the wealth of the individual or family. According to Poverty and Charity in Roman Palestine, First Three Centuries C.E. most persons ate a very simple meal. "Most people ate bread or porridges made of barley, various cereals and legumes or sometimes wheat. They supplemented them usually with salt and oil or olives, occasionally a strong sauce or honey, or sweet fruit juices.

But, depending on the family and part of the country a wide variety of foods could form a part of the menu with milk, cheeses and 30 different types of vegetables such as onions, garlic, radishes, carrots, cabbage to name a few. And many of the Jewish people also a choice of some 30 different types of fruits such as figs, dates, and pomegranates growing in the area. And those living near the sea could also catch and prepare fish as part of their menu while more wealthy persons also included some type of meat and wine (a very popular beverage in ancient Israel) as part of the evening meal made even more flavourful with a dash of herbs such as dill, cumin, and mustard finished off with a desert "of roasted wheat prepared with almonds, honey, and spices."

 

 

 

 

God's Qualities Can Be Clearly Seen

 

The Apostle Paul's words partially quoted here from Romans 1:20: where Paul said, "For his invisible [qualities] are clearly seen from the world's creation onward."

What he meant is evident in the design of creatures around us. Consider the humpback whale for instance. This 30 ton 40 foot long animal is more agile than most human swimmers being able to turn in seemingly impossibly tight circles even when the whale is climbing at steep angles.

The secret is in the leading edge of its flippers. They are not smooth like the leading edge of an airplane wing as you might imagine but faced with protruding bumps or tubercles which cause the water to accelerate over the flipper in an organized, rotating flow. This reduces drag and increases lift – much better than any airplane wing

So much more efficiently, actually, that biomechanics experts such as John Long believe that before too long we could see every jetliner wing designed with similar protruding bumps on the leading edges. Such wings would definitely need fewer flaps and other moving parts, need less maintenance and make the airliner much safer to fly in and is a perfect example of God's design intelligence.

Another example of this is the seagull's wing which aircraft designers have been to mimic in prototype drones which have the seagull's ability to hover, dive and climb rapidly according to an article in New Scientist magazine.

Military aircraft designers are keen on designing and building such small aircraft, which can hover and dive between tall buildings to help search for chemical or biological threats in big cities such as New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles throughout the world.

All of this so far is but a quick look at what Paul was talking about in the introduction to his Bible book of Romans, but it does help to illustrate what he meant – the proof all around us in the world of nature of a super intelligent and creative God.

 

 

 

 

 

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