05/21/10
MEAL PRAYERS
It is generally common even today to pray before meals, but
there is good reason to pray as well after meals. As we read in Deuteronomy
“When thou hast eaten and art full, then thou shalt bless the LORD thy God for the good land which he hath given thee.”
As Matthew Henry well notes (see http://www.blueletterbible.org/cgi-bin/comm_read.pl?book=Deu&chapter=8&verse=10&Comm=Comm%2Fmhc%2FDeu%2FDeu008.html%2313%26Matthew%26Henry&Select.x=29&Select.y=15 ) :
"Whatever they had the comfort of God must have the glory of. As our Saviour has taught us to bless before we eat (Mt. 14:19, 20), so we are here taught to bless after meat. That is our Hosannah—God bless; this is our Hallelujah—Blessed be God. In every thing we must give thanks. From this law the religious Jews took up a laudable usage of blessing God, not only at their solemn meals, but upon other occasions; if they drank a cup of wine they lifted up their hands and said, Blessed be he that created the fruit of the vine to make glad the heart. If they did but smell at a flower, they said, Blessed be he that made this flower sweet."
Prayer before and after meals has historically been the universal practice of Judaism and Christendom. It was certainly the practice of the early Christian Church. As Tertullian wrote in his Prayer 25: “We do not recline at a banquet before prayer be first tasted — in like manner prayer puts an end to the feast".
So why has this practice fallen more and more out of common usage, even among the religious? I would suggest at least three factors have played a role:
1. increasing secularization of society
2. increasing hectic pace of modern life
3. Baptistic views that tend to dismiss Old Testament commands unless they are repeated in the New Testament
But the Baptistic hermeneutic is erroneous, and the secularization of our society is wicked. We ought to return to the historic and Biblical practice of praying before and after meals, and giving appropriate thanks to God when we consume food or drink.