BIBLE CUSTOMS AND CURIOSITIES (AN ANCIENT MEAL)

This is a good description of an ancient Middle Eastern meal in Old Testament times. The meal consisted of bread baked from wheat flour (Genesis 18:6), milk, butter or curds, and meat from a freshly slaughtered calf (Genesis 43:16). A typical meal of this period consisted of a vegetable stew with no meat, so Abraham probably provided the meat as a special delicacy for his guests. The milk was probably goat milk.

Utensils and plates were not in Bible times. People are by scooping vegetables and meat from a common cooking pot with pieces of bread. Jesus referred to this method of eating when He predicted that Judas would betray Him. “It is the one to whom I will give this piece of bread when I have dipped it in the dish” (John 13:26 NIV).

Genesis 18:7-8 – ⁷ And Abraham ran unto the herd, and fetcht a calf tender and good, and gave it unto a young man; and he hasted to dress it.

⁸ And he took butter, and milk, and the calf which he had dressed, and set it before them; and he stood by them under the tree, and they did eat.