Our Daily Bread - Part 3 - Remarkable Solution

Another Look at Our Daily Bread - Part 3

Here's Kenneth Bailey's answer to the problem of the meaning of the phrase:

In the 19th century a copy of the Old Syriac version of the gospels was found. In fact, two copies were discovered, and one is now at the British Museum and the other is at Monastery of St. Catherine on Mount Sinai.

This was an important discovery. They date back to the second century. This version stopped being used

(and became known as the Old Syriac) in the 4th century when the Syriac community produced a new updated version known as the Peshitta. The Old Syriac disappeared from history until the remarkable discovery of two copies were found.

"This Old Syriac translation of the Gospels is probably the oldest and earliest translation of the Greek New Testament in any language."

Jesus Himself spoke Aramaic, and Syriac is closely related to Aramaic.

"Syriac Christians, as they translated the Gospels into Syriac, were therefore taking the words of Jesus out of Greek and returning them to a language very close to His native Aramaic. Most words are the same in these two languages and the Old Syriac translation of the Lord's prayer reads Lahmo ameno diyomo hab Ian (lit. 'Amen bread today give to us').

"Lahmo means 'bread.' Ameno has the same root as the word amen, and in Syriac ameno is an adjective that means 'lasting, never-ceasing, never-ending, or perpetual.'

"This Old Syriac means, therefore, 'Give us today the bread that doesn't run out.'

Is there a greater daily concern for people throughout history and throughout the world than the fear of economic deprivation?

Will we have enough for tomorrow? Will our food - money - run out? What if I lose my job and can't feed my family? What if I can't work? What if insurance runs out? How will we survive?

"One of the deepest and most crippling fears of the human spirit is the fear of not having enough to eat...

"Perhaps in the Lord's Prayer Jesus teaches His disciples to pray for release from that fear. To pray for bread without ceasing is to pray for deliverance from the existential angst that there will not be enough. This fear can destroy the human spirit."

If Jesus is teaching His disciples to pray 'Give us this day the bread that does not run out,' doesn't this meet the meaning of all of the four earlier interpretations of the phrase give us this day our daily bread?

I think so.

1. the bread of today (time)

2. the bread of tomorrow (time)

3. the bread sufficient to sustain us (amount)

4. the bread we need for well-being (amount)

The idea that we ask God to give us bread without ceasing covers all the options found in the early church.

Further treasures in give us this day our daily bread...see Part 4