Angels' Food
By
Louis Rushmore, Editor
“Had
rained down manna on them to eat, And given them of the
bread of heaven. Men
ate angels’
food; He sent them food to the full” (Psalm 78:24-25 NKJV).
References
to the occasion of God giving manna to the
Israelites in the wilderness appear in Exodus
16:4-5, 14, 31;
Numbers 11:7-9.
Jesus Christ referred to this circumstance in John 6:31-35 and used it
as an example comparable to the Father
in heaven sending Him into the world; our Lord concluded this discourse
with
saying that He is Bread from heaven, meaning that Jesus Christ is the
bread of
(eternal) life. The manna sustained physical life in the wilderness
wandering
of the Israelites, and Jesus Christ is makes alive spiritually those
otherwise
wandering through this sinful world.
Regarding
manna being referred to as “angels’
food,”
Barnes observes: “Food that came from heaven; food so
directly and manifestly
from heaven that it might be supposed
to be the same kind that was eaten there, and that had now been sent
down by a
special miracle for man; food so delicate and so free from the ordinary
coarse
properties of food, that it might be supposed
to be such as angels feed on” (emphasis added).
“The manna is called ‘bread of
angels’ …as being bread from heaven
…the dwelling-place of angels” (Keil &
Delitzsch).
The association of the
source of this manna being from
heaven rather than suggesting any knowledge of angels resorting to
nourishing
themselves by eating something is meant; we have no information that
angels
necessarily eat anything for their sustenance. To the contrary, the
only
references in the Bible of angels eating is when they were in human
form and
visited Abram (Genesis 18:1-8) and Lot
(Genesis 19:1-3). Things are different in heaven than they are on the
earth.
For instance, angels do not marry (Matthew 22:30), and there is no
reason to
suppose that angelic beings, living in the spiritual realm of heaven
would
anymore eat than they would marry.
In
addition, the word translated, “angels,” could be
and sometimes is translated differently elsewhere in Scripture,
referring to
mighty men (Judges 5:22; Lamentations
1:15;
Jeremiah 40:15),
animals (Psalm
22:13) and princes (Psalm 68:31), according to Barnes. We conclude,
then, that
“angels’ food” has more to do with from
whence the manna came than does it
establish that angelic beings literally eat food of any sort in heaven.
This
question, though, is not of the sort that has anymore than curiosity
value for
men living today; that is, the question before us and our effort to
provide an
answer do not affect salvation, Christian worship, Christian living or
Christian service.
Works Cited
Barnes, Albert. Barnes’
Notes. CD-ROM. Seattle:
Biblesoft, 1997.
Keil &
Delitzsch
Commentary on the Old Testament: New Updated Edition. CD-ROM.
Peabody:
Hendrickson,
1996.
