Wednesday, March 20, 2024

Angela M. Crowell and John A. Tvedtnes on the Nephite and Jewish Practice of Blessing God after Eating One's Fill (cf. Alma 8:21-22)

 In Alma 8:21-22, Alma blesses God after, not before, eating the meal Amulek offered him:

 

And it came to pass that the man received him into his house; and the man was called Amulek; and he brought forth bread and meat and set before Alma. And it came to pass that Alma ate bread and was filled; and he blessed Amulek and his house, and he gave thanks unto God. (Alma 8:21-22)

 

This was a common Old World custom that the Nephites seem to have retained. As Crowell and Tvedtnes noted:

 

In Judaism, while a brief blessing is recited before eating, a series of longer blessings, the birkat ha-mazon, follows the meal. Four blessings come after the consumption of bread, while separate blessings are offered for other foods depending on their nature and origin. The basis for this practice is Deuteronomy 8:10:

 

When thou hast eaten and art full,

then thou shalt bless the Lord thy God

for the good land which he hath given thee.

 

This observance is also found in a Dead Sea Scrolls poem, which Gaster calls Invitation to Grace after Meals; this poem paraphrases the language in the first part of Deuteronomy 8:10. It says, "whenso they eat and are filled," noting that this is when men should speak of wisdom and think of the law given by God. (Taken from Theodor H. Gaster, The Dead Sea Scriptures, 3rd ed. [Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1976], 219-21)

 

Blessing after meals is mentioned in Mishnah Berakot 3:3 and Sukkah 2:5. The latter notes that when Rabbi Zadok ate only a small portion of food, he didn't say the blessing afterward, probably because Deuteronomy 8:10 calls for a blessing only if one has eaten and is full. (Angela M. Crowell and John A. Tvedtnes, "The Nephite and Jewish Practice of Blessing God after Eating One's Fill," Journal of Book of Mormon Studies 6, no. 2 [1997]: 252)