PERGAMUM: THE BREAD OF HEAVEN

Revelation 2:12—17 (contd)

IN this letter, the risen Christ promises two things to those who overcome; the first is a share of the hidden manna to eat. Here is a Jewish idea which has two aspects.
(1) When the children of Israel had no food in the desert, God gave them manna to eat (Exodus 16:11—15). When the need of the manna passed, the memory did not. A pot of the manna was put into the ark and set before God in the Holy of Holies in the tabernacle and in the Temple (Exodus 16:33—4; Hebrews 9:4). Early in the sixth century BC, the Temple which Solomon had built was destroyed; and the Rabbis had a legend that, when that happened, Jeremiah hid away the pot of manna in a cleft in Mount Sinai and that, when the Messiah came, he would return and the pot of manna would be discovered again. To a Jew, ‘to eat of the hidden manna’ meant to enjoy the blessings of the messianic age. To a Christian, it meant to enter into the blessedness of the new world which would emerge when the kingdom came.
(2) There may be a wider and more general meaning. Of the manna, it is said: ‘This is the bread that the Lord has given you to eat’ (Exodus 16:15). The manna is called ‘grain of heaven’ (Psalm 78:24); and it is said to be the ‘bread of angels’ (Psalm 78:25). Here, the manna may mean heavenly food. In that case, John would be saying: ‘In this world, you cannot share with the non-Christians in their feasts because you cannot sit down to meat which is part of a sacrifice that has been offered to an idol. You may think that you are being called upon to give up much, but the day will come when you will feast in heaven upon heavenly food.’ If that is so, the risen Christ is saying that people must abstain from the seductions of earth if they want to enjoy the blessings of heaven.
(3) There is one possible further interpretation of this. Some have suggested that the hidden manna is the bread of God given to Christians at the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper. John tells us that the Jews said to Jesus that their ancestors had eaten manna in the wilderness, so receiving bread to eat. He goes on to explain that Jesus said that only God could give the true bread from heaven and that he made the claim: ‘I am the bread of life’ (John 6:31—5). If the hidden manna and the bread of life are the same, the hidden manna not only is the bread of the sacrament but also stands for nothing less than Christ, the bread of life; and this is a promise that to those who are faithful he will give himself.

Barclay, W. (2004). The Revelation of John (3rd ed. fully rev. and updated., Vol. 1, pp. 104—105). Louisville, KY; London: Westminster John Knox Press.