Eat
Vine's Expository Dictionary of OT Words [1]
A. Verb.
'Âkal ( אָכַל , Strong'S #398), “to eat, feed, consume, devour.” This verb occurs in all Semitic languages (except Ethiopic) and in all periods, from the early Akkadian to the latest Hebrew. The word occurs about 810 times in Old Testament Hebrew and 9 times in Aramaic.
Essentially, this root refers to the “consumption of food by man or animals.” In Gen. 3:6, we read that Eve took of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and “ate” it. The function of eating is presented along with seeing, hearing, and smelling as one of the basic functions of living (Deut. 4:28). “Eating,” as every other act of life, is under God’s control; He stipulates what may or may not be eaten (Gen. 1:29). After the Flood, man was allowed to “eat” meat (Gen. 9:3). But under the Mosaic covenant, God stipulated that certain foods were not to be “eaten” (Lev. 11; Deut. 14)while others were permissible. This distinction is certainly not new, inasmuch as it is mentioned prior to the Flood (Gen. 7:2; cf. Gen. 6:19). A comparison of these two passages demonstrates how the Bible can speak in general terms, with the understanding that certain limitations are included. Hence, Noah was commanded to bring into the ark two of every kind (Gen. 6:19), while the Bible tells us that this meant two of every unclean and fourteen of every clean animal (Gen. 7:2). Thus, Gen. 9:3 implies that man could “eat” only the clean animals.
This verb is often used figuratively with overtones of destroying something or someone. So the sword, fire, and forest are said to “consume” men. The things “consumed” may include such various things as land (Gen. 3:17), fields (Isa. 1:7), offerings (Deut. 18:1), and a bride’s purchase price (Gen. 31:15). 'Âkal might also connote bearing the results of an action (Isa. 3:10).
The word can refer not only to “eating” but to the entire concept “room and board” (2 Sam. 9:11, 13), the special act of “feasting” (Eccl. 10:16), or the entire activity of “earning a living” (Amos 7:12; cf. Gen. 3:19). In Dan. 3:8 and 6:24, “to eat one’s pieces” is to charge someone maliciously. “To eat another’s flesh,” used figuratively, refers to tearing him to pieces or “killing him” (Ps. 27:2), although 'âkal may also be used literally, as when one “eats” human beings in times of serious famine (Lev. 26:29). Eccl. 4:5 uses the expression, “eat one’s own flesh,” for allowing oneself to waste away.
Abstinence from eating may indicate deep emotional upset, like that which overcame Hannah before the birth of Samuel (1 Sam. 1:7). It may also indicate the religious selfdenial seen in fasting. Unlike the pagan deities (Deut. 32:37-38)God “eats” no food (Ps. 50:13); although as a “consuming” fire (Deut. 4:24), He is ready to defend His own honor and glory. He “consumes” evil and the sinner. He will also “consume” the wicked like a lion (Hos. 13:8). There is one case in which God literally “consumed” food—when He appeared to Abraham in the form of three “strangers” (Gen. 18:8).
God provides many good things to eat, such as manna to the Israelites (Exod. 16:32) and all manner of food to those who delight in the Lord (Isa. 58:14), even the finest food (Ps. 81:16). He puts the Word of God into one’s mouth; by “consuming” it, it is taken into one’s very being (Ezek. 3:2).
B. Nouns.
'Ôkel ( אֹכֶל , Strong'S #400), “food.” This word occurs 44 times in the Old Testament. 'Ôkel appears twice in Gen. 41:35 with the sense of “food supply”: “And let them gather all the food of those good years that come, and lay up corn under the hand of Pharaoh, and let them keep food in the cities.” The word refers to the “food” of wild animals in Ps. 104:21: “The young lions roar after their prey, and seek their meat from God.” 'Ôkel is used for “food” given by God in Ps. 145:15. The word may also be used for “food” as an offering, as in Mal. 1:12. A related noun, ’aklah , also means “food.” This noun has 18 occurrences in the Old Testament.
King James Dictionary [2]
EAT, pret. ate pp. eat or eaten. L. edo, esse, esum.
1. To bite or chew and swallow, as food.
Men eat flesh and vegetables.
They shall make thee to eat grass as oxen. Daniel 4
2. To corrode to wear away to separate parts of a thing gradually, as an animal by gnawing. We say a cancer eats the flesh. 3. To consume to waste.
When goods increase, they are increased that eat them. Ecclesiastes 5
4. To enjoy.
If ye be willing and obedient,ye shall eat the good of the land. Isaiah 1
5. To consume to oppress.
Who eat up my people as they eat bread. Psalms 14
6. To feast.
Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we shall die. Isaiah 22
In scripture, to eat the flesh of Christ, is to believe on him and be nourished by faith.
To eat one's words, is to swallow back to take back what has been uttered to retract.
EAT, To take food to feed to take a meal, or to board.
He did eat continually at the king's table. 2Sam.
Why eateth your master with publicans and sinners. Matthew 9
1. To take food to be maintained in food.
To eat, or to eat in or into, is to make way by corrosion to gnaw, to enter by gradually wearing or separating the parts of a substance. A cancer eats into the flesh.
Their word will eat as doth a canker. 2 Timothy 2
To eat out, to consume.
Their word will eat out the vitals of religion, corrupt and destroy it.
Wilson's Dictionary of Bible Types [3]
Proverbs 4:17 (b) This describes the act of appropriating and reveling in wicked things with all the heart and soul.
Jeremiah 15:16 (b) This is typical of the act of appropriating the truth of GOD and making it a part of one's soul and life.
John 6:50 (a) The Lord describes the appropriation of Himself, His love, His words, and His grace, as the act of eating.
2 Timothy 2:17 (a) The Spirit is telling us in this passage that the words sometimes used will damage the soul, the heart and the mind as a canker damages the physical body.
James 5:3 (b) The thought probably is in this passage that those who spend their time seeking to get rich and avoid or evade the Word of GOD and the Saviour of GOD will throughout eternity suffer the anguish with which their memory will plague them.
Webster's Dictionary [4]
(1): of Eat
(2): of Eat
(3): ( v. i.) To taste or relish; as, it eats like tender beef.
(4): ( v. i.) To take food; to feed; especially, to take solid, in distinction from liquid, food; to board.
(5): ( v. i.) To make one's way slowly.
(6): ( v. t.) To chew and swallow as food; to devour; - said especially of food not liquid; as, to eat bread.
(7): ( v. t.) To corrode, as metal, by rust; to consume the flesh, as a cancer; to waste or wear away; to destroy gradually; to cause to disappear.
People's Dictionary of the Bible [5]
Eat, Eating. See Meals.
