HEBREW WORD STUDY – CAST YOUR BREAD – SHALACH LACHEMAKE שלח לחמך Shin Lamed Cheth Lamed Cheth Mem Kap

Ecclesiastes 11:1: “Cast thy bread upon the waters: for thou shalt find it after many days.”

We are familiar with this verse. Many of us hear it from our preachers when it comes time to give an offering. You cast your bread (money) into the offering plate and after many days, maybe even 7 days it will return to you tenfold (for me it rarely does). I think that getting a tenfold business is some kind of reverse tithing concept. You tithe 10% and God will tithe tenfold to you. They are good returns. People make sure they give their 10% even if it means not paying the rent, cutting back on groceries or prescriptions. This giving and getting more in return sounds like a pretty good deal.

I am not sure the idea of casting fits with throwing money into an offering plate. In fact, the word cast in Hebrew is shalach which is more of a placing of something rather than throwing. It is used for the ripples of water that result from placing something in the water. It is like little waves. It has the idea of movement particularly when the subject is bread and the predicate is waters. Yet, it is not the idea of throwing bread into the waters, I mean why would you do that? By the time it returns to you it will be quite soggy and useless.

Then you find it again. That is a strange exercise. Throw bread into the water and after many days you will find a soggy mess. That is supposed to be divine advice? Big deal. The word find is matsa’ which means to bring out, to present or reappear. Still, it does not make much sense as to why you would throw perfectly good bread into the water.

This passage was written by King Solomon, one of the wisest men in the world. Jewish literature tells the story behind this verse and in this story, you begin to understand the true meaning of this verse and the valuable lesson for us.

When King Solomon was building the Temple, there was a certain type of material he desperately wanted to use in the Temple. However, there was only one place in the entire known world where this material could be found, a small kingdom not too far from Israel. Solomon sent emissaries after emissaries to this small kingdom offering the king to name his price for this material. The king refused to sell the material to Solomon, for whatever personal reasons. After many delegations went and returned empty-handed, King Solomon himself gather his servants and royal guard together and went personally to this kingdom to plead with this king to sell him the material he so desperately wanted.

Even the appearance of the most powerful King in the world, King Solomon himself, could not persuade the king of this small realm to give up the material. After a week of negotiations, King Solomon gave up and decided to return home. As his men were packing to leave a servant came to King Solomon and said that his master wished to see him. When King Solomon met with the king, the king told Solomon he could have the material. All he wanted. King Solomon asked how much he was charging and the king said. “Nothing, take all you want as a personal gift from me.”

When King Solomon asked what brought about this change of heart from the king, he told him a story. A few months earlier he went to war against another kingdom. His only son was taken captive and imprisoned. However, a few days ago his son managed to escape and started to cross the desert. Yet, he was starved and weakened from his imprisonment and he almost died until he came upon an Oasis. Still, even this was not enough, there was water but his son had not eaten for many days and had no strength left. But then he found something that saved his life. As he was drinking some water by the stream in the Oasis, he noticed a bundle carefully wrapped and shalached in the water bobbing up and down in the ripples. Unwrapping the bundle he found it filled with enough food to revive his strength and bring him home.

King Solomon immediately discerned that this king was offering the material as a gift to his own gods for saving his son and King Solomon explained that he worshipped a differed God, the God Jehovah and he could not accept the material to be used in the Temple of his God.

The king replied; “You misunderstand. This is not a gift to my gods.” Then he pulled out a blanket and said: “This is the blanket my son found the supplies he needed to survive.” Pointing to a mogan david (star of David) embroidered on the blanket the king said to Solomon: “That is your symbol, is it not? It was you who left that bundle of food that saved my son’s life.”

You see, there is an ancient Middle Eastern custom still practiced today in the desert. Whenever you come upon an Oasis, you will always find a bundle of food. If you need it, take it, if you don’t and have a surplus, leave some behind for those who may be in need. In fact, upon your return, you may be in need. You will always find the food that you need. We have a similar system today in our convenience stores, it is called, leave a penny to take a penny. There is a tray where if you have extra pennies or change leave some. Then if someone does not have exact change and needs some extra, they can help themselves. How many times have needed a few pennies to avoid having to brake a larger bill?

And that is what this verse is all about. It is not giving expecting to get a windfall in return, it is giving to help others out because one day you may need that very same help from others.