David Daube On the Eucharist and the Passover Seder

Abstract

The thesis that the piece of bread interpreted at the Last Supper was the afikoman of the Jewish Passover Seder was first presented by Robert Eisler. Rejected by scholars of his day, it has been re-argued by David Daube. Jesus interpreted the bread in the context of a messianic ritual that was then part of the Passover service. A piece of unleavened bread, the afikoman, from the Greek for 'he who has come', represented the messiah, who was symbolically united with the Jewish people at Passover. Jesus' identification with the bread was an act of self-revela tion. Although the messianic significance of the afikoman ritual has waned in Jewish circles, Melito's second-century Christian tractate Peri Pascha identifies the term with Jesus. Wine derived its significance from a different aspect of the Passover celebration, and Jesus' words over it conveyed a different meaning from the words he spoke over bread.