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Mat 6:11. Τὸν ἄρτον, the bread) sc. nourishment of the body; see Mat 6:19, etc., 25, etc., from which it is evident that the disciples were not yet raised above the cares of this life. This short petition is opposed to the much speaking of the heathen, mentioned in Mat 6:7, which principally referred to the same object;[260] and it is placed first amongst those petitions which refer to ourselves, because the natural life is prior to the spiritual. Every want of ours is cared for in this prayer.-ἩΜῶΝ, of or belonging to us) our, sc. earthly. But the spiritual bread is the bread of God, i.e. that which is [given] by God, and [cometh forth] from God.-ἐπιούσιον, daily) This adjective is derived ἀπο τῆς ἐπιούσης, from the following day, and is composed of ἐπὶ and ἸΟῦΣΑ.[261] For from εἰμι, to be (from which also comes περιούσιος) or from ΟὐΣΊΑ, essence or private property, would be composed, ἐπούσιος, in the same manner as ἘΠΟΥΡΆΝΙΟς, etc.: since although ἘΠῚ does not always lose the in composition before a vowel, it does lose it in ἜΠΕΣΤΙΝ, as also in ἜΠΕΊΜΙ from which this adjective must be originally derived according to this hypothesis. Our heavenly Father gives each day what is needed each day. Nor is it necessary that He should give it before. This His paternal and providential distribution suggests the expression ἘΠΙΟΎΣΙΟς, for the coming day. The continuance, therefore, of our indigence, and of God’s fatherly beneficence as from year to year, so from day to day, is denoted by this phrase. Cf. 2Ki 25:30.-λόγον ἡμέρας ἐν ἡμέρᾳ αὐτοῦ, the proportion for the day on its day. Cf. Act 6:1, διακονία καθημερινὴ, daily ministration. The bread, as a whole, is appointed us for all our days; but the “giving” of it is distributed through the several days of our life, so as to take place each day. Both these ideas are expressed by the word ἐπιούσιος. What was necessary for the support of my life on any particular day, needed not to be given me on the day before that, but on that very day; and what was necessary on the following day, was given soon enough on that day, and so on. The sense therefore of ἘΠΙΟΎΣΙΟς extends more widely with regard both to the past and the future, than that of “crastinus” to-morrow’s.-σήμερον, to-day) In Luk 11:3, we find τὸ καθʼ ἡμέραν, day by day. Day by day we say and pray, “to-day.” Our confidence and contentedness (αὐτάρκεια)[262] are thus expressed. Thus in Jam 2:15, we have ἘΦΉΜΕΡΟς ΤΡΟΦῊ, daily food. Cf. also Pro 30:8. Thus was manna given.
[260] viz. the cares of this life.-ED.
[261] The feminine of ἰών, the participle present of εἶμι to go.-(I. B.)
[262] See p. 150 and f.n. 3.-(I. B.)