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In both passages is the suggestion of the three and a half years of the Tribulation,
which begins when "the abomination of desolation is set up" (Dan. 9: 27; 12: 11;
Matt. 24: 15), during which time the woman is fed. If the man child is Christ, then it
points to the woman as Israel, or at least part of Israel.
In the light of all this the meaning of epiousion may now be considered. The word
possibly derives from epi, upon and ousia, substance. Ousia is used twice in the N.T. of
the `goods' and `substance' of the prodigal son (Luke 15: 12, 13), and Parkhurst suggests
it as related to the verb `to be' in the form ousa. The literal rendering of the word would
then seem to be, "the substance which comes upon us".
Until recently it was thought that this word had been specially coined by the Holy
Spirit, as it could not be found in secular Greek. However it has at last turned up in an
ancient housekeeping book, discovered in archaeological research (Light from the
Ancient East, 1927 edition p.87), and Professor A. T. Robertson points out that it also
occurs in three late verses after 2 Macc. 1:8 (tous epiousious after tous artous). The
latter part of the word he derives, with other authorities, from eimi "to go", rather than
eimi "to be". Arndt and Gingrich in their Greek-English Lexicon state that epiousios may
equal the Latin diana, the daily ration of food given out for the next day. In view of these
facts one cannot be dogmatic over its precise meaning. If the older view of Parkhurst is
correct, there seems to be an allusion to the manna of the O.T.
One verse in particular calls for attention:
"And when the dew that lay was gone up, behold, upon the face of the wilderness
there lay a small round thing, as small as the hoar frost on the ground. And when the
children of Israel saw it, they said one to another, It is manna: for they wist not what it
was" (Exod. 16: 14, 15).
The Companion Bible note on this verse reads, "It is manna. Hebrew man-hu = What
is that? for they knew not what that was". The manna was named from the fact of their
not knowing what it was, and similarly with the bread of Matt. 6: and Luke 11: it is
simply termed `a substance', that which exists, and like the manna of old, it was to `come
down upon them'.
One other passage might be of interest to the reader in placing the time for which such
a petition as this is applicable. Rev. 13: 16, 17:
"And he (another beast verse 11) causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free
and bond, to receive a mark . . . . . and that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the
mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name."
If a man may not buy or sell, how shall he eat? And if the mark of the beast brings
God's wrath, how shall the faithful live except by being fed miraculously by God
Himself? That there will be some who hunger at this time seems implied in
Rev. 7: 13-16: