Rabbi Nathan cited a verse from the story of the prophet Samuel to teach a lesson about the proper order of blessings and meals. The verse reads: "As soon as you enter the town, you will find him before he ascends the mount to eat; for the people will not eat until he comes, for he will first bless the offering" (1 Samuel 9:13).
The context is the story of young Saul, sent by his father to find lost donkeys, who encounters Samuel for the first time. The townspeople explain to Saul that Samuel must arrive and bless the sacrifice before anyone can begin eating. No one touches the food until the prophet pronounces the blessing.
Rabbi Nathan drew from this narrative a principle about the centrality of blessing before eating. In Jewish practice, no food may be consumed before a berakhah, a blessing, is recited over it. The verse from Samuel shows that this was not merely a later rabbinic innovation but a practice rooted in the earliest days of Israelite worship. Even in the era of the Judges and early prophets, the community waited for the blessing before the meal.
The teaching also highlights the role of the spiritual leader in communal meals. The people did not simply bless the food themselves and begin eating. They waited for Samuel, the prophet and judge, to perform the blessing. This suggests a communal dimension to the act of eating, one in which the meal becomes a sacred occasion only when properly initiated by someone of spiritual authority. Food in Jewish thought is never merely physical sustenance. It is an opportunity for sanctification.