Out of Asher his food shall be fat, and he shall yield royal dainties.
Read Chapter 49
Ambrose of Milan
AD 397
“Asher, his bread is rich, and he will furnish food to princes.” Asher in our tongue means “riches.” Who then is rich except where there is the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God? Who is rich but the Lord Jesus, who always abounds and never fails? He came into this world a poor man and abounds in all things; he has filled all people. How mighty he is in riches, for he has made all people rich by his poverty! But Christ was poor for our sakes, and rich with the Father. He was poor to deliver us from want, as the apostle teaches when he says, “Being rich, he became poor for your sakes, that by his poverty you might become rich.” His poverty enriches, the fringe of his garment heals, his hunger satisfies, his death gives life, his burial gives resurrection. Therefore he is a rich treasure, for his bread is rich. And “rich” is apt, for one who has eaten this bread will be unable to feel hunger. He gave it to the apostles to distribute to a believing people, and today Ch...
Here the prophet speaks obscurely either about the apostles, who had the duty to provide and distribute the bread of life, or about the Savior himself, since he foretells and let us know the bread descending from heaven, which is food and drink for the saints. In fact, Asher is interpreted as “richness,” as he alone was so rich that he might satiate all those who came to him. And Christ also testified about himself by saying, “I am the bread that came down from heaven. Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died; but whoever eats of my bread will never see eternal death.”
Since Asher means “blessed,” the bread of that one whom, after being recalled from error to penitence, we lead step by step to the present state of blessedness, after his conversion, after the spiritual knowledge, after the victory over temptations, is, to be sure, called “fat.” He eats that bread “which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world,” and that bread is fat for him.
