I must be an absolute uncouth oaf! Do you know all the different knives, forks, and spoons that are available and how/when they are to be used or are you a basic bloke like me?
I understand that we have a tablespoon, teaspoon, and soup spoon, though I see little need for the soup spoon when a table or teaspoon accomplishes the same purpose. But did you know that there is a bouillon spoon for eating light soups like bouillon and broth, demitasse spoons used to spoon froth from your cappuccino, dessert spoons, iced-tea spoons, and even the Asian soup spoon.
Then there are the forks. Salad forks, dinner forks, table forks, and dessert forks all look essentially the same. The difference may be in the number of tines and the length of the tines. Whoopee! Then there are a variety of seafood forks. Now, those are unique because of their shape and size, allowing you to get into crab legs, mussels, lobster tail, snail, oysters, and other tiny places where you really have to work to eat it. And let’s not forget the serving forks used for roasts.
The knife is probably the one utensil where I can really appreciate the differences. They can be divided into about ten different types: utility, paring, bread, boning, butter, table, steak, dessert, fish, and cheese knives.
As the advertisements say, “But wait! There’s more.” This barely covers all the different kinds of available silverware. I have no idea who invented this puzzling array or who expected us to use them all. But one of the knives has an interesting history – the table knife. On May 13, 1637, Cardinal Richelieu (Armand Jean du Plessis) of France had all that he could take.
Evidently, the Cardinal was a big proponent of table manners. “The story goes that Cardinal Richelieu got irritated by the brutish behaviour [sic] of men at the dining tables of the time, stabbing their daggers (which doubled as table cutlery) into chunks of meat
and other food, or into the table, for that matter, if they needed their hands free. And even worse was their despicable habit of using the sharp daggers to pick their teeth at the end of the meal.”1
Cardinal Richelieu couldn’t take it anymore! He ordered his staff to take every steak knife and grind the tips down to a rounded edge. The knives still retained the sharp edge while denying the stab-happy, teeth-picking barbarians of their dental device. Richelieu’s idea caught on and the table knife was born.
In 1669, King Louis XIV of France banned steak knives entirely, hoping to curb violence. Seems that the French weren’t just picking their teeth and stabbing their meat. They were stabbing each other. I guess the Cardinal got his point across by removing the point!
God gets His point across by keeping the point. Hebrews 4:12 reminds us, “For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.”
In the Enduring Word Commentary, we read, “The Bible isn’t a collection of merely old stories and myths. It has inherent life and power. The preacher doesn’t make the Bible come alive. The Bible is alive, and gives life to the preacher and anyone else who will receives it with faith. Powerful reminds us that something may be alive, yet dormant. But God’s word is both living and powerful, in the sense of being active.
“It is Sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow. God’s word reaches us with surprising precision, and the Holy Spirit empowers the ministry of the word to work deeply in our hearts.
“Often people wonder how a preacher’s message can be so relevant to their life. They sometimes honestly wonder if the preacher has secret information about their life. But it isn’t necessarily the preacher at all. It is the sharpness of the Word of God, delivering the message in just the right place.”
C.H. Spurgeon said, “A sword with two edges has no blunt side: it cuts both this way and that. The revelation of God given us in Holy Scripture is edge all over. It is alive in every part, and in every part keen to cut the conscience, and wound the heart. Depend upon it, there is not a superfluous verse in the Bible, nor a chapter which is useless….
“While it has an edge like a sword, it has also a point like a rapier, ‘Piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit.’ The difficulty with some men’s hearts is to get at them. In fact, there is no spiritually penetrating the heart of any natural man except by this piercing instrument, the Word of God. But the rapier of revelation will go through anything.”2
As we go through the day, let’s remind ourselves that we need to be dressed in the full armor of God. The part of that armor that pertains to our devotional is found in Ephesians 6:17. “And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.”
1https://sciencelens.co.nz/2013/05/13/richelieu-table-knife/
2Enduring Word Commentary, e-Sword.net module.
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