Revisiting My Comments on 'the Staff of Life' and 'the Energy of Life'

   "And when I have broken the staff of your life, ten women shall bake your bread in one oven." -- Leviticus 26:26
   Just two days ago, I blogged on how a modern book of scripture (the Doctrine and Covenants from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) said grain is "the staff of life," and I noted the similarity of language from a modern scientist, who said glucose (which is in grains such as wheat) is "the energy of life."
  In my blog, I wrote how I found it interesting that so many years after a prophet of God wrote about grain being the staff of life that scientists would come to a similar conclusion.
  I failed to realize the obvious, that Joseph Smith wasn't the first to use the phrase, "staff of life." The phrase can be traced back to the Bible, itself.
  That lessens by quite a degree the thought that Joseph was prophetic.
   It lessens, but, it does not fully repudiate the prophetic nature of the verbiage Joseph Smith used. It remains that Joseph Smith's revelation did, indeed, say grain is "the staff of life." If that corresponds with something in the Bible, great. And the scientist, Dr. Robert H. Lustig, did, indeed, come along all these years later and indicate that the same food source is "the energy of life."
  Today, the phrase "staff of life" is commonly applied just to bread. "Bread is the staff of life." Both Joseph Smith's revelation and Dr. Lustig's comments used the word differently, not referring just to bread, but to grain, in the one instance, and to all foods containing the carbohydrate glucose in the other, grains being a large part of that. So, in wondering if use of the phrase was prophetic, you must consider that neither Smith nor Lustig used the phrase as it was most commonly used, meaning to refer to bread as the staff of life, but rather both used it for the larger body of food.