He humbled you, allowed you to be hungry, and fed you with manna, which you didn’t know, neither did your fathers know, that he might teach you that man does not live by bread only, but man lives by every word that proceeds out of Yahweh’s mouth.
Parallel Translations
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He humbled you, allowed you to be hungry, and fed you with manna, which you didn’t know, neither did your fathers know, that he might teach you that man does not live by bread only, but man lives by every word that proceeds out of Yahweh’s mouth.
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And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the LORD doth man live.
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And He afflicted thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that He might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every thing that proceedeth out of the mouth of the LORD doth man live.
Cross-references (11)
Passages linked to Deuteronomy 8:3 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Matthew 4:4 But he answered, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of God’s mouth.’ ”
- Luke 4:4 Jesus answered him, saying, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.’ ”
- Hebrews 13:5-6 Be free from the love of money, content with such things as you have, for he has said, “I will in no way leave you, neither will I in any way forsake you.” So that with good courage we say, “The Lord is my helper. I will not fear. What can man do to me?”
- Psalms 78:23-25 Yet he commanded the skies above, and opened the doors of heaven. He rained down manna on them to eat, and gave them food from the sky. Man ate the bread of angels. He sent them food to the full.
- 1 Corinthians 10:3 and all ate the same spiritual food;
- Exodus 16:2-3 The whole congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron in the wilderness; and the children of Israel said to them, “We wish that we had died by Yahweh’s hand in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the meat pots, when we ate our fill of bread, for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.”
- Exodus 16:12-35 “I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel. Speak to them, saying, ‘At evening you shall eat meat, and in the morning you shall be filled with bread. Then you will know that I am Yahweh your God.’ ” In the evening, quail came up and covered the camp; and in the morning the dew lay around the camp. When the dew that lay had gone, behold, on the surface of the wilderness was a small round thing, small as the frost on the ground. When the children of Israel saw it, they said to one another, “What is it?” For they didn’t know what it was. Moses said to them, “It is the bread which Yahweh has given you to eat. “This is the thing which Yahweh has commanded: ‘Gather of it everyone according to his eating; an omer a head, according to the number of your persons, you shall take it, every man for those who are in his tent.’ ” The children of Israel did so, and some gathered more, some less. When they measured it with an omer, he who gathered much had nothing over, and he who gathered little had no lack. They each gathered according to his eating. Moses said to them, “Let no one leave of it until the morning.” Notwithstanding they didn’t listen to Moses, but some of them left of it until the morning, so it bred worms and became foul; and Moses was angry with them. They gathered it morning by morning, everyone according to his eating. When the sun grew hot, it melted. On the sixth day, they gathered twice as much bread, two omers for each one; and all the rulers of the congregation came and told Moses. He said to them, “This is that which Yahweh has spoken, ‘Tomorrow is a solemn rest, a holy Sabbath to Yahweh. Bake that which you want to bake, and boil that which you want to boil; and all that remains over lay up for yourselves to be kept until the morning.’ ” They laid it up until the morning, as Moses ordered, and it didn’t become foul, and there were no worms in it. Moses said, “Eat that today, for today is a Sabbath to Yahweh. Today you shall not find it in the field. Six days you shall gather it, but on the seventh day is the Sabbath. In it there shall be none.” On the seventh day, some of the people went out to gather, and they found none. Yahweh said to Moses, “How long do you refuse to keep my commandments and my laws? Behold, because Yahweh has given you the Sabbath, therefore he gives you on the sixth day the bread of two days. Everyone stay in his place. Let no one go out of his place on the seventh day.” So the people rested on the seventh day. The house of Israel called its name “Manna”, and it was like coriander seed, white; and its taste was like wafers with honey. Moses said, “This is the thing which Yahweh has commanded, ‘Let an omer-full of it be kept throughout your generations, that they may see the bread with which I fed you in the wilderness, when I brought you out of the land of Egypt.’ ” Moses said to Aaron, “Take a pot, and put an omer-full of manna in it, and lay it up before Yahweh, to be kept throughout your generations.” As Yahweh commanded Moses, so Aaron laid it up before the Testimony, to be kept. The children of Israel ate the manna forty years, until they came to an inhabited land. They ate the manna until they came to the borders of the land of Canaan.
- Luke 12:29-30 Don’t seek what you will eat or what you will drink; neither be anxious. For the nations of the world seek after all of these things, but your Father knows that you need these things.
- Psalms 37:3 Trust in Yahweh, and do good. Dwell in the land, and enjoy safe pasture.
- Psalms 105:40 They asked, and he brought quails, and satisfied them with the bread of the sky.
- Psalms 104:27-29 These all wait for you, that you may give them their food in due season. You give to them; they gather. You open your hand; they are satisfied with good. You hide your face; they are troubled. You take away their breath; they die and return to the dust.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (16 sources)
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain Man liveth not by meat only, but by the…
Man liveth not by meat only, but by the power of God, which giveth it strength to nourish us.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Deu 8:3 And he humbled thee, and suffered thee…
Deu 8:3 And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every [word] that proceedeth out of the mouth of the LORD doth man live.
Ver. 3. And he humbled thee.] Humbled they were, many of them, but not humble: low, but not lowly. Perdiderunt fructum afflictionum, &c. {a}
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That he might make thee know.] We never know so well, how good, sweet, and seasonable the Lord is, as when under the cross. Vexatio dat intellecture.
That man cloth not live.] {See Trapp on "Mat 4:4"}
{a} August.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain i.e. By every or any thing which God appoints…
i.e. By every or any thing which God appoints for this end, how unlikely soever it may seem to be for nourishment, as appears in the manna; seeing it is not the creature, but only God’s command and blessing upon it, that makes it sufficient for the support of life.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain And he humbled thee,.... Or afflicted thee with want…
And he humbled thee,.... Or afflicted thee with want of bread:
and suffered thee to hunger; that there might be an opportunity of showing his mercy, and exerting his power:
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and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; a sort of food they had never seen before, and when they saw it, knew not what it was, but asked, what is it? Exo 16:15. Thus the Lord humbles his people by his Spirit and grace, and brings them to see themselves to be in want, and creates in them desires after spiritual food, and feeds them with Christ the hidden manna, whose person, office, and grace, they were before ignorant of:
that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only; which is the stay and staff of life, and which strengthens man's heart, and is the main support of it, being the ordinary and usual food man lives upon, and is put for all the rest:
but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord doth man live: not so much by the food he eats as by the blessing of God upon it, and who can make one sort of food as effectual for such a purpose as another; for every creature of God is good being received with thankfulness, and sanctified by the word and prayer; and particularly he could and did make such light food as manna was to answer all the purposes of solid bread for the space of forty years in the wilderness; the Targum of Jonathan is,"but by all which is created by the Word of the Lord is the life of man;''which seems to agree with Ti1 4:3,4 for the meaning is not that the Israelites in the wilderness, and when come into the land of Canaan, should not live by corporeal food only, but by obedience to the commands of God, by means of which they should continue under his protection, which was indeed their case; nor that man does not live in his body only by bread, but in his soul also by the word of God, and the doctrines of it, which is certainly true; spiritual men live a spiritual life on Christ, the Word of God, and bread of life, and on the Gospel and the truths of it, the wholesome words of our Lord Jesus, and are nourished up with the words of faith and sound doctrine, by means of which their spiritual life is supported and maintained; but this is not what is here intended.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain By every word - That is, by every or…
By every word - That is, by every or any thing which God appoints for this end, how unlikely so-ever it may seem to be for nourishment; seeing it is not the creature, but only God's command and blessing upon it, that makes it sufficient for the support of life.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 3. He - suffered thee to hunger, and…
Verse 3. He - suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee] God never permits any tribulation to befall his followers, which he does not design to turn to their advantage. When he permits us to hunger, it is that his mercy may be the more observable in providing us with the necessaries of life. Privations, in the way of providence, are the forerunners of mercy and goodness abundant.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Deu 8:3. By every word of the Lord doth…
Deu 8:3. By every word of the Lord doth man live — By every, or any thing which God appoints and blesses for this end, how unlikely soever it may seem to be for the support and nourishment of the human frame. For it is not the creature, without God, that is sufficient for the support of life; it is only his command and blessing that makes it sufficient. We ought not, therefore, to fix our dependance, as we are prone to do, on natural causes, but to remember that we depend, absolutely, entirely, and immediately, on him for life and all things.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain But by every word that proceedeth out of the…
But by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord - literally, “every outgoing of the mouth of the Lord.” Compare Deu 29:5-6. The term “word” is inserted by the King James Version after the Septuagint, which is followed by Matthew and Luke (see the marginal references). On the means of subsistence available to the people during the wandering, see Num 20:1 note. The lesson was taught, that it is not nature which nourishes man, but God the Creator by and through nature: and generally that God is not tied to the particular channels (“bread only,” i. e. the ordinary means of earthly sustenance) through which He is usually pleased to work.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Not in bread alone, &c. i.e. That God is…
Not in bread alone, &c. i.e. That God is able to make food of what he pleases for the support of man. (Challoner) --- Obedience to his law will insure a happy life, ver. 1. God can support a person’s life without any sustenance, as he did Moses, Elias, &c., for a long time. When the usual food is wanting, he can send some of a supernatural kind, as he did the manna. --- Word. Hebrew, "by whatever proceedeth," &c. The Septuagint and our Saviour (Matthew iv. 4,) cite it, however, agreeably to the Vulgate. The word of God and Jesus Christ nourish our souls. (St. Chrysostom) --- Philo says, "God feeds us with his most universal word...which is more ancient than the creation." (Calmet) --- God could make the most poisonous things afford more nutrition, if he commanded us to eat them, than even the most delicious viands. (Abulensis) (Tirinus) --- God can make food of whatever He pleases, or sustain men without meat. (Worthington)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 3. He humbled thee,… and fed thee with manna…
3. He humbled thee,… and fed thee with manna — Comp. Exo_16:16. Jehovah had shown them their dependence on him, and then in their extremity he provides an abundant supply for their bodily wants.
By every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of The Lord — More literally rendered, on every utterance of the mouth of Jehovah. In this verse the word bread is employed to include all the ordinary provision for sustaining human life. When Jesus quotes this passage in reply to the tempter (Mat_4:4; Luk_4:4) he means to say that life can be sustained by extraordinary means. God can employ other means and methods. Life can be sustained by other provision. The Saviour, as he sat by Jacob’s well, said to his disciples, “I have meat to eat that ye know not of.” Joh_4:32.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 3. And he humbled thee, etc.] Better, So He;…
3. And he humbled thee, etc.] Better, So He; for the v. proceeds to illustrate the facts by which God’s purpose of proving the people was carried out. In the main these were two: first the hunger of the people and then the provision of manna.
suffered thee to hunger] Heb. one verb, only here and in Pro_10:3.
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and fed thee with manna] For manna see the full notes by Driver, Exo_16:14 f., 31–35.
which thou knewest not, etc.] See on Deu_7:9. So J, Exo_16:15, what is it? for they wist not what it was.
that not upon bread only doth man live but upon every thing that proceedeth out of the mouth of Jehovah] The language—in particular every thing—is ambiguous. It is usually read as expressing an antithesis between bread, the natural or normal support of man and produced by himself, on the one hand, and on the other, when bread fails, the creative word of God with whatever (= every thing) it may produce (so Driver and Bertholet, etc., with differences). But the antithesis is rather between only and every thing: man lives not upon bread only, but upon everything (bread included) that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. On the word of God, creative and determining, from time to time changing what man shall live upon, but always the cause of this, man is utterly and always dependent. This is in harmony with the teaching of D throughout, that of all material blessings the God of Israel alone is the author. By translating every word for every thing the LXX sways the meaning in another direction: that man lives not by material food only but by the spiritual guidance of God; and this is the antithesis which Christ appears to present in Mat_4:4[127]. Although such a higher spiritual meaning is not expressed in this verse, it underlies the context, which reminds Israel that God’s providence of them has been not only physical, but moral as well.
[127] In his Synoptic Gospels Mr C. G. Montefiore limits the meaning of Jesus to that of Deut.: ‘Jesus asserts that the word of God will provide for his physical needs. God can by his creative word fashion material whereby man’s life can be sustained, as he did in the case of the manna. More simply, God will provide for the physical needs of his messenger.’
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (3) And he . . . suffered thee to…
(3) And he . . . suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee.—A process naturally humbling. He might easily have fed them without “suffering them to hunger.” But He did not give them the manna until the sixteenth day of the second month of the journey (see Exo_16:1; Exo_16:6-7); and for one whole month they were left to their own resources. When it appeared that the people had no means of providing sustenance during their journey, “they saw the glory of the Lord” in the way in which He fed them; and for thirty-nine years and eleven months “He withheld not His manna from their mouth.”
Manna, which thou knewest not.—Its very name (but see Note on Exo_16:15) commemorates the fact “unto this day.” All the natural things which have been called manna (and Dr. Cunningham Geikie, in “Hours with the Bible,” has described several) do not afford the least explanation of the bread which God gave Israel to eat.
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That man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord.—Not here alone, but throughout the Law, as in the Gospel, we are taught that life is to do the will of God. Our Saviour called that “My meat.” What the visible means of subsistence may be is a secondary matter. Man’s life is to do the will of God: “My commandments, which, if a man do, he shall even live in them.” “He that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.”
But the special interest of these words arises from our Lord’s use of them in the hour of temptation. He also was led forty days (each day for a year of the Exodus) in the wilderness, living upon the word of God. At the end of that time it was proposed to Him to create bread for Himself. But He had learnt the lesson which Israel was to learn; and so, even when God suffered Him to hunger, He still refused to live by His own word. He preferred that of His Father. “And the angels came and ministered unto Him.” It is noticeable that all our Lord’s answers to the tempter are taken from this exhortation upon the Decalogue in Deuteronomy 6-10.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain God humbled the Israelites by leaving them to suffer…
God humbled the Israelites by leaving them to suffer hunger from the want of food, and then supplying them with food in a miraculous manner. They were thus taught that their life depended wholly on God, who could, by his own creative power, without any of the ordinary means, provide for the sustaining of their life. And fed thee with manna (cf. Exo_16:15) It is in vain to seek to identify this with any natural product. It was something entirely new to the Israelites a thing which neither they nor their fathers knew; truly bread from heaven, and which got from them the name of manna or man, because, in their wondering ignorance, they knew not what to call it, and so they said one to another, Manhoo? (aWh m), What is it? and thenceforward called it man. That he might make thee know, etc. "Bread," which the Jews regarded as "the staff of life," stands here, as in other places, for food generally; and the lesson taught the Israelites was that not in one way or by. one kind of means alone could life be sustained, but in the absence of these God could, by his own fiat, provide for the sustenance of his children. Every word literally, all, everything whateverthat proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord, i.e. all means which God has by his word provided, or by his word can provide, for the sustenance of life. So our Lord cites this passage in replying to the tempter, who had suggested that if he was the Son of God he might relieve himself from the pangs of hunger by commanding the stones which lay around to become bread. Our Lord"s reply to this is virtually." I have this power, and could use it, but I will not; for this would imply impatience and distrust of God, who has engaged to sustain the life of his servants, and who can, by the mere word of his mouth, by his creative will, provide in an extraordinary way for the sustenance of life when the ordinary means of life are wanting." "Jesus means to say, " I leave it with God to care for the sustaining of my life, and I will not arbitrarily and for selfish ends help myself by a miracle (De Wette, note on Mat_4:4; see also Meyer on the place)
Not bread, but God"s Word.
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The lesson of the manna gathered up into one concise sentence. It teaches us
I TO SEE GOD IN SECONDARY CAUSES. The Word of God is as truly the creative and nourishing principle in ordinary bread as it was in the extraordinary supply of manna. It is not bread, as something subsisting independently, but bread as the product of Divine power, and as possessing properties which the Word of God imparts to it and upholds in it, which is the staff of life and the object of our prayers. (Mat_6:11)
II TO BELIEVE IN GOD ACTING ABOVE NATURE AS WELL AS IN IT. If God wills life to be sustained, he can sustain it in other ways than by bread. He is not tied up to one set of means. He can act, if it pleases him, independently of means altogether, the creative word being sufficient to sustain. This is the direct meaning of the text, and a part of the significance of Christ"s answer to the tempter. (Mat_4:4)
III TO RECOGNIZE IN MAN THE EXISTENCE OF A HIGHER LIFE THAN THE PHYSICAL. The physical is not the highest in us. We do not live by bread alone. A higher life is found in depending on God"s Word, in obeying it, and in abiding by it, whatever the immediate consequences. The lower life may need to be given up that the higher may be saved. J.O. (Mat_16:25)
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain He humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and…
Deu_8:3-6
He humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna.
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The pilgrims grateful recollections
I. Let us pass in review the favours of the lord, taking what He did for Israel as being typical of what He has done for us.
1. The first blessing mentioned is that of humbling: And He humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger. Not very highly esteemed among men will this favour be; and at first, perhaps, it may be regarded by ourselves as being rather a judgment, one of the terrible things in righteousness, than a great favour from the Most High. But rightly judged, this is one of the most admirable proofs of the Lords loving kindness, that He does not leave His people in their natural pride and obstinacy, but by acts of grace brings them to their right minds. Note in the text, that the humbling was produce by hunger. What makes a man so humble as to be thoroughly in want? Oh, happy season when He stripped me of what I thought my glory, but which were filthy rags!
2. Notice, in the second place, the Divine feeding. We shall now see ourselves mirrored in the case of Israel as in a glass. He humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee. How sweetly that follows: suffered thee to hunger and fed thee; the light close on the heels of the darkness. Blessed are ye that do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for ye shall be filled. That and in the text is like a diamond rivet, none can ever take it out or break it. He suffered thee to hunger and fed thee. He who suffers thee to hunger will be sure to feed thee yet upon the bountiful provisions of His grace. Be of good cheer, poor mourning soul.
3. The third favour mentioned is the remarkable raiment. Thy raiment waxed not old upon thee. Though subject to the ordinary wear and tear incidental to travelling, their garments still continued to be as good at the end of forty years as they were when first they left the land of Egypt. I believe that to be what the text means. Anyhow, spiritually, it is the case with us. You cannot point me to a stale promise in all Gods book, neither can you find me a worn-out doctrine. In the way of perseverance we have been maintained and preserved. Personally I admire the grace which has kept me in my course, though assailed by many fierce temptations and exposed to great perils in my position.
4. The next blessing for which we ought to be grateful is that sustained personal strength. Our spiritual vigour has still. Your foot has not swelled in the way of perseverance. Neither have you been lamed in the way of service. Perhaps you have been called to do much work for Christ, yet you have not grown tired of it, though sometimes tired in it; still, you have kept to your labour, and found help in it. So, too, your foot has not swollen in the way of faith. Such little faith you bad at first that you might well have thought it would all die out by now. But it has not been so. God has not quenched the smoking flax, nor broken the bruised reed. In addition to all this, your foot has not swollen in the way of fellowship. You have walked with God, and you have not grown weary of the holy intercourse. Moreover, your foot has not swollen in the way of joy. You were happy young men in Christ Jesus, and you are happy fathers now. The novelty has not worn off, or rather one novelty has been succeeded by another, fresh discoveries have broken out upon you, and Jesus is still to you the dew of youth. He who walks with God shall never weary, though through all eternity he continues the hallowed march. For all this we give to God our thanks yet again.
5. Notice the memorable blessing of chastisement. Thou shalt also consider in thine heart. That unswollen foot, and that unworn garment, you need not so much value as this, for this you are specially bidden to consider, your deepest thoughts are to be given to it, and, consequently, your highest praises. Consider in thine heart, that as a man chasteneth his son, so the Lord thy God chasteneth thee. I am sure I have derived more real benefit and permanent strength and growth in grace, and every precious thing, from the furnace of affliction, than I have ever derived from prosperity.
II. The inference from all this. All this humbling, feeding, clothing, strengthening, chastening, what of it all? Why this--therefore thou shalt keep the commandments of the Lord thy God, to walk in His ways, and to fear Him. Take the model of the text.
1. Let your obedience be universal. Keep the commandments of the Lord, walk in His ways.
2. Let your obedience be entire. In nothing be rebellious.
3. Let that obedience be careful. Doth not the text say, Keep the commandments, and doth not the first verse say, Ye shall observe to do? Keep it as though you kept a treasure, carefully putting your heart as a garrison round it. Observe it as they do who have some difficult art, and who watch each order of the teacher, and trace each different part of the process with observant eye, lest they fail in their art by missing any one little thing. Keep and observe. Be careful in your life. Be scrupulous. You serve a jealous God, be jealous of yourself.
4. Let your obedience be practical. The text says, Walk in His ways. Carry your service of God into your daily life, into all the minutiae and details of it. Whereas others walk up and down in the name of their God, and boast themselves in the idols wherein they trust, walk you in the name of Jehovah, and glory always to avow that you are a disciple of Jesus.
5. Let your obedience spring from principle, for the text says, Walk in His ways, and fear Him. Seek to have a sense of His presence, such as holy spirits have in heaven who view Him face to face. Remember He is everywhere; you are never absent from that eye. Tremble, therefore, before Him with that sacred trembling which is consistent with holy faith. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Man doth not live by bread only.
True life
What is the life for which we seek and hope? Mere existence? No. But conscious happiness--a large preponderance of success over disappointment, and joy over sorrow. This is what all desire; but they seek it in different ways. Our text suggests two theories of life;--the one, the living by bread alone; the other, by obedience, duty, and love, by angels food, by the manna that comes down from heaven.
I. Man doth not live by bread only. Yet multitudes think thus to live--by things outward and earthly, by the accumulation of material, perishable objects of enjoyment, or of wealth, which can represent and command them all. Can wealth sustain or comfort the bereaved husband or father? When the strong ties of natural affection are sundered, is it a solace to know that they had been gilded and jewelled? If they were not strengthened and sanctified by Christian communion, by the fellowship of heaven-seeking souls--if the only common interests have been sordid, then has the prosperity enjoyed together left the survivor only the heavier burden of remembrances not again to be realised, and of joys forever fled.
II. What, then, are the elements of this higher life? Since man, spiritually speaking, cannot live by bread only, by what is he to live?
1. First by faith--faith in an all-seeing Father, whose sceptre ruleth over all, and who, if our hearts are His, will cause all things outward to work together for our good--faith in a Redeemer, who has loved us and given Himself for us as our Saviour from sin, and our Guide to duty and heaven.
2. Again, man, by the appointment of God, is to live by hope--by the hope of heaven, which alone can anchor the soul amidst the fitful fortunes of our earthly pilgrimage.
3. By Gods appointment, we are also to nourish our souls by charity, by sympathy with our brethren, by bearing their burdens and helping their joys. There can be no life worth living without brotherly love--without a ready heart and hand for the needy, the suffering, and the erring.
4. Finally our true life must he connected with, and flow from, the testimony of a good conscience, which, if merited, no outward condition can suppress or pervert.
III. Such are the heaven-appointed means of life and growth within the reach of all of us. It is these that our Saviour proffers to us. They were His peace and joy. They are the fountain still flowing at the foot of His Cross. Other streams there are, sparkling, attractive, rolling over golden sands and beneath a brilliant sky; yet there is a voice in their murmur, ever saying,--He that drinks of us shall thirst again, and thirst as often as he comes to draw. But from the mountain of the beatitudes, and again from the olive shade of Gethsemane, and from the darkness and agony of Calvary, I hear the voice,--If any man thirst let him come unto Me and drink, and the water that I will give him shall be in him a well of water springing up unto everlasting life. (A. P. Peabody.)
The food of man
If this be true, what a strange comment on it is the world around us at this hour! Turn to what class of our countrymen you like, and in every variety of expression upon their countenance you will see written deep their conviction, in every changeful accent of their voices you will hear uttered their practical belief, that they can live by bread alone. It is for bread--using bread in the largest sense as meaning all material things--that men toil, and exhaust their finest energies. And as statesmen, and philosophers, and priests behold these things, each comes forward with his gospel for mankind.
I. First, we have the gospel of education. Let us take care that each child learns the elementary principles of knowledge, and we may hope that the coming generation shall have a higher idea of national and of social life. Well, certainly the very last persons in England to depreciate the blessings of secular instruction are the clergy. But let not educational enthusiasts think because they have provided partially against material deterioration that they have discovered a moral cure. It may change the form of crime; it will not touch the root from which it springs.
II. We have then from others the message of the philosophers. Let us eat of this tree, and live forever. Now, while we gladly acknowledge all the past successes of science and of philosophy, and while we thankfully receive every new discovery as a further revelation of the wisdom and the love of the Creator, we say this is not the bread of life for sorrowing, sinning humanity. This is no gospel for all mankind. Clad in the purple of her pride, and the white linen of her fine-spun theories, philosophys few cultured friends may fare sumptuously every day in her high hall of state; but humanity, like Lazarus, with hunger in its soul, and its body covered with festering sores of sin, lies helpless at her gate.
III. The more experience I have, the more deeply I am persuaded that the power to accomplish it is the preaching of a personal crucified christ. That--the incarnate Word of God--is still and ever the bread by which nations and men must live. It was not a new science, it was not an advanced thought, it was not an improved philosophy, it was not a merely exalted morality, it was not the idyllic life of a Galilean peasant, that men preached in the early days, in the purple dawn of Christianity, and by the preaching of it shook the Empire and revolutionised the world. And it is not by any such means, or by anything which appeals exclusively to the intellect; nay, not even by a vague accommodating theology with no doctrinal articulation--which, polype-like, floats on the tides of human thought, rising as they rise, falling as they fall--that men and nations can be saved now. It is as of old--by the preaching of the Word, Jesus Christ, and Him crucified. I am the Bread of Life, said Christ. (T. T. Shore, M. A.)
The staff of life
I. We are to consider what our peril is. In one word, it is the peril of an over-mastering materialism. Look on England today, the England that speaks to us through Liverpool and Manchester, through Cabinet and Parliament, her stout hand not upon her heart but upon her pocket, cold towards us, sneeringly indifferent to the triumph of law, order, and right, anxious only about the cargoes of cotton, which are to feed her whirling spindles. Tell us, ye British statesmen, tell us, ye sordid sons of heroic sires, are Constitutions only parchment? Are nations only herds of farmers, artisans, and traders? Is chartered freedom only sounding rhetoric? Is duty only a name? Is honour dead? And is there nothing for us, in this nineteenth century, but to delve and spin and trade, to clutch and hoard, to eat and drink, and bloat and rot and die, and make no sign?
II. What our deliverance must be. Deliverance is what we want; not mere respite, lifting the agony from our spirits to lay it over upon our children; deliverance, complete and final. What avails it in a raging fever, rapidly nearing its crisis, that we comfort ourselves with cooling drinks, while the disease is striking boldly at our vitals? It is written in Gods Word, and written in all the history of the race: Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. Such is the Divine regimen for the nations. They live, if they live at all, by no felicity of position, soil, or climate, by no abundance of material good, but by the living word of the living God. Work we must, and shall, and should. And work will bring us wealth. And wealth will bring us power. What then? Need wealth be idolised, or spent upon our lusts? Need power he vaunted and abused? If so, we perish, as Tyre and Sidon perished; perish, as Carthage perished; perish, as, according to the Indian legend, the last of our gigantic mastodons perished, smitten down by the thunderbolt of the Great Spirit. Thank God, it need not be so. Nor is it our task to lay our feeble, ineffectual finger upon this vast revolving wheel, which carries the whole machinery of our earthly life, and bid it pause. It is not our task to slay this giant of our material prosperity, and stretch his huge corpse out across the continent. Ours is the far grander task of teaching the giant wisdom, and subduing his earth-born energies to Him who has told us that Man shall not live by bread alone. How, then, shall men and nations live? By every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God; so reads our text. The Hebrews in the desert had no need of bread; they were fed with manna from the skies. But our Lord proved that there was no need even of manna. It was enough for Him, as the Son of Man, that He had faith in God. On this He feasted, while He fasted, the forty days. It was Gods commandment, which He obeyed in fasting, and this commandment, thus obeyed in faith, was the bread He ate. The commandments of God, then, are the bread of life for the nations. If a Christian people, then we must be loyal to our calling, baptising our unexampled material prosperity into the name of Christ, and dedicating our wealth, with a wise and eager generosity, to Christian uses. (R. D. Hitchcock, D. D.)
Bread for the hungry
I. Let us, that we may get the meaning of this text with regard to providence, reflect upon the children of Israel in the wilderness. God has proved by miracle, that although He chooses to act usually according to certain rules, and nourish the body with bread and with meat, yet He is not tied to rules, but is absolute King and Master, and can do as He wills; and even in the subtle processes by which food is digested and assimilated to the flesh and blood, and bone and sinew, He can work without the means of ordinary chemistries. He can dissolve without alembics, and fuse without crucibles. But you say, Ah! but that cannot concern us, for He never works miracles now. Ay, but I reply, it is most marvellous for God to be able to do a miraculous thing without a miracle. I have seen many miracles, which were not miracles, but yet all the more miraculous. The poor have lacked bread; stones were not turned into bread for them, but they had their bread as much by miracle as if rocks had crumbled into food. We have seen the poor merchant reduced to distress, and he said, Now I cannot see any hope for me. God must rend His heavens, and put His hand through the very windows to deliver me. No heavens were rent, but the deliverance came. Now, the Lord can this day without a miracle work such a miracle that we shall have all our wants supplied, for man doth not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. You have heard the story of the martyr who was condemned to die. The judge said railingly: You will be in prison. I shall make you no allowance for food, and what can your God do for you? How can He feed you? Why, said the poor prisoner, if He wills it, He can feed me from your table: and it was so, though unknown to his cruel judge; for until his day of burning came, the wife of the judge, touched with sympathy, always secreted food and fed him abundantly even from the persecutors board.
II. The spiritual bearing of the text. Man shall not live by bread alone; that does but nourish the mere coarse fabric of clay; he lives by every word which proceedeth out of the mouth of God--that nourishes the immortal spirit; that sustains the heavenly flame which God has put there by the work of regeneration and conversion.
1. The text speaks of a hunger and of its consequences. Very many of you understand what this hunger means. There was a time when the world suited us well enough. But suddenly God put a new life into us; we knew not how. The first evidence we had of that life was that we began to hunger; we were not satisfied; we were unhappy. The soul was conscious of sin, and hungered for pardon; conscious of guilt, and hungered for purity; conscious of absence from God, and hungered and thirsted after His presence.
(1) Now, speaking of that hunger, you know that it was a most painful thing when first we knew it. It was so painful to some of us that we could not rest. We wanted Christ.
(2) Then that hunger, moreover, was utterly insatiable--nothing could stop it. Friends said, You must take worldly amusement. The legalist said, You must perform such and such duties; it was like attempting to fill a soul with bubbles. Still our hunger cried, Give, give, give us something more substantial, more Divine than this.
(3) Next, this hunger is impetuous. Sometimes it will come at inconvenient seasons. Henry Smith--an old preacher at St. Pauls Cross, preaching upon the text: As newborn babes desire the sincere milk of the Word that ye may grow thereby--observes, When hunger assails infants, they neither regard leisure, nor necessity, nor willingness of their mothers, but all excuses and business set apart, so soon as they cry for food they must be fed. So it is with a man who has begun to feel the need of Christ.
2. Notice, the heavenly bread and its surprising excellency. This bread, you see, is the Word of God. Now, the Word is given to us first here in the Bible, as it is written; it is given to us, secondly, from the lips of Gods own chosen and appointed ambassadors. He that despises either of these two, will soon find himself growing lean in spirit. But now, why is it that we need this food at all? I answer first, we need it to sustain the life which we have received. As life spiritual depends upon God to give it, so upon God to sustain it. Only He who makes us Christians can keep us so. We need this Divine food not only to keep us barely alive, but to make us grow. Besides, this food is necessary to strengthen us when we have grown up. How can we wonder that a man is weak if he does not eat? It is no wonder if Christians find themselves weak in prayer, weak in suffering, weak in action, weak in faith, and weak in love, if they neglect to feed upon the Word of God. Moreover, we need to have spiritual food also for our joy as well as for our strength. How often do you see a man sad and troubled, who, if he had sufficient sustenance, would soon have sparkling eyes and a shining face! Many Christians, I do not doubt, are very low and miserable because they do not feed upon the Word. Are you starving your souls? If so, there is no wonder that your joys are dead, and hang their heads like withered things. I trust many of us know what it is to feed to the full upon the Word of God. And do you not bear me witness that it is rich food?
3. A great privilege involving a consequent duty. We have been made to eat manna, as angels food which we did not know. It was far above our carnal judgments, yet they who feared the Lord said it was like wafers made with honey. Israel found it to be very sweet, and indeed it is said by the Rabbis that the manna had such a peculiarity about it, that it was always the flavour that a man wished it to be, and I think it is very much so with Gospel preaching; if a man chooses it to be disagreeable to him, it will be; but if he desires it to be sweet to him, it will be; he will be sure to be fed if he wants to be fed. For so is it with the precious Book; very much of its flavour is in our own mouths, and when our mouths are out of taste, we think the Bible has lost its savour. It is often your ears that are to blame, not the preacher; do not be so quick to blame him, but be a little more rapid in examining yourself. Neither did our fathers know. By nature, however much we may respect them, they are no better than ourselves, and they knew nothing about this subtle, mysterious, munificent way by which God supplies the needs of the souls of His people. Well now, if God has given us such food as this, I think the least thing we can do is to go and gather it. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
The true life of man
This passage is composed of two propositions, a negative and an affirmative. The verb is the same in both, and therefore can only have one and the same meaning in both propositions. The first taken literally is an obvious truism. The second, taken literally, is unintelligible. That man cannot live by bread alone is patent to all. At least two more substances are needful for existence, namely, air and water. Nor can air, water, and bread alone suffice for human life. Man must undergo some exertion in order to derive nourishment from the air, water, and bread, and he needs likewise to sleep and to have shelter or else he will die. As man rises in the scale of being, many more things become necessary to life which a primitive savage never thought of. The second proposition, Man doth live by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth o the Lord, taken literally, is manifestly unintelligible. We can understand that bread eaten and assimilated is one of the many things required to support human life, but in no sense can we understand the process of eating and assimilating to be applied to any words human or Divine. The second proposition is therefore so manifestly figurative that the literal interpretation must be abandoned. And if the second proposition be figurative, so likewise must be the first; for the verb which gives meaning to the second is the same in both. The key to the meaning of the passage lies in the sense given to the verb live and to the phrase every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord. The author used this term live in a very exalted sense. It was much more than mere existence. We all know what kind of torpid, stupid life we mean to describe by the term to vegetate; a life of motionless, passionless inactivity--mere existence without exertion, without animation. A higher life than this belongs in common to all animals; but a mere animal life was not, I think, what the author intended when he said man cannot live by bread alone. Just as we use the term vegetate to express inactivity, so we use the term animalism to express a brutish kind of life of which selfish indulgence is the alpha and omega. The life of man is something higher than the life of the beast, and cannot be sustained by the mere supply of animal wants. Taking the word bread to embrace typically every possible object needful for animal sustenance, vigour, and enjoyment, man wants for his life much more than bread. Man cannot live by bread alone. If he lives by bread alone, he has either never been a man at all or has ceased to be a man, he is only an animal. And , I venture to say, is one lesson that has to be re-learnt in our own times. Whether things were worse or better in times that are gone, one thing is most obvious now. Many men and women are steeped in the notion that it is only by bread that man can live and by nothing else--that is to say that their whole lives depend upon the constant and adequate supply of those things which go to furnish animal health, animal strength, animal spirits, and general animal enjoyment; that this earthly bread is all they ever want, or all that they need ever seek; that when these things are provided, the rest of everything can go to the wall, and the kingdom of God along with it. Too often parents by precept or example instill this animalism into the minds of their children, impressing it upon them by word and deed that their first and last duty in life is to get all they can; or else they tacitly acquiesce in their childrens downward tendency and take no pains to eradicate their selfishness or to cultivate within them higher pursuits. It takes little from the sadness of this outlook to know that in a very large measure the state of society in which we live is very much to blame for much of this concentration on earthly good. On the one hand competition and the struggle for existence has made it very hard for some people to live at all, and on the other hand luxurious habits have not only grown in number but have gradually taken their place in the category of the necessaries of life. The wisdom of the Stoic which commended the restraint of desire as a means of conferring happiness is now all but forgotten; and parents and children together seem to act as if the attainment of desired objects was the whole secret of happiness, and the multiplication of gratified wishes led only to satisfaction. It is a wonder they do not see that the more we have the more we want; it is feeding the disease of longing to gratify wish after wish; and I must add it is cruelty to the young to let them grow up with the idea that the true happiness of mails life consists in getting all we want and having our own way. If the course of Divine Providence with Israel be any guide to parents in the training of their children--and I think it is entitled to that place by those words, Thou shalt remember in thine heart that as a man chasteneth his son, so the Lord thy God chasteneth thee--we may well lay to heart that to deny our children some longed for pleasure, to submit them to mild privations and to disappoint them in the execution of their will is to be following a Divine example which seeks the truer, higher, and more enduring happiness of His children by the temporary infliction of some needful chastisement. But no parent can do this with judgment or moderation, or can conduct the process of disappointing his childrens wishes properly unless he has learnt for himself the lesson, Man cannot live by bread alone, unless he knows by experience that his life in its truest sense does not consist in the abundance of things which he possesseth, but that his troubles and cares have been part of his most valuable treasure, and that his life has been enriched more often by what he has lost than by what he has gained. And this brings us to consider what is meant by the assertion of the text that man doth live by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord. This phrase becomes intelligible to us the moment we understand what is meant by the term live. The truest and highest life of man is not mere existence, nor the fullest enjoyment of his physical nature, but the highest exercise of his noblest functions as a moral and spiritual being, as a member of the great brotherhood of mankind, as a child of God. From such an elevation, the wants and cares of this lower life lose much of their overwhelming importance. Gains and losses are less felt as changes in the atmospheric pressure upon the soul. Daily bread is no longer regarded as the sum total of aspiration, as the sustenance of a heaven-born spirit. In the devout language of Job, I have esteemed the words of His mouth more than my necessary food. Now to live such a life we must not be content with bread, or with the most ample supply of all our physical wants, but we can only live it by the word of God, i.e. by following the higher law of our being, by seeking for and finding all possible truth, by acting in harmony with the known laws of Nature and with the known laws of human nature which are moral and spiritual as well as physical. If we but endeavour to have God in all our thoughts, to set God always before us, then our life will be a human life, and not the life of the vegetable or the life of the beast that perisheth. Why, even for the perfection of our lower life--the purely physical--we must attain to the knowledge of Gods good laws, and follow them faithfully, or else the bread of life will fail to nourish us; all its thousand embellishments will destroy and not promote our happiness. How much more, then, must we seek, in active obedience to His good laws, that perfection of moral and spiritual health in which alone the highest life of man consists! It still holds good that he that seeketh his life shall lose it, and he that loseth his life the same shall find it. Paradoxical as it may sound, the law of self-denial for the well-being and comfort of others is the only condition in which our own well-being and comfort are attainable, or when attained can be made enduring. (C. Voysey, M. A.)
Spiritual food
A few years ago died, at one of the missionary stations of India, a native called Brindelbund. He had spent sixty or seventy years in the service of Satan. Talking to his Hindoo brethren, he would say, And whom do you need but Him whom I have found? He would take his wallet of books, and travel two or three hundred miles to distribute them; and this he did for fourteen or fifteen years. Mrs. Chamberlain, in his last days, would go to his, bedside, and say, Brindelbund, shall I get you some tea? Can you eat bread? He would lay his hand on the New Testament: Sister, this is my tea--this is my bread; man was not made to live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. How valuable the Gospel, which can thus give happiness to a man who had spent the greater part of his life in the slavery of idolatry!
Feeding on the Word
In her autobiography the late Frances Ridley Havergal says that after giving up her soul to the Saviour, For the first time my Bible was sweet to me, and the first passage which I distinctly remember reading in a new and glad light was the fourteenth and following chapters of St. Johns Gospel. I read them feeling how wondrously loving and tender they were, and that now I too might share in their beauty and comfort. In this statement we have the secret of that ladys symmetrical piety and eminent usefulness. As she began her spiritual life by feeding it on the Divine Word, so she continued. She made it her daily bread. By reading it constantly, by meditating upon it, by implicitly believing it, by praying for light upon it, and by claiming its promises as her own, she learned to see and to know God, and to possess in very large measure that eternal life which consists in knowing Him. Hers was, therefore, a Scriptural piety. Her faith pushed its roots deep into Gods Word. And whoever wishes to be truly and actively pious, must, like her, nourish his heart with Scripture truth, since no Christian ever did, or ever can, attain deep piety who does not learn to sip sweetness from Gods words as bees suck honey from the flowers of the field.
Spiritual assimilation
In a town in Japan I once wanted to hold a meeting in the hotel, but only two fishermen came. I entered into conversation about Christ and His salvation with them instead of preaching. I told them that all men were descended from one pair, the present difference in the appearance of the people in separate countries being caused by the climate, food, and water. One of the men replied, I understand it is just the same with fish; if they feed on green seaweed they become green themselves. It is the same with Christians, if they read and meditate upon the Word of God, they will become like God. If they follow the world and feed upon its pleasures, then they will become like the world, and no one will see the difference between them and those who, without disguise, are on the way to perdition. (R. Davison.)
Living by bread alone
What is it, therefore, to live by bread alone? Let us contemplate the present age. Behold a workman of the fields always looking down upon his plough, and who never gives himself time to look up towards the heaven whence fertility descends; behold a workman of the town for whom all days are alike, and who quits his trade only for pleasure, or what he believes to be such; behold a man who has dividends, and who lulls himself to sleep in a selfish indolence, whence he awakes only twice a year to receive them; behold an employe, that is to say a man who during his life gives six days to writings of which he is weary and the seventh to amusements of which he will become weary also; behold a wealthy man, and when one asks what is his occupation, he has only one, that of administering his fortune, and, if possible, augmenting it; and those savants who deal only in science, searching unceasingly into the truth of facts, and forgetting the voice which said: I am the truth; and those artists who pursue the beautiful whilst forgetting the supreme beauty; and those literary men, who seek the sublime, whilst forgetting that religion is the chief sublime; and those magistrates, who only judge or administer; and those potentates of the earth, who only skim and rule . . . All those men are, perhaps, good and honourable, incapable of staining their reputation, of dishonouring themselves . . . But they live by bread only; the earthly life rules them, carries them away, preoccupies them, to the point of leading them to egotism and indifference; they are so mindful of themselves that they forget God; of the world, that they forget heaven; of life, that they forget death and immortality; they take so much care of themselves that they take none of their neighbour; and as to their family, they dream of its advancement. They live in a manner most honourable, doubtless; but they live by bread only . . . only, and this is their folly and transgression. (Athanase Coquerel.)
As a man chasteneth his son, so the Lord thy God chasteneth thee.--
The afflictions of gods people
I. The afflictions of Gods people--however complicated, however prolonged, of whatever materials they may be made--proceed from the purest benignity of our Heavenly Father. Suffering does not come from God at all. I know that He overrules it, and that He makes up, if I may so speak, of the briars and thorns which so plentifully grow in this wilderness a hedge by which His children are kept in and restrained. But He did not cause your sufferings. If man had continued in his primeval state of innocence, there would have been no aching heart. But suffering is to be considered as destructive or as corrective. Now, where it is destructive, it is an expression of displeasure. We know that punishment ultimately inflicted will be destructive; but, remember, afflictions may be considered also as corrective. Then they issue from love. Following up the beautiful idea of the text--that of parental discipline--I say they proceed from a solicitude to improve the child, to correct many vices, to form the character of the child as perfectly as it can be formed. Now, remember, that the love of your Heavenly Father regulates all this.
II. Your afflictions are brought about by Divine wisdom--no chance, no accident. God cannot explain Himself to you, but before Him everything is arranged in the most exquisite order, in the most luminous combination. Not an atom floats without His permission; the hairs of your head are all numbered.
III. All afflictions will issue in your highest good. Yon must take Gods word; All things work together for good to them that love God. This is the secret--to them that love God. God loves you--you love God; what is the consequence? God is employing His attributes for you; God is taking care that there shall be nothing hostile, however inexplicable may be the circumstances of your life. They shall work for your good--perhaps not for your gratification. The physicians prescriptions do not work for the pleasure of the party; the probing instrument of the surgeon gives the patient pain, but it is all for good. God is not absent from you; He is present. This is a consolatory thought: your Father never leaves you for a moment; He is educating you for Himself. (T. Lessey.)
On the purposes of God in chastening man
I. The way in which God tried the Israelites in the wilderness was this: he was perpetually exposing them to difficulties and dangers, which were calculated to try the strength of their faith and trust in Him.
II. What, then, were the designs which God had in view in thus bringing the Israelites into these difficulties, and in thus correcting them?
1. The first was that they might know themselves, to know their hearts, whether they would keep His commandments or no.
2. But the second point, in which it was the intention of God to instruct the Israelites, and in them all mankind, was their absolute dependence upon Himself. He fed them with manna, which neither they nor their fathers had known, in order that He might make them know that men do not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord do men live. More important knowledge than this of the providence of God cannot be learned by men. While we thus practically know the power and presence of God, we shall feel the dispositions which that knowledge ought to inspire; we shall watch over our conduct with a filial dread of offending Him; we shall place an unbounded confidence in His wisdom to direct, His power to strengthen, His providence to defend, His goodness to bless us.
III. Having thus taken a view of the purposes of God toward the Israelites in the desert, it remains that we consider for whose instruction these designs were accomplished.
1. In the first place, He makes use of afflictions and trials to prove you, as He did the Israelites of old. These trials you have doubtless felt, but have you seen the hand of God in them?
2. What, then, is His aim? It is to teach thee to know thyself and Him. To know thyself. You will tell me, perhaps, you do not know yourself sufficiently; you will acknowledge you are a weak, sinful Creature. To say this from theory only is a very different thing from saying it from experience. Self-knowledge is not soon taught. You cannot acquire it merely by reading books, or by meditating on it in your study; it must be the result of long and painful observation of your own heart.
3. But God designs also to teach you to know Him. You are amazed at the stupidity of the Israelites; they had so many proofs of the presence of God! And have not you as many? (J. Venn, M. A.)
Divine correction
Divine correction may be considered--
I. As the means of religious improvement.
1. Affliction is a restraint from evil, without which we should frequently fall the victim of our folly and impetuosity.
2. Affliction is an excitement to duty.
3. Affliction is a needful ordeal.
4. Affliction is a seasonable monitor.
II. As the discipline of paternal regard. A father corrects his children--
1. With reluctance. Tries everything else first.
2. With wisdom.
3. With tenderness.
4. With design. For our good.
III. As the subject of filial attention. How awful is it when affliction is useless, when correction hardens, when medicine poisons! Beware of this--Consider in thine heart, etc.
1. Acknowledge His hand. Trace your afflictions to their proper cause.
2. Submit to His authority. Submission is the perfection of Christianity--the submission not of apathy, but sensibility. Shall a scholar murmur against the discipline of wisdom and goodness?
3. Improve His design. This must be known to be improved. You cannot know each particular design, but you may the grand and ultimate one. (Sketches of Four Hundred Sermons.)
Design of Gods chastisements
This is the manner of Gods proceedings--to send good after evil, as He made light after darkness; to turn justice into mercy, as tie turned water into wine; for as the beasts must be killed before they could be sacrificed, so men must be killed before they can be sacrificed--that is, the knife of correction must prune and dress them, and lop off their rotten twigs before they can bring forth fruit; these are the cords which bind the ram unto the altar, lest when he is brought thither he should run from thence again; this is the chariot which carrieth our thoughts to heaven, as it did Nebuchadnezzars. This is the hammer which squareth the rough stones till they be plain and smooth and fit for the temple. (H. Smith.)
Gods chastening
A bystander in the market place of a country town saw a group of boys quarrelling and fighting. In a few moments he observed a man from a side street cross the place, enter the group, bring out one boy, and severely rebuke him. The bystander pondered, his thoughts shaping themselves thus: That is a father, selecting his own boy, plucking him from the evil out of fatherly love, and dealing with him in such a manner as to make him fear a repetition of the conduct. We are chastened of the Lord that we should not be condemned with the world. This is the paternal motive. (Mrs. Umpleby.)
Chastisement a proof of love
I had a teacher, when I was a boy, who used to love me and let me off easy in my lessons, and I thought he was splendid. I had another teacher who, out of school and out of doors, was almost like a brother and a father to me, but who was very rigid with me in the mathematical room--and with me especially; and when I once complained to him that he did not treat any other boy as he did me, he said, No, I do not, for I do not love any other boy as much as I do you. He brought the screw down on me tremendously, but it was the only thing that carried me through mathematics. At last he developed in me an energy and an enterprise in that direction that led to results that I never should have achieved under any other culture than that. Whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom He receiveth . . . But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons, saith the Word of the Lord. (H. W. Beecher.)
God the best Ruler
Man would have God go according to his mind in chastening and afflicting him. He would have God correct him only in such a kind, in such a manner and measure as he would choose. He saith in his heart: If God would correct me in this or that, I could bear it, but I do not like to be corrected in the present way. One saith: If God would smite me in my estate, I could bear it, but not in my body; another saith: If God would smite me with sickness, I could bear it, but not my children; or, If God would afflict me only in such a degree, I could submit, but my heart can hardly submit to so great a measure of affliction. Thus we would have it according to our minds as to the measure of the continuance of our afflictions. We would be corrected for so many days, but months and years of trouble are not according to our mind. Man would have God govern not only himself, but the whole world, according to his mind; man hath much of this in him. Luther wrote to Melanchthon when he was so exceedingly troubled at the providence of God in this world: Our brother Philip is to be admonished that he would forbear governing the world. We can hardly let God alone to rule that world which Himself alone hath made. (J. Caryl.)
Therefore thou shalt keep the commandments of the Lord thy God.--
Incitements to the Divine service
Time and again Israel was called to remember that Gods goodness to them was designed to lead to more faithful service. They were to beware lest forgetfulness of this and a life of self-indulgence should lead to their undoing. In chap. 28, the terrible results of ingratitude and disobedience were set before them. See, especially in verses 63, 64 of that chapter, a graphic picture in general outline of the state of the Jewish race for the past eighteen hundred years. For those who have no time or inclination to study the history of the race, the graphic description of their position in Scotts Ivanhoe and the historical notes appended to that work, will give a clear conception of their miserable condition. The passage teaches us that when men have received blessing from God it is fitting for them to render Him a willing service, and that ingratitude here means destruction.
I. The reasonableness of rendering a grateful service to God.
1. This was clearly evident in the case of Israel. God rightly demands as the Creator obedience and service from all men. Surely, then, from a people so highly favoured as Israel! Delivered from slavery; given a noble system of laws; brought under the direct rule of Jehovah in the theocracy; and given in promise a land flowing with milk and honey. They were highly favoured, and in gratitude should have consecrated themselves to the Divine service.
2. If they had reasons for thankfulness, etc., we have greater reasons. Contrast the state of our native land since the time when Columba, Cuthbert, Austin of Canterbury, etc., began their apostolic labours among its tribes with our present preeminence among the nations.
3. As individual subjects of this empire we have great reason to offer to God a grateful service. How blessed our lot compared with that of many peoples whose manner of life and customs have been portrayed by a Livingstone, Stanley, J.G. Paten, and others! Contrast the state of less highly favoured peoples with our own individual lives, under righteous government, religious liberty, even-handed justice, etc. There are many reasons why we should render to God gratitude, praise, and willing, joyful service.
II. The folly of the sin of ingratitude toward God.
1. What we are to beware of is the danger that whilst we enjoy the gifts, the gracious Giver should be forgotten--of spending all our time and energy on the acquisition of Gods gifts to be used for our own pleasure rather than in seeking the Divine glory.
2. Into this sin the Israelites fell once and again in the course of their history. Even after the stern lesson of the Babylonian exile they fell into this sin (Hag_1:1-15, etc.). In our Lords time this sin was aggravated by hypocrisy. The formal religionists drew near to God with outward devotion, but their hearts were far from Him. The self-pleasing, worldly agriculturist of the parable was, it may be surmised, a typical figure (Luk_12:15-21).
3. There is too much of this spirit in our own time. Among all classes there is a feverish grasping after riches and pleasure; there is a striving after wealth, not that those who strive may become better men and women, and be better enabled to serve God, but that they may have more of ease, of passing pleasures. Possessions gained and received without thankful gratitude to God and more earnest effort in His service turn to dust and ashes in the using.
4. This results from the failure of men to desire first and receive Gods best gifts in Jesus Christ.
III. The effect of either spirit on national and individual life.
1. When a nation rests on God in its government and institutions, and shows grateful loyalty to Him, that nation will grow in righteousness and strengths, and become a power for good in the world.
2. To the individual who serves Him in grateful love He will give His richest blessings. Material gifts may sometimes be withheld as not for their good; but joyful assurance of His presence will be given to them, and of the certainty of His promises.
3. Far otherwise will it be with those who forget God. Israels history tells how the curse has fallen (Isa_1:8). God-forgetfulness led to hardness of heart, spiritual pride, and the invocation on themselves of the awful sentence, His blood be on us and on our children.
4. Are there not many among us who fall into the same error--who reap luxuriant fields, who amass enormous gains without any thought of gratitude to God, or any effort in His service? Such love of money--of the possessions of this life--is a root of all evil, leading to the hardening of the heart and the materialising of the life.
5. The Divine rule is the only safe one: Seek ye first the kingdom of God, etc. Through Israels failure to render God a grateful service they failed to carry out the Divine commission confided to them as a nation, i.e. to make Gods name, etc., known (Psa_67:1-7.). Does our thankful gratitude to God lead us to do so? (Wm. Frank Scott.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 General Information:
General Information:
Moses continues to speak to the Israelites as if they are one person. He continues to remind them of what they should "call to mind" (Deuteronomy 8:2). (See: Forms of You)
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He humbled you
"Yahweh showed you how weak and sinful you are." See how "he might humble you" is translated in Deuteronomy 8:2.
fed you with manna
"gave you manna to eat"
it is not by bread alone that people live
Here "bread" represents all food. AT: "food is not the only thing people need so they can live" (See: Synecdoche)
it is by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of Yahweh that people live
Here "the mouth of Yahweh" is a metonym for the words that Yahweh says. AT: "people must obey the commands of Yahweh so they can live" or "people must do what Yahweh tells them to do so they can live" (See: Metonymy)
translationWords
humble
manna
ancestor
life
bread
Yahweh
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 8:3 The word manna is derived from the Hebrew…
8:3 The word manna is derived from the Hebrew words man hu (meaning “what is it?”). God miraculously provided this food to teach his people total dependence on him (Exod 16:1-30; Num 11:4-9). Manna represented the word of God, which is even more essential to life and well-being than food is. • people do not live by bread alone: Jesus quoted this phrase to rebut Satan (Matt 4:4; Luke 4:4).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.