Not by Bread Alone

Obey to live. “Every commandment which I command you today you must be careful to observe, that you may live and multiply” (8:1). Remember. “And you shall remember that the Lord your God led you all the way these forty years in the wilderness” (8:2). Again and again, Moses told God's people to remember what the Lord had done for them. Led all the way. God did not leave them for a single day. He led them with the cloud and fire, just as Numbers showed. To humble you. To humble means to take away pride. Hard times reminded Israel that they needed God. To test you. A test shows what is really there. God tested Israel “to know what was in your heart” (8:2). Keep His commandments. The test was “whether you would keep His commandments or not” (8:2). A heart test. God cares most about the heart. Outside actions come from what is inside. What we learn. God can use hard times to teach us to trust Him. He never leads us anywhere without Him.

Remember, and do not forget. Moses calls God's people to remember (8:2, 18) and warns them three times not to forget (8:11, 14, 19). Forgetting God was the great danger waiting for them in the land. Life and land (8:1). Obedience was tied to living and possessing the land God promised. The covenant had blessings for faithfulness. To humble (8:2). The Hebrew anah (say: ah-NAH) means to bring low. God allowed hardship to remove Israel's self-reliance. To test (8:2). The word nasah (say: nah-SAH) is the same root as Massah (6:16), the place where Israel tested God. Here God tests Israel. Why test? God already knows every heart (Psalm 139:1-4). Testing shows the heart to the person being tested, and it proves faith real. Exodus 16:4. The manna itself was a test: “that I may test them, whether they will walk in My law or not.” Hardship with a purpose. Paul writes that “tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope” (Romans 5:3-4). Like gold tested in fire, faith is shown to be genuine through trial.

Moses was speaking to God's people by the Jordan River. Soon they would go into the Promised Land. Moses wanted them to remember the desert years. He told them to remember how God led them for forty years. Those years were hard. There was not much water or food. But God had a reason for the hard times. He was taking away their pride. Pride is thinking you do not need God. He was also testing them. A test shows what is really inside. God wanted to see if they would obey Him. Hard times can help us learn to trust God. God never left them alone, not even for one day.

God led His people for forty years. He was with them every day. He looked at their hearts. He wanted them to obey.

Allowed to hunger. “So He humbled you, allowed you to hunger, and fed you with manna” (8:3). Hunger taught Israel to depend on God. Something new. The manna was food “which you did not know nor did your fathers know” (8:3). No one had ever seen it. Bread from heaven. God had promised, “Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you” (Exodus 16:4). The lesson. “That He might make you know that man shall not live by bread alone” (8:3). Every word. “But man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord” (8:3). This is the memory verse. Jesus was hungry. After fasting forty days and forty nights, “afterward He was hungry” (Matthew 4:2). Jesus' answer. When Satan said to turn stones into bread, Jesus said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God’” (Matthew 4:4). What we learn. We need God's word even more than food. Jesus trusted it when He was hungry.

Hunger as teacher (8:3). God did not only feed Israel; He let them feel hunger first. Need opened their eyes to His provision. Manna's name. The people called it manna from their question, What is it? (Exodus 16:15). It came daily and could not be stored, except before the Sabbath. What manna taught. Manna was more than food. It taught that life depends on God's spoken word: He spoke, and bread appeared each morning. “Every word” (8:3). The phrase “every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord” includes God's promises, commands and creative power. Jesus in the wilderness. Matthew 4:1-4 places Jesus in the wilderness for forty days, as Israel had been there forty years. He answers Satan with Deuteronomy 8:3, 6:16 and 6:13. Every answer Jesus gave came from Moses' sermons. The faithful Son. Many Christians see a pattern here: Israel, God's son (Exodus 4:22), failed in the wilderness, but Jesus, the Son of God, trusted His Father there. Food that lasts. Jesus later said, “Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life” (John 6:27).

God let His people get hungry in the desert. Their tummies growled, and they had nothing to eat. Then God sent manna from the sky every morning. Manna was something nobody had ever seen before. It tasted like wafers made with honey. Every day God gave them just enough. Why did God do it this way? He was teaching them a lesson. A person does not live only by eating bread. A person lives by everything the Lord says. Food keeps our bodies alive for a while. God's words give us life that lasts forever. Many years later, Jesus was hungry in the desert. He remembered this verse and trusted God.

The people were hungry. God sent manna from the sky. God's words are even better. We need God every day.

Clothes that lasted. “Your garments did not wear out on you, nor did your foot swell these forty years” (8:4). Remembered later. Nehemiah praised God: “Forty years You sustained them in the wilderness; They lacked nothing” (Nehemiah 9:21). Sustained means kept alive. Sandals too. Moses later said, “Your sandals have not worn out on your feet” (Deuteronomy 29:5). Like a father. “You should know in your heart that as a man chastens his son, so the Lord your God chastens you” (8:5). To chasten means to correct and train. Correction is love. “For whom the Lord loves He corrects, Just as a father the son in whom he delights” (Proverbs 3:11-12). For our good. God corrects us “for our profit, that we may be partakers of His holiness” (Hebrews 12:10). Walk in His ways. “Therefore you shall keep the commandments of the Lord your God, to walk in His ways and to fear Him” (8:6). What we learn. God cares about small things, and He corrects us because He loves us like a perfect Father.

Daily miracles (8:4). Unworn clothes and unswollen feet were quiet, daily miracles. God's care was not only in dramatic moments like the Red Sea. Nehemiah 9:21. Centuries later, the returned exiles recalled this detail in prayer: “They lacked nothing.” A father's discipline (8:5). The Hebrew yasar (say: yah-SAR) means to discipline, instruct or correct. It describes training, not cruelty. Sons, not slaves. Israel had been slaves in Egypt. Now God treats them as children. Discipline is a mark of belonging, because a father trains only his own children. Hebrews 12. “My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord… For whom the Lord loves He chastens” (Hebrews 12:5-6, quoting Proverbs 3:11-12). The fruit of discipline. “Afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it” (Hebrews 12:11). A perfect Father. Not every earthly father is kind or safe. God is a perfect Father: never harsh, always loving, always working for our good.

Moses reminded the people of something amazing. For forty years, their clothes did not wear out. Think about how fast you grow out of clothes! But God made their clothes last and last. Their feet did not swell from all that walking. God cared about every little thing. Moses also told them what God is like. God corrects His people as a father corrects his son. A loving father teaches his children what is right. Sometimes he says no to keep them safe. He helps them grow up wise and strong. God corrects His children because He loves them. So Moses told them to obey the Lord and respect Him. God's ways are always good.

Their clothes did not wear out. Their feet did not get sore. God is like a good father. He helps us grow.

A good land. “For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and springs” (8:7). Seven gifts. “A land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive oil and honey” (8:8). Nothing lacking. “A land in which you will eat bread without scarcity, in which you will lack nothing” (8:9). Scarcity means not having enough. Bless the Lord. “When you have eaten and are full, then you shall bless the Lord your God for the good land which He has given you” (8:10). The danger. “Beware that you do not forget the Lord your God” (8:11). Proud hearts. The danger was saying, “My power and the might of my hand have gained me this wealth” (8:17). The truth. “For it is He who gives you power to get wealth” (8:18). What we learn. Every good thing comes from God. Thankful hearts remember Him; proud hearts forget Him.

The land described (8:7-9). Water from brooks, fountains and springs was very different from Egypt, which relied on the Nile and irrigation (compare 11:10-11). The seven foods (8:8). Wheat, barley, vines, figs, pomegranates, olive oil and honey. Jewish tradition calls them the seven species of the land. They are simply the main crops that would feed God's people. Iron and copper (8:9). The land had mineral wealth. God's provision included resources for work and building. Blessing God (8:10). The verb barak (say: bah-RAHK) means to bless. Here people bless God by praising and thanking Him. Jewish grace after meals is based on this verse. A new danger (8:11-17). Plenty brings a new danger: forgetting God. The heart “lifted up” (8:14) is pride. Paul's question. “And what do you have that you did not receive?” (1 Corinthians 4:7). Rich toward God. Paul tells the rich to trust “in the living God, who gives us richly all things to enjoy” (1 Timothy 6:17). Thanksgiving turns a meal into worship.

Moses described the land God was giving them. It had rivers and pools of water. Springs bubbled up in the valleys and hills. It had wheat and barley for making bread. It had grapes, figs and pomegranates. It had olive oil and honey. The rocks had iron, and the hills had copper. They would have everything they needed. Moses said, “You will have all you want to eat. Then praise the Lord your God.” But they must be careful not to forget Him. Some people get proud when they have lots of things. They think they got all of it by themselves. Moses told them to remember that God gives them everything. Thankful people remember who gave them every good gift.

God gave them a good land. It had water and fruit. When you are full, praise God! Say thank You to Him.

Not by Bread Alone

🎉 All Matched!