English
Português
Español
Français
Answer
After Jesus’ baptism, just before He began His earthly ministry, He was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. The Lord had fasted for forty days and nights when Satan came to tempt Him to turn stones into loaves of bread. Jesus responded to the devil with these well-known words: “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God'” «But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. », (Matthew 4:4).
To resist the devil’s temptation, Christ referenced Deuteronomy 8:3: “He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your ancestors had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD.”
The significance of “man shall not live by bread alone” is best grasped in the context of Israel’s desert wandering. After years of being wilderness wanderers, the people were about to settle in their own land. God spoke to them through Moses in the early chapters of Deuteronomy. In the initial six chapters, the Lord reminded His people of all He had done to provide for them in the past. Then He began to caution the Israelites about potential future perils. In chapter 8, God highlighted prosperity as a significant danger that could lead them into complacency.
Israel was instructed never to forget the forty years of God’s provision in the desert when Yahweh alone had supplied food, clothing, and durable sandals. Even in their newfound prosperity in the “land flowing with milk and honey” (Exodus 3:8; Numbers 14:8; Deuteronomy 31:20; Ezekiel 20:15), they might start feeling self-satisfied, as if they had achieved all these blessings through their own efforts.
In the wilderness, God humbled the Israelites by allowing them to go hungry. Then He provided them with manna so that they would need to rely solely on Him for daily sustenance. Manna was a unique type of food that had never been seen before—no one had ever encountered manna previously. «And when the children of Israel saw it, they said to one another, ‘What is it?’ For they did not know what it was. And Moses said to them, ‘This is the bread which the LORD has given you to eat.’ », (Exodus 16:15). This food represented God’s miraculous provision to support their lives. If they attempted to store manna for the next day to provide for themselves, it would always spoil. Every day and every step of the journey, the people had to be nourished by Yahweh. Through this trial in the wilderness, the Israelites learned that their survival did not rely solely on one of God’s gifts, whether bread or manna, but on every command that proceeded from God’s mouth. Their very existence hinged on obeying every single one of God’s directives.
Life is not sustained by food alone. Without God’s Word, food may not be accessible. It is not only through bread that we live, but through every utterance that emanates from the Lord’s mouth—that is, whatever God chooses to bestow upon us. God alone is the ultimate source of life and everything within that life for His people (John 15:1-5; John 14:6). He is our everything.
God’s Word, the Scriptures, imparts life and sustains it. Jesus declared, “The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you—they are full of the Spirit and life” (John 6:63; see also Hebrews 4:12; 2 Timothy 3:16-17).
When Jesus was hungry in the wilderness, Satan tried to get Him to rely on his own self-provision—turning stones into bread—rather than waiting on God’s provision. However, Jesus did nothing of His own will: “My food,” said Jesus at another time, “is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work” «Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work. », (John 4:34). He relied on every word of God and refused to act independently. Jesus was obedient to the point of death on the cross «and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. », (Philippians 2:8).
As Moses reminded the people of Israel to depend on the Lord to meet their every need, “Man shall not live by bread alone” should remind us to do the same. We owe our blessings and prosperity to God’s divine provision. The trusting obedience the Son of God demonstrated—and which Israel failed at time and time again—we do well to imitate. When we’re hungry or experiencing some form of deprivation, we must depend on God to meet our daily needs and remember to obey His Word. And when life is good and we’re feeling prosperous and blessed, we give thanks to the Lord our God, for it is He who provides us with the ability to obtain wealth «But thou shalt remember the LORD thy God: for it is he that giveth thee power to get wealth, that he may establish his covenant which he sware unto thy fathers, as it is this day. », (Deuteronomy 8:18). God our Father gives every good and perfect gift «Every good gift and every perfecThe gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.” (James 1:17) and every spiritual blessing in Christ “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ.” (Ephesians 1:3).
