TO HUMBLE YOU AND TO TEST YOU: "This is the lesson of
chastisement. Not forsaking but purifying, not casting down but building up. Had
Israel but seen these things and turned to God instead of to mourning, murmuring
and despair, then would she have blossomed in the wilderness, the Lord would
have opened the windows of heaven for her and brought her early to the land. The
Lord had withheld food and drink but not to starve and shrivel His people. He
asked simply that they would know that 'man doth not live by bread only, but by
every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord.' Have we learned the
lesson? In this affluent age have we been tempted to rely on the abundance of
sustenance to be had by daily work, rather than the increase of faith which
comes by daily prayer?" (TMD 173).
Deu 8:3
MAN DOES NOT LIVE ON BREAD ALONE BUT ON EVERY WORD THAT
COMES FROM THE MOUTH OF THE LORD: God wanted Israel to live by God's daily
provisions, through the angels, through supernatural means (Heb 1:14). "Angels'
food" (Psa 78:25).
Deu 8:8
Known in Israel tradition as the "7 species" (Geog 84). Israel
is likened to these fruits (Hab 3:17). Ct the description of Egypt in Deu
11:10-12.
Deu 8:9
WHERE THE ROCKS ARE...: In past thought to be poetic
exaggeration, but now being confirmed by modern exploration.
Deu 8:12
EAT... BUILD FINE HOUSES AND SETTLE DOWN...: Ease, not
difficulty, is the greatest danger to spiritual life.