Deuteronomy 8.3-8.5
Context: 2 Remember how the LORD your God led you all the way in the desert these forty years, to humble you and to test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands.)
3 He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your fathers 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.
4 Your clothes did not wear out and your feet did not swell during these forty years.
5 Know then in your heart that as a man disciplines his son, so the LORD your God disciplines you.
(Deu 8:1-5 NIV)
God humbled the Israelites
“Humbled”
Root: “ah-nah”) is a word seen all over the Old Testament. This is an incredibly common word, but it’s variety of meanings come from the particular verb stem used – which would be clear in context. In this context of Deuteronomy 8.3, it means to afflict with the purpose of discipline, with God as the divine orchestrator. (Thus the disciple seen in verse 5)
“Causing you to hunger”
(Root: “Rah-Av”) here clearly conveys the idea of God is the one behind the scenes orchestrating the hunger of the Israelites. He did this by bringing them out of Egypt, into a desert with no food (Not to talking about every famine, but here in Deuteronomy he did for a specific reason)
“Feeding you”
(Root: “uh-call”) Here, this is the same sense of force seen in God making the Israelites be hungry! The Above when he causes them to hunger, he divinely orchestrated their wandering around severely hungry. Here, he divinely provides food from heaven, and with a strong sense of causation behind it. Manna does not magically appear, but God divinely makes it appear and they are forced to eat it because God has a lesson to teach them.
[Man will live by] every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD.
Wandering around in the desert, thirsty, hungry, and no food in sight – God has a purpose. He intensely desires for the Israelites to know that merely eating food is not enough to live on. Man was created by God to long for and be sustained by spiritual food first, physical food second.
(Side-ramble: “word” is not included here, but implied. What came forth from the mouth of God? Verbal words. What was written on stone tablets? Written words. Thus, this supports the theological truth that every single word of scripture is inspired by God, and if inspired, useful for teaching, preaching, etc)
Spiritual Food First
God delivered the Israelites from slavery, then divinely orchestrated suffering in their lives to discipline them and teach them that spiritual food is vastly more important than physical food.
I have low blood sugar, so I am often tempted to think quite carefully and worry abundantly about what I eat, when I eat, how much I eat, and it is very difficult at times. However, I have noticed that when I seek first his kingdom and his righteousness (Matthew 6:33) that things go much better. The kingdom of God is my focus, and food and blood sugar problems seem to resolve themselves almost on their own. I find with the Lord as my focus, I have more wisdom about how to handle the things of this life.
When we in this life, in addition to reading the book of Job, we should read Deuteronomy along with Hebrews 12. While God and suffering is a vast topic with many, many books written about it, here specifically God has a specific purpose:
“Suffering had a purpose – to teach the Israelites spiritual food is more important than physical food, and spiritual clothes are more important than physical clothes.”
Context of the passage? Obedience.
8.1 – “Be careful to follow every command I am giving you today…”
8.2-5 – “Your suffering had a purpose”
8.6 – “Observe the commands of the Lord your God…”
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