Catholic Commentary on Deuteronomy 8

"He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of God." (Deuteronomy 8:3)

Remember the Wilderness

Moses commands Israel to remember all the way the LORD has led them through the forty years of wilderness, humbling them, testing them, knowing their hearts, whether they would keep his commands or not. He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of God. Jesus will quote this verse when tempted by Satan in the wilderness, making it the counter to the devil's first temptation: turn these stones into bread. The manna was not only food; it was a lesson that the sustaining word of God is more fundamental than physical sustenance. The Catechism identifies this verse as the scriptural ground for the primacy of the word of God in Christian life and liturgy (CCC 1334).

Moses warns against the prosperity that awaits: when you eat and are satisfied, when you build fine houses and your herds grow large, when your silver and gold increase and all you have is multiplied, do not become proud and forget the LORD who brought you out of Egypt. If you forget the LORD and follow other gods, you will surely be destroyed. Do not say to yourself: my power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me. Remember the LORD, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, confirming his covenant as he swore to your ancestors.

Living the Word

Brothers and sisters, man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of God. This is the deepest truth about human nature: we are constituted not only by physical nutrition but by the word of the Creator. Every human being has a hunger that bread cannot satisfy. Only the word of God reaches it. Feed that hunger as seriously as you feed the physical one.

Prayer

Lord God, you humbled Israel with hunger so they would know that your word sustains more than bread. Humble us enough to receive that lesson. Feed us with every word that comes from your mouth. And when prosperity comes, keep us from forgetting who gave us the ability to produce it. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

8
Remember the LORD Your God
1 You must carefully follow every commandment I am giving you today, so that you may live and multiply, and enter and possess the land that the LORD swore to give your fathers. 2 Remember that these forty years the LORD your God led you all the way in the wilderness, so that He might humble you and test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep His commandments.
 
3 He humbled you, and in your hunger He gave you manna to eat, which neither you nor your fathers had known, so that you might understand that man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD.* 8:3 Cited in Matthew 4:4 and Luke 4:4 4 Your clothing did not wear out and your feet did not swell during these forty years.
 
5 So know in your heart that just as a man disciplines his son, so the LORD your God disciplines you. 6 Therefore you shall keep the commandments of the LORD your God, walking in His ways and fearing Him.
 
7 For the LORD your God is bringing you into a good land, a land of brooks and fountains and springs that flow through the valleys and hills; 8 a land of wheat, barley, vines, fig trees, and pomegranates; a land of olive oil and honey; 9 a land where you will eat food without scarcity, where you will lack nothing; a land whose rocks are iron and whose hills are ready to be mined for copper. 10 When you eat and are satisfied, you are to bless the LORD your God for the good land that He has given you.
 
11 Be careful not to forget the LORD your God by failing to keep His commandments and ordinances and statutes, which I am giving you this day. 12 Otherwise, when you eat and are satisfied, when you build fine houses in which to dwell, 13 and when your herds and flocks grow large and your silver and gold increase and all that you have is multiplied, 14 then your heart will become proud, and you will forget the LORD your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
 
15 He led you through the vast and terrifying wilderness with its venomous snakes and scorpions, a thirsty and waterless land. He brought you water from the rock of flint. 16 He fed you in the wilderness with manna that your fathers had not known, in order to humble you and test you, so that in the end He might cause you to prosper.
 
17 You might say in your heart, “The power and strength of my hands have made this wealth for me.” 18 But remember that it is the LORD your God who gives you the power to gain wealth, in order to confirm His covenant that He swore to your fathers even to this day.
 
19 If you ever forget the LORD your God and go after other gods to worship and bow down to them, I testify against you today that you will surely perish. 20 Like the nations that the LORD has destroyed before you, so you will perish if you do not obey the LORD your God.

*8:3 8:3 Cited in Matthew 4:4 and Luke 4:4

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