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A20. Living by God's Words & Not by Bread Alone.    [Make a Comment]

We are to live by God's Words & Not by Bread Alone.

This precept is derived from His Word (blessed be He):

Key Scriptures

Deuteronomy 8:2-3
You are to remember everything of the way in which ADONAI led you these forty years in the desert, humbling and testing you in order to know what was in your heart - whether you would obey his mitzvot or not. He humbled you, allowing you to become hungry, and then fed you with [manna], which neither you nor your ancestors had ever known, to make you understand that a person does not live on food alone but on everything that comes from the mouth of ADONAI.

Matthew 4:2-4
After Yeshua had fasted forty days and nights, he was hungry. The Tempter came and said to him, "If you are the Son of God, order these stones to become bread." But he answered, "The Tanakh says, 'Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of ADONAI'"

Luke 4:3-4
The Adversary said to him, "If you are the Son of God, order this stone to become bread." Yeshua answered him, "The Tanakh says, 'Man does not live on bread alone.'"

Supportive Scripture - Bread & Hearing the Words of God

Amos 8:11
"The time is coming," says Adonai ELOHIM, "when I will send famine over the land, not a famine of bread or a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of ADONAI."

Supportive Scripture - Yeshua is the Word of God

John 1:1-4, 14
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. All things came to be through him, and without him nothing made had being. In him was life, and the life was the light of mankind ... The Word became a human being and lived with us, and we saw his Sh'khinah, the Sh'khinah of the Father's only Son, full of grace and truth.

Supportive Scriptures - Yeshua is the Bread of Life

John 6:30-35
They said to him, "Nu, what miracle will you do for us, so that we may see it and trust you? What work can you perform? Our fathers ate [manna] in the desert - as it says in the Tanakh, 'He gave them bread from heaven to eat.' Yeshua said to them, "Yes, indeed! I tell you it wasn't Moshe who gave you the bread from heaven. But my Father is giving you the genuine bread from heaven; for God's bread is the one who comes down out of heaven and gives life to the world." They said to him, "Sir, give us this bread from now on." Yeshua answered, "I am the bread which is life! Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever trusts in me will never be thirsty.

John 6:48-51
I am the bread which is life. Your fathers ate the [manna] in the desert; they died. But the bread that comes down from heaven is such that a person may eat it and not die. I am the living bread that has come down from heaven; if anyone eats this bread, he will live forever. Furthermore, the bread that I will give is my own flesh; and I will give it for the life of the world.

Supportive Scriptures - Bread Representing Yeshua's Body

Matthew 26:26
While they were eating, Yeshua took a piece of matzah, made the b'rakhah, broke it, gave it to the talmidim and said, "Take! Eat! This is my body!"

Mark 14:22
While they were eating, Yeshua took a piece of matzah, made the b'rakhah, broke it, gave it to them and said, "Take it! This is my body."

Luke 22:19
Also, taking a piece of matzah, he made the b'rakhah, broke it, gave it to them and said, "This is my body, which is being given for you; do this in memory of me."

1 Corinthians 10:16
The "cup of blessing" over which we make the b'rakhah - isn't it a sharing in the bloody sacrificial death of the Messiah? The bread we break, isn't it a sharing in the body of the Messiah?

1 Corinthians 11:23-24
For what I received from the Lord is just what I passed on to you - that the Lord Yeshua, on the night he was betrayed, took bread; and after he had made the b'rakhah he broke it and said, "This is my body, which is for you. Do this as a memorial to me"

Commentary

In the Scriptures that underlie this Mitzvah, "bread" represents ordinary food, and it also represents God's instructions to us (His words) that are delivered through the Scriptures (the Word of God) and through Messiah Yeshua who is said by Scripture to be God's Word and the "bread of life". Although couched in these symbolisms the plain meaning of this Mitzvah is that we are not to live only by that which sustains us physically, but also that which sustains us spiritually and brings us closer to God.

Classical Commentators

This Mitzvah is not addressed by any of the Jewish classical commentators.

NCLA: JMm JFm KMm KFm GMm GFm

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