Deuteronomy 8:3-6 And he humbled you, and suffered you to hunger, and fed you with manna, which you knew not, neither did your fathers know… I. The way in which God tried the Israelites in the wilderness was this: HE WAS PERPETUALLY EXPOSING THEM TO DIFFICULTIES AND DANGERS, WHICH WERE CALCULATED TO TRY THE STRENGTH OF THEIR FAITH AND TRUST IN HIM. II. WHAT, THEN, WERE THE DESIGNS WHICH GOD HAD IN VIEW IN THUS BRINGING THE ISRAELITES INTO THESE DIFFICULTIES, AND IN THUS CORRECTING THEM? 1. The first was that they might know themselves, to know their hearts, whether they would keep His commandments or no. 2. But the second point, in which it was the intention of God to instruct the Israelites, and in them all mankind, was their absolute dependence upon Himself. He fed them with manna, which neither they nor their fathers had known, in order that He might make them know that men do not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord do men live. More important knowledge than this of the providence of God cannot be learned by men. While we thus practically know the power and presence of God, we shall feel the dispositions which that knowledge ought to inspire; we shall watch over our conduct with a filial dread of offending Him; we shall place an unbounded confidence in His wisdom to direct, His power to strengthen, His providence to defend, His goodness to bless us. III. Having thus taken a view of the purposes of God toward the Israelites in the desert, it remains THAT WE CONSIDER FOR WHOSE INSTRUCTION THESE DESIGNS WERE ACCOMPLISHED. 1. In the first place, He makes use of afflictions and trials to prove you, as He did the Israelites of old. These trials you have doubtless felt, but have you seen the hand of God in them? 2. What, then, is His aim? It is to teach thee to know thyself and Him. To know thyself. You will tell me, perhaps, you do not know yourself sufficiently; you will acknowledge you are a weak, sinful Creature. To say this from theory only is a very different thing from saying it from experience. Self-knowledge is not soon taught. You cannot acquire it merely by reading books, or by meditating on it in your study; it must be the result of long and painful observation of your own heart. 3. But God designs also to teach you to know Him. You are amazed at the stupidity of the Israelites; they had so many proofs of the presence of God! And have not you as many? (J. Venn, M. A.) Parallel Verses KJV: And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the LORD doth man live. |
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