W. Robert Godfrey

Jesus is the new Israel, as well as the new Moses.

And here he is now in the wilderness.

And in that wilderness, he's facing the temptation of hunger.

A temptation that Israel didn't face well.

Israel complained about not having food to eat, not having meat to eat, not having water to drink.

Think for a minute of the subtlety of the evil one in coming to Jesus.

What's implicit in what the evil one says is to Jesus?

Well, God gave His people manna in the wilderness.

How could it be wrong for you to turn stones into bread?

God gave bread to His people in the wilderness.

Well, that's true, isn't it?

If God gave Israel bread in the wilderness despite its sinfulness, how could it be wrong for Jesus to have bread in the wilderness in light of his righteousness?

Well, of course, it wasn't wrong for Jesus to have bread.

What Jesus is showing is that it's wrong to take advice from the devil.

The devil never has helpful advice.

The devil never has advice that's genuinely encouraging.

And so Jesus quotes this verse, a verse that does indeed refer back to the manna that God gave his people.

But Jesus is saying what God told us is we're to live by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God, not by bread alone.

buried in the tempter's temptation was to make Jesus live by bread alone.

And Jesus is not having any.