Moses — "Man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of …"
Man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD.
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More from Moses
"You shall not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain."
"What is mankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them?"
"I am not able to bear all this people alone, because it is too heavy for me."
"You shall not round off the hair on your temples or mar the edges of your beard."
"Is the Lord's arm too short? Now you will see whether or not what I say will come true for you."
Details
From a reminder of God's provision and spiritual sustenance (Deuteronomy 8:3).
Date: c. 13th Century BCE (Traditional)
PhilosophicalVerification
Confirmed
Found in 2 providers: grok,gemini
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Understanding this quote
What it means
Physical food keeps the body alive, but humans need more than material sustenance to truly live. Real nourishment comes from divine guidance, instruction, and meaning. A person who only chases food, money, and comfort is only half-fed. The deeper hunger is for purpose, truth, and a relationship with something greater than daily survival, and that hunger is satisfied by listening to what God actually says.
Relevance to Moses
Moses said this while reminding Israel how God fed them manna in the wilderness for forty years, teaching dependence beyond rations. As a prophet and lawgiver, his whole mission was delivering God's words at Sinai and shaping a nation around them. He lived the lesson himself: forty days on the mountain without bread, sustained by direct encounter with God rather than ordinary food.
The era
In the Late Bronze Age Near East, famine was constant and bread was the literal difference between life and death. Surrounding nations treated fertility gods as the source of grain and survival. Moses, addressing former slaves shaped by Egyptian granaries, redirected that anxiety: survival was not owed to Pharaoh, Baal, or harvests, but to the covenant word of Yahweh governing a new nation under law.
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