Deuteronomy 8:1-6

God humbled the Israelites in the sense that He sought to teach them to have a realistic awareness of their dependence on Himself for all their needs. This is true humility. God’s provision of manna to eat and clothing to wear should have taught the people that they were dependent on His provision for all their needs, not just food and clothing.

What proceeds from God’s mouth (Deuteronomy 8:3) does not refer to the spoken revelations of God exclusively but, more comprehensively, to all that comes from God to man. [Note: See Gerhard von Rad, Deuteronomy, p. 72; Raymond Van Leeuwen, "What Comes out of God’s Mouth: Theological Wordplay in Deuteronomy 8," Catholic Biblical Quarterly 47 (January 1985):53-57; and Miller, p. 116.]

"The third means of divine self-disclosure in the context of the Deuteronomic covenant [in addition to historical event and theophany] was by word. It is important to note, however, that in the ancient Near East and in the Old Testament there is no essential distinction between act and word, for the act is produced by the word and the word is never without effective purpose. It is dynamic, entelic, purposeful, creative, powerful (cf. Genesis 1:3, etc.). It does not exist (as in Greek philosophy, for example) as a theoretical or neutral abstraction. In terms of revelation, and especially in Deuteronomy, it is necessary to see the powerful word as a covenant instrument; the word of the Sovereign commands and communicates, but it also effects, empowers, and creates." [Note: Merrill, "A Theology . . .," p. 64.]

The contrast intended is not between physical bread and the special revelation of God in Scripture. It is more generally between what man provides for himself and what God provides for him. God was warning the Israelites against excessive self-reliance (cf. Matthew 4:4; Luke 4:4).

"Just as the Genesis narratives used God’s act of providing clothing for Adam and Eve to demonstrate his care for humankind after they were cast out of the Garden (Genesis 3:21), so God’s care for Israel in the wilderness is pictured here in his providing for their clothing (Deuteronomy 8:4). Moreover, the same picture of God as a loving father, which permeates the early chapters of Genesis . . ., is recalled again here: ’As a man disciplines his son, so the LORD your God disciplines you’ (Deuteronomy 8:5; cf. Deuteronomy 32:6)." [Note: Sailhamer, p. 441.]