신명기 8:3의 주석

AND HE FED THEE WITH MANNA, WHICH THOU KNOWEST NOT, NEITHER DID THY FATHERS KNOW. The purport thereof is that you did not know about the manna that you could live by it for many years, nor did such a tradition reach you from your fathers. Or he [Moses] may be saying that He has done with you this great kindness which your holy fathers [i.e., the patriarchs] did not obtain, for, although they walked after Him wherever He commanded them, as is stated, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house,⁶¹Genesis 12:1. yet their eminence did not suffice that He should support them with the corn of heaven⁶²Psalms 78:24. as He did for you. And so the Rabbis have said in the Midrash Bamidbar Sinai Rabbah:⁶³Bamidbar Rabbah 1:2. “Because of the merit of Moses you ate the manna that your holy fathers did not see, as it is said, neither did thy fathers know.” And he explained that He did this in order to inform them that it is He Who preserves man with whatever He decrees, and if so observe His commandments, and live.⁶⁴Proverbs 4:4.
It is possible to explain that the expressions And He afflicted thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna refer to different subjects. He is stating that He afflicted you when you travelled in the wilderness for forty years, similar to the verse, He afflicted my strength in the way,⁶⁵Psalms 102:24. [meaning that travel drains the strength]. And He suffered thee to hunger, at the beginning [of the journey in the wilderness] as the people said, to kill this whole assembly with hunger,⁶⁶Exodus 16:3. and afterwards He fed you with the manna to make you aware that by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Eternal doth man live.⁶⁷Verse 3 before us. So also, Who fed thee in the wilderness with manna, which thy fathers knew not,⁶⁸Further, Verse 16. telling them of the miracle that was done to them. And the expression that He might afflict thee [further in Verse 16] reverts to that which he said [in the preceding Verse 15], Who led thee through the great and dreadful wilderness, wherein were serpents, fiery serpents, and scorpions, and draught etc.⁶⁹Ibid., Verse 15. In other words, since according to Ramban’s interpretation before us, the expression that He might afflict thee refers not to the manna but to the journey through the wilderness, then we must also say that the expression that He might afflict thee in Verse 16 preceding the subject of the manna (Verse 17) is to be interpreted as reverting to the beginning of Verse 15, where the subject of the wilderness is mentioned. But that which He said in the section of the manna, that I may, try them, whether they will walk in My law or not⁷⁰Exodus 16:4. means that I will provide them their needs and fulfill their request and [then] see if they will hearken to Me when goods increase.⁷¹Ecclesiastes 5:10. It is the evil of riches which leads to temptation (Proverbs 30:8). This is in consonance with the plain meaning of Scripture, but the first interpretation is true and correct.

He fed you the mon … in order to inform you. This teaches that eating mon gives them intelligence. Similarly Ezra states, “You also gave Your good spirit to instruct them, and did not withhold Your mon from their mouth” (Nechemia 9:20). This is the meaning of the statement (Yalkus Shimoni Shemos 13): The Torah was only given to those who eat mon.

ויענך וירעבך, "He afflicted you and made you suffer hunger, etc." Why did Moses link the afflictions to G'd feeding the Israelites the manna? Does this not project the idea that manna was something of low rank, its only function being to save the Israelites from the pangs of hunger? How can we reconcile this with the many complimentary descriptions the Torah makes about the manna extolling its superiority as heavenly food? The Sifri in its commentary on Numbers 11,7 insists that the reason for that whole verse was to extol the virtues of the manna! Moreover, we are told in Yuma 75 that manna is the food of the angels based on לחם אבירים אכל כל איש, "each man ate the bread of heroes" (Psalms 78,25). I believe that here too Moses spoke of the excellence of the manna. There are two kinds of foods. Some foods are absorbed without negative side-effects by both healthy and sick people. The reason is that these foods do not contain any harmful impurities (additives). The entire food is capable of being digested by our system and is absorbed by our various organs. Such food reinforces our health. There are other kinds of food which, while good for the healthy person, pose a danger for the sick and may even cause his death. This is the reason our verse speaks of ויענך וירעבך ויאכלך, "He afflicted you, He starved you, and He fed you." The afflictions Moses speaks of refer to the tedium of the journey through the desert. The words "He starved you," refer to the absence of food; it is a well known fact that as a result of the discomfort experienced while wandering in the desert bodily functions such as those of the digestive tract are impaired. If, under such circumstances, a person consumes the kind of food which is difficult to digest it will certainly harm him. Even if such a person eats such food only because he is very hungry it is liable to make him sick. We know from daily experience that when a person suffers afflictions he detests the thought of food even if according to his regular meal times he should be very hungry. Moses therefore speaks of G'd feeding the Israelites the manna, the kind of food which even people who suffer from afflictions can eat without danger to their health. This is something quite independent of the fact that manna tasted pleasantly, "like wafers with honey."

אשר לא ידעת ולא ידעו אבותיך, “you had no idea that one could subsist adequately on an exclusive diet of manna, nor did your forefathers know this.” Another way of understanding this verse is not the new dimension of the people‘s knowledge, but Moses wants the people to appreciate the extent of G’d’s loving kindness. Their forefathers, who had been loyal followers of G’d at all times, and had not rebelled time and again, had not been provided for by G’d as they had done, having their needs presented to them on a platter, so to speak. They had had to earn their livelihood by hard work, in particular their founding father Yaakov. There is yet another way in which we can understand our verse, i.e. that the words ויענך, וירעיבך, ויאכילך את המן are each something different, a subject by itself. The word ויענך, “He afflicted you,” refers to the trial of having to wander through a barren desert. The word וירעיבך, “He let you starve,” refers to the period until the manna fell, some 30 days after the Exodus, the time when the people had complained to Moses that he had taken them out of Egypt only in order to kill them in the desert. Finally, the words ויאכילך את המן, they were taught the great lesson that man does not live by bread alone, but by every utterance that emanates from Hashem. In Yuma 74 the Talmud uses our verse to establish the principle that there is a basic difference between the outlook of people “who have bread in their basket, and those who do not.” Although, G’d provided on a daily basis, the people, as opposed to shoppers in a supermarket, could not feel at ease until after the new supply had arrived and was seen to have arrived. The ongoing miraculous nature is what is stressed here and what distinguishes a Jewish people in the desert from Jews before and after who also had to put their trust in G’d. The words למען ענותך refer to the statementאשר הוליכך במדבר.ארבעים שנה, “Who has led you through the desert for 40 years,” as this is all part of the ongoing miracle, whereas the words למען אנסנו הילך בתורתי in Exodus 16,4 where the manna appears for the first time, does not refer to the manna as daily miraculous food, but refers to G’d in general providing the people’s needs. There, G’d uses this as a test to see whether the people are grateful for G’d’s largesse. The latter is the way to understand the verse before us at its face value. However, the commentary given previously is more in keeping with the moral/ethical values Moses is trying to convey throughout the Book of Deuteronomy.

ויענך וירעיבך, “He afflicted you and let you go hungry.” The word “He afflicted you,” refers to the tedium of the journey, compare Palms 102,24: “He drained my strength on the way.” The word “He let you go hungry,” refers to denial of the kind of conventional food eaten by the other nations.

um dich durch eigene vierzigjährige Erfahrung die Überzeugung gewinnen zu lassen. כי ׳לחם .לא על הלחם וגו ist die, der Natur und der Konkurrenz der Mitlebenden "abgerungene" Nahrung. "Brot" ist das Produkt der Natur und der die Welt beherrschenden Menschenintelligenz. "Brot" ist somit die Vergegenwärtigung der durch Beherrschung der Natur im sozialen Zusammenwirken die eigene Existenz schaffenden Menschenintelligenz. Die Wahnvorstellung nun, die in dieser schaffenden Menschenkraft die alleinige Bedingung des irdischen Menschendaseins erblickt und der Gotteswaltung als des allerersten Faktors der Menschennahrung vergisst, obgleich deren spendende Fürsorge ein jedes Stückchen Brot vergegenwärtigt, mit welchem wir einen Augenblick unseres Daseins fristen, diese Wahnvorstellung ist die gefährlichste Klippe für unsere Pflichttreue auf Erden. "Die Sorge ums Brot für Weib und Kind" ist ein an sich so berechtigter Antrieb unserer Tätigkeit, dass diese Sorge uns leicht alle andere Rücksicht aus den Augen verlieren lässt, sobald wir glauben, dass wir und nur wir allein unsere und der Unsrigen Existenz zu schaffen haben, dass jede der Natur und Mitwelt abgekämpfte Errungenschaft unsere und der Unsrigen Existenz sichert, gleichgültig, wie diese Errungenschaft gewonnen ward, ob wir dabei Gottes Gesetz beachtet und nur innerhalb der von Gott gewiesenen Bahnen "Brot" erworben, oder nur mit klugem, gewandtem Griff das Brot für unser Haus erbeutet, ohne der göttlichen Zustimmung dabei zu gedenken. Und wo die auf die eigene Menschenkraft allein ausblickende "Sorge ums Brot" uns nicht aus den Bahnen des Rechts und der Pflicht hinaus verleitet, da ist sie doch ganz geeignet, unseren Blick über die Fürsorge für den gegenwärtigen Augenblick in eine immer weiter und weiter sich ausspinnende Zukunft zu leiten, dass wir nimmer unserer vermeintlichen Pflichtaufgabe Genüge geleistet zu haben uns bereden, so lange wir nicht auch für alle unsere und unserer Kinder und Kindeskinder kommenden Tage die Mittel der Existenz in vornherein erwerben, und so die "Brotsorge" zu einer unbegrenzten Jagd nach Erwerb sich gestaltet, die allem rein geistigen und sittlichen Interesse Denken und Atem versagt. —

ויענך, “He afflicted you, etc.” a reference to the tedium of the journey. Compare Psalms 102,24: ענה בדרך כוחי קצר ימי, “He drained my strength while on the way; He shortened my days.”

ויענך “He afflicted you,” on the way, as in Psalms 102,24: ענה בדרך כחי, “He drained my strength while I was on the way.”

ויאכילך את המן, “He fed you the manna.” This is celestial food, not terrestrial food.

Darum hat uns Gott in die große Schule einer vierzigjährigen Wanderung durch die Wüste geführt, hat uns in völliger Verlassenheit von all den Faktoren, die sonst aus der Natur und der Menschenkraft das Brot den Menschen gewähren, den einen Faktor, der in normalen Verhältnissen so leicht bis zum völligen Vergessen in den Hintergrund tritt, die göttliche Fürsorge, allein sichtbar hervortreten lassen, hat, "anstatt des den Stempel der Menschenerrungenschaft" tragenden "Brotes", mit dem "Manna" der Gottesbescheidung uns genährt, hat diese "von Gott beschiedene Nahrung" uns Tag für Tag unter solchen Modalitäten für jede Seele unserer Hütten werden lassen, dass damit in sprechendster Deutlichkeit die speziellste Gottesfürsorge für jede Seele und jedes Seelchen sich bekundete und wir in dieser Vorschule unseres künftigen Lebenslaufes die Grundwahrheit erlernten: dass nicht auf das "Brot", auf das, was das Brot an Natur- und Menschenstütze repräsentiert, allein der Mensch mit seiner Existenz gewiesen ist, sondern dass auf jeder Gottesbestimmung — auch das Brot, das der Mensch auf künstlichem Wege findet, ist nichts als eine solche — der Mensch sein Dasein fristen könne. Er ist nicht verloren, wenn er um der Gott zu zollenden Treue willen auf alles, was Natur und Menschen zu spenden vermögen, Verzicht leisten muss, und mitten in der reichsten Spende des Natur- und Menschenvermögens ist es nur die speziellste Gottesfürsorge, die ihn nährt (siehe zu Schmot Kap. 16).

וירעיבך, “He starved you;” by giving you only enough food for the same day. This is the meaning of the term רעבון; our sages formulated it thus: “one cannot compare a person with bread in his pocket to a person who has nothing in his pocket.” [One can’t have more than one day’s supply in one’s pocket. Ed.] (Compare Talmud tractate Yuma folio 74.)

וירעבך, “He starved you;” by not giving you more manna than enough for one day at a time. We have a principle that it is not possible to compare the state of mind of people who have a supply of food in their travel bag with those who, even though not hungry, do not have such a supply to fall back on.(Talmud, tractate Yuma folio 74) An alternate interpretation of the last phrase: וירעיבך, if G-d would have provided you with manna while you still had supplies of regular food which you took out of Egypt with you, you would not even have bothered to taste it in order to see if you liked it. This is why He waited until you were hungry, after having exhausted your supplies. You then had no option but to eat what G-d had provided for you. Seeing that this was something totally unknown to you or to your forefathers, G-d had to “starve” you in order to have you accept His food. [We know how often the people treated the manna as something lacking substance, and they even dubbed it as לחם הקלקל,” (Numbers 21,8). Ed,]

ולא ידעון אבותיך, “and which your forefathers had not known.” It is possible that these words are a reference to the patriarchs Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov, in which case our verse would describe that the generation of Israelites journeying in the desert enjoyed manifestations of miracles not granted to their illustrious forbears. The reason for this is that the patriarchs had not been granted a proper appreciation of the attribute Hashem as had their descendants. The great and awesome miracles are usually performed by that attribute, and G’d had not needed to invoke this attribute during the lives of the patriarchs. He had contented Himself with the kind of miracles performed within the boundaries of nature, miracles orchestrated by the attribute Shaddai.

חיה על־ vergl. ועל חרבך תחיה (Bereschit 27, 40), wo das Schwert die Basis bildet, auf welcher Esaw seine Existenz finden wird. Ebenso (Ezech. 33, 19): ובשוב רשע מרשעתו ועשה משפט וצדקה עליהם הוא יחיה, das Recht und die Pflicht, zu welcher der Gesetzlose zurückkehrt, bilden eine Basis, auf welcher er das Dasein wieder findet, dessen er durch seine Pflichtvergessenheit verlustig geworden war.

למען הודיעך כי לא על הלחם לבדו יחיה האדם, “in order to make you realise that man does not live by bread alone.” כי על כל מוצא פי ה' יחיה האדם, “but by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord, does man live.” All His decrees and commandments emanating from Him are what enable man to live. They enable you to live on earth and in your afterlife.

לא על הלחם לבדו, “not on bread alone, etc.,” the bread that people normally eat does not possess the power by itself to keep man alive but it must contain also ingredients enabling it to grow, to be assimilated by the body through a digestive process. These ingredients are usually referred to as the power and mazzal of bread. The Torah here reflects a well known statement by our sages (Bereshit Rabbah 10,7) that there is not a blade of grass in this world which does not have its own mazzal, i.e. properties which enable it to accomplish the purpose of its Creator in calling it into existence. This mazzal tells the blade of grass: “grow!” We know all this from Job 38,33: “do you know the laws of heaven or impose its authority on earth? Can you send up an order to the clouds for an abundance of water to cover you?” Each of these powers reposing in any of the phenomena G’d created contains within it an adjacent power, all of which combined amount to what we call the laws of nature, the symphony of instruments which combine to keep this universe on track. Moses sums it all up as the מוצא פי ה', “the utterances of the Lord’s mouth.” Just as historic decisions are attributed to הדבר יצא מפי המלך, “the word had emerged from the mouth of the king,” (Esther 7,8) so Moses uses an idiom understandable to us human beings when describing G’d’s activities.
The principal message Moses teaches us here is that contrary to appearances, the power to keep us alive does not reside in the purely physical properties of bread, or any other food for that matter, but in the potential G’d has placed within that physical food to sustain and make grow the people who consume it. Bread was chosen as the example seeing that in order for man to even produce it so many steps are necessary that one could have thought that the finished product reflects man’s accomplishment more than it does G’d’s.
The closer we are to direct divine input and reduced reliance on intermediaries such as the eleven stages needed to convert a kernel of wheat into bread, the closer we are to the true life-giving forces of heaven. This is the meaning of Exodus 24,11: “they ‘saw’ G’d and they ate and drank.” The ability of the nobles of Israel described in that verse to have a vision of G’d is what gave them the energy they normally thought they derived by eating and drinking physical, conventional food.
Rabbi Yochanan in expounding this verse in Vayikra Rabbah 20,7 said: אכילה ודאית. This sounds as if he meant that the people described ate regular food after or in spite of having been granted such a vision of G’d. I do not believe that this is what Rabbi Yochanan had in mind. If that had been his meaning he need not have commented at all, as the matter is self-evident. I believe that Rabbi Yochanan meant that the effect of the vision described in the Torah was the same as the effect of consuming regular terrestrial food. Even though all the phenomena in the world are in the last analysis “intermediaries” having originated with G’d, i.e. are מוצא פי ה’, as we know from the very word כל, “everything,” the manna came more directly from G’d more than any other kinds of food. This is why G’d described it as לחם מן השמים, “bread from heaven” in Exodus 16,4. The complete meaning of the verse then is: “man lives by means of all the various divine sources of food and energy. Seeing that this is so the words מוצא פי ה’ mean that this food, the manna is even superior to the other foods which come from G’d only indirectly.

׳מוצא פי ה (vergl. Jes.55, 11). כן יהיה דברי אשר יצא מפי, wo damit jede von Gott ausgehende Bestimmung bezeichnet wird. So heißt auch beim Menschen das Wort, das, sei es als Gelübde, oder als Wunsch, Tat werden soll: מוצא שפתיו. Dewarim 23, 24 und Jirmija 17. 16). So auch von Gott die über die Davidische Dynastie ausgesprochene Bestimmung: ומוצא שפתי לא אשנה (Ps.89, 35).