Deuteronomy 29:6

29:1-9 Both former mercies, and fresh mercies, should be thought on by us as motives to obedience. The hearing ear, and seeing eye, and the understanding heart, are the gift of God. All that have them, have them from him. God gives not only food and raiment, but wealth and large possessions, to many to whom he does not give grace. Many enjoy the gifts, who have not hearts to perceive the Giver, nor the true design and use of the gifts. We are bound, in gratitude and interest, as well as in duty and faithfulness, to keep the words of the covenant.

Ye have not eaten bread,.... Bread made of corn, common bread, of their own preparing, made by the labour of their own hands; but manna, the food of angelS, the bread of heaven: neither have you drank wine, nor strong drink; only water out of the rock, at least chiefly, and for constancy; though it may be, when they were on the borders of other countries, as of the Edomites, they might obtain some wine for their money: that ye might know that I am the Lord your God; who was both able and willing to provide food, drink, and raiment for them, and supply them with all good things, and support them without the use of the common necessaries of life; which were abundant proofs of his power and goodness.

(6) Ye have not eaten bread —but manna ( Deuteronomy 8:3 ). Neither have ye drunk wine or strong drink.—A fact stated here only, and evidently coming from the lips of one who “knew their walking through the wilderness.” “They drank of that spiritual rock that followed them; and that Rock was Christ.” God cared for their physical health and strength by the natural food which He gave them, and made their natural food represent the act of feeding upon Him. It is observable also that God seems to have especially blessed the abstinence from wine and strong drink for His sake in Israel. (See Lamentations 4:7.) (7,8) See Deuteronomy 3:1-17.

Not eaten bread, i.e. common bread purchased by your own money, or made by your own hands, but heavenly and angelical bread, Deu 8:3 Psalm 78:24,25 . You have subsisted without bread, the staff of life. Neither wine or strong drink, but only water out of the rock. The Lord your God; the Lord omnipotent and all-sufficient for your provision, without the help of any creatures, and your God in covenant with you, who hath a true affection to you, and fatherly care of you, even when ordinary means fail.

2. Moses called unto all Israel, … Ye have seen all that the Lord did, &c.—This appeal to the experience of the people, though made generally, was applicable only to that portion of them who had been very young at the period of the Exodus, and who remembered the marvellous transactions that preceded and followed that era. Yet, alas! those wonderful events made no good impression upon them (De 29:4). They were strangers to that grace of wisdom which is liberally given to all who ask it; and their insensibility was all the more inexcusable that so many miracles had been performed which might have led to a certain conviction of the presence and the power of God with them. The preservation of their clothes and shoes, the supply of daily food and fresh water—these continued without interruption or diminution during so many years' sojourn in the desert. They were miracles which unmistakably proclaimed the immediate hand of God and were performed for the express purpose of training them to a practical knowledge of, and habitual confidence in, Him. Their experience of this extraordinary goodness and care, together with their remembrance of the brilliant successes by which, with little exertion or loss on their part, God enabled them to acquire the valuable territory on which they stood, is mentioned again to enforce a faithful adherence to the covenant, as the direct and sure means of obtaining its promised blessings.

6 . The v . is parallel to Deuteronomy 8:3 . The last clause is not found in D, but occurs ( minus the deut. addition your God ) in J, Exodus 7:17 ; Exodus 8:22 ; Exodus 10:2 ; in P, Exodus 6:7 (+ 5 times); and in Ezek. more than 50 times. Also the lighter form of the first personal pronoun is employed here as in all those passages, but in D it occurs only here and in Deuteronomy 12:30 , q.v. Deuteronomy 29:6

With the appeal to the gracious guidance of Israel by God through the desert, the address of Moses passes imperceptibly into an address from the Lord, just as in Deuteronomy 11:14 . (On Deuteronomy 29:5 , Deuteronomy 29:6 , vid., Deuteronomy 8:3-4 ; on Deuteronomy 29:7 , vid., Deuteronomy 2:26 ., and Deuteronomy 3:1 . and Deuteronomy 3:12 .).

With the appeal to the gracious guidance of Israel by God through the desert, the address of Moses passes imperceptibly into an address from the Lord, just as in Deuteronomy 11:14 . (On Deuteronomy 29:5 , Deuteronomy 29:6 , vid., Deuteronomy 8:3-4 ; on Deuteronomy 29:7 , vid., Deuteronomy 2:26 ., and Deuteronomy 3:1 . and Deuteronomy 3:12 .).