Learning from the Mo’edim – Matzot 2018

This year we are finally getting a bit more understanding of how Pesach (Passover or The Passover) is actually separated from the Chag Ha’Matozt (Feast of Unleavened Bread) . Im going to start focusing on them apart from each other. This year I think Ive been able to get a bit more traction on a problem that comes up every year.

Fermentoria

Our house has a lot of fermentation history. Ive done everything from almost starting a naturally leavened bread company, to having actually started a fermented beverage company. I have jars of things in various stages of fermentation, many I have used to make incredible bread. We make sodas that we enjoy on Shabbat that are yeast and bacteria driven.

Ive also changed my diet and lifestyle over the last 18 months to a much more reduced carbohydrate paradigm, sometimes even ketogeneic. Our kids eat bread, but it is pretty minimal. So we dont have a lot of it normally. But I have been working on a concept for a coffee cafe which will include biscuits so I do make them,a nd eat small samples occasionally.

The point is, I know a lot about, and have a lot of stuff about fermentation. Yeast and bacteria. And each year, I have to wrestle with what leaven is, how to participate with the commands about it during this week, and how to practically observe it with a whole heart. I dont want to be tricking myself into doing things simply because I dont want to give up a practice or a product or a food. It isnt convenient, or potentially possible to reinnoculate my ferments.

The Scams

It sure is tempting to try and work around this. My brain goes through gymnastics every year:

“I could just store them all in the fridge in the garage”

“I could have someone keep them for me this week and go get them back”

“I should just throw it all out, and find other starters after the holiday”

“We dont actually KEEP this holiday, we arent in the land, there is no Temple you dont have to try”

There are loads more that swirl around. But my heart doesnt want to argue OUT of this. Deep inside I believe there is a way to keep this, even in part, doing my best with a whole heart. Im sure I dont do it perfect, or perhaps even right. But when Yeshua comes back, I want Him to look at me and say “I love you man, and you went for it with everything you had. You were faithful(l) with all your mnd, sould and strength. Now Im going to help you get it all and blow your mind”

The Game of Principles

1. Obedience isnt optional. It is voluntary, but Ive made my choice, Im in, and I want to do it.
2. Obedience is a reward. I GET to do this, and I get to enjoy it. Being able to know this stuff, and being able to respond to it IS freedom to me.
3. Obedience is proportional. Im limited in my understanding, and I can only go with what I know or understand.
4. I give way. If something needs to be changed, it is on my side of the relationship. I conform to Torah. I dont look for a way to have Torah conform to me. The teachings and instructions are for my good, and the more I submit to them, the better.
5. It really isnt questionable. If something seems to be unclear, or could go either way, then go with the harder option. Dont back off of a harder choice simply because it is hard. Try to take a swing at it. It is easy to try and make things gray, or ambiguous. Often that is resistance to obedience.
6. When in doubt, pray, try it, and take notes for next year!

These are some of the ways I try to come to decisions. I do not want to treat obedience to Torah as a goofy experiment. This is real to me. Honestly it seems like a process, experiment, adventure … that is what it is! Im trying things Im not clear on, and hoping for the best.  I dont have traditions, nor do I have community. Even if I did, that isnt Torah, but it would help.

What is Matzot?

Matzah is the root (as far as my limited Hebrew can deduce) for this idea. The link covers every reference to the root and it always seems to describe unleavened bread. Duh, but this might be so simple it is easy to overlook. The Feast is Chag Ha’Matzot. It is the appointed time where we eat bread the isnt leavened.

Chronologically, the first reference to unleavened bread is when Abraham is in Mamre, and has visitors, later realized to have been divine. He had bread made, and simply did it quickly. It didnt have time to rise. I know natural leavening. If you use enough levain to rise something fast, it still takes an hour or more, and it will be so sour it wont bake/brown correctly, and has a high pucker factor! This event is simply make some quick bread to use to eat with some yogurt or something similar, and meat.

The next mention is the actual Pesach event. The simple thing to me is that it was known. There is regular bread apparently, and bread you dont let rise. It is probably a simple and practical idea. But Yah calls it out specifically, in advance. At least 2 weeks ahead of the Pesach event (because later rituals are memorials, not the actual event) he says to do the lamb slaughter, and eat it with unleavened bread.

Wouldnt they have had some left over bread from that day/morning? Every day, you make bread, and you make as much as you can use. You probably wake up the next day and eat what was left. This is a change in routine, on purpose. Make the bread right there, with the lamb, and eat it all quick.

I cannot prove this from scripture, but I have a hunch. If you look at modern groups who make and eat bread daily, they prep their dough the night before, and then the next morning bake it for the day. The fermentation process isnt just for texture. It preserves the grain, and changes the nutrient capacity, reduces some sugars, makes it easier to bake completely. Overall, the whole product is very different when completely fermented. It takes at least 6-8 hours, more like 12 to bring this process to the end.

Is it possible the Hebrews prepped their dough, and that night took some (or all) out early to bake with the meal? And then the deliverance happenned, and they grabbed their stuff, including their kneading troughs, and left. They cooked their dough on the way, or possibly ate the extra from the Pesach meal? Maybe they cooked the whole batch that night and grabbed the left overs.

The point is, God calls out unleavened specifically, in advance. It was a change in routine, and abnormal. And it became the example and the name of the whole memorial event. the whole festival is about the quick and hurried interruption of the normal. But it also had an advance warning. It is about bread, and it not being able to be leavened because of time, and possibly intent. But it is possible that all they did is cook it earlier than normal, and that is why it is “un” leavened. I can easily make bread, and “underprove” it, or bake it early if I dont have time. It doesnt taste as good, and if I dont bake it right, can make my tummy grumpy.

Unleavened bread vs leavening

This is where more confusion sets in. I feel like it is pretty clear above “Dont have leavened bread in your house for a 7 days”. Ok fine. Throw out any puffy risen bread. But then we get to the crux of my dilemma

[Exo 12:15 ESV] 15 Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. On the first day you shall remove leaven out of your houses, for if anyone eats what is leavened, from the first day until the seventh day, that person shall be cut off from Israel.

Not to be too simple but here are some key points

• The first day of this 7 days period is when you throw out leaven. Similar to Sukkot, the first day is when the you do the thing. Not the week before. I dont know it is wrong to prep, but at least on that day you execute the activity.
• This is leaven, not leavened bread. This is a different word (Seor), that actually comes from a more fundamental root (Shaar) and it is talking about the thing left over that causes leavening of bread.
• You remove it out of your house. Sounds obvious, but I dont know where you put it? We have trash collection etc… not sure what their method was.
• Anyone who eats what is leavened, or the thing that is leavened. The only thing talked about in this context is bread.

So the best take I can get from this makes it pretty clear:

The leavened thing is bread. Everything references bread. Not wine, not cheese. This isnt about fermentation, it is about bread that is leavened. Obviously this comes from fermentation. But it isnt calling out a specific type of grain, time duration, or any other food product. I have head tons of examples in the jewish traditions about whether legumes are chametz, and the 5 types of grains and 18 mins after contact with water. This is all nuts. If it helps to connect people to a community great but this has 0% to do with the command as far as I can determine.

The thing that does the leavening is the left over dough from a previous batch. Only artisan bakers do this now. But it clearly means to remove your means of leavening. In our home, if we had yeast separate for bread making, I would toss it out. We dont. I dont keep a sourdough starter, but if I did I would toss it out, and make a new one after the feast is over.

But here is a unique (to me) twist…

If I were to make bread, I would use my soda and kombuchas. It makes the best bread. I have spent hundreds of hours researching and making bread. The single best method I know is a 3 ingredient recipe using a “liquid levain”. It is not only more efficient, it is better tasting and handling.

So should I toss all my liquid ferments? I have no way to remake them. They are unique, and I have no resource to get them again. I even have parts of a business reliant on this.

Even if I did have a external resource, I would be getting them essentially from sources that dont keep the feasts. I do lots of things in my life with people who dont keep the feats, or kosher at all. That isnt a problem. But why would I have to engage something non Torah to fulfill Torah?

My Conclusion

It is clear to me this isnt addressed in scripture. The issues is how to keep it in my heart, and be faithful. Realizing that Seor is actually talking about leftover dough helps me to realize that the context is specifically bread, bread dough, and left over dough as a starter. I can make bread out of anything unpasteurized. Beer works well. Raw cheese/whey. I can make puffy things from manipulating ph with baking powder or baking soda. We use baking soda for cleaning too, should I toss it?

No. Because the point is leavened bread, and the left over dough that does the leavening. The point is the making of something out of the norm. The point is the deliverance of Yahweh can come so quickly, even after years of slavery. The point is when you hear the directions, respond in faith, prep, wait, and then go for it when you hear the signal.

If it helps someone to know what we did:

We did remove leavened breads (1 loaf of Ezekiel bread), and the BP and BS I sued for biscuit prep. In hindsight, I think I could have just kept it aside as Im going to simply buy more later. We removed flour tortillas, and anything made with them, because they are leavened with BP and BS. We are going to go through the house and make sure any prepared foods (frozen burritos for examples) are tossed. We arent throwing them away. We gave them to our dear friends who dont keep the feasts.

Im ok with drinking wine, but I wont have beer this week. It is basically liquid bread. It is simply a personal way of keeping this. I dont think it qualifies, but I want my heart to adhere to the “when in doubt” part. I have our sodas, but only for the weekly Shabbat.

Each day this week we are going to make unleavened flat breads. We are going to sit down and eat them. We have to do this intentionally. We dont normally eat bread in any significant amount. So in an odd way, we are keeping this by eating matzoh, not being switching to unleavened bread. We have to focus on doing this, and keep the festival this way.

First Fruits

This is not something Im clear on. I think I get the idea and yet I dont have any understanding or application of it in my modern life. Im not a farmer, I dont present my barley or spring harvest. But I see this as the resurrection day, as well as the start of the counting of the omer. I hope to learn a lot more about this as we go forward.

 

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Learning from the Mo’edim – Pesach 2018

This year we are finally getting a bit more understanding of how Pesach (Passover or The Passover) is actually separated from the Chag Ha’Matozt (Feast of Unleavened Bread) are truly separated, and realizing some of the debates about it. A lot of things I have never paid attention to previously.

Yeshua, the “Last Supper”, and Pesach / Passover Meal

Wow I had just always gone along with things I had heard abut this from christian traditional teaching. The Last Supper was the Passover Meal, and it looked like what Jewish people do today with a Seder, Haggadah, and all sorts of things. The whole dipping bread into the bowl of Charoset with Judas stuff…

I had no idea there was a different understanding of it, and I didnt realize how it could be a bit important to make the distinction…

If Yeshua was indeed “our passover lamb” (and I like the counter argument here however I see it from both angles), or in some way connected to it obviously from the timing and the claims in scripture, he wouldnt have been eating the actual meal at “The Passover”. Steve Berkson does a great job presenting his argument about why he thinks scripture says this. I also love this post on the reality that the Passover was never a sin offering.

Things like this tend to devolve into endless debates, and even can get intense. Im not trying to do that, and Im comfortable with the tension. The above is just a quick sample of ideas, and all have some interesting perspectives. The main things I have come away with over the last few years are following.

There are lots more points people get into, but I simply had never thought about it, and had never questioned how or why I pictured it this way. It was simply what I had been taught, and hadnt unlearned yet. Im also not sure how deeply it matters, but I find that the preconceived notions I have shape my perception and practice and inform my view and response to who and how I think God works. If it is wrong, or erroneous, it is profitable to change it!

• Passover was not a sin offering or sacrifice as far as I could tell. Perhaps there is some deeper, non-obvious level to it, but it seems clear it is not related to later Torah commands about sacrifices. It was a sign of obedience and faith in response to the Word of Yah for deliverance from judgement coming to the whole land.
• The modern seder event seems to have been instituted far later than the time of Yeshua. Nehemia Gordon discusses this with a Jewish scholar and while a bit technical, is really interesting to me. It is respectful, and not trying to debase or antagonize anyone. This would suggest that the meal itself was far simpler and what is being described in the Gospel accounts is actually a profound meal, but not some Jewish Seder like us moderns would superimpose on the account.
• Yeshua seems to clearly have been executed at Passover. Like perhaps literally at the time thousands upon thousands of lambs were being slaughtered at the Temple. However, while I believe Yeshua fulfilled many, of not all of the Temple sacrifices in many different phases and forms, this is not connected tot he idea of sin or forgiveness. If he was executed at the actual Passover slaughtering, he clearly couldn’t be also eating it at the same time.
• The Passover isnt even a feast, it is an event that is profound, but it is all mashed together in reference, but actually not the same thing. Again, Nehemia Gordon has great perspective on this and I recommend reading all his linked articles about the nuances.
• The command to remember this, and to eat it after the actual Pesach event, was not to avoid repeated acts of destruction of the firstborn. It was to reconnect with the reality of the deliverance from the Judgement. It was a pilgrimage for the men, and any women who wanted to come, up to Jerusalem which is connected to, but totally separate from, the Feast of Unleavened Bread which culminates  with a First Fruits offering. This seems to me to be the winding up of the Spring harvest, the chance to thank he Creator and reconnect with the reality of how the promise of Yahweh was fulfilled regardless of all the other circumstances. It was both an overnight deliverance, and a multi-generational process that brought everyone up to that point in time, and this was a week to stop, get centered at the start of a new year, do business with God, and see family before returning home. Culturally, this really would have been a massive event.

This year we had dear friends come over, and their 3 bigger kids, and our 3 each shared something abut 1 of the plagues. Each of the parents also did. For some it was a simple picture, another had a presentation on a laptop, another said how bad it was when they had lice, and someone turned water into dark red liquid. The main idea here was to read the story, and connect just a bit more with the idea of how much judgement had occurred, how devastating it would have been, and how crazy it would be to be a Hebrew, watch all this happen, ask your neighbors for gold and silver, and then leave so quick you barely had time to make food.

One piece that I enjoyed and found challenging was the reality of my daily behavior and experience leading up to the Pesach and Holiday. Under Torah, there are several ways to become ritually unclean. If I were to do that, I wouldnt be able to do certain parts of participation. Yet these are commanded. I have no daily sense of this, and it frankly doesnt apply in the same way as I dont need to go to the Temple. But just thinking about it, and making an effort to conduct myself in ways that would ensure this was a way to connect with this on a deeper level.

Perhaps we are doing it all wrong. I forgot to make bitter herbs, and used some arugula. We have lamb left over, and we are going to burn it. I hate to waste it, but we are trying to connect with the commands themselves, and obey, even if we arent able to do all the other pieces (no temple, no pilgrimage, clean/unclean etc….). My understanding of leavening (chametz and seor) are getting far more simple as Ill discuss in a subsequent article. Maybe Im NOT being aggressive enough. Maybe Im being way too aggressive about this and making it into an idol.

All I can do is stumble through this, and continue to ask for guidance and faithfulness. So many things are changing even as I read over this website. I keep growing and morphing and at the end just hope I have not caused someone to stumble, yet perhaps supported them in their meandering.

Learning from the Mo’edim – Yom Kippur 2017

This time around I was able to research more and come to a personal conviction that “afflicting your soul” or “humbling yourself” could easily connect to fasting. I can see how people come to differing opinions and I think the main point is to bring yourself low. Your “soul”, the nephesh. The place where your desires and intention and will sit. Put that (willingly) under the power of something else. In this case, it seems obvious it is the authority and person of Yahweh.

Because I have invested so much into my diet and health the last 11 months (ketogenic centered) I was able to navigate the not eating part fairly well. I can normally go 18 hours or longer without eating and as long as Im distracted by doing something, I can make it without too much effort.

But I did make an effort not to be distracted. Because I know from years of life and addressing my issues, distraction is a key tool in managing my appetites. Distraction is also a checking out mechanism for my nephesh operation. My desires and will like to feed on stimulus, and check out.

So no media today. And this I “afflicted’ my kids with. Not tablets, media etc… which normally is allowed on a shabbat. In fact, that is the day they get to do this kind of thing mostly.

I cannot say Im clear on what today is. I understand the history and the scripture. But personally, I find Im just counting down the next 45 mins until this is over. I might eat, or just push through until tomorrow. I dont know that I had any revelation or sense of transcendent experience. All I found myself doing today was dozing off a lot, relaxing, and when clear enough, asking God to help me have a heart more wholehearted and affectionate toward Him.  I try to imagine what it was like at the Tabernacle or the Temple, and the sense of excitement at having everything reset. Then I drift off to sleep.

I think in many ways this is the curse of dispersion. There is no active community celebrating and culturally experiencing the Mo’edim. And those who try, have either millennia of tradition, or untold gymnastics in trying to figure it out. We are stumbling around, trying to do something right, all the while relying on the atonement God provides. We simply cannot overcome the inability, and need the divine provision so much.

Learning from the Mo’edim – Yom Teruah 2017

This year we still found ourselves a bit out of sorts with this holiday. For some reason I have a weird time with this as we simply just have a Sabbath, and blow trumpets. Not sure the connections to anything. It seems like this holiday hangs out there without any context.

That may be the point…

This holiday is about watching and waiting to me. I never know truly when it will be, and this year several things businesswise are hanging on my availability and schedule for the subsequent weeks. I sit in orbit, waiting for the update from Israel (we follow the sighting confirmed in Israel of the new moon) and then shut down.

This year it was Friday, so we had a double shabbat. And this means Sukkot is a double shabbat. Party time…

With Trumpets, after you engage it, it just kind of sits there, waiting. Kind of like “we blew the trumpets, we shouted, and we celebrate…. no what?” almost like now we wait again…

I see the connections with the 10 days between Teruah and Kippur(im). I see the tradition of self reflection etc… but nothing in scripture is directing that. Great idea, worth looking at… but what is Yah desiring? Is it just make noise, dont work, celebrate? Fine by me… but I cannot help but think not only am I missing something, but some of the vagueness or lack of structure or instruction is part of it. It is meant to keep me a bit off my game, a little out of routine. It opens up the fall feasts, and indicates something is coming. Sit up and listen and think. Watch out for something. A great interruption.

 

Moses and his big mouth

A simple connection from reading through the Exodus story last night with the kids. This is the 4th-5th time we have read through this, and they are attending CBS at a local church who is going over Exodus and Leviticus. I wanted to walk through this with them in parallel for many reasons:

• I don’t like them getting programmed with christian theology and dogma, especially when it comes to Torah.I want to make sure they have a framework of understanding Torah on it’s own.
• It is easy to be in autopilot about the key stories in scripture, and Exodus contains tons of them. The exodus itself is a foundational piece of faith, but it is easy to forget many of subtle pieces that get summarized.
• We just finished going through Samuel and Kings, and needed to go on to something again.

But the reality is, reading the same stuff over and over can get boring. I do not believe Yah is boring, I believe we are. But reading over things you already generally know can get a bit dry. So we prayed. Real crazy, super profound idea. God please show us something hidden in here, please connect our hearts.

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The start of the Moses Story is about his mouth

Something occurred to me as I was reading that connected 2 end points of Moses and his story.

The first is this simple phrase and part of the story that we know

[Exo 4:12-13 ESV]

12 Now therefore go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall speak.” 13 But he said, “Oh, my Lord, please send someone else.”

YHVH got angry, and supposedly at Moses. However, I think if you look at all the possible interpretations, you find a few translations that don’t translate this as abject refusal, although the majority do translate it that way. Assuming the interpretation that Moses is basically saying “I don’t want to do this” and God is angry at him for refusing to obey (which in all real understanding God would have known in advance) there is an interesting pattern.

Moses has a problem with his mouth. And he is afraid, and he is standing in the presence of at least the angel of YHVH. Depending on your theology, YHWH AND this angel are there, or just the Angel of Yahweh. Inside a burning flame. Moses is ballsy in a sense, however we dont read him being overwhelmed like Daniel, or Solomon and the Israelites. There are other examples where the power and the glory of God Almighty or an angelic messenger are simply overwhelming. This isn’t a vision as far as we can tell, he has to remove his shoes. This is a literal interaction at a minimum with a messenger of Yah, or Yah itself. And the internal dialog leaks out, and Moses basically says “I can’t, please, no”.

Moses is not being forced to obey in a sense either. He isnt given any real outs, and isnt allowed to back out, but he does get help. But there isnt any sense of him being overwhelmed and forced to do this. We interpret that because of the anger mentioned about God. But it doesnt say the anger compelled him. It is a very odd exchange, and out of much pre-supposed character of God Almighty. God is Boss, do what God says. God angry is BAD because later God destroys people in anger.

The End of the Moses story is about his mouth (or lack)

At the end of Moses’s life, he is not allowed to go into the Promised Land. The explanation is because of his mistake in how he dealt with a direct command from Yah.

[Num 20:10-12 ESV] 10 Then Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly together before the rock, and he said to them, “Hear now, you rebels: shall we bring water for you out of this rock?” 11 And Moses lifted up his hand and struck the rock with his staff twice, and water came out abundantly, and the congregation drank, and their livestock. 12 And the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not believe in me, to uphold me as holy in the eyes of the people of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land that I have given them.”

Interestingly, he was supposed to speak this time. Just like at the beginning, when God tells him to go and speak and he doesnt want to, this time God tells him to speak, and he doesnt. And this time, he misses out on something quite special.

There are lots of reasons given for why. If I was leading 3 million people complaining at me all day (and sometimes trying to kill me) I would be sick and tired of everything. I would be out of patience before we left Egypt. I would have taken God up on his offer to start over with just me so I could have thing the way I want.

But isn’t it odd that on both occasions, the problem is Moses simply speaking what He is told? And he doesnt want to. His explanations in the beginning are saying he doesn’t speak well etc… and God give him someone to actually say it for him! He has all the provision he needs. Yet it isn’t enough. All Moses had to do is speak to the rock, and possibly it was Aaron who would have literally done all of the speaking. But Moses simply wont.

It sure seems like he got angry, and what he DOES SAY sure seems foolish “shall WE bring water for you out from this rock?”. WE? Meaning “Me and Aaron” or “Me and Yahweh” or something like that? This sure sounds like frustration, exhaustion, internal conflict all bubbling out. Just like at the start when his mouth finally just says “I dont want to, please send whoever else you like”.

Odd Thoughts

• Moses seems to have a problem with anger in all his story. He kills an Egyptian early int he story. He rants at the Hebrews. It is all somewhat provoked, and I haven’t met many people who could stand a chance in these circumstances. But it certainly seems that while Moses is considered the meekest man who lived, he had frustration and anger bubbling around in there and it comes out impulsively.
• Moses is just a man, a human. He simply hit the wall. There is only so much capacity inherent in our own creation to bear up under the intensity of life, and Moses’s life wasn’t easy. He was born in conflict, hunted from birth, separated from family repeatedly, wandering around, resisted by the mission he was entrusted with, and had to mediate between a perfect and holy Sovereign and a group of abused and overwhelmed ex-slaves who couldn’t grasp the reality of what was going on.
• The Hebrews were kept from the Promised land by what they said in fear, Moses was kept out by what he DIDNT say.
• If YHWH is all knowing, then was his anger at Moses when he first said “send someone else” the cause of Moses not being allowed to go in later? We attach the punishment to the immediate verse, but in reality our God is outside of time.
• How is it possible YHVH is so completely powerful, yet Moses could so easily do a great job and be commended by Yah, and so easily miss it?

You could begin to wander all through the scriptures and look about words, mouth, obedience etc… and see patterns and wheels within wheels about this stuff. I can see how Yeshua takes it from here, and executes perfectly in key areas and executes the Word/Debar even better. I can see how the battle is over fear and frustration. I can see how there is simply not enough inside the human spirit to obey completely and execute in a way that communicated the Holy. And yet we also see how Yah is constantly using people, and succeeding. The plans of God are being accomplished in spite of what people are able to do.

Is Ha Satan (the Adversary) a key partner with Torah

Premise

1. No one can be condemned (death penalty) for any crime without 2 or more witnesses
2. You cannot be prosecuted by your own confession alone, there must be other witnesses to confirm it.
3. Without conviction of your crime, you cannot be forgiven, and your repentance doesn’t have a basis
4. You require at least 1 more witness, preferably 2.
5. Where there is no law, there is no sin. Torah is witness #2
6. Where is the 3rd? Ha Satan, the prosecutor, the adversary makes the perfect case

Conclusion

When you feel convicted of your sin (the missing of the mark), and you look to repent, your confession provides the 3rd witness. The first was Torah. The 2nd was the Adversary. You provide the 3rd. Without the Torah and the Adversary, you will not be convicted. Without being convicted, there is no punishment. Without Punishment, there is no justice. You are stuck in no mans land.

Deuteronomy 19:15

¹⁵ “One witness shall not rise against a man concerning any iniquity or any sin that he commits; by the mouth of two or three witnesses the matter shall be established.

New King James Version (NKJV)
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

From http://www.blairdefense.com/is-a-confession-alone-enough-to-convict-a-defendant/

To make more sense of things, take an example: Somebody walks into a police station and says that they need to give a statement on a robbery. They go on to explain that they just robbed someone at gunpoint and stole their purse. However, the person does not identify the person they robbed or tell the police where the gun is. The person does not have a purse in their possession, either. The police cannot follow up on this crime because they have no evidence to go off of. Therefore, this person cannot be convicted of robbery.

Bread or Word or Both?

[Deu 8:3 NKJV] 3 “So He humbled you, allowed you to hunger, and fed you with manna which you did not know nor did your fathers know, that He might make you know that man shall not live by bread alone; but man lives by every [word] that proceeds from the mouth of the LORD.

[Mat 4:4 NKJV] 4 But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’ ”

It isnt what goes in YOUR mouth that keeps you alive, but what comes forth from YAH.

Promises, Covenants, Instructions, Specific Directions, commandments, breath, Spirit, Salvation (Yeshua). Everything the Hebrews were relying upon to happen wasn’t coming from their own actions. In fact, Yah was making them hungry, and showing them where their heart would wander.

There is no reference to the word “Word” here. It is whatever springs forth, or has its origin in “peh-Yehovah”. Mouth of Yah. Certainly that would be something spoken as an easy interpretation, but it doesn’t say “devar” or any variant of that.

Anah (humbled) here is used in context of being made hungry, and probably weak. That word is used for the day of atonement, yet another indicator this is really removal of food, and humbling oneself. Is that day a re-enactment of this principle, and willful re-connection with being unable to accomplish salvation, atonement, accomplishment of promises and then experiencing the atonement of YWHW?
Even when Yah gives you something (Manna in this case), your ability to handle it and manage it only goes so far. You need more tomorrow. And you cannot make it yourself.

Manna was also the first test with regards to Sabbath. Immediately, people tried to corner the market and gather extra so they wouldn’t run out. And when they did that (in disobedience from something that came from the mouth of Yah) it turned into putrid and disgusting things.

At the same time, They were to gather double on “Friday” am, and keep it. Every day didn’t have the same exact instructions. You simply had to rely upon the instructions, and do them.

This gets quoted later in the midst of temptation. Yeshua was seeming to state at some level “Bread going in my body isnt my only concern right now. Im being sustained by what is coming out of Yahweh, and Ill rely on that to make things happen and keep me alive”

Some examples of things that come forth from Yehovah’s mouth that aren’t spoken…

[Mar 7:20 NKJV] 20 And He said, “What comes out of a man, that defiles a man.

[Mat 15:11 NKJV] 11 “Not what goes into the mouth defiles a man; but what comes out of the mouth, this defiles a man.”

[Rev 19:15 NKJV] 15 Now out of His mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it He should strike the nations. And He Himself will rule them with a rod of iron. He Himself treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.

[Heb 1:1-3 NKJV] 1 God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, 2 has in these last days spoken to us by [His] Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds; 3 who being the brightness of [His] glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,