I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty.
“He said to me, Son of man, eat what you find [in this book]; eat this scroll; then go and speak to the house of Israel. So I opened my mouth, and He caused me to eat the scroll. And He said to me, Son of man eat this scroll that I give you and fill your stomach with it. Then I ate it, and it was as sweet as honey in my mouth.” (Ezekiel 3:1-3)
John Vanier writes about these verses, “For the Jewish people, the word of God, the Torah, was an incredible form of nourishment. It was bread for their hearts and minds... The word of God is the revelation of the love of God for the Jewish people.” [1]
He goes on to note, “It is also the revelation of what humankind is about, what our lives are about, what the whole history of the universe and of salvation is about. And it is sweet as honey... We need to be nourished by the word of God.” [2]
Jesus is this very word of God that nourishes us. John 1:1 says, “In the beginning [before all time] was the Word (Christ), and the Word was with God, and the Word was God Himself.”
Jesus says in John 6:48-51, “I am the Bread of Life [that gives life -the Living Bread]. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and [yet] they died. [But] this is the Bread that comes down from heaven. If anyone eats of this Bread, he will live forever; and also the Bread that I shall give for the life of the world is My flesh (body).”
Psalm 78:24 says, “he rained down manna for the people to eat, he gave them the grain of heaven.”
For forty years, the Israelites ate manna that supernaturally came down every day from heaven. Exodus 16:4 says, “Then the LORD said to Moses, 'I will rain down bread from heaven for you. The people are to go out each day and gather enough for that day. In this way I will test them and see whether they will follow my instructions.'”
It represented God's provision and nourishment. Nehemiah 9:15 In their hunger you gave them bread from heaven and in their thirst you brought them water from the rock; you told them to go in and take possession of the land you had sworn with uplifted hand to give them.”
One commentary notes about manna, “This was the name given by the Jews to the food which was furnished to them by God in their journey. It means literally, "What is this?" and was the question which they asked when they first saw it, Exodus 16:14-15. It was small like frost, and of the size of coriander-seed, and had a sweetish taste like honey. It fell in great quantities, and was regarded by the Jews as proof of a continued miracle during forty years, and was incontestable evidence of the interposition of God in favor of their fathers.” [3]
The people would gather it in daily and prepare it by crushing and grinding it into a mortar. They would then cook it in a pot or make it into cakes that tasted like something made with olive oil. (Numbers 11:8) [4]
Manna was a type and shadow of the real bread from heaven – Jesus – who is our daily nourishment. John 6:31-35 says, “Our forefathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as the Scripture says, He gave them bread out of heaven to eat.
Jesus then said to them, I assure you, most solemnly I tell you , Moses did not give you the Bread from heaven [what Moses gave you was not the Bread from heaven], but it is My Father Who gives you the true heavenly Bread.
For the Bread of God is He Who comes down out of heaven and gives life to the world. Then they said to Him, Lord, give us this bread always (all the time)! Jesus replied, I am the Bread of Life. He who comes to Me will never be hungry, and he who believes in and cleaves to and trusts in and relies on Me will never thirst any more (at any time).”
“God of heaven come down, heaven come down...” sings in the background
Too often we labor for the bread that does not truly nourish us rather than that which truly fills and satisfies. After Jesus performed the miracle of feeding the people with a five barely loaves and two small fish, the people sought Him out.
When they found Him, He told them in John 6:26-27, “I assure you, most solemnly I tell you, you have been searching for Me, not because you saw the miracles and signs but because you were fed with the loaves and were filled and satisfied.
Stop toiling and doing and producing for the food that perishes and decomposes [in the using], but strive and work and produce rather for the [lasting] food which endures [continually] unto life eternal; the Son of Man will give (furnish) you that, for God the Father has authorized and certified Him and put His seal of endorsement upon Him.”
They went on to ask Him in John 6:28-30, “What are we to do, that we may [habitually] be working the works of God? [What are we to do to carry out what God requires?]
Jesus replied, This is the work (service) that God asks of you: that you believe in the One Whom He has sent [that you cleave to, trust, rely on, and have faith in His Messenger].”
The 'works' that God is looking for is not hard labor but faith and belief in Jesus. It is not by our own strength that we do the works of God but in His. Often, we need to come to an end of ourselves to learn to let go of our ways.
When we are doing the 'works' that God is looking for -looking to Him and believing in Him- in this place that He can nourish us, filling and satisfying our deepest needs. When we work hard to try to please Him in our own strength, we become exhausted and depleted.
When I perform to earn His approval or work to try to please Him, it is not my belief that is at work but my lack of belief. Where I struggle the most is with believing that He can love me at my worst. I have a hard time believing when I am not performing well that He will still care for me and look out for me the same. I think I need to do something to deserve it.
Psalm 127:1-2 says, “Except the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it; except the Lord keeps the city, the watchman wakes but in vain. It is vain for you to rise up early, to take rest late, to eat the bread of [anxious] toil -for He gives [blessings] to His beloved in sleep.”
God is continually loving towards us and lavishly pouring out His blessings upon us. Our job is not to work to feel deserving of His blessings but receiving His love, believing in His care for us. It is learning to rest and be nourished by His love.
David knew a place of rest in the arms of God that was truly nourishing to his soul. As Steve Wiens preached on this weekend, David cries out in Psalm 131, “Lord, my heart is not haughty, nor my eyes lofty; neither do I exercise myself in matters too great or in things too wonderful for me. Surely I have calmed and quieted my soul; like a weaned child with his mother, like a weaned child is my soul within me [ceased from fretting]. O Israel, hope in the Lord from this time forth and forever.” [5]
Rather than resting in a place where I am nourished continually by God, I frequently think I have to work at my relationship with Him. I feel guilty to not be doing anything. And when I am at my worst, I feel unlovable by Him. It comes back to a mentality that has been carried through my family lines (on both sides) for generations that you have to work hard to 'earn your keep.'
I really struggle sometimes to believe that I can do nothing to earn my keep (His approval) and that my job is to simply believe that He loves me, cares for me and will provide for me. Yet, I know without a doubt that He does love me and care for me. However, I think somewhere I believe that His lavish love has something to do with me working so hard at getting everything right.
Too often when I am in a performance mentality of 'earning my keep' I think in terms of being 'deserving' rather than resting in His love in gratitude. When I perform well, I feel deserving of His love. However, when I feel deserving or entitled, I cannot also be grateful.
Sometimes I feel entitled to the blessings He bestows upon me. And if they are taken away, I feel angry about it and like it is an injustice done to me. Rather than receiving something in gratitude and being able to freely let it go again because I didn't do anything to earn it, I sometimes think it is a reward for my efforts.
Bob Mckenna notes in an article he wrote called “Hindrances to Loving as the Beloved” that one of the hindrances to loving as the beloved is what he coins as “Soldering on.” He writes, “Basically this is a performance based relationship with God and others. It is trying to do the 'right thing' for much lesser reasons. In order to be accepted and loved I do the spiritual or right thing but it results in others loving my good behavior or the mask I wear and not me. It is an illusion or counterfeit to a real life & real loving as the beloved.” [6]
He goes on to note that this type of behavior can be rooted in a shame based identity. We believe we are what is wrong at the core, experiencing shame rather than experiencing guilt when we have crossed a line. He writes, “We aren't always able to separate our identity or our belovedness from our bad behavior.”[7]
In “Soldiering on” also referred to as “white knuckling it,” we do the right thing out of a disordered place rather than a place of solid security from being loved. We are trying to get it right so that we can be loved and accepted rather than out of a place of love and acceptance.[8]
Where performance, “soldiering on” or “white knuckling it” gets me to is a place of focus on myself and my own behaviors rather than on God. When I get it right I feel self-righteous and when I don't, I feel shame.
The 'works' of God are kingdom works with God at the center rather than ourselves at the center.
In John 4:31-34, the disciples urged Jesus to eat something. He responded, “I have food (nourishment) to eat of which you know nothing and have no idea. So the disciples said one to another, Has someone brought Him something to eat? Jesus said to them, My food (nourishment) is to do the will (pleasure) of Him Who sent Me and to accomplish and completely finish His work.”
His work was His belief and His nourishment came in doing God's will out of a place of belief. Too often what we are working for is solely to satisfy our own needs and desires. Our focus is on ourselves rather than His Kingdom. Often what we are looking for from Jesus is not for His Kingdom to come, but to perform some kind of miracle to meet our immediate needs.
In John 6:30, the people said to Jesus, “What sign (miracle, wonderwork) will You perform then, so that we may see it and believe and rely on and adhere to You? What [supernatural] work have You [to show what You can do]?”
They were looking for Him to meet their immediate needs for bread. They went on to tell Him in John 6:11, “Our forefathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as the Scripture says, He gave them bread out of heaven to eat.”
“Oh, how He loves us so, Oh, how He loves us, how He loves us so” sings.
Jesus didn't scorn them for coming to Him with their immediate needs in asking for a sign to help their belief. Rather He turned them to look not to the bread they needed, but to Himself, who satisfies every need. He responded in John 6:35, “I am the Bread of Life. He who comes to me will never be hungry, and he who believes in and cleaves to and trusts in and relies on Me will never thirst any more (at any time).”
There were also times Jesus was angry when the Israelites asked for a sign. He became angry when the religious leaders were looking for Jesus to prove His authority to them rather than looking for Him to satisfy their needs. They weren't coming in need and lack of belief asking for Him to meet them in their place of need but they came to Him in self-righteousness demanding Him to justify Himself in their unbelief.
Jesus wants us to look to Him to meet our needs. David proclaims in Psalm 103:2-6, “Bless (affectionately, gratefully praise) the Lord, O my soul, and forget not [one of] all His benefits-
Who forgives [every one of] all your iniquities, Who heals [each one of] all your diseases, Who redeems your life from the pit and corruption, Who beautifies, dignifies, and crowns you with loving-kindness and tender mercy;
Who satisfies your mouth [your necessity and desire at your personal age and situation] with good so that your youth, renewed, is like the eagle's [strong, overcoming, soaring]! The Lord executes righteousness and justice [not for me only, but] for all who are oppressed.”
Ultimately, in receiving what we need from Jesus we come to a place of trusting Him, knowing He is more than enough to meet our every need. As we learn to trust in His love for us and are daily nourished by His love, we become free to serve Him with our eyes on His kingdom purposes.
“He soothes all my doubts, He calms all my fears” sings in the background.
Even when things are difficult and we are performing poorly, we can trust that He will meet us there. He will not leave us and forsake us. This is a place I struggle with a fear of disaster. When I am in an adversarial situation, rather than trusting in God's care and defense of me, I think it is my responsibility to get it right and perform well so God will approve of me. I put all the pressure on myself rather than resting in His care and provision for me.
David was someone that knew that even when he blew it while he was facing difficulty and adversaries, that God would care for Him. He could look to God who would never forsake him. God would deliver David out of his trouble in His goodness.
David cries out in Psalm 127:9-14, “Hide not Your face from me; turn not Your servant away in anger, You Who have been my help! Cast me not off, neither forsake me, O God of my salvation! Although my father and my mother have forsaken me, yet the Lord will take me up [adopt me as His child]...
Give me not up to the will of my adversaries, for false witnesses have risen up against me; they breath out cruelty and violence. [What, what would have become of me] had I not believed that I would see the Lord's goodness in the land of the living! Wait and hope for and expect the Lord; be brave and of good courage and let your heart be stout and enduring. Yes, wait and hope for and expect the Lord.”
We need not fear disaster when the enemy rises up against us because the Lord has promised to deliver us in the day of trouble. Psalm 91:14-15 says, Because he has set his love upon Me, therefore will I deliver him; I will set him on high, because he knows and understands My name [has a personal knowledge of My mercy, love, and kindness -trusts and relies on Me, knowing I will never forsake him, no, never]. He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honor him.”
Too often, it is in a place of lack of belief in God taking care of all our needs and lack of nourishment from His love that we seek to have our needs filled by other means. Or when we strive to earn our blessings and feel entitled to them, we can seek after them to fill us rather than just be grateful for them in our lives. [a]
In Deuteronomy 6:10-15 Moses warns the people, “And when the Lord your God brings you into the land which He swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give you, with great and goodly cities which you did not build, and houses full of all good things which you did not fill, and cisterns hewn out which you did not hew, and vineyards and olive trees which you did not plant, and when you eat and are full, then beware lest you forget the Lord, Who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
You shall [reverently] fear the Lord your God and serve Him and swear by His name [and presence]. You shall not go after other gods, any of the gods of the peoples who are round about you; For the Lord your God in the midst of you is a jealous God; lest the anger of the Lord your God be kindled against you, and He destroy you from the face of the earth.”
When we are being nourished and filled by God, we will be able to give out of our abundance to all those around us in need. Psalm 37:26 says about the righteous, “They are always generous and lend freely; their children will be blessed.”
When we are not being nourished by God's love, we are constantly looking for that which will nourish us. This was the case the leaders of Israel. Instead of being a fountain of nourishment to others who they were set to care for, they were looking to get what they needed from them. They were seeking to be served rather than serving.
The Lord says in Ezekiel 34:2-4, “Woe to the [spiritual] shepherds of Israel who feed themselves! Should not the shepherds feed the sheep? You eat the fat, you clothe yourselves with the wool, you kill the fatlings, but you do not feed the sheep.
The diseased and weak you have not strengthened, the sick you have not healed, the hurt and crippled you have not bandaged, those gone astray you have not brought back, the lost you have not sought to find, but with force and hardhearted harshness you have ruled them.”
It is easy to stand on the outside and see that as being wrong, but the subtlety was that the sheep were livestock. The purpose of sheep was to provide for wool and food.
One way this can come to play is when we become critical rather than grateful and start thinking that others are not serving us well. We are not paying attention to their needs but our own. When they don't serve us well, we think that they are purposely insulting us or causing us harm.
For instance, someone can come into a coffee shop expecting to be served rather than serve. When the woman at the counter makes a mistake and forgets the cream in their coffee, rather about wondering what the server might be going through or the tough day they are already having (which would result in seeking out a way to bless them or refresh them), the person purchasing the coffee becomes insulted and leaves in a huff without giving a tip.
This person is not tending to the needs of this server by washing their feet like Jesus, they are ruling over them with hardhearted harshness. They are expecting the person to meet them at their expectations rather than looking for what they can generously give out of what they have for this person's benefit.
Another person could have came into the coffee shop and received coffee from someone who forgot the cream and still be incredibly grateful that they received good tasting coffee and fast service. Rather than complain and leave in a huff, they could thank the server and leave them a big tip.
One can also ask the question of serving or being served on their job: Are the people who report to me strengthened, healed, and bandaged in their areas of weakness or are the worn down and burnt out? Do I give life to others around me or take away life?
The whole reason I went into leadership was that my first boss out of college believed in me and empowered me, giving me room to grow and use my gifts. It made me want to become a boss and do the same for others.
However, when I am not being nurtured by God, it is easier to fall into trying to perform for approval. I forget that I am there to serve the people who report to me and start focusing on everything that needs to get done at the expense of taking the time to strengthen and heal those who need the extra care and attention.
Performance was also the struggle with the Israelites who were fasting and going through the motions of all the religious activity they thought would be approved by God in Isaiah 58. The Lord says that rather than oppressing and being full of strife and debate, to humble themselves and serve those around them with what they had to give.
The Lord says in Isaiah 58:9b-10 says, “If you take away from your midst yokes of oppression [wherever you find them], the finger pointed in scorn [toward the oppressed or the godly], and every form of false, harsh, unjust, and wicked speaking, And if you pour out that with which you sustain your own life for the hungry and satisfy the need of the afflicted, then shall your light rise in darkness, and your obscurity and gloom become like the noonday.”
Lord, forgive me for the so many ways I labor for the bread that does not satisfy. I feel like the dog that keeps returning to his vomit. I keep coming back to issues of performance, trying to earn Your's and other's approval rather than resting in your love and care for me. I find it especially hard to rest in your presence and not work hard to perform when I am dealing with excessive demands or situations of strong adversity/opposition. Help me to know when and how to say no to the demands around me.
Teach us to rest in your Presence and take in what you so freely provide. Thank you for your daily nourishment in the Word of God. Thank you that You are the Bread that fills our hungering souls with that which satisfies. From this place of nourishment, make us bread broken to feed others.
“Lord, make me (us) an instrument of your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me (us) sow love.
Where there is injury, pardon.
Where there is doubt, faith.
Where there is despair, hope.
Where there darkness, light.
Where there is sadness, joy.
O Divine Master,
grant that I (we) may not so much seek to be consoled, as to console;
to be understood, as to understand;
to be loved, as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive.
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life.”
- Prayer of St. Francis
a. The Israelite leaders that Ezekiel prophesied against were trying to get their needs satisfied by their performance and position in the religious community (being admired) rather than receiving the love of God. They had turned to other idols to fill them rather than God.
“Her priests have done violence to My law and have profaned My holy things. They have made no distinction between the sacred and the secular, neither have they taught people the difference between the unclean and the clean and have hid their eyes from My Sabbaths, and I am profaned among them.” (Ezekiel 22:26)
Profane is the Hebrew word chalal, Strongs #2490, It means to pollute, defile, [9] make unholy, or treat as common. [10] One Bible Dictionary defines it as “to treat anything holy with dis-respect. In the Bible, many things could be profaned by disregarding God’s laws about their correct use: the Sabbath (Is. 56:6), the Temple (Acts 24:6), the covenant (Mal. 2:10), and God’s name (Ex. 19:22).”[11]
God tells the Israelites in Leviticus 22:31-33, “So shall you heartily accept My commandments and conform your life and conduct to them. I am the Lord. Neither shall you profane My holy name [applying it to an idol, or treating it with irreverence or contempt as a byword]; but I will be hollowed among the Israelites. I am the Lord, Who consecrates and makes you holy, who brought you out of the land of Egypt to be your God. I am the Lord.”
The priests no longer genuinely regarded God's laws from their heart. Instead they were going through the motions of religious acts while they practiced idolatry.
Ezekiel 20:24-26 says, “...Because they had not executed My ordinances but had despised and rejected My statutes and had profaned My Sabbaths, and their eyes were set on their fathers' idols. Wherefore also I have them [over to] statutes that were not good and ordinances whereby they should not live and could not have life, And I [let them] pollute and make themselves unclean in their own offerings [to their idols], in that they caused to pass through the fire all the firstborn, that I might make them desolate, to the end that they may know, understand, and realize that I am the Lord.” (Ezekiel 20:24-26)
To be unclean is the Hebrew word tame and means to be defiled or guilty. [12] One source notes “The usage of tame˒ in the Old Testament resembles that of tahor, “pure.” First, uncleanness is a state of being.” [13]
One becomes 'unclean' when they are defiled. On the other hand, genuine “cleanness” comes from repentance and turning back to God. David says in Psalm 51:10, “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.”
The purpose that God gave them over to their idols and let them pollute themselves and make themselves unclean was that they would become desolate in the pursuits of idols to the end that they may come to repent and turn to God.
God in His jealous love and contends face to face with His people rather than forsakes them for their idolatry. He does not allow them to go through the motions of serving Him while they are seeking to get their life from their idols (profaning His Name).
The Lord goes on to say in Ezekiel 20:32-44, “And that which has come up in your mind shall never happen, in that you think, We will be as the nations, as the tribes of the countries, to serve idols of wood and stone.
As I live, says the Lord God, surely with a mighty and and an outstretched arm and with wrath poured out will I be King over you. And I will bring you out from the peoples and will gather you out of the countries in which you are scattered, with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm and with wrath poured out.
And I will bring you into the wilderness of the peoples, and there will I enter into judgment with you and contend with you face to face. As I entered into judgment and contended with your fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, so will I enter into judgment and contend with you, says the Lord God.
And I will cause you to pass under the rod [as the shepherd does the sheep when he counts them, and I will count you as Mine and I will constrain you] and bring you into the covenant to which you are permanently bound.
And I will purge out and separate from among you the rebels and those who transgress against Me; I will bring them out of the country where they temporarily dwell, but they shall not enter the land of Israel. Then you shall know, understand, and realize that I am the Lord.
As for you, O house of Israel, thus says the Lord God: Go, serve every one of you his idols, now and here after, if you will not listen to Me! But you shall not profane My holy name any more with your sacrificial gifts and your idols!
For on My holy mountain, on the mountain height of Israel, says the Lord God, there all the house of Israel, all of them in the land, shall serve Me. There will I [graciously] accept them, and there will I require your offerings and the firstfruits and the choicest of your contributions, with all your sacred things.
I will accept you [graciously] as a pleasant odor when I lead you out from the peoples and gather you out of the countries in which you have been scattered, and I will manifest My holiness among you in the sight of the nations [who will seek Me because of My power displayed in you].
And you shall know, understand and realize that I am the Lord, when I bring you into the land of Israel, into the country which I lifted up My hand and swore to give to your fathers. And there you shall [earnestly] remember your ways and all your doings with which you have defiled yourselves, and you shall loathe yourselves in your own sight for all your evil deeds which you have done.
And you shall know, understand and realize that I am the Lord, when I deal with you for My name's sake, not according to your evil ways nor according to your corrupt doings, O house of Israel, says the Lord God.”
The fruit of an unclean heart (seeking to get life from idolatry rather than receiving the love of God) is that we cannot love others with God's unconditional love because we are not receiving it for ourselves. We become desolate and end up oppressing others to get our needs met.
The Lord says in Ezekiel 22:29, “The people of the land have used oppression and extortion and have committed robbery; yes, they have wronged and vexed the poor and needy; yes, they have oppressed the stranger and temporary resident wrongfully.”
The opposite of being unclean (tame) is to be pure (tahor). Jesus says in Matthew 5:8, “Blessed (happy, enviably fortunate, and spiritually prosperous- possessing the happiness produced by the experience of God's favor and especially conditioned by the revelation of His grace, regardless of their outward conditions) are the pure in heart, for they shall see God!”
Pure means to be made clean, to be cleansed from the guilt of sin and pronounced clean, such as in the case of one who was in as state of disease, such as that of leprosy.[14] David goes on to pray in Psalm 51:10, “Create in me a clean (pure) heart, O God, and renew a right, persevering, and steadfast spirit within me.”
When someone repents of their sin and turns back to God, Jesus cleanses their heart and restores them to joy in His salvation. David goes on to pray in Psalm 51:12, “Restore to me the joy of Your salvation and uphold me with a willing spirit.”
The fruit of a pure heart is delight in God. The Lord says in Isaiah 58:13-14 says, “If you turn away your foot from [traveling unduly on] the Sabbath, from doing your own pleasure on My holy day, and call the Sabbath a [spiritual] delight, the holy day of the Lord honorable, and honor Him and it, not going your own way or seeking or finding your own pleasure or speaking with your own [idle] words, Then will you delight yourself in the Lord, and I will make you to ride on the high places of the earth, and I will feed you with the heritage [promised for you] of Jacob your father; for the mouth of the Lord has spoken it.”
1-2. Vanier, John. Drawn into the Mystery of Jesus through the Gospel of John. Paulist Press, New York/Mahwah, N.J. 2004.
3-4. MacDonald, William ; Farstad, Arthur: Believer's Bible Commentary : Old and New Testaments. Nashville : Thomas Nelson, 1997, c1995.
5. Wiens, Steve. Be Still My Soul. Church of the Open Door. March 25th, 2012.
6-8. McKenna, Bob. Hindrances to Loving as the Beloved. Church of the Open Door. March 24th, 2012.
9. Vine, W. E. ; Unger, Merrill F. ; White, William: Vine's Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words. Nashville : T. Nelson, 1996, S. 1:180
10. Strong, James: The Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible : Showing Every Word of the Text of the Common English Version of the Canonical Books, and Every Occurrence of Each Word in Regular Order. electronic ed. Ontario : Woodside Bible Fellowship., 1996, S. H2455
11. Youngblood, Ronald F. ; Bruce, F. F. ; Harrison, R. K. ; Thomas Nelson Publishers: Nelson's New Illustrated Bible Dictionary. Nashville : T. Nelson, 1995
12-13. Vine, W. E. ; Unger, Merrill F. ; White, William: Vine's Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words. Nashville : T. Nelson, 1996, S. 1:272
14. Vine, W. E. ; Unger, Merrill F. ; White, William: Vine's Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words. Nashville : T. Nelson, 1996, S. 2:104
John Vanier writes about these verses, “For the Jewish people, the word of God, the Torah, was an incredible form of nourishment. It was bread for their hearts and minds... The word of God is the revelation of the love of God for the Jewish people.” [1]
He goes on to note, “It is also the revelation of what humankind is about, what our lives are about, what the whole history of the universe and of salvation is about. And it is sweet as honey... We need to be nourished by the word of God.” [2]
Jesus is this very word of God that nourishes us. John 1:1 says, “In the beginning [before all time] was the Word (Christ), and the Word was with God, and the Word was God Himself.”
Jesus says in John 6:48-51, “I am the Bread of Life [that gives life -the Living Bread]. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and [yet] they died. [But] this is the Bread that comes down from heaven. If anyone eats of this Bread, he will live forever; and also the Bread that I shall give for the life of the world is My flesh (body).”
Psalm 78:24 says, “he rained down manna for the people to eat, he gave them the grain of heaven.”
For forty years, the Israelites ate manna that supernaturally came down every day from heaven. Exodus 16:4 says, “Then the LORD said to Moses, 'I will rain down bread from heaven for you. The people are to go out each day and gather enough for that day. In this way I will test them and see whether they will follow my instructions.'”
It represented God's provision and nourishment. Nehemiah 9:15 In their hunger you gave them bread from heaven and in their thirst you brought them water from the rock; you told them to go in and take possession of the land you had sworn with uplifted hand to give them.”
One commentary notes about manna, “This was the name given by the Jews to the food which was furnished to them by God in their journey. It means literally, "What is this?" and was the question which they asked when they first saw it, Exodus 16:14-15. It was small like frost, and of the size of coriander-seed, and had a sweetish taste like honey. It fell in great quantities, and was regarded by the Jews as proof of a continued miracle during forty years, and was incontestable evidence of the interposition of God in favor of their fathers.” [3]
The people would gather it in daily and prepare it by crushing and grinding it into a mortar. They would then cook it in a pot or make it into cakes that tasted like something made with olive oil. (Numbers 11:8) [4]
Manna was a type and shadow of the real bread from heaven – Jesus – who is our daily nourishment. John 6:31-35 says, “Our forefathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as the Scripture says, He gave them bread out of heaven to eat.
Jesus then said to them, I assure you, most solemnly I tell you , Moses did not give you the Bread from heaven [what Moses gave you was not the Bread from heaven], but it is My Father Who gives you the true heavenly Bread.
For the Bread of God is He Who comes down out of heaven and gives life to the world. Then they said to Him, Lord, give us this bread always (all the time)! Jesus replied, I am the Bread of Life. He who comes to Me will never be hungry, and he who believes in and cleaves to and trusts in and relies on Me will never thirst any more (at any time).”
“God of heaven come down, heaven come down...” sings in the background
Too often we labor for the bread that does not truly nourish us rather than that which truly fills and satisfies. After Jesus performed the miracle of feeding the people with a five barely loaves and two small fish, the people sought Him out.
When they found Him, He told them in John 6:26-27, “I assure you, most solemnly I tell you, you have been searching for Me, not because you saw the miracles and signs but because you were fed with the loaves and were filled and satisfied.
Stop toiling and doing and producing for the food that perishes and decomposes [in the using], but strive and work and produce rather for the [lasting] food which endures [continually] unto life eternal; the Son of Man will give (furnish) you that, for God the Father has authorized and certified Him and put His seal of endorsement upon Him.”
They went on to ask Him in John 6:28-30, “What are we to do, that we may [habitually] be working the works of God? [What are we to do to carry out what God requires?]
Jesus replied, This is the work (service) that God asks of you: that you believe in the One Whom He has sent [that you cleave to, trust, rely on, and have faith in His Messenger].”
The 'works' that God is looking for is not hard labor but faith and belief in Jesus. It is not by our own strength that we do the works of God but in His. Often, we need to come to an end of ourselves to learn to let go of our ways.
When we are doing the 'works' that God is looking for -looking to Him and believing in Him- in this place that He can nourish us, filling and satisfying our deepest needs. When we work hard to try to please Him in our own strength, we become exhausted and depleted.
When I perform to earn His approval or work to try to please Him, it is not my belief that is at work but my lack of belief. Where I struggle the most is with believing that He can love me at my worst. I have a hard time believing when I am not performing well that He will still care for me and look out for me the same. I think I need to do something to deserve it.
Psalm 127:1-2 says, “Except the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it; except the Lord keeps the city, the watchman wakes but in vain. It is vain for you to rise up early, to take rest late, to eat the bread of [anxious] toil -for He gives [blessings] to His beloved in sleep.”
God is continually loving towards us and lavishly pouring out His blessings upon us. Our job is not to work to feel deserving of His blessings but receiving His love, believing in His care for us. It is learning to rest and be nourished by His love.
David knew a place of rest in the arms of God that was truly nourishing to his soul. As Steve Wiens preached on this weekend, David cries out in Psalm 131, “Lord, my heart is not haughty, nor my eyes lofty; neither do I exercise myself in matters too great or in things too wonderful for me. Surely I have calmed and quieted my soul; like a weaned child with his mother, like a weaned child is my soul within me [ceased from fretting]. O Israel, hope in the Lord from this time forth and forever.” [5]
Rather than resting in a place where I am nourished continually by God, I frequently think I have to work at my relationship with Him. I feel guilty to not be doing anything. And when I am at my worst, I feel unlovable by Him. It comes back to a mentality that has been carried through my family lines (on both sides) for generations that you have to work hard to 'earn your keep.'
I really struggle sometimes to believe that I can do nothing to earn my keep (His approval) and that my job is to simply believe that He loves me, cares for me and will provide for me. Yet, I know without a doubt that He does love me and care for me. However, I think somewhere I believe that His lavish love has something to do with me working so hard at getting everything right.
Too often when I am in a performance mentality of 'earning my keep' I think in terms of being 'deserving' rather than resting in His love in gratitude. When I perform well, I feel deserving of His love. However, when I feel deserving or entitled, I cannot also be grateful.
Sometimes I feel entitled to the blessings He bestows upon me. And if they are taken away, I feel angry about it and like it is an injustice done to me. Rather than receiving something in gratitude and being able to freely let it go again because I didn't do anything to earn it, I sometimes think it is a reward for my efforts.
Bob Mckenna notes in an article he wrote called “Hindrances to Loving as the Beloved” that one of the hindrances to loving as the beloved is what he coins as “Soldering on.” He writes, “Basically this is a performance based relationship with God and others. It is trying to do the 'right thing' for much lesser reasons. In order to be accepted and loved I do the spiritual or right thing but it results in others loving my good behavior or the mask I wear and not me. It is an illusion or counterfeit to a real life & real loving as the beloved.” [6]
He goes on to note that this type of behavior can be rooted in a shame based identity. We believe we are what is wrong at the core, experiencing shame rather than experiencing guilt when we have crossed a line. He writes, “We aren't always able to separate our identity or our belovedness from our bad behavior.”[7]
In “Soldiering on” also referred to as “white knuckling it,” we do the right thing out of a disordered place rather than a place of solid security from being loved. We are trying to get it right so that we can be loved and accepted rather than out of a place of love and acceptance.[8]
Where performance, “soldiering on” or “white knuckling it” gets me to is a place of focus on myself and my own behaviors rather than on God. When I get it right I feel self-righteous and when I don't, I feel shame.
The 'works' of God are kingdom works with God at the center rather than ourselves at the center.
In John 4:31-34, the disciples urged Jesus to eat something. He responded, “I have food (nourishment) to eat of which you know nothing and have no idea. So the disciples said one to another, Has someone brought Him something to eat? Jesus said to them, My food (nourishment) is to do the will (pleasure) of Him Who sent Me and to accomplish and completely finish His work.”
His work was His belief and His nourishment came in doing God's will out of a place of belief. Too often what we are working for is solely to satisfy our own needs and desires. Our focus is on ourselves rather than His Kingdom. Often what we are looking for from Jesus is not for His Kingdom to come, but to perform some kind of miracle to meet our immediate needs.
In John 6:30, the people said to Jesus, “What sign (miracle, wonderwork) will You perform then, so that we may see it and believe and rely on and adhere to You? What [supernatural] work have You [to show what You can do]?”
They were looking for Him to meet their immediate needs for bread. They went on to tell Him in John 6:11, “Our forefathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as the Scripture says, He gave them bread out of heaven to eat.”
“Oh, how He loves us so, Oh, how He loves us, how He loves us so” sings.
Jesus didn't scorn them for coming to Him with their immediate needs in asking for a sign to help their belief. Rather He turned them to look not to the bread they needed, but to Himself, who satisfies every need. He responded in John 6:35, “I am the Bread of Life. He who comes to me will never be hungry, and he who believes in and cleaves to and trusts in and relies on Me will never thirst any more (at any time).”
There were also times Jesus was angry when the Israelites asked for a sign. He became angry when the religious leaders were looking for Jesus to prove His authority to them rather than looking for Him to satisfy their needs. They weren't coming in need and lack of belief asking for Him to meet them in their place of need but they came to Him in self-righteousness demanding Him to justify Himself in their unbelief.
Matthew 12:38-39 says, “Then some of the scribes and Pharisees said to Him, Teacher, we desire to see a sign or miracle from You [proving that You are what You claim to be]. But He replied to them, An evil and adulterous generation (a generation morally unfaithful to God) seeks and demands a sign; but no sign shall be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.”
Jesus wants us to look to Him to meet our needs. David proclaims in Psalm 103:2-6, “Bless (affectionately, gratefully praise) the Lord, O my soul, and forget not [one of] all His benefits-
Who forgives [every one of] all your iniquities, Who heals [each one of] all your diseases, Who redeems your life from the pit and corruption, Who beautifies, dignifies, and crowns you with loving-kindness and tender mercy;
Who satisfies your mouth [your necessity and desire at your personal age and situation] with good so that your youth, renewed, is like the eagle's [strong, overcoming, soaring]! The Lord executes righteousness and justice [not for me only, but] for all who are oppressed.”
Ultimately, in receiving what we need from Jesus we come to a place of trusting Him, knowing He is more than enough to meet our every need. As we learn to trust in His love for us and are daily nourished by His love, we become free to serve Him with our eyes on His kingdom purposes.
“He soothes all my doubts, He calms all my fears” sings in the background.
Even when things are difficult and we are performing poorly, we can trust that He will meet us there. He will not leave us and forsake us. This is a place I struggle with a fear of disaster. When I am in an adversarial situation, rather than trusting in God's care and defense of me, I think it is my responsibility to get it right and perform well so God will approve of me. I put all the pressure on myself rather than resting in His care and provision for me.
David was someone that knew that even when he blew it while he was facing difficulty and adversaries, that God would care for Him. He could look to God who would never forsake him. God would deliver David out of his trouble in His goodness.
David cries out in Psalm 127:9-14, “Hide not Your face from me; turn not Your servant away in anger, You Who have been my help! Cast me not off, neither forsake me, O God of my salvation! Although my father and my mother have forsaken me, yet the Lord will take me up [adopt me as His child]...
Give me not up to the will of my adversaries, for false witnesses have risen up against me; they breath out cruelty and violence. [What, what would have become of me] had I not believed that I would see the Lord's goodness in the land of the living! Wait and hope for and expect the Lord; be brave and of good courage and let your heart be stout and enduring. Yes, wait and hope for and expect the Lord.”
We need not fear disaster when the enemy rises up against us because the Lord has promised to deliver us in the day of trouble. Psalm 91:14-15 says, Because he has set his love upon Me, therefore will I deliver him; I will set him on high, because he knows and understands My name [has a personal knowledge of My mercy, love, and kindness -trusts and relies on Me, knowing I will never forsake him, no, never]. He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honor him.”
Too often, it is in a place of lack of belief in God taking care of all our needs and lack of nourishment from His love that we seek to have our needs filled by other means. Or when we strive to earn our blessings and feel entitled to them, we can seek after them to fill us rather than just be grateful for them in our lives. [a]
In Deuteronomy 6:10-15 Moses warns the people, “And when the Lord your God brings you into the land which He swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give you, with great and goodly cities which you did not build, and houses full of all good things which you did not fill, and cisterns hewn out which you did not hew, and vineyards and olive trees which you did not plant, and when you eat and are full, then beware lest you forget the Lord, Who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
You shall [reverently] fear the Lord your God and serve Him and swear by His name [and presence]. You shall not go after other gods, any of the gods of the peoples who are round about you; For the Lord your God in the midst of you is a jealous God; lest the anger of the Lord your God be kindled against you, and He destroy you from the face of the earth.”
When we are being nourished and filled by God, we will be able to give out of our abundance to all those around us in need. Psalm 37:26 says about the righteous, “They are always generous and lend freely; their children will be blessed.”
When we are not being nourished by God's love, we are constantly looking for that which will nourish us. This was the case the leaders of Israel. Instead of being a fountain of nourishment to others who they were set to care for, they were looking to get what they needed from them. They were seeking to be served rather than serving.
The Lord says in Ezekiel 34:2-4, “Woe to the [spiritual] shepherds of Israel who feed themselves! Should not the shepherds feed the sheep? You eat the fat, you clothe yourselves with the wool, you kill the fatlings, but you do not feed the sheep.
The diseased and weak you have not strengthened, the sick you have not healed, the hurt and crippled you have not bandaged, those gone astray you have not brought back, the lost you have not sought to find, but with force and hardhearted harshness you have ruled them.”
It is easy to stand on the outside and see that as being wrong, but the subtlety was that the sheep were livestock. The purpose of sheep was to provide for wool and food.
One way this can come to play is when we become critical rather than grateful and start thinking that others are not serving us well. We are not paying attention to their needs but our own. When they don't serve us well, we think that they are purposely insulting us or causing us harm.
For instance, someone can come into a coffee shop expecting to be served rather than serve. When the woman at the counter makes a mistake and forgets the cream in their coffee, rather about wondering what the server might be going through or the tough day they are already having (which would result in seeking out a way to bless them or refresh them), the person purchasing the coffee becomes insulted and leaves in a huff without giving a tip.
This person is not tending to the needs of this server by washing their feet like Jesus, they are ruling over them with hardhearted harshness. They are expecting the person to meet them at their expectations rather than looking for what they can generously give out of what they have for this person's benefit.
Another person could have came into the coffee shop and received coffee from someone who forgot the cream and still be incredibly grateful that they received good tasting coffee and fast service. Rather than complain and leave in a huff, they could thank the server and leave them a big tip.
One can also ask the question of serving or being served on their job: Are the people who report to me strengthened, healed, and bandaged in their areas of weakness or are the worn down and burnt out? Do I give life to others around me or take away life?
The whole reason I went into leadership was that my first boss out of college believed in me and empowered me, giving me room to grow and use my gifts. It made me want to become a boss and do the same for others.
However, when I am not being nurtured by God, it is easier to fall into trying to perform for approval. I forget that I am there to serve the people who report to me and start focusing on everything that needs to get done at the expense of taking the time to strengthen and heal those who need the extra care and attention.
Performance was also the struggle with the Israelites who were fasting and going through the motions of all the religious activity they thought would be approved by God in Isaiah 58. The Lord says that rather than oppressing and being full of strife and debate, to humble themselves and serve those around them with what they had to give.
The Lord says in Isaiah 58:9b-10 says, “If you take away from your midst yokes of oppression [wherever you find them], the finger pointed in scorn [toward the oppressed or the godly], and every form of false, harsh, unjust, and wicked speaking, And if you pour out that with which you sustain your own life for the hungry and satisfy the need of the afflicted, then shall your light rise in darkness, and your obscurity and gloom become like the noonday.”
Lord, forgive me for the so many ways I labor for the bread that does not satisfy. I feel like the dog that keeps returning to his vomit. I keep coming back to issues of performance, trying to earn Your's and other's approval rather than resting in your love and care for me. I find it especially hard to rest in your presence and not work hard to perform when I am dealing with excessive demands or situations of strong adversity/opposition. Help me to know when and how to say no to the demands around me.
Teach us to rest in your Presence and take in what you so freely provide. Thank you for your daily nourishment in the Word of God. Thank you that You are the Bread that fills our hungering souls with that which satisfies. From this place of nourishment, make us bread broken to feed others.
“Lord, make me (us) an instrument of your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me (us) sow love.
Where there is injury, pardon.
Where there is doubt, faith.
Where there is despair, hope.
Where there darkness, light.
Where there is sadness, joy.
O Divine Master,
grant that I (we) may not so much seek to be consoled, as to console;
to be understood, as to understand;
to be loved, as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive.
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life.”
- Prayer of St. Francis
a. The Israelite leaders that Ezekiel prophesied against were trying to get their needs satisfied by their performance and position in the religious community (being admired) rather than receiving the love of God. They had turned to other idols to fill them rather than God.
“Her priests have done violence to My law and have profaned My holy things. They have made no distinction between the sacred and the secular, neither have they taught people the difference between the unclean and the clean and have hid their eyes from My Sabbaths, and I am profaned among them.” (Ezekiel 22:26)
Profane is the Hebrew word chalal, Strongs #2490, It means to pollute, defile, [9] make unholy, or treat as common. [10] One Bible Dictionary defines it as “to treat anything holy with dis-respect. In the Bible, many things could be profaned by disregarding God’s laws about their correct use: the Sabbath (Is. 56:6), the Temple (Acts 24:6), the covenant (Mal. 2:10), and God’s name (Ex. 19:22).”[11]
God tells the Israelites in Leviticus 22:31-33, “So shall you heartily accept My commandments and conform your life and conduct to them. I am the Lord. Neither shall you profane My holy name [applying it to an idol, or treating it with irreverence or contempt as a byword]; but I will be hollowed among the Israelites. I am the Lord, Who consecrates and makes you holy, who brought you out of the land of Egypt to be your God. I am the Lord.”
The priests no longer genuinely regarded God's laws from their heart. Instead they were going through the motions of religious acts while they practiced idolatry.
Ezekiel 20:24-26 says, “...Because they had not executed My ordinances but had despised and rejected My statutes and had profaned My Sabbaths, and their eyes were set on their fathers' idols. Wherefore also I have them [over to] statutes that were not good and ordinances whereby they should not live and could not have life, And I [let them] pollute and make themselves unclean in their own offerings [to their idols], in that they caused to pass through the fire all the firstborn, that I might make them desolate, to the end that they may know, understand, and realize that I am the Lord.” (Ezekiel 20:24-26)
To be unclean is the Hebrew word tame and means to be defiled or guilty. [12] One source notes “The usage of tame˒ in the Old Testament resembles that of tahor, “pure.” First, uncleanness is a state of being.” [13]
One becomes 'unclean' when they are defiled. On the other hand, genuine “cleanness” comes from repentance and turning back to God. David says in Psalm 51:10, “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.”
The purpose that God gave them over to their idols and let them pollute themselves and make themselves unclean was that they would become desolate in the pursuits of idols to the end that they may come to repent and turn to God.
God in His jealous love and contends face to face with His people rather than forsakes them for their idolatry. He does not allow them to go through the motions of serving Him while they are seeking to get their life from their idols (profaning His Name).
The Lord goes on to say in Ezekiel 20:32-44, “And that which has come up in your mind shall never happen, in that you think, We will be as the nations, as the tribes of the countries, to serve idols of wood and stone.
As I live, says the Lord God, surely with a mighty and and an outstretched arm and with wrath poured out will I be King over you. And I will bring you out from the peoples and will gather you out of the countries in which you are scattered, with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm and with wrath poured out.
And I will bring you into the wilderness of the peoples, and there will I enter into judgment with you and contend with you face to face. As I entered into judgment and contended with your fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, so will I enter into judgment and contend with you, says the Lord God.
And I will cause you to pass under the rod [as the shepherd does the sheep when he counts them, and I will count you as Mine and I will constrain you] and bring you into the covenant to which you are permanently bound.
And I will purge out and separate from among you the rebels and those who transgress against Me; I will bring them out of the country where they temporarily dwell, but they shall not enter the land of Israel. Then you shall know, understand, and realize that I am the Lord.
As for you, O house of Israel, thus says the Lord God: Go, serve every one of you his idols, now and here after, if you will not listen to Me! But you shall not profane My holy name any more with your sacrificial gifts and your idols!
For on My holy mountain, on the mountain height of Israel, says the Lord God, there all the house of Israel, all of them in the land, shall serve Me. There will I [graciously] accept them, and there will I require your offerings and the firstfruits and the choicest of your contributions, with all your sacred things.
I will accept you [graciously] as a pleasant odor when I lead you out from the peoples and gather you out of the countries in which you have been scattered, and I will manifest My holiness among you in the sight of the nations [who will seek Me because of My power displayed in you].
And you shall know, understand and realize that I am the Lord, when I bring you into the land of Israel, into the country which I lifted up My hand and swore to give to your fathers. And there you shall [earnestly] remember your ways and all your doings with which you have defiled yourselves, and you shall loathe yourselves in your own sight for all your evil deeds which you have done.
And you shall know, understand and realize that I am the Lord, when I deal with you for My name's sake, not according to your evil ways nor according to your corrupt doings, O house of Israel, says the Lord God.”
The fruit of an unclean heart (seeking to get life from idolatry rather than receiving the love of God) is that we cannot love others with God's unconditional love because we are not receiving it for ourselves. We become desolate and end up oppressing others to get our needs met.
The Lord says in Ezekiel 22:29, “The people of the land have used oppression and extortion and have committed robbery; yes, they have wronged and vexed the poor and needy; yes, they have oppressed the stranger and temporary resident wrongfully.”
The opposite of being unclean (tame) is to be pure (tahor). Jesus says in Matthew 5:8, “Blessed (happy, enviably fortunate, and spiritually prosperous- possessing the happiness produced by the experience of God's favor and especially conditioned by the revelation of His grace, regardless of their outward conditions) are the pure in heart, for they shall see God!”
Pure means to be made clean, to be cleansed from the guilt of sin and pronounced clean, such as in the case of one who was in as state of disease, such as that of leprosy.[14] David goes on to pray in Psalm 51:10, “Create in me a clean (pure) heart, O God, and renew a right, persevering, and steadfast spirit within me.”
When someone repents of their sin and turns back to God, Jesus cleanses their heart and restores them to joy in His salvation. David goes on to pray in Psalm 51:12, “Restore to me the joy of Your salvation and uphold me with a willing spirit.”
The fruit of a pure heart is delight in God. The Lord says in Isaiah 58:13-14 says, “If you turn away your foot from [traveling unduly on] the Sabbath, from doing your own pleasure on My holy day, and call the Sabbath a [spiritual] delight, the holy day of the Lord honorable, and honor Him and it, not going your own way or seeking or finding your own pleasure or speaking with your own [idle] words, Then will you delight yourself in the Lord, and I will make you to ride on the high places of the earth, and I will feed you with the heritage [promised for you] of Jacob your father; for the mouth of the Lord has spoken it.”
1-2. Vanier, John. Drawn into the Mystery of Jesus through the Gospel of John. Paulist Press, New York/Mahwah, N.J. 2004.
3-4. MacDonald, William ; Farstad, Arthur: Believer's Bible Commentary : Old and New Testaments. Nashville : Thomas Nelson, 1997, c1995.
5. Wiens, Steve. Be Still My Soul. Church of the Open Door. March 25th, 2012.
6-8. McKenna, Bob. Hindrances to Loving as the Beloved. Church of the Open Door. March 24th, 2012.
9. Vine, W. E. ; Unger, Merrill F. ; White, William: Vine's Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words. Nashville : T. Nelson, 1996, S. 1:180
10. Strong, James: The Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible : Showing Every Word of the Text of the Common English Version of the Canonical Books, and Every Occurrence of Each Word in Regular Order. electronic ed. Ontario : Woodside Bible Fellowship., 1996, S. H2455
11. Youngblood, Ronald F. ; Bruce, F. F. ; Harrison, R. K. ; Thomas Nelson Publishers: Nelson's New Illustrated Bible Dictionary. Nashville : T. Nelson, 1995
12-13. Vine, W. E. ; Unger, Merrill F. ; White, William: Vine's Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words. Nashville : T. Nelson, 1996, S. 1:272
14. Vine, W. E. ; Unger, Merrill F. ; White, William: Vine's Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words. Nashville : T. Nelson, 1996, S. 2:104
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