Jesus answers by a quotation from Deuteronomy 8:3. The chapter sets forth the teaching of the wilderness. The forty years were to the Jews what the forty days are to Jesus. The Lord God proved Israel "to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments or no. And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna … that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every [word, omitted in Hebr.] that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord doth man live."

Christ's test of sonship is obedience and entire trust in God who alone is the giver of every good gift. The devil's test of sonship is supply of bodily wants, external prosperity, &c.

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