Classic KJV - Proverbs 28:21

We are controlled by our appetites more than we like to think! This is why asking God for our “daily bread” is extremely important. However, we may think that we don’t need to ask God, since so many others are busily offering it. Contentment is our protection from them.

Dangerous Dependence

If we depend on others for our food, they will soon shape our behaviour. Yet we always, proudly deny this possibility. We confidently declare independence from any controlling influences. To think that those who feed us also control us is demeaning to our self-respect! Indeed, but the Bible says it’s true. He who pays the piper calls the tune.

The downfall of humanity came at this very point. Adam and Eve sinned by gobbling a new forbidden food (Genesis 2:16-17, 3:6). Jesus’ first temptation was for simple bread. The difference between the first Adam and the last Adam was this: the first was governed by his own appetite, and the last, by His obedience to his Father. The benefits of bread are brief, but the costs of rebellion, everlasting. Disobedience brings death.

Look to our Maker

The question is: Who do we look to for our needs? When we start looking to mere mortals, whether the government, powerful people, or even ourselves, we’ve turned away from God, our Creator. We are vulnerable to the persuasion of others and our own self-deception. Humans are deeply, fundamentally flawed (Mark 7:20-24). All of us can be bribed. Only God is reliable, always. So, in our prayer, we must proclaim that it really is God himself who provides for all our needs, even if others—like the government—pretend they’re in charge.

Classic Comments

Matthew Poole:

When a man hath once vitiated his conscience, and accustomed himself to take bribes, a very small advantage will make him sell justice, and his own soul into the bargain. The design of the proverb is to warn men to take heed of the beginnings of that sin, and consequently of other sins.

John Gill:

In courts of judicature, to give a cause or pass sentence in favour of a person, because he is rich, or is a relation, a friend, an acquaintance, or has done a kindness; and against another, because of the reverse, (Leviticus 19:15, Deuteronomy 16:19); nor in religious assemblies, making a difference between the rich and the poor, (James 2:1-2); this is not good in itself, nor productive of good effects, and cannot be well pleasing to God, who himself is no respecter of persons.

For for a piece of bread [that] man will transgress; the laws of God and men; having used himself to such unrighteous methods of proceeding, he will do any base action for a small gain, he will stick at nothing, and do it for anything; as Cato used to say of M. Coelius the tribune, “that he might be hired, for a morsel of bread, to speak or hold his peace” (see Ezekiel 13:19).

Don’t Trust the Wrong Person

If we begin to treat people differently, based on their financial status, then we are submitting ourselves to their control. We should not be impressed with rich people or treat them with more respect. Again, contentment is protection against those who use wealth as a lure to sin.

Larger Than Its Context

The words, “for a piece of bread a man will transgress,” describe a major human weakness—we are driven more by our stomachs than we care to admit. The Bible speaks of many instances where sin begins with the abuse of food. A comparatively small sample of such weakness:

1. In the original human rebellion, Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit. They did not eat from hunger, since the other trees provided all the food they needed. It may seem a trivial offence, but then obedience would have been so easy. They ate from this forbidden tree from the desire to be “like God,” in self-assertion and pride. Yet the physical food was the “bait” or means of their rebellion (Genesis 3:6).
2. Esau, the brother of Jacob, was so ruled by his hunger, that he traded his birthright to his younger brother for a bowl of lentil stew (Genesis 25:34). This lack of self-control—his unthinking contempt for his inheritance—cost Esau dearly.
3. The Israelis grew contemptuous and bored of eating the manna that God himself provided them, while they were wandering so long (by their own fault) in the desert (Numbers 21:5).
4. Scrumptious roasts were used as bait to get the Israelite men to party with the Moabite women, and later to marry some of them in direct disobedience to God (Numbers 25:1).
5. An unnamed prophet in northern Israel worked a great public miracle, and yet he was slain by God because he ate too soon (1 Kings 13:11-25).
6. A wicked woman seduced a foolish young man with the prospect of a fine meal. Her peace offering, which should have been offered in reverence to God, instead became a sacrilegious sacrifice for her sexual pleasure (Proverbs 7:10-13).
7. We are warned to eat circumspectly, especially when dining with rulers (Proverbs 23:1-3) or with those who are rich but stingy (Proverbs 23:6-8).
8. We should ask God for our optimal amount of daily food—neither too little nor too much. If we have too much, we may forget God, or if too little, we may dishonour Him (Proverbs 30:7-9).
9. Jesus told us to pray to God asking, “Give us this day, our daily bread,” (Matthew 6:11). Such prayer deepens our relationship with God and makes us less susceptible to others.
10. Jesus warns us not to be controlled by our craving for physical food, but to be most eager for spiritual nourishment (Matthew 6:32-33, John 6:27).

Our Maker, Saviour, and Friend

One of the most striking characteristics of Jesus was His impartiality.

Jesus trusted no human being, because He understood our inherent unreliability. He trusted God alone (John 2:24-25). Even His enemies said about Him in Matthew 22:16, “Teacher, we know that you are truthful and teach the way of God in truth, and defer to no one; for you are not partial to any.” Jesus was no mere mortal.

When Jesus refused to turn the stones into bread, He put His confidence in the Scriptures ahead of any fear for His physical life. God then sent angels to provide for His need (Matthew 4:11).