Man does not live by bread alone

Parshat Ekev introduced us to the popular phrase "Man does not live by bread alone" (8:3). However, end of that verse is far less famous, although the second part contains the true message. It reads, "Rather, by everything that emanates from the mouth of G-d does man live." If the point is that G-d's emanations are the source of our lives, why use bread as the subject, when bread only becomes edible through the toils of man? Wouldn't fruits be a better example of G-d's influence on the world?

I heard Rabbi Shmuel Greenberg and saw Rav Hirsch explain that bread is used as the subject because it exemplifies the toils of man, and that the message here is that even when you toil for the bread you eat, don't forget that Hashem (G-d) has toiled for everything that we have, and His goal is not just to sustain us, but to help us live physically AND spiritually. Man should not only seek physical nourishment from the work of his hands, but should seek spiritual nourishment from the word of his G-d.

Jeff Seidel
Worldwide Jewish Network