<p>6:31 <i>Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written: He gave them bread out of heaven to eat</i>- The Lord's reply shows that the &quot;he&quot; they had in view was Moses. They wanted Him to again demonstrate that He was the prophet like Moses (Dt. 18:18). But He was greater than Moses, and the manna He would give was of salvation, and not temporary food for the day.</p><p>The living word of God which speaks to us each personally. In this sense, we are constantly being invited to place ourselves in the position of those who played a part in the historical incidents which that word records. The Jews quoted to the Lord Jesus: &ldquo;He gave <i>them</i> bread from heaven to eat&rdquo;, to which the Lord replied after the teaching style of the rabbis to which they were accustomed by changing and challenging a word in the quotation they made: &ldquo;It is not Moses who gave <i>you</i> the bread&rdquo;. He wanted them to see that the account of bread being given to Israel in the wilderness was not just dry history. <i>They</i>, right there and then, were as it were receiving that same bread from Heaven. See on Mt. 22:31; Heb. 11:4.</p>