Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness. As it is written, ‘He gave them bread out of heaven to eat.’”
ExplanationCommentary
Verse 31. Christ having declared that he was greater than Moses, (since Moses could not promise them bread which should never perish) the Jews wished for some sign by which they might believe in him; therefore they say: Our fathers did eat manna in the desert, but you have only given us bread; where then is the food that perishes not? Christ therefore answers them, that the food which Moses gave them, was not the true manna from heaven, but that it was only a figure of himself, who came down from heaven to give life to the world. Saint Augustine—S. Chrysostom observes, that the Jews here acknowledge Christ to be God, since they entreat Christ not merely to ask his Father to give it them; but, do thou thyself give it us.
Greek and Hebrew use the same word for “heaven”, “the heavens”, “the sky”, and “the air”.