Matthew 7:9

Tuesday, 4 February 2025

 

Or what man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Matthew 7:9

 

“Or what man, he is, from you, whom his son if he may ask him bread, not stone he will give him?” (CG).

 

In the previous verse, Jesus noted that those who ask, seek, and find will get what they have pursued. Now, He continues with, “Or what man, he is, from you.”

 

Jesus begins a question, but He does so by addressing a single person out of the whole. People generally like to be considered a part of a group, and so to single out one from the group is to highlight them as exceptional, either in a positive or negative way.

 

The words beg for the audience to listen carefully because if one is being identified in a positive way, he will get satisfaction from being separated from the others. If in a negative way, he will shy away from drawing such attention to himself and being separated from others as offensive.

 

As such, the words call for heeding the rest of the question to know how to respond. Next, Jesus says, “whom his son if he may ask him bread.”

 

It is the most common of events between the closest of family. The father/son relationship is normally one which is based on love, respect, trust, etc. The response of the father to a request for bread is almost universally expected to be a positive one.

 

Unless there was a famine or some other reason that the request could not be favorably responded to, the answer to the request would be to grant it without hesitation. However, now comes the reason why the single is highlighted from the whole with the words, “not stone he will give him?”

 

The word mé, not, is used here as an interrogative. The question is essentially, “What man is there among you who would do this?” At this point, anyone listening would immediately shake his head and deny he would do such a thing, knowing that his inclusion in the group would suddenly be in jeopardy.

 

Bread comes from the ground as grain. It is then formed into bread and used for eating. However, it generally has the appearance of a stone which also comes from the ground. If it is flatbread, there are lots of flat stones in the area. If it is round bread, there would be lots of those too. If it was a slice of bread, there would even be stones that look like that.

 

But stones can’t be eaten. Instead of filling the stomach, they will break the teeth. The act would be rude, heartless, and deceitful and the son would henceforth lack trust in his father.

 

Even without going further, the words are already indicating where Jesus is going with the question. He has spoken about asking, seeking, and knocking. With the father/son concept introduced, He is preparing His hearers to understand the nature of God who created humans in His image.

 

Life application: God has said in His word that the creation took place in six days. If evolution is true, then it is as if God has given us a stone in place of bread. The word, though seemingly reliable in one area, cannot be trusted in another area. Therefore, the whole loses integrity.

 

And yet, with evolution being considered the answer by the scientific elite as to how creation has developed, the manner in which Jesus’ question has been formed could be applied to the Bible as well. The Bible presents Jesus as the Bread of life. And yet, the Bible has handed us a stone from our heavenly Father.

 

How can He be trusted any longer if He would laughingly deceive us in such a manner? In such an instance, either the scientific model is true, and we have misread the presentation of the bread presented in Scripture, or our evaluation of Scripture concerning a literal six-day creation is true, and the scientific model is faulty.

 

In such an instance, we must fall back on the words of verses 7 and 8. If God is God and the knowledge of what and how He has done things is attainable, then we need to ask, seek, and knock. And this is just what creation scientists have done.

 

In using this process, they have formed models of creation that align with Scripture and respond to evolutionists with brilliant insights that call the evolutionary model into question.

 

God formed man, not the other way around. If we can trust that our fathers will provide for our needs in a physical manner, we can trust that God will provide for our spiritual understanding. In the end, it may at first take a step of faith to accept creation, but it also can take a step of faith to bite into bread. However, the more in tune we are with the Giver, the more we can trust His gifts.

 

Glorious Lord God, help us to read the words of Scripture with understanding and the insight needed to form a bond of trust between us. If we have made wrong conclusions, open our minds to what is right. May our pursuit of You be proper and pleasing to You. Amen.