Our Bread of Life
Isaiah, short passage expostion

1 “Ho! Everyone who thirsts, Come to the waters; And you who have no money, Come, buy and eat. Yes, come, buy wine and milk Without money and without price.

2 Why do you spend money for what is not bread, And your wages for what does not satisfy? Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good, And let your soul delight itself in abundance.

3 Incline your ear, and come to Me. Hear, and your soul shall live; And I will make an everlasting covenant with you— The sure mercies of David.


The context of what the Prophet Isaiah has written here is looking forward to the first coming of the Holy One of God, the Suffering Servant, our Lord, the Messiah.

It’s looking forward to the work He did for us on the Cross. He was a totally innocent man, wounded and dying in our place and for our sins. Because He did (would do) that, this passage could be offered to mankind.

The first word used in this passage, “Ho!” is an attention getter which the Strong’s
Concordance says is akin to, “OH!” It’s used emphatically here to get the attention of certain persons. Let’s break it down a bit and look closely at the first part of verse 1. Who’s attention is the writer is trying to secure? “Everyone,” means all persons. Does that word leave anybody out?

“Who thirsts.” When we thirst, we have a strong desire to drink water to slake that thirst, but if we're truly thirsty, it's a necessity for us to drink. When we’re thirsty and need a drink, there's nothing from the world that can act as a substitute for the water we need to take away the dryness that we experience in our bodies.

What we have here, is a ‘calling out,’ an invitation, to everyone who has experienced the dryness of their souls in this spiritually dry world. The invitation is open to any and all who are looking for something more than the world has to offer them. It's a calling out to all those who are ‘open’ to the salvation of the Lord. Where and what in the next line of the verse are we being called to? “To the waters.”

Go ahead and read through verse one. How many times is the word “come” used? In some Bible translations it may be used four times, in some it will be three. The point is that the word is used several times in an emphatic way to highlight God’s offer of salvation.

It’s used several times………

in an emphatic way to highlight, “You can have a truly satisfying life, full of meaning and in abundance.”

It’s used several times………

in an emphatic way to highlight, “I AM, God. I love you and I want you to have this. It is yours for the asking. You don’t need to buy anything.”

It’s used several times………

in an emphatic way to highlight, “Money doesn’t work here, only My grace and My mercy and My forgiveness works here.”

Let’s turn up our magnifying lens a little bit more. Let me ask a question with an obvious answer. Are the ‘thirsty and needy’ ones who are being called, already at this place of blessing? The answer is ‘no,’ they’re not.

“Come to the waters.”

In John, Chapter 4, Jesus told the Samaritan woman at the well that, “Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, (14) but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.”

Come to Me. Drink. Live.

No one can satisfy this kind of thirst in people, but Jesus.

The rest of verse 1 reads, “And you who have no money, Come, buy and eat. Yes, come, buy wine and milk Without money and without price.”

Let’s explore what this part of the verse is saying. How can you purchase something without some sort of currency? The word used in the last part of the verse from the Hebrew text for ‘buy’ is, “shabar.” This word was typically used when talking about things broken.

‘Shabar’ used to speak of brokenheartedness. It was also used to talk about grains that were broken or crushed by a stone in the mill.In this passage it is used for the word, “buy.” It meant, “to break” and then “to purchase.”

In this context it’s used in the sense of acquiring or getting water and food, but we’re told that we can ‘buy’ or “shabar’ it without money. This conveys to me a sense of urgency. Get spiritual water and bread and drink and eat it to eternal life. The idea is to come. Now. Live forever.We don’t have to buy in the strictest sense of the word.

Look at verses 2 and 3 again. They state clearly that God is calling people’s “souls” who are trying to get to Heaven through their own works, to come, to listen and to feast on His living Word. His Word will produce in us faith, which the Apostle Peter tells us in 1 Peter 1:7 is, “much more precious than gold which perishes.”

“For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast.” Ephesians 2:8,9

Now, you might have been asking yourself why God’s salvation and the blessings contained within were illustrated by “wine” and milk. I’d like to offer an opinion on this, an remember, it’s just an opinion.

Isaiah and the people he lived around were largely an agrarian society, and wine was often used at special feasts and it depicts the celebratory joy that God’s salvation brings to us. The milk depicts the healthful spiritual nourishment we receive.

In any case, it's by means of an invitation and a question through the Word, spoken by men moved by the Holy Spirit, like this great prophet, that the Lord calls us to look upon life apart from His grace as the futile existence that it is.There are many who are still invited, but haven’t accepted.

Jesus told us to, “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it.” (Matthew 7:13)

There are many sin lifestyles, which are “gods” to the people who live them. Whether a person replaces God with the worship of money, of drugs, sex or of some other idol, the gate is “broad.”

It’s our job to know the truth, and to know it well, and to give people the Word of God.

It’s our job to ask people to “incline their ears” to God’s invitation.

It’s our job to “share” His invitation to drink from the water, which will end their thirst and to point them to the Bread of Life.