BIBLE STUDY BOOKLET

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	THE TEMPTATIONS OF THE LORD By Theo Todman TEMPTATION OF GOD WHEN NOT MANIFEST IN THE FLESH

The main theme of this booklet is to look at the temptations the Lord Jesus Christ underwent while in the flesh and to try to understand something of the effect these trials and temptations had on Him, and what they show us about Him. It has been demonstrated that the key Greek word peirazo and its cognates can be translated 'test' or 'tempt' according to the context and our contention is that, with respect to the Lord Jesus, they should always be translated 'test', because His was a nature that had nothing in it that could be provoked to sin. When we see the Hebrew equivalent of this word used of God in the absolute in the Old Testament it is obvious that no thought of sin can enter into the picture.

The Hebrew equivalent of peirazo is nasah. So, in the Old Testament, nasah is our proper subject of enquiry. However, Isaiah 28:16, where bachan is used, gives us a clue to what the Lord Jesus' temptations were all about:-

That this passage refers to the Lord Jesus is proved by the references to it in Romans 9:33; 10:11 and 1 Peter 2:6. These quotations follow the approximate Septuagint reading

Thus in the Greek the idea has changed from the Hebrew 'tested' to that of 'chosen'. However, it is the testings that showed that the choice was right - a stone that could not stand the test would not be a sure foundation.

When we consider the Hebrew verb nasah, the corresponding noun massah and the New Testament Greek equivalent peirazo and its derivatives, we find many passages relevant to our theme which demonstrate that God, even when 'in absolute' and unhampered by any association with the likeness of sinful flesh, could be (and was) tested or tempted and yet in ways obviously unassociated with sin or the possibility of sinning.

Proceeding in chronological order, we start with three similar references in Deuteronomy (4:34; 7:19; 29:3) to the 'trials, signs and wonders' (RSV) which the Lord performed before Pharaoh in Egypt. These 'temptations' (AV), culminating in the ten plagues, the deliverance of Israel and the overthrow of Pharaoh in the Red Sea, were trials of the Lord's strength, trials of His patience and tempted Him to execute judgement. They are described as signs because they showed something about the Lord, the God of Israel namely His power, His faithfulness to His people and that though He is 'merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love' He will 'by no means clear the guilty.' (Exodus 34:6-7, RSV).

Next we have the various incidents in the wilderness where Israel tempted the Lord. Firstly at Rephidim (Massah) they murmured against Moses because there was no water to drink (Exodus 17:2; Deuteronomy 6:16; 33:8; Psalms 95:9) so that Moses had to say "Why do you put the Lord to the proof ?' (Exodus 17:2, RSV) and it became a byword that "you shall not put the Lord your God to the test, as you tested Him at Massah" (Deuteronomy 6:16, RSV). ln the affair of the quails, Israel were ungrateful for the manna, and wept for flesh-meat.

There is a parallel here between the ten plagues of Egypt, after which the patience of the Lord was exhausted, resulting in the overthrow of Egypt in the Red Sea, and the ten temptations of the Lord in the wilderness (Sinai) after which the guilty Israelites were overthrown in the wilderness during the 40 years' wanderings. The incident at Massah, where Moses smote the rock, is especially memorable for it is referred to twice in the New Testament, namely, in Hebrews 3:8 (Psalms 95:7-11 is quoted in Hebrews 3:7-11) "Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, on the day of testing in the wilderness" and in 1 Corinthians 10:4 "for they drank from the supernatural Rock which followed them, and the Rock was Christ." Later in 1 Corinthians 10 we read "we must not put the Lord (or Christ) to the test as some of them did and were destroyed by serpents" (verse 9, RSV, referring to Numbers 21:4-9). These passages show, amongst other things, that it was still possible to 'tempt' the Lord, even though He has now ascended, as it was possible before His incarnation, and that the two things that tempt Him most to show His displeasure are unbelief and ingratitude.

As we continue through lsrael's history, we find two further incidents itemised. We read in Psalm 78:55-56 that after "He drove out nations before them... yet they tested and rebelled against the Most High God, and did not observe His testimonies," so that He allowed Israel to be defeated and the Philistines to capture the Ark, (1 Samuel 4:10-11) for the sin of idolatry (see Psalm 78:58-61 and following). Secondly, in Isaiah 7:12, we read that when the Lord, through Isaiah, asked Ahaz to request of Him a sign that Judah would be protected from the confederacy of Israel and Syria he prevaricated by saying "I will not ask, and I will not put the Lord to the test." In saying this he did indeed test the Lord's patience, for Isaiah replied "Hear then, O house of David ! Is it too little for you to weary men, that you weary my God also" (verse 13) and there follows the Immanuel prophecy.

In the New Testament there are two further incidents. Firstly that of Ananias and Sapphira, of whom Peter said "How is it that ye have agreed together to tempt the Spirit of the Lord ?" (Acts 5:9, AV). Their lying to the Holy Spirit (verse 3) Who "searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God" (1 Corinthians 2:10, AV) had tested His omniscience and also tempted Him to execute the summary judgement relevant to the Pentecostal period. Finally, in Acts 15:10, at the council of Jerusalem, Peter asks James and the believing Pharisees "Why do you make trial of God by putting a yoke upon the neck of the disciples which neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear ? (RSV)" that is, by requesting the gentiles to be circumcised and to keep the Law of Moses (verse 5). This is another reference to the testing of the Lord's patience, tempting Him to judge them for perverting the Gospel.