Matthew 4:1-11
Moses and Elijah… When we see those two names together we are inclined to think of the Transfiguration or of Jesus’ references to “the Law and the Prophets” (Mt. 5:17, 22:40).
Another connection with those two to Jesus is their unique “departures”. Jesus died, rose, and ascended; Moses died and the Lord buried him (Deuteronomy 34:6); and Elijah was “taken up to heaven” (2 Kings 2:1-11).
But a third connection is their “forty days and forty nights”. Moses was forty days and forty nights on Mt. Sinai (Exodus 24:18-34:29). Elijah arose and ate and drank, and went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights to Horeb, the mount of God. (1 Kings 19:8). And now we have Jesus in the wilderness forty days and forty nights (Mt. 4:2). Beyond observing these connections, I have nothing to add. “Moses, Elijah, Jesus” – sounds like a good book title.
The second item I noticed was Satan quoting Scripture (Mt. 4:6). He saw Jesus do it in verse 4 (Mt. 4:4) so he thought that was a good tactic. But Jesus refuted Satan’s Scripture quote with his own quotation in verse 7 (Mt. 4:7). The lesson: be careful not to use Scripture to satisfy your own ends.
Slava Bohu!
Excellent final point, Fred!
Here’s what I noticed the last time through this passage. (Sorry — I confess — this isn’t entirely “fresh,” but it still jumped out at me again.) After Jesus was told directly by God the Father that He was His Son (Mt. 3:17), in response to Satan’s prompt of “If you are the Son of God…” the first thing out of Jesus’ mouth was “Man shall not live by bread alone…” That is, instead of (legitimately) asserting His position in the Godhead He identified Himself with us! That’s stunning! He submitted to His position as a man and “did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself…” (Phil. 2:6,7).
Which of us would have even recognized the suggestion of proving the truth as a temptation? But in refusing to provide such evidence apart from the Father’s own direction, He paradoxically did in fact provide us with even stronger evidence of His Sonship by giving a response that was utterly different than what anyone other than the Son of God would have given. Again, stunning!
There have been many times when I have read John’s gospel that I have not been able to see how Jesus was answering a question that had been asked of Him. Even when I took a John’s Gospel Bible course at a Bible Camp back in 1976, I was at pains to follow our leader’s explanation of how Jesus’ answer was in fact answering the question that had been posed. I had the same thought with Matthew and Jesus’ temptation. Good response, John, in shedding light on how Jesus’ response does answer Satan’s challenge, but He did not follow Satan’s scheme! I like your insight that Jesus was identifying with US!