The Messianic Temptation of Jesus Christ in Matthew 4:1-11 and the New Testament Use of the Old

by Boyan Mak Mihaylov

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https://orcid.org/0009-0007-6257-1246

Abstract:

Mihaylov, Boyan. The Messianic Temptation of Jesus Christ in Matthew 4:1-11 and the New Testament Use of the Old

The purpose of this short research is to see and analyze the Old Testament sources that Matthew as an author of his gospel uses in describing the temptation of Jesus. The New testament Text is compared with the Septuagint and differences with the Hebrew text are pointed out. A conclusion is made of how Matthew uses typology in his quoting of the Old Testament.

Keywords:

Jesus Christ, temptation, Satan, Septuagint, LXX, Masoretic text, Leningrad Codex, Greek, Hebrew, stones, bread, worship, temple

Introduction

No matter how Matthew wrote his gospel, the final form is in Greek. ¹ Probably Jesus spoke Aramaic, so we know the words of Jesus as are represented by Matthew in Greek. To better understand the passage it is convenient to make a plan of Matt. 4:1-11:

• Jesus led by the Spirit in the desert (verses 1-2)

• First temptation: the stones to become bread (verses 3-4)

• Second temptation: “throw yourself down” (verses 5-7)

• Third temptation: “worship me” (verses 8-10)

• The devil leaves Jesus and angels serve him (verse 11)

Identification of Old Testament References²

In Matt. 4:1 -11 there are two exact and one inexact quotations made by Christ. Satan uses one inexact quotation in which part of the text is omitted.

First Temptation (Matt. 4:3-4)

Matt. 4:4 is an exact quotation from the LXX. In Matt. 4:4 the text is “Οὐκ ἐπ’ ἄρτῳ μόνῳ ζήσεται ὁ ἄνθρωπος, ἀλλ’ ἐπὶ παντὶ ῥήματι ἐκπορευομένῳ διὰ στόματος Θεοῦ.” (NA28³) Jesus quotes Deut. 8:3. In the LXX this is “οὐκ ἐπ᾿ ἄρτῳ μόνῳ ζήσεται ὁ ἄνθρωπος, ἀλλ᾿ ἐπὶ παντὶ ρήματι τῷ ἐκπορευομένῳ διὰ στόματος Θεοῦ”. ⁴ The WLC does not have “every word” (Gr. παντὶ ρήματι) but only “everything” (Heb.כָּל־), so the LXX has a slight change of meaning compared to the WLC.⁵

Second Temptation (Matt. 4:5-7)

The quote that Satan uses in Matt. 4:6 is an inexact quotation from Ps. 91:11-12 (in LXX Ps.90:11-12) because it omits 8 words. The NA28 of Matt. 4:6 is “Τοῖς ἀγγέλοις αὐτοῦ ἐντελεῖται περὶ σοῦ καὶ ἐπὶ χειρῶν ἀροῦσίν σε, μήποτε προσκόψῃς πρὸς λίθον τὸν πόδα σου.”. The interesting part is that in LXX the text is longer “τοῖς ἀγγέλοις αὐτοῦ ἐντελεῖται περὶ σοῦ τοῦ διαφυλάξαι σε ἐν πάσαις ταῖς ὁδοῖς σου· ἐπὶ χειρῶν ἀροῦσί σε, μήποτε προσκόψῃς πρὸς λίθον τὸν πόδα σου·” ⁶ One can clearly see that Satan’s “καὶ” (and) in the LXX has “To guard thoroughly/carefully in all the way of you” (LXX Interlinear). ⁷

Matt. 4:7 is also an exact quotation from the LXX. In Matt. 4:7 Jesus quotes Deut. 6:16. Matthew gives us a word for word quotation from the text of the LXX, which can be observed by comparing Matt. 4:7 in NA28⁸ with Deut. 6:16 in the LXX⁹ (“Οὐκ ἐκπειράσεις Κύριον τὸν Θεόν σου”). NASB translates Matt.4:7 and Deut. 6:16 as “You shall not put the Lord your God to the test” as compared to the Interlinear translation of WLC “your God Yahweh you shall tempt not” which shows a small change of meaning in the LXX. ¹⁰

Third Temptation (Matt. 4:8–10)

Matt. 4:10 is an inexact quotation from the LXX with 8 common words, one word changed and one word added. In Matt. 4:10 Jesus seems to quote Deut. 6:13. Matthew gives the quote as “Κύριον τὸν θεόν σου προσκυνήσεις καὶ αὐτῷ μόνῳ λατρεύσεις” (NA28). The are two differences: “Κύριον τὸν Θεόν σου φοβηθήσῃ καὶ αὐτῷ μόνῳ λατρεύσεις”. The LXX has φοβηθηση (to be afraid, to fear) instead of προσκυνήσεις (to worship) and the quote in Matthew has μόνῳ (only). The WLC has “You shall fear” (Heb. תִּירָ֖א) so here the LXX has the same meaning as the WLC. So the quote which Jesus (and Matthew as an evangelist) use seems to be an interpretation of Deut. 6:13 with “to fear” understood as “to worship”. Because for Old Testament Jews there is only one God, so it is natural to worship “only” Him and no other God.

Broad New Testament Context¹¹

The temptation is part of the synoptic tradition (Mark 1:12-13; Luke 4:1-13). Mark just mentions that the Spirit led Christ in the desert where He was tempted by Satan (two verses) and then continues with the ministry of Jesus, like Matthew. Luke also puts the temptation after the baptism but inserts the genealogy between the two. Then Luke continues with Christ’s Galilean ministry. One may conclude that the temptation follows Christ’s baptism and is in the start of His ministry.

The temptation of Jesus is placed by Matthew right after Christ’s baptism by John the Baptist and a voice coming from having “This is my Son, whom I love; with Him I am well pleased.” (Matt. 3:17) After the temptation Matthew continues with the imprisonment of John and beginning of the preaching ministry of Christ.

The Old Testament Context: Broad and Immediate¹²

The commandments in Deut. ch. 6 to ch. 8 follow the ten commandments in Deut. 5:6-21. They are given to Israel to be observed in the land about forty years after the giving of the Law in Exodus (Deut. 6:1).

In Matt. 4:1-11 Jesus quotes Deut. 8:3; 6:16; 6:13. But later in his ministry Jesus sees in Deut. 6:5 a summary of the Law, because when asked by a scribe which is the greatest commandment, Jesus answers that it is Deut. 6:5 and Lev. 19:18 and on these two commandments hang the Law and the Prophets. In a broad perspective Deut. 6 – 8 is then very important for Christ.

First Temptation (Matt. 4:3-4)

The OT context of Deut. 8:3 is about Israel in the desert that is fed by manna. Just like Israel, Jesus is alone in the desert and He has to depend on Yahweh. Satan knows that Christ is the Son of God, so the temptation consists in using His divine power to turn stones to bread. Jesus uses Deut. 8:3 to make a counterargument that he will depend only on God and refuses any food. Using the LXX it is a dependence not on everything but on every “word” (Gr. ῥῆμα¹³) of God.

Second Temptation (Matt. 4:5-7)

Deut. 6:16 is originally a commandment given to Israel because they tested Yahweh in Massa and asked “is the Lord among us or not?”, where they did not have any water (Ex.17:7). There was murmur against Moses and the people in a question form accused Yahweh for bringing them out of Egypt and killing them by thirst in the desert. Satan uses an inexact quotation from Ps. 91:11-12 and misses “To guard thoroughly/carefully in all the way of you” ¹⁴ If Jesus jumps from the temple he would be just like those Israelites, doing something against God and questioning His power.

Third Temptation (Matt. 4:8–10)

The original context of Deut. 6:13 is to have fear of God who brought Israel out of Egypt, not forget Yahweh and make no oaths in His name. Jesus understands this as worshiping Yahweh only and no other god or gods. Worshiping Satan is worshiping of another god, just as the Egyptians served their idols and thus Satan. When one reads Deut. 6 and 8 it is seen that those commandments are given for Israel who: 1) was brought out by Yahweh from Egypt trough the desert, 2) had to depend on manna for food, 3) tested Yahweh in Massa and wanted to return to slavery, 4) had to worship only Yahweh and no Egyptian or another god, but failed. Jesus was brought by the Spirit to the desert, had no food just like Israel and had to depend on the word of God, did not test God and did not worship a false god (Satan).

Matthew’s Rhetorical and Ethical Use of the Old Testament¹⁵

Writing to a Jewish audience, Matthew refers to the OT in Matt. 4:1-11 to compare Israel with Israel’s Messiah. The final intended force of the OT quotations is to show that Jesus did not fail where Israel did. They failed for forty days in the desert in not depending on God for food, testing God and serving other gods. Jesus did not fail for forty days to depend on God without food, did not test God and did not serve another god. Therefore Jesus is qualified to be God’s servant. Thus the readers move theologically forward to Christ’s Galilean ministry and ethically they see Israel’s Messiah being without sin and go trough the same temptations as their Jewish forefathers.

Conclusion

In his Bible commentary Michael Green writes:

It would be a great mistake to think that the account of the temptations is included in the Gospel chiefly as an example to the Christian disciples, although it contains such an example. These temptations are messianic. They are relevant only to the Son of God who has just received a clear idea of his ministry. ¹⁶

They show the perfection of Christ as God’s Son in comparison to Israel, God’s son. Matthew uses this typology from the beginning (Matt. 2:15) when he compares the departure of Jesus’ family to Egypt and the calling of Israel out of Egypt (Hos. 11:1) ¹⁷

Bibliography

Cyrillic Script

1.Грийн, Майкъл. Вестта на Евангелието от Матей. Небесното царство[Vestta na Evangelieto ot Matej. Nebesnoto carstvo]. София: Нов човек, 2023. (Green, Michael. The Message of Matthew. Leicester, England: Inter-Varsity Press, 2000)

Latin Script

2.Aland, Kurt., Barbara Aland, Johannes Karavidopoulos, Carlo Martini, and Bruce M. Metzger. Novum Testamentum Graece, 28. Revidierte Auflage. Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellshaft, 2012. Accessed 19 Nov. 2023, https://www.die-bibel.de/en/bible/NA28/MAT.4

3.Aland, Kurt., Barbara Aland, Johannes Karavidopoulos, Carlo Martini, and Bruce M. Metzger. Novum Testamentum Graece: with Dictionary, 28-th. Revised Edition. Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellshaft, 2012

4.Beale, Gregory K. Handbook on the New Testament Use of the Old Testament: Exegesis and Interpretation. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2012.

5.“Interlinear Bible: Greek, Hebrew, Strongs. Hebrew Text: Westminster Leningrad Codex”, Bible Hub, accessed 2 Dec. 2023, https://biblehub.com/interlinear/deuteronomy/6-16.htm

6.“Interlinear Bible: Greek, Hebrew, Strongs. Hebrew Text: Westminster Leningrad Codex”, Bible Hub, accessed 2 Dec. 2023, https://biblehub.com/interlinear/deuteronomy/8-3.htm.

7.Rahlfs, Alfred, ed. Septuaginta. Editio altera. Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellshaft, 2006

8.Rahlfs, Alfred, ed. The Analytic Septuagint: Footnotes, Strong's numbers, Morphological tags, ninth edition. Stuttgart: Württembergische Bibelanstalt, 1971. BibleTime software for Windows, version 2.11.1, https://bibletime.info/, electronic database version 2.5

9.Rahlfs, Alfred, ed., “Ps 90:1-16. LXX / Septuagint – Interlinear”, BibleBento.com, Marvel Bible: Marvellous Bible Resources, accessed 11 Nov. 2023, https://biblebento.com/index.html?lxx1i&230.90.1

10.Strong, James. Strong’s Real Hebrew Bible Dictionary: Dictionaries of Hebrew and Greek Words taken from Strong's Exhaustive Concordance by James Strong. BibleTime software for Windows, version 2.11.1, https://bibletime.info/, electronic database version 1.090107

11.Tasker, R.V.G. The Gospel according to Matthew: An Introduction and Commentary. London: Tyndale Press, 1961

12.“The Septuagint: LXX. The Greek Translation of the Hebrew Scriptures”, septuagint.bible, Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America and the Hellenic Bible Society, accessed 11 Nov. 2023, https://www.septuagint.bible/