NEW TESTAMENT CONTEXTUAL COMMENTARY

by Dr. Robert R. Seyda

GOSPEL OF MATTHEW

CHAPTER FOUR

Part II

Verse 7: “Jesus answered, ‘The Scriptures also say, You must not test the Lord your God.’”

One of the most reliable methods of determining the validity of Old Testament prophecy concerning Christ, is His own confirmation, such as in this instance. In each case where Christ quotes or concurs with the Scriptures, we can establish our beliefs on firm ground that they are valid because our Lord believed them to be true. Here the Master quotes the Torah where Moses was teaching the children of Israel on how they are to trust God, not test God.”¹ This warning involved an incident recorded in the Old Testament when they reached a place they named, Massah, which means “Testing.”² It has relevance to what Jesus was going through. God used Moses to lead the Hebrews out of Egypt, to where they were now migrating through the western Sinai desert on their way to the Promised Land. But things were not going well because they ran out of water. While Moses tried to figure out what to do, the people grew restless and began to argue with Moses. Instead of volunteering to go out in search of an oasis or other water supplies, they kept up their ranting and raving and putting pressure on Moses to do something. “Find us some water!” they kept yelling. “Get us some water!” they demanded. That’s when Moses asked them, “Why me? Why are you moaning and groaning about wanting water from me?” Moses wanted them to think about this: Who was it that ordered him to lead them out of Egypt? Who was it that set them free and opened the Red Sea so they could cross so He could destroy Pharaoh’s army? He was trying to get them to trust God. The One who brought them out would be the One to provide for their needs. How true this is for any person whom God leads out of the bondage of sin, who then finds themselves in difficult situations because of the new faith. He would not have led them out if He hadn’t also planned to be with them and supply their needs.

But the children of Israel would have none of it. They blamed Moses for getting them into this mess. Now not only were they in peril of dying, but also losing their families and livestock in the process. So Moses pleaded with God for an answer. The Lord relents and allows Moses to bring water out of a rock a short walk away at the foothills of Mount Horeb. Jewish scholars tell us that this was the same mountain that became better known as Mount Sinai, because it was in the Sinai desert, thus it would have been more properly referred to as the “Horeb, the mountain in Sinai.” This seems to fit because the Hebrew word Horeb means, “solitude.” Moses obeyed and God supplied the water need. But the children of Israel lacked faith. Yet they got what they were asking for. Out of frustration Moses named the place Meribah and Massah, because those words meant “rebellion” and “temptation.”

Now here was Jesus, out in the desert some forty days. He too had nothing to eat or drink, and the devil was trying to get Him to go to the Father the same way the children of Israel pushed Moses to go to God. Perhaps if He also accused His heavenly Father of getting Him into this mess, He could convince God to supply His need. Of course, that would have played right into the devil’s hands. What a lesson for all believers. Yes, there will be times when we may feel that God has allowed us to wander on our own accord into a position where we run out of supplies and have nowhere else to turn. But we can learn from both what happened to the children of Israel and what Jesus did under the same circumstances. There is no reason to tempt God for something little, when trusting God will get you something big.

Jewish scholars had their own definition about what it meant to “tempt” God. In his work to find conciliation between different Jewish texts that use the same Hebrew word, Rabbi Manasseh ben Israel noted in his commentary³ the difference between how the word “tempt” was translated; He says, “It may be added that where it is commanded not to tempt the Lord, it says ‘You shall not tempt,’ which word is always used in an objectionable sense, showing ignorance of the power, will, goodness, or perfection of God, when He is tempted. God said to Moses: ‘and they tempted me,’⁴ which temptation is always sinful; but later He changes the word, and says, ‘and tried me,’⁵ which may be taken in a different sense.”⁶ As such, to tempt God is to test the power, goodness and will of God out of ignorance. Therefore, not only should this not be done by a man to his fellow man, but for certain by man to his God. Yet, this is exactly what Satan was doing here with Jesus. But thank God the devil failed. And it should always be the case when Satan comes to tempt any of God’s children.

Verses 8-10: “Then the devil led Jesus to the top of a very high mountain and an instant showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and all the wonderful things in them. The devil said, ‘If you will bow down and worship me, I will give you all these things.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Get away from me, Satan! The Scriptures say, “You must worship the Lord your God. Serve only Him!”’”

Several Bible scholars believe that the traditional spot where Satan offered Jesus dominion over all earthly kingdoms is called Mt. Quarantania, a limestone peak on the road from Jerusalem to Jericho. One commentator in the 1600’s named Fabricii (cited by John Gill), thinks it was Mount Lebanon. But no matter how high, it would be dwarfed next to the Matterhorn in Switzerland, or Mount Everest in Nepal. So this must be understood as figurative language since even from the highest peak one could only see Jerusalem off in the distance. Also, the request by Satan that Jesus bow down and worship him must be understood in a near east religious context. When Christians think of the word “worship,” it conjures up all sorts of church activities. But here it means to pay the utmost respect and honor to. This was done by bowing down and kissing the hand or feet of the one you are paying homage to. It is another way of acknowledging their superiority. That’s why what many Christians do today that they call worship, would not be accepted in Moses’ day, or in Jesus’ day.

Nevertheless, Jesus got the point, and He had the answer. It came from the Scripture that says: “You must worship the Lord your God, and Him only must you serve.”⁷ In the original Hebrew text, the word “only” does not exist, even though it was added in the Septuagint version. It reads: “You are to fear Adonai your God, serve Him and swear by His name.”⁸ The Aramaic version puts it: “You shall fear only the LORD your God; and you shall worship Him and swear by His name.”⁹ But the word “only” is in italics, which means it was inserted. So either the Word added to the word by saying “only” here and “alone” at the end, or otherwise it was added by the scribe who wrote this Gospel in Greek for Matthew; or he used a Greek translation of the Torah available at the time. In fact, the oldest copy of Matthew’s Gospel in Hebrew reads this way: “I will pray to the Lord and Him only you will serve.”¹⁰ Josephus shares the view of this commandment as a contemporary of Jesus, and says, “The first commandment teaches us that there is but one God, and that we ought to worship Him only.”¹¹ Why is this important? Because by adding the word “only” it suggests there are other gods a person may choose to serve. This was Jesus’ way of saying, you cannot serve two masters. There is no such thing as complete loyalty with a divided heart. Matthew says that the devil showed Jesus this scene in an instant. This can be understood in two ways. First, that the scene only lasted an instant, or, that it only took Satan an instant to show Jesus the scene. Whatever the amount of time it took Satan to give Jesus a view of all the world kingdoms that existed at that time, or how ever long Jesus looked at them, we do know it took Jesus only an instant to give His reply.

To me, this would be like someone having taken Michelangelo into the Sistine Chapel, pointing up the ceiling and saying, how would you like to own that? It might have been worth it to see Satan’s face had our Lord said to him, “You mean that’s all you want Me to do to get all the kingdoms of the world? Just for me to bow down in reverence to you? First of all, it is mine to begin with, but you stole it with your lie to Adam and Eve. Now I’ve come to take it back, and the price I’m about to pay is beyond anything you could ever accumulate to try and buy it back.” One Rabbi commenting on this verse explains that the last clause speaks of serving God. “Service to God takes in all positive commandments. These precepts train the heart and lead a person to cling to God’s glorious Name. This is what man was created for. Human beings were not created to acquire wealth and leave it to others or erect buildings for others to inhabit while they lay in a grave under the ground. Neither was a person brought into being for the purpose of enjoying a variety of meals, for the pleasure of eating lasts but for a few moments, because it takes much effort to acquire delicacies, most of which are unhealthful. The same is the case with joking and drunkenness, foolishness, and madness.”¹²

In other words, in everything and for everything we say and do, first consider how it affects our relationship with God and our fellow man. How does it please God and honor Him for what He’s done for us. And also, will what we say and do prove to our fellow man that God is number one in our lives; that we live to serve Him only, so that all we say and do glorifies our father in heaven. It might be a real shock to many believers if a poll were taken among their neighbors, workmates, family and friends using this question: “Do you believe they are really a true Christian?”