139 Jesus Tempted Thrice
From Faith Futures
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Data
(1a) 3Q: Matt 4:2b-11 = Luke 4:2b-13
(1b) GNaz. 3
Crossan analysis:
Item: 139
Stratum: I (30-60 CE)
Attestation: Single
Historicity: -
Texts
(1a) 3Q: Matt 4:2b-11
/4:2/ He fasted forty days and forty nights, and afterwards he was famished. /3/ The tempter came and said to him, "If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread." /4/ But he answered, "It is written, 'One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.'" /5/ Then the devil took him to the holy city and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple, /6/ saying to him, "If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down; for it is written, 'He will command his angels concerning you,' and 'On their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.'" /7/ Jesus said to him, "Again it is written, 'Do not put the Lord your God to the test.'" /8/ Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor; /9/ and he said to him, "All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me." /10/ Jesus said to him, "Away with you, Satan! for it is written, 'Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.'" /11/ Then the devil left him, and suddenly angels came and waited on him.
= Luke 4:2b-13
/4:2/ where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing at all during those days, and when they were over, he was famished. /3/ The devil said to him, "If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become a loaf of bread." /4/ Jesus answered him, "It is written, 'One does not live by bread alone.'" /5/ Then the devil led him up and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. /6/ And the devil said to him, "To you I will give their glory and all this authority; for it has been given over to me, and I give it to anyone I please. /7/ If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours." /8/ Jesus answered him, "It is written, 'Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.'" /9/ Then the devil took him to Jerusalem, and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple, saying to him, "If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, /10/ for it is written, 'He will command his angels concerning you, to protect you,' /11/ and 'On their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.'" /12/ Jesus answered him, "It is said, 'Do not put the Lord your God to the test.'" /13/ When the devil had finished every test, he departed from him until an opportune time.
(b) GNaz 3
/3/ The Jewish Gospel has not “into the holy city” but “to Jerusalem.” (Variant to Matthew 4:5 in the “Zion Gospel” edition.)
Literature
Parallels
Sirach 44
19Abraham was the great father of a multitude of nations,
and no one has been found like him in glory.
20He kept the law of the Most High,
and entered into a covenant with him;
he certified the covenant in his flesh,
and when he was tested he proved faithful.
21Therefore the Lord assured him with an oath
that the nations would be blessed through his offspring;
that he would make him as numerous as the dust of the earth,
and exalt his offspring like the stars,
and give them an inheritance from sea to sea
and from the Euphrates to the ends of the earth.
1 Maccabees 2
2 51 "Remember the deeds of the ancestors, which they did in their generations; and you will receive great honor and an everlasting name. 52 Was not Abraham found faithful when tested, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness? 53 Joseph in the time of his distress kept the commandment, and became lord of Egypt. 54 Phinehas our ancestor, because he was deeply zealous, received the covenant of everlasting priesthood. 55 Joshua, because he fulfilled the command, became a judge in Israel. 56 Caleb, because he testified in the assembly, received an inheritance in the land. 57 David, because he was merciful, inherited the throne of the kingdom forever. 58 Elijah, because of great zeal for the law, was taken up into heaven. 59 Hananiah, Azariah, and Mishael believed and were saved from the flame. 60 Daniel, because of his innocence, was delivered from the mouth of the lions.
61 "And so observe, from generation to generation, that none of those who put their trust in him will lack strength. 62 Do not fear the words of sinners, for their splendor will turn into dung and worms. 63 Today they will be exalted, but tomorrow they will not be found, because they will have returned to the dust, and their plans will have perished. 64 My children, be courageous and grow strong in the law, for by it you will gain honor.
Jubilees 17
And it came to pass in the seventh week, in its first year, in the first month, in that jubilee, on the twelfth of that month, that words came in heaven concerning Abraham that he was faithful in everything which was told him and he loved the LORD and was faithful in all affliction. And Prince Mastema came and he said before God, "Behold, Abraham loves Isaac, his son. And he is more pleased with him than everything. Tell him to offer him (as) a burnt offering upon the altar. And you will see whether he will do this thing. And you will know whether he is faithful in everything in which you test him."
And the LORD was aware that Abraham was faithful in all of his afflictions because he tested him with his land, and with famine. And he tested him with the wealth of kings. And he tested him again with his wife, when she was taken (from him), and with circumcision. And he tested him with Ishmael and with Hagar, his maidservant, when he sent them away. And in everything in which he tested him, he was found faithful. And his soul was not impatient. And he was not slow to act because he was faithful and a lover of the LORD.
[translated by O.S. Wintermute, OTP 2,90]
TJob 2-8
2 Now I used to be Jobab before the Lord named me Job. When I was called Jobab, I lived quite near a venerated idol's temple. As I constantly saw whole-burnt offerings being offered up there, I began reasoning within myself saying, "Is this really the God who made heaven and earth, the sea too, and our very selves? How shall I know?"
3 One night as I was in bed a loud voice came to me in a very bright light saying, "Jobab, Jobab!" And I said, "Yes? Here I am." And he said, "Arise, and I will show you who this is whom you wish to know. This one whose whole-burnt offerings they bring and whose drink offerings they pour is not God. Rather, his is the power of the devil, by whom human nature" is deceived.",br. When I heard these things, I fell on my bed worshiping and saying, "My Lord, who came for the salvation of my soul, I beg you—if this is indeed the place of Satan by whom men are deceived—grant me authority to go and purge his place so that I may put an end to the drink offerings being poured for him. Who is there to forbid me, since I rule this region?"
4 The light answered me and said, "You shall be able to purge this place. But I am going to show you all the things which the Lord charged me to tell you."
And I said, "Whatever he has charged me, his servant, I will hear and do."
Again he said, "Thus says the Lord: If you attempt to purge the place of Satan, he will rise up against you with wrath for battle. But he will be unable to bring death upon you. He will bring on you many plagues, he will take away for himself your goods, he will carry off your children. But if you are patient, I will make your name renowned in all generations of the earth till the consummation of the age." And I will return you again to your goods. It will be repaid to you doubly, so you may know that the Lord is impartial—rendering good things to each one who obeys. And you shall be raised up in the resurrection. For you will be like a sparring athlete," both enduring pains and winning the crown. Then will you know that the Lord is just, true, and strong, giving strength to his elect ones."
5 And I, my little children, replied to him, "Till death I will endure: I will not step back at all." After I had been sealed by the angel when he left me, my little children, then—having arisen the next night—I took fifty youths with me, struck off for the temple of the idol, and leveled it to the ground. And so I withdrew into my house, having ordered the doors to be secured.
6 Listen, little children, and marvel. For as soon as I entered into my house and secured my doors, I charged my doormen thus, "If anyone should seek me today, give no report; but say, 'He has no time, for he is inside concerned with an urgent matter.'
So while I was inside Satan knocked at the door, having disguised himself as a beggar. And he said to the doormaid, "Tell Job I wish to meet with him." When the doormaid came and told me these things, she heard me say to report that I had no time just now.
7 When he heard that, Satan departed and put a yoke on his shoulders. And when he arrived, he spoke to the doormaid saying, "Say to Job, 'Give me a loaf of bread from your hands, so I may eat.' "So I gave a burnt loaf of bread to the girl to give to him and said to him, "Expect to eat my loaves no longer, for you are estranged from me."
Then the doormaid, ashamed to give him the burnt and ashen loaf of bread (for she did not know he was Satan), took the good loaf of her own and gave it to him. And when he received it and knew what had occurred he said to the girl, "Off with you, evil servant. Bring the loaf of bread given you to be given to me." The girl wept with deep grief, saying, "Truly, you well say I am an evil servant. For if I were not, I would have done just as it was assigned to me by my master." And when she returned, she brought him the burnt loaf of bread, saying to him, "Thus says my lord, 'You shall no longer eat from my loaves at all, for I have been estranged from you. Yet I have given you this loaf of bread in order that I may not be accused of providing nothing to a begging enemy.'"
When he heard these things, Satan sent the girl back tome saying, "As this loaf of bread is wholly burnt, so shall I do to your body also. For within the hour, I will depart and devastate you." And I replied to him, "Do what you will. For if you intend to bring anything on me, I am prepared to undergo whatever you inflict."
8 After he withdrew from me, when he had gone out under the firmament, he implored the Lord that he might receive authority over my goods. And then, when he had received the authority, he came and took away all my wealth.
[translated by R.P. Spittler, OTP 1,840–42]
ApAbraham
12 And we went, the two of us alone together, forty days and nights. And I ate no bread and drank no water, because (my) food was to see the angel who was with me, and his discourse with me was my drink. We came to God's mountain, glorious Horeb. And I said to the angel, "Singer of the Eternal One, behold I have no sacrifice with me, nor do I know a place for an altar on the mountain, so how shall I make the sacrifice?" And he said, "Look behind you." And I looked behind me. And behold all the prescribed sacrifices were following us: the calf, the she-goat, the ram, the turtledove, and the pigeon. And the angel said to me, "Abraham." And I said, "Here I am." And he said to me, "Slaughter all these and divide the animals exactly into halves. But do not cut the birds apart. And give them to the men whom I will show you standing beside you, for they are the altar on the mountain, to offer sacrifice to the Eternal One. The turtledove and the pigeon you will give to me, for I will ascend on the wings of the birds to show you (what) is in the heavens, on the earth and in the sea, in the abyss, and in the lower depths, in the garden of Eden and in its rivers, in the fullness of the universe. And you will see its circles in all. "
13 And I did everything according to the angel's command. And I gave the angels who had come to us the divided parts of the animals. And the angel Iaoela took the two birds. And I waited for the evening gift." And an unclean bird flew down on the carcasses, and I drove it away. And the unclean bird spoke to me and said, "What are you doing, Abraham, on the holy heights, where no one eats or drinks, nor is there upon them food for men. But these all will be consumed by fire and they will burn you up. Leave the man who is with you and flee! For if you ascend to the height, they will destroy you." And it came to pass when I saw the bird speaking I said this to the angel: "What is this, my lord?" And he said, "This is disgrace, this is Azazel!" And he said to him, "Shame on you, Azazel! For Abraham's portion is in heaven, and yours is on earth, for you have selected here, (and) become enamored of the dwelling place of your blemish. Therefore the Eternal Ruler, the Mighty One, has given you a dwelling on earth. Through you the all-evil spirit (is) a liar, and through you (are) wrath and trials on the generations of men who live impiously. For the Eternal, Mighty One did not allow the bodies of the righteous to be in your hand, so through them the righteous life is affirmed and the destruction of ungodliness. Hear, counselor, be shamed by me! You have no permission to tempt all the righteous. Depart from this man! You cannot deceive him, because he is the enemy of you and of those who follow you and who love what you wish. For behold, the garment which in heaven was formerly yours has been set aside for him, and the corruption which was on him has gone over to you."
14 And the angel said to me, "Abraham!" And I said, "Here I am, your servant." And he said, "Know from this that the Eternal One whom you have loved has chosen you. Be bold and do through your authority whatever I order you against him who reviles justice. Will I not be able to revile him who has scattered about the earth the secrets of heaven and who has taken counsel against the Mighty One? Say to him, 'May you be the firebrand of the furnace of the earth! Go, Azazel, into the untrodden parts of the earth. For your heritage is over those who are with you, with the stars and with the men born by the clouds, whose portion you are, indeed they exist through your being. Enmity is for you a pious act. Therefore through your own destruction be gone from me! " And I said the words as the angel had taught me. And he said, "Abraham." And I said, "Here I am, your servant!" And the angel said to me, "Answer him not!" And he spoke to me a second time. And the angel said, "Now, whatever he says to you, answer him not, lest his will run up to you. For the Eternal, Mighty One gave him the gravity and the will. Answer him not." And I did what the angel had commanded me. And whatever he said to me about the descent, I answered him not.
15 And it came to pass when the sun was setting, and behold a smoke like that of a furnace, and the angels who had the divided portions of the sacrifice ascended from the top of the furnace of smoke. And the angel took me with his right hand and set me on the right wing of the pigeon and he himself sat on the left wing of the turtledove, (both of) which were as if neither slaughtered nor divided. And he carried me up to the edge of the fiery flames. And we ascended as if (carried) by many winds to the heaven that is fixed on the expanses. And I saw on the air to whose height we had ascended a strong light which cane not be described. And behold, in this light a fiery Gehenna was enkindled, and a great crowd in the likeness of men. They all were changing in aspect and shape, running and changing form and prostrating themselves and crying aloud words I did not know.
[translated by R. Rubinkiewicz, OTP 1,694–6]
Buddhism
Marcus Borg [Jesus and Buddha: The Parallel Sayings] notes the following traditions about the Buddha that provide something of a parallel to this cluster:
Then Mara the evil one drew near to him, and said: "Let the Exalted One exercise governance, let the Blessed One rule."
"Now what, O evil one, do you have in view, that you speak this way to me?"
"If the Exalted One were to wish the Himalayas, king of the mountains, to be gold, he might determine it to be so, and the mountains would become a mass of gold?'
The Exalted One responded: "Were the mountains all of shimmering gold, it would still not be enough for one man's wants. He that has seen suffering -- how should that man succumb to desires?"
Then Mara the evil one thought: "The Exalted One knows me! The Blessed One knows me!" And sad and sorrowful he vanished then and there. (Samyutta Nikaya 4.2.10)
During the six years that the Bodhisattva practiced austerities, the demon followed behind him step by step, seeking an opportunity to harm him. But he found no opportunity whatsoever and went away discouraged and discontent. (Lalitavistara Sutra 18)
I thought: "Suppose I practice entirely cutting off food?' Then the deities came to me and said: "Good sir, do not practice entirely cutting off food. If you do so, we shall infuse heavenly food into the pores of your skin and you will live on that." (Majjhima Nikaya 36.27)
Islam
34 Satan said to Jesus when he placed him in Jerusalem, You claim to raise the dead. If you can truly do so, ask God to turn this mountain to bread." Jesus said, "Do all people live from bread?" Satan said, "If you are what you claim to be, jump from this place, for the angels will receive you." Jesus said, "God ordered me not to put myself to the test, for I do not know whether He will save me or not."
119 Satan passed by while Jesus was reclining his head upon a stone. "So, then, Jesus, you have been satisfied with a stone in this world! " Jesus removed the stone from beneath his head, threw it at him, and said, "Take this stone, and the world with it! I have no need of either. "
206 It is related that Satan once appeared before Jesus and said to him, "Say: 'There is no god but God." Jesus replied, "Righteous words which I will not repeat after you." This is because Satan's deceptions can lurk even beneath good.
209 It is told that Jesus spent sixty days inmate conversation with his Lord without eating. Then the thought of bread occurred to him and his intimacy was interrupted. At once a loaf of bread appeared in his hands, so he sat down and wept for the loss of intimacy. At that moment, an old man cast his shadow upon him and Jesus said to him, "God bless you, friend of God. Pray to God for me, for I was in a trance and the thought of bread occurred to me, and so my trance was interrupted." The old man prayed, "O God! If you know that the thought of bread has occurred to me since I have known You, do not forgive me. On the contrary, if anything was brought before me, I would eat it without any thought of it."
278 Satan appeared to Jesus in the visible form of an old man. "Spirit of God, say: 'There is no god but God," he bade him, hoping that he [would repeat this after him and thus] would have obeyed him to that extent. Jesus answered, "I say it - but not because you said it: there is no god but God." Satan departed in disgrace.
292 Satan asked Jesus, "Can your God cause the world to be contained by an egg, in such a way that the world is not shrunk and the egg is not enlarged?" Jesus replied, "Woe to you! Incapacity cannot be attributed to God. Who is more powerful than Him who can cause the world to become fine and delicate and the egg to grow great?"
300 It is related that Satan appeared to Jesus decked out in pendants of diverse colors and kinds. Jesus asked, "What are these pendants?" "These are the lusts of mankind," Satan replied. "Have I anything to do with any of them?" Jesus asked. "Perhaps you ate your fill and we made you too sluggish to pray or mention God," Satan replied. "Is there anything else?" asked Jesus. "No," said Satan. "I vow before God never to fill my belly with food," said Jesus. "And I vow before God never again to advise a Muslim," Satan replied.
[Tarif Khalidi, The Muslim Jesus, 2001]
Commentary
John Dominic Crossan
Crossan [The Historical Jesus] offers the following comments on the social location of those responsible for shaping this tradition:
The basis of that triple temptation is an opposition between magic and exegesis, between miraculous activity and exegetical citation. Miracles are dismissed, obliquely, as self-serving acts such as turning stones into bread when one is hungry, as temptations such as descending from the pinnacle of the Temple, or as demonic collusion such as gaining the world by obeying Satan. Jesus overcomes Satan, and even his quotation of Psalm 91:11-12, by three separate quotations from Deuteronomy 8:3, 6:16, and 6:13. But that opposition between magic and exegesis also represents a distinction in class. Even though, in Lenksi's typology, the peasant class is not the only one that could appreciate magic, it would take the retainer class to appreciate the scribal exactitude of such exegetical quotations. Peasants would, know, in their Little Tradition, the general themes and dominant emphases of the Great Tradition. But their illiteracy would preclude the fuel of citation practiced here by Satan and jesus. All such precise search and verbatim application presume not only developed literacy but also exegetical dexterity. A retainer-class believer is now interpreting the peasant-class Jesus.
Jesus Seminar
The views of the Seminar on this item can be represented as follows:
In spite of the fact that these stories are legends, the Fellows were about evenly divided on whether Jesus went on a vision quest in the desert, or whether he fasted for an extended period and got hungry as a result. It seems plausible that he did so as he worked out his relation to John the Baptist and contemplated the future of his own work. Simple plausibility, however, can be a cruel friend to historical reconstruction, tempting the historian to assert facts when there is only speculation ...
In each temptation Jesus quotes from Deuteronomy ... where Moses is described receiving the Law from Yahweh on Mount Sinai. The temptation story is thus a retelling of that ancient story but substituting Jesus for Moses. Just as Moses and Israel were tempted during their forty years in the wilderness, so Jesus was tempted during his forty days in the wilderness. Israel was tempted by hunger; that hunger was sated by the "manna that fell from heaven" each day. Jesus is tempted by hunger but refuses to turn stones into bread. Israel was tempted by idolatry; Jesus is tempted to worship Satan. In Jewish lore, this kind of retelling, or reimagining, is called haggadah.
In Matthew, the temptations of Jesus are arranged in a spatial progress from low to high: first he is taken to the desert, then placed on the pinnacle of the temple, then carried to a high mountain. This corresponds to the progression in Matthew's gospel: Jesus' ministry begins in the desert and ends on a mountain in Galilee from which he ascends. Luke has altered the order of the temptations in order to have Jesus wind up in Jerusalem: for Luke Jerusalem is the navel of the earth, where the story begins and ends.
[The Acts of Jesus]
John Kloppenborg
Kloppenborg [The Formation of Q: Trajectories in Ancient Wisdom Collections. (Studies in Antiquity & Christianity) Trinity Press International, 1999] discusses this item at some length. He begins by noting the distinctive character of this tradition:
Q is composed predominantly of sayings forms ... some are compiled into coherent speeches and clusters of thematically related pronouncements, while others are strung together rather loosely. One pericope, however, stands out as anomalous in this compilation of speeches and sayings: the temptation story (Q 4:1-13). While most of the Q materials are simple sayings, chriae or short "speeches," Q 4:1-13 is a three-part dialogue with a relatively detailed narrative framework. More importantly, it is a true narrative, albeit one in which speech plays a central function. (p. 246)
The temptations belong rather to a narrative genre which uses speech as the servant of narrative. Narrative movement is effected through dialogue. ... It is not simply the narrative nature of 4:1 13 which distinguishes it from the rest of Q. The form of the story, with its three-part debate as well as its mythic motif, is quite unparalleled in Q. Explicit biblical quotations (here from the LXX) are rare; only in this account and in 7:27 are biblical quotations introduced by gegraptai. In addition, the title ho huios tou theou is not found elsewhere in Q although the absolute huios occurs in 10:22 (which is a secondary expansion of 10:21). The notion of miracle articulated here differs too. The implication of the devil's invitations is that the Son of God is or should be a miracle worker. But in the rest of Q, miracles are treated not so much as deeds of Jesus as they are events of the kingdom whose presence or impending coming they portend (7:22; 10:9; 11:20). Their expected function is to produce repentance in those who witness them (10:13 15). Nothing in the temptation story either in the devil's invitations or in Jesus' responses suggests this understanding of the miraculous. Finally, the direct confrontation between Jesus and the devil (who is here called diabolos, not beelzebul or satanas as elsewhere in Q) is unique; elsewhere Jesus' opposition comes from "this generation." (p. 247f)
He then addresses the question of what the reason may have been for such a tradition to be have ben added to the Sayings Gospel Q. In the process of doing this (pp. 248-56), Kloppenborg outlines four major interpretations:
(1) Polemic Against Israel
The story may have appealed to an editor of Q because of the implied contrast between the obedience and fidelity of Jesus and the infidelity of Israel. ... While this interpretation is possible, it is not entirely congruent with Q's polemic. Q's complaint with "this generation" is not that it does not rely upon God for sustenance and guidance, but that it has failed to respond to the preaching of the kingdom, i.e., by repenting.
(2) Paradigmatic Interpretations
On this view, the temptations do not represent unique (or messianic) temptations of Jesus; instead they are paradigmatic and symbolic for the Q community's self understanding. ... From a redaction critical point of view, this interpretation seems over-subtle. Schottroff's contention that the account is designed to overcome the victimizing effects of anxiety, fear of death and political ideology reflects a modernizing, existential or psychoanalytic concern which can scarcely be ascribed to a first century author. ... Another paradigmatic interpretation is possible. With his rejection of the invitation to produce food for himself and by answering with Deut 8:3, Jesus provides a model of the voluntary powerlessness and absolute dependence upon God which Q elsewhere enjoins. ... The usual objection to this kind of interpretation is that the temptations are vastly disproportionate to what an ordinary believer would ever experience. This, however, overlooks the fact that equally fantastic (and contrived) stories are told of various Jewish and Christian heroes.
(3) Christological Apologetics
A third possibility for explaining the redactional association of the temptations with Q relies upon an anti-enthusiastic and anti thaumaturgic interpretation of the account. ... It is not easy to sustain this position at least in the context of Q. ...
(4) Rejection of Zealot Messianism
Paul Hoffmann has recently made the suggestion that the Q temptation story functioned to explain and justify why the Q group did not participate in the Zealot movement. ... An anti Zealot interpretation of the other Q passages adduced by Hoffmann also seems forced. Indeed, it cannot be denied that as a matter of fact the Q group did not align itself with revolutionaries. But a specifically anti Zealot interpretation of the sayings in the Sermon on the Mount/Plain and the Mission speech does not suggest itself.
Finally, the septuagintal character of the biblical quotations and the presence of non-Semitizing Greek make it unlikely that the account belonged to a Palestinian sphere. On the contrary, it was formulated in a Greek speaking milieu where Palestinian politics are not likely to have occupied centre stage. For these reasons, Hoffmann's anti Zealot proposals must be set aside in favor of more plausible solutions.
At this point, Kloppenborg offers his own proposal:
Why was the temptation account added to Q? Given the nature and content of the collection, the most likely answer is that the redactor regarded the story as having paradigmatic and aetiological significance for the rest of Q. It served to illustrate and legitimate the mode of behavior and the ethos of the Q group. As hero and leader of the Q community, Jesus provided an example of the absolutely dependent, non defensive and apolitical stance of his followers. It is possible, but much less obvious, that the polemical implications of the story played some role. Far less likely are the suggestions that the story was regarded by the editor as a christological apologetic or as a refutation of Zealot messianism. (p. 256)
Other observations by Kloppenborg include the following:
The motif of the temptation or ordeal of the wise and faithful man is common enough and in the next chapter, we shall show that this motif commonly occurs at the beginning of wisdom collections. The testing stories mentioned here are similar enough in structure and function to invite comparisons with the Q temptation account. (p. 260)
Like these other testing stories, the Q temptation is a true narrative in spite of its large sayings component. It is susceptible to both actantial and syntagmatic analyses, as Jean Calloud's work shows. Yet this narrative, like the other temptation accounts, is of a special type, for its essence is that nothing happens. The hero does not respond to the devil's (or 'sender's') invitation to cease his act of sacrifice (Apoc. Abraham), or to curse God and re invest Satan in the position of God (Test. Job), or to accept an inferior set of values and an anti-god as God. To use Calloud's phrase, these are 'immobile narratives.'
The 'immobility' of the narrative serves an important function: it demonstrates the virtue of the hero and thereby advances a larger narrative movement. Temptation stories are pregnant with meaning for the material which surrounds them. The testing story so to speak projects a 'heroic careers for which it will serve as an explanation or anticipatory confirmation. It is not related simply for the parenetic and paradigmatic value which it might possess (however important that may be), but because it serves to explain or make intelligible other parts of the hero's 'story' or to legitimate and guarantee the reliability of his teachings or the revelations which have been entrusted to him.
Testing stories have a function comparable to that of qualifying and ordeal stories which are found in Graeco Roman biography, though the latter are usually cast in a realist rather than in a fantastic or mythic mode. (p. 260f)
The special character and especially the placement of the testing story after the predictions of John and just before the beginning of Jesus' main activity (preaching) conforms the opening sequences of Q to the narrative pattern shared by the legends about Abraham and Job, and the Graeco Roman hero biographies. This conformity with a typical biographical pattern confirms, in my view, Robinson's suggestion that Q was moving toward a narrative or biographical cast. The fusion of Q with the Marcan narrative in Matthew and Luke only continued what had already begun in the last stages of Q redaction.
Of course, Q is not a 'Gospel." It is still primarily a speech or sayings collection. Yet there is also movement in the direction of biography. As we shall see in the next chapter, this is not so surprising nor is it unique: forces active in other sentence collections of late antiquity in particular the need for legitimation sometimes led to the addition of introductory narratives or other legitimating sequences. (p. 262)
Samuel T. Lachs
Lachs [Rabbinic Commentary on the NT] notes that the theme of a hero or holy man being tested before his career begins was a common element in ancient writings:
Rabbinic commentaries on this theme are often based on Ps. 11.5, The Lord tests the righteous, not the wicked. The most notable example of this testing in Jewish tradition is Abraham, of whom it is stated, "With ten trials our father Abraham was tried and he withstood them all to make known how great was the love of Abraham our father." [M. Avot. 5.4]
Lachs offers three ways to interpret the Gospels' account of Jesus' temptations:
One is that it is to indicate that Jesus is the Messiah, who will overpower the forces of evil as represented by the Satan, a motif amply attested to in rabbinic sources. Second, the confrontation with Satan could be seen as Jesus' struggle with himself and overcoming the yezer hara, the evil inclination, part of all men, and which is externalized in the literature by the figure of Satan. Finally, the struggle sets up a model for the Church or individuals who, too, must struggle with temptation and overcome it.
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