Matthew 4:1-11
Introduction: The Role of Satan in the Bible
Last Sunday we did some heavy lifting with Matthew’s context and development. If you know what the name “The Synoptics” refers to, and you know that Matthew’s author wrote in sophisticated Greek, with strong command of the Hebrew textual tradition, then you’re with me! If something about that doesn’t sound familiar, feel free to revisit the first couple of sections form last week’s Sunday post.
This Sunday we read a narrative in Matthew (also in Mark and Luke), generally called “The Temptation of Jesus,” or another variation on that title. The character Satan features in this passage, so I thought first, let’s get a little perspective on who Satan is, or instead, the role “The Satan” plays in the Hebrew Bible and how that begins to shift with the theology of the Greek Scriptures.
You can watch my quick description of Satan in the first minute of this TikTok video, then watch one of my favorite Biblical scholars, Dan McLellan, from his YouTube. After that we can dive into the text!
From my TikTok…
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From Dan McClellan’s YouTube…
Pretty interesting, right? Did that context surprise you about the historic role of Satan in the Bible and its changing theological conception in the Greek Scriptures?
The Narrative, from Matthew
Let’s put our new insights about The Satan to work in our discussion of this Sunday’s gospel reading from the Lectionary, the tri-annual Biblical reading cycle for those in the Christian tradition that we’re following for Sunday posts.
Let’s begin with the text from Matthew. We’re using Matthew’s version—rather than another Synoptic account—both because that is the selected reading for this week, but also because Matthew brings forward a rich tradition of Hebrew scripture that we can view the gospel account in new and rich ways.
Matthew 4:1-11 (NRSVUE):
Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tested by the devil. He fasted forty days and forty nights, and afterward he was famished. The tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” But he answered, “It is written, ‘One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” Then the devil took him to the holy city and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple, 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.’” Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’” Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory, and he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” Then Jesus said to him, “Away with you, Satan! for it is written, ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.’” Then the devil left him, and suddenly angels came and waited on him.
Let’s first make sure we’re reading the text. What is it telling us?
What is the Story Telling Us?
Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness. That’s where he was led to, but where was led from? In the verses just before, Jesus was baptized by John, and the “Spirit of God” alighted on him. I like the translation here from (Dewey; see my resources) that describes the Spirit landing on Jesus like “a dove,” and the voice declares, “This is my son, the one I love, and I fully approve of him.”
In fact, these are the verses immediately preceding this passage, and so, the most straightforward understanding of the text is that the Spirit of God landed on Jesus like a dove, declared the Spirit’s love and approval, then led Jesus into the wilderness where he would be tested.
That’s curious! Let’s repeat to be sure this language sinks in. It’s soup-to-nuts a pretty shocking series of events! But the gospels favor shocking! The parables attributed to Jesus were intentionally shocking to make bold claims that would be both familiar to Jesus’s purported audience and also shocking in the way the storyteller would flip the script on the familiar imagery and symbolism. For these reasons, this story reads like a familiar Jesus parable, and parables were designed to disrupt and instruct the listeners. Parables used familiar scenes, symbols, and scripture to connect with the Jewish audience.
The evidence here, combined with other hyperbolic features of the story, like a mountain so high that all kingdoms of the world could be viewed from its peak, are clear indications that this story was not, and was not to meant to be, a factually true account but was instead told with another purpose in mind. Let’s not get ahead of ourselves!
Back to the story.
Jesus was baptized. Got it. The skies opened, and the Spirit of God descended to land on Jesus like a dove. Got it. What a scene! A voice “from heaven” said that Jesus is the Spirit’s son, the beloved, with whom the Spirit is pleased. Got it. Then the Spirit of God leads Jesus into the wilderness to be tested by the devil. Whoa! Plot twist!
Why do we say “devil” here? Because the Greek behind the text is diabolos, and we are confident that Matthew wrote with technical use of Greek, so likely the author means what the author wrote. We begin to see this theological shift toward an individual Devil theology, but commentary suggests an equivalence with the Hebrew “Satan” (JANT), and that characterization is consistent with the testing and tempting that Jesus then faces.
Our summary to what the story is telling us goes like this: Shortly after Jesus’s baptism, the Spirit of God landed on Jesus, affirmed him, then the Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness, where Jesus would be tested by the Satan. Most notably, it is God who initiates the test.
Why Tell This Story?
Why did Matthew include this story? Of course, to answer that question, we have number of directions to take in response…
Because this was a thing that happened to Jesus! Well, we have already spoken to why this is likely not the case. Rather, this story seems to be told in the parable genre of storytelling.
Because this story was in Mark, and we learned last week that 75% of the Markan content also appears in Matthew and Luke, and this story was copied over with all that other content. Ok, that is reasonable, but when we compare the Markan account with the Matthean account, we see that Matthew expands significantly. From Mark’s two verses to tell the story, we find 11 verses in Matthew. So it cannot be simply that Matthew copied over the story.
To understand why Matthew told the parable, and told in the way that he did, we have to latch onto more scripture and symbolism, and because it’s Matthew, we can infer that Hebrew scripture underpins the additions.
Telling the Story Again, with Hebrew Sources
What have we learned so far?
Matthew writes in Greek, and the devil/diabolis conception has not fully negotiated away the concept of testing or tempting, from the Hebrew Satan
The author of Matthew knows Hebrew scriptures and centers the author’s characterization of Jesus in this tradition
The narrative style is a genre of storytelling in the tradition of parables that are designed to use familiar imagery in shocking ways to teach a lesson
The Testing of Jesus, Retold
Let’s bring these insights all together and retell the story, in a context more familiar to original listeners. See what new meaning develops, when the story is told more deliberately connected to what the Matthean author may have had in mind.
Matthew: Jesus is led by the Spirit of God
“Like cattle that go down into the valley, the spirit of the Lord gave them rest. Thus you led your people, to make for yourself a glorious name (Isaiah 63:14).
“The spirit lifted me up and bore me away; I went in bitterness in the heat of my spirit, the hand of the Lord being strong upon me (Ezekiel 3:14).
Jesus fasted while on the mountain.
When I went up the mountain to receive the stone tablets, the tablets of the covenant that the Lord made with you, I remained on the mountain forty days and forty nights; I neither ate bread nor drank water (Deut 9:9).
Jesus is on the mountain for 40 days and 40 nights.
The rain fell on the earth forty days and forty nights (Genesis 7:12).
At the end of forty days they returned from spying out the land (Numbers 13:25).
Moses entered the cloud and went up on the mountain. Moses was on the mountain for forty days and forty nights (Exodus 24:18).
Jesus is tested by the Satan.
Remember the long way that the Lord your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, in order to humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commandments (Deuteronomy 8:2).
The Satan tempts Jesus to turn the rocks to loaves of bread.
“Take the staff, and assemble the congregation, you and your brother Aaron, and command the rock before their eyes to yield its water. Thus you shall bring water out of the rock for them; thus you shall provide drink for the congregation and their livestock” (Numbers 20:8).
After the devil exits, the angels wait on Jesus.
Mortals ate of the bread of angels; [God] sent them food in abundance (Psalm 78:25).
Conclusion
When the Matthean testing of Jesus is viewed side-by-side with selected Hebrew scriptures (and these are not all that I could have selected!), we see clear connections with the ancient Jewish law, prophets, and writings.
For Isaiah and Ezekiel, the prophets, it is God’s Spirit that leads them, and sometimes “with a strong hand.”
For the duration of time on the mountain, we see evidence from prior covenants, the law: That with Noah, from Genesis, and with Moses, from the Exodus. Is the Matthean author pointing to another covenant now, with Jesus? When we look to the tempting, we see the second law book of Deuteronomy (literally, “second law”), where God initiates a test to determine what is in the peoples’ hearts.
Finally, when the angels wait on Jesus, the Matthean author draws from Psalm 78, the writings. In fact, the author of Matthew quotes the second verse from this exact psalm in Matthew 13:35, and guess what the author is describing in that verse! Jesus teaching through parables!
Taking inventory of all that we’ve said, this story suggests to me that the Matthean author constructed these narratives to transition from Jesus’s baptism, where his relationship to God is affirmed, into a wilderness-mountain scene that recalls the covenants with God, to a testing with the Satan, the adversary or tempter, to reveal that Jesus’s heart and character are worthy of covenant, and finally, to the angels waiting on Jesus, the author of Matthew uses one of the preferred Psalms that is quoted verbatim in the context of teaching through parables!
Again we find that the Bible is not factually true, but as this discussion makes clear, many stories were told to convey a different sort of truth, from the gospel writer’s position to lift up their leader as an anointed one, worthy of covenant, up to the test, and one to follow like the ancient ancestors of the Hebrew people.
And maybe we cut a little slack to Satan, the role of the Satan is not evildoing, but instead, a partner with God to reveal the character of one who is chosen and beloved.
Hitzonim | Outsiders 
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