Jesus Quoted the Torah When Tempted By The Devil by Myra Kahn Adams for Town Hall
Thanks for joining this Bible study. I hope you will be inspired and learn something new about our Lord Jesus Christ. Today’s topic, known as the “Temptation of Jesus,” is recorded in three gospels: (Matthew 4:1-11), (Mark 1:12-13), and (Luke 4:1-13) —when Jesus and the devil had a dramatic confrontation, and Jesus showed both his divinity and humanity. This seminal event immediately followed Jesus’s baptism in the Jordan River, which marked the beginning of His earthly ministry,
As reflected in the title, during His 40 days of temptation (see last week’s study about the number 40) — Jesus quoted three verses from Deuteronomy, the fifth and final book of The Torah — a compilation of the “five books of Moses.” Deuteronomy is also the fifth book in the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament).
Why does it matter that Jesus quoted Deuteronomy? A two-part answer is needed, and part one is foundational. First, having been born and raised Jewish but believing Jesus Christ is the Jewish Messiah — I think my people should know that Jesus fulfillednumerous Hebrew Bible Messianic prophecies — but most do not.
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The second reason is directly related to why it matters that Jesus quoted from the Torah while enduring the devil’s temptation — an example of how, at a critical moment, Jesus’s teaching linked the New Testament with the Old. Hence, rabbis should teach their congregations when and why Jesus quoted Hebrew Scripture. Unfortunately, connections between the New and Old Testament verses involving Jesus are generally ignored or rationalized as faulty Christian interpretations or inaccurate translations.
Specifically, these temptation passages are powerful because the devil twice taunted Jesus as the “Son of God” — a name associated with the coming of the Messiah throughout Hebrew Scripture. Thought-provoking too is that the devil quotes Hebrew Scripture from Psalm 91, called the “prayer of protection,” as discussed in Vol. 10.
