Editor’s Note: The following is an excerpt from Memorable Mountains in Matthew: Exploring Mountain Experiences with Jesus, available today from Nurturing Faith Books.
CHAPTER 1
The Mountain of Temptation
Matthew 4
Before mountain climbers begin to ascend a mountain, they must give thoughtful attention to a checklist of essential needs. A successful journey to the summit requires adequate supplies and proper equipment. A preferred route has to be mapped out. Climbers must be prepared in body, mind, and spirit.
The checklist for our ascent of biblical mountains includes supplies such as a notebook (or, if you’re like me, legal pads) and writing tools. The equipment is a Bible, this book, and supplementary resources like a Bible dictionary. I recommend HarperCollins Bible Dictionary (2011), Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2019), or, for more details, Mercer Dictionary of the Bible (1997) and Mercer Commentary on the Bible (1995).
Find a location that affords a comfortable body position for reading and study (but not too comfortable). An open mind to learning is essential. Finally, cultivate a desire for spiritual growth. Climbing the memorable mountains in the Gospel according to Matthew requires the proper preparation for ascent. See the diagrams in the introduction on pages 10 and 11.
As a climber, you will not be alone. You will share the journey with Jesus the Mountaineer. Matthew, aided by the Holy Spirit, is the Sirdar or main Guide. Think of me as one of the Sherpas who assist on the climb.
The Gospel of Matthew’s Focus
Background
The first memorable mountain we will visit is found in the narrative account of the temptation of Jesus (Matthew 4:1-11). There are 3 different temptations in 3 distinct locations. Our primary focus will be on the third and climactic temptation, which takes place on “a very high mountain.” Consider Matthew’s carefully worded introduction to this momentous event: “Then Jesus was led up into the desert by the Spirit to be tempted by the devil. After he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was hungry” (Matt 4:1-2, Culpepper). Several details (found only in Matthew’s introduction) set the stage for the interactions between Jesus and the diabolical one. First, only in Matthew do the temptations occur immediately after Jesus’s baptism. By using the connecting word “then,” Matthew moves us sequentially and thoughtfully from baptism to testing. The Gospels of Mark and Luke do not follow this order. By following Matthew’s lead, we will discover how the baptismal language is intertwined with the temptations. Second, only in Mathew does his word choice express the Spirit’s intention for taking Jesus into the wilderness. Matthew uses an infinitive to signify purpose, translated as “to be tempted” (or “to be tested”). The Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness for the purpose of being tempted or tested by the devil.
Third, only in Matthew do we find the specific verb “fasted.” Given his frequent allusions to the Hebrew Scriptures, perhaps Matthew is linking Jesus to other key examples of fasting. Like the great teacher Moses (Exodus 34:28) and the prophet Elijah (1 Kings 19:8), Jesus went without bread and water for forty days and forty nights.
Finally, only in Matthew do the temptations occur after Jesus has fasted for forty days and forty nights in the wilderness. The Synoptic writers agree that Jesus’s experiences are similar to Israel’s during their forty-year sojourn in the wilderness. But Matthew alone presents Jesus’s fast as preparation for the testing. My assumption is that Jesus used these forty days and forty nights to ponder and pray about his future in light of his identity announced by God at his baptism. This became a time to get ready for what lay ahead.
Using these four insights as clues, let me offer my midrash on Matthew’s introduction to Jesus’s temptation. Read it out loud while picturing it in your mind in order to get a fresh understanding of Matthew’s emphases.
Jesus had just come up out of the Jordan River after being baptized. What he had seen and heard was affirming. He had seen the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. He and the crowd had heard a voice from heaven declaring his identity: “This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.” This affirmation was still echoing in Jesus’s ears when the same Spirit of God led him from the waters of baptism into the wilderness.
The scenery changed dramatically. The dryness of the desert replaced the wetness of the river. His drenched baptismal robe dried out quickly in the sweltering heat. The crowd was no longer present. For the moment, he was alone in a place of desolation.
For Jesus, the shift from river to wilderness was more than a change in geographical location. In the desert, life’s necessities were in short supply. When Jesus was a young boy studying the Hebrew Scriptures, he would have learned that the children of Israel wandered in the wilderness for forty years. There they tested God, and God tested them.
Now, as the Beloved Son of God, Jesus faced his own time of testing in the wilderness. In anticipation of what was ahead, he chose to prepare by fasting for forty days and forty nights. Moses had gone without bread and water for forty days and forty nights on Mount Sinai before receiving the “ten words” or commandments. After consuming only a hot cake and cool water, Elijah journeyed through the wilderness for forty days and forty nights without any additional provision before receiving God’s guidance on the mountain.
The Spirit purposefully led Jesus into the wilderness to be tested by the devil’s devices. Jesus had just experienced the Spirit of God’s nearness at his baptism; now he would face the devil who represented evil personified. Je sus had just heard an affirming voice from heaven; now he would hear the hissing sounds of the tempter. Jesus’s identity had just been affirmed as God’s Beloved Son; now the meaning of his Sonship would be challenged by the diabolical one. The future of Jesus’s mission and ministry was at stake!
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President Emeritus, Baptist Seminary of Kentucky.