[81] Zur Biographie Jesu, § 23. [↑]
[82] See [Zech. iii. 1], where Satan resists the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord; farther Vajikra rabba, f. cli. 1 (in Bertholdt, Christol. Jud., p. 183), where, according to Rabbi Jochanan, Jehovah said to מלאך המות (i.e. to Satan, comp. [Heb. ii. 14] and Lightfoot, horæ, p. 1088): Feci quidem te κοσμοκράτορα, at vero cum populo fœderis negotium nulla in re tibi est. [↑]
[83] See the passages quoted by Fabricius in Cod. pseudepigr. V. T., p. 395, from Gemara Sanhedrin. [↑]
[84] The same, p. 396. As Abraham went out to sacrifice his son in obedience to Jehovah, antevertit eum Satanas in via, et tali colloquio cum ipso habito a proposito avertere eum conatus est, etc. Schemoth, R. 41 (ap. Wetstein in loc. Matth.): Cum Moses in altum adscenderet, dixit Israëli: post dies XL hora sexta redibo. Cum autem XL illi dies elapsi essent, venit Satanas, et turbavit mundum, dixitque: ubi est Moses, magister vester? mortuus est. It is worthy of remark that here also the temptation takes place after the lapse of 40 days. [↑]
[85] Thus Fritzsche, in Matt. p. 173. His very title is striking, p. 154: Quod in vulgari Judæorum opinione erat, fore, ut Satanas salutaribus Messiæ consiliis omni modo, sed sine effectu tamen, nocere studeret, id ipsum Jesu Messiæ accidit. Nam quum is ad exemplum illustrium majorum quadraginta dierum in deserto loco egisset jejunium, Satanas eum convenit, protervisque atque impiis— —consiliis ad impietatem deducere frustra conatus est. [↑]
[86] Schöttgen, horæ, ii. 538, adduces from Fini Flagellum Judæorum, iii. 35, a passage of Pesikta: Ait Satan: Domine, permitte me tentare Messiam et ejus generationem? Cui inquit Deus: Non haberes ullam adversus eum potestatem. Satanas iterum ait: Sine me, quia potestatem habeo. Respondit Deus: Si in hoc diutius perseverabis, Satan, potius (te) de mundo perdam quam aliquam animam generationis Messiæ perdi permittam. This passage at least proves that a temptation of the Messiah undertaken by the devil, was not foreign to the circle of Jewish ideas. Although the author of the above quotation represents the demand of Satan to have been denied, others, so soon as the imagination was once excited, would be sure to allow its completion. [↑]
[87] [Deut. viii. 2] (LXX.) the people are thus addressed: μνησθήσῃ πᾶσαν τὴν ὁδὸν, ἥν ἤγαγέ σε Κύριος ὁ Θεός σου τοῦτο τεσσαρακοστὸν ἔτος ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ, ὅπως κακώσῃ σε καὶ πεῖρασῃ σε καὶ διαγνωσθῇ τὰ ἐν τῇ καρδίᾳ σου, εἰ φυλάξῃ τὰς ἐντολάς αὐτοῦ ἢ οὔ. [↑]
[88] Ziegler, in Gabler’s n. theol. Journ., 5, 201; Theile, zur Biogr. J., § 23. [↑]
[89] See Wetstein, s. 270; De Wette, Kritik der mos. Geschichte, s. 245; the same in Daub’s and Creuzer’s Studien, 3, s. 245; v. Bohlen, Genesis, s. 63 f. [↑]
[90] [Deut. viii. 3], καὶ ἐκάκωσέ σε καὶ ἐλιμανχόνησε σε, κ.τ.λ. [↑]