Jesus as Israel in the Wilderness Temptations of Matthew 4:1-11

For the past two weeks I’ve been thinking about the Temptations of Jesus in the wilderness, particularly as it is recorded and shaped in Matthew 4:1-11.

There are several interesting, underlying things about this passage that are exploring who Jesus is. Indeed, I think the primary thrust of the argument being made is that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, specifically as both of these designations denote the person as the representative of Israel and thus the corporate embodiment of Israel. In this sense, the story is attempting to identify and equate Jesus with Israel.

For example, Matthew 2:14-21 tells of the child Jesus going into Egypt to escape Herod and then finally leaving when it is safe. This going to and exiting of Egypt strongly points to the Exodus story and God’s deliverance of Israel. In verse 15, Matthew reinforces this connection with a quote from Hosea 11:1: “When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt.”

Later on, Matthew continues the Exodus theme with Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount (chps. 5-7), making a connection with Moses’ giving of the Law at Mt. Sinai to Israel (5:21, 27, 33, 38, 43). Still further in 10:1, Jesus will have assembled 12 disciples around himself, representing the 12 tribes of Israel.

But in Matthew 4, we have Jesus going into the wilderness for 40 days. Following upon his childhood exodus from Egypt, this is an obvious allusion to the Israel’s wandering in the wilderness for 40 years. Here Jesus is experiencing the Exodus wilderness as Israel, God’s son. Indeed, Jesus even experiences the temptations of the Israelites in the wilderness. In Exodus 16, the Israelites grumbled about the food they were eating in the wilderness. Here in Matthew 4, the devil tempts Jesus about conjuring bread from stones. Jesus responds by Deuteronomy 8:3: “man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the LORD.”

We must keep in mind that Deuteronomy is Moses’ farewell address to the Israelites while they are still in the wilderness and about to enter the Promise Land. He is giving them final instructions about where they came from, why they are where they are (8:2), where will they go (8:1, 7), and, most ominously, the warning that God would exile them from the Promise Land if they ignore the covenant and commandments and worshipped other gods (8:11, 19), a threat that came to fruition in the Israelite exile in Babylon.

Here Jesus does not grumble but submits to the authority of God, succeeding where Israel failed. Jesus is the true Israel succeeding where ethnic Israel should have succeeded.

In Matthew 4:7, Jesus responds to the temptation to put God to the test by quoting Deuteronomy 6:16: “Ye shall not tempt the LORD your God, [as ye tempted him in Massah].”

It was at Massah that the Israelites argued with Moses about water and Moses rebuked them for testing God and questioning whether God was actually present with them in the wilderness (Exodus 17:2-7).

Just as with the bread, Jesus demonstrates he is the true Israel succeeding where ethnic Israel failed.

The final temptation that Jesus faces is to gain the kingdoms of the world by worshipping the devil. Once again Jesus replies by quoting Scripture, this time Deuteronomy 6:13: “You shall worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.”

This is the final test and Jesus once again succeeds where Israel failed. It was in Exodus 32 that Israel made its original sin of making a golden calf to worship while Moses was up on Mt. Sinai receiving the Law from God. The result of this sin was that God would not go with Israel to the Promise Land (Exodus 33:1-5). It was outside the Israelite camp that the tabernacle housing the presence of God would be placed (Exodus 33:7).

But as stated earlier, Israel ultimately failed to heed the warnings of Moses in Deuteronomy and paid the penalty of exile from the land and the abandonment of God's presence from his people [588 BCE]. But even with the eventual physical exile was over [538 BCE], there still remained a spiritual exile in the minds of the Jewish people who were still waiting for the presence of God to return. There was still a sense that God had not fully forgiven his people for their sin.

What Matthew is arguing is that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, the true Israel who succeeds in the wilderness where ethnic Israel failed. What he will continue to argue is that Jesus is not only true Israel succeeding where Israel failed, but that Jesus is actually God returning to his people, bringing the forgiveness of sin.