The Trial of Jesus in the Wilderness

Details: Category: Jesus and the Manna Principle

In a striking parallel to the trials of the Israelite people, before he even starts his public ministry of proclaiming the Empire/Kingdom of God, Jesus is also tested in the wilderness.

Jesus is led by Yahweh’s spirit into the wilderness just as the Israelite people were (Matthew 4:1).
He goes without food for forty days and forty nights there (Matt 4:2). Forty is also the number of years of Israel’s sojourn in the wilderness (Deuteronomy 8:2).

Obviously, Jesus ends up hungry, not unlike the Israelites. But he does not complain (Matt 4:2, Exodus 16:3). Then he gets his first test, which comes in the form of a challenge.

Son of God

The challenge is to prove himself worthy of the title of the Emperor by turning stones into bread.

The tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” (Matt 4:3)

This is the first time Jesus is addressed the ‘Son of God’, a well-known phrase for the first century listener, as it was the official title of the Roman Emperor Augustus Caesar.

Be it Joseph’s Egypt or Augustus’ Roman Empire, it was only the Pharaoh or the Caesar who had the power to provide people with food, as the elite hoarded everything for themselves.
Only the Pharaoh or Caesar could turn stones to bread, so to speak.
And those rulers used the provision of such basic amenities to stamp down the masses under their feet and then hold them subservient in slavery for generations.
This is what happened during the times of Joseph in the Egyptian Empire. And this has always been the means by which Empires have held on to their power throughout history.

So, the challenge to make food appear was a taunt on the part of the tempter to provoke Jesus to act like the ruler of the Empire if indeed he was to stake his claim to replace Caesar.

The Response

The way Jesus responds to this test is remarkable.

But he answered, “It is written, ‘One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” (Matt 4:4)

Jesus refuses to act like Caesar or the Pharaoh and quotes a Scripture in response to the tempter. He actually quotes the lesson learnt by the Israelite people from the Trial of the Manna –

“He humbled you by letting you hunger, then by feeding you with manna, with which neither you nor your ancestors were acquainted, in order to make you understand that one does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD” Deuteronomy 8:3.

Jesus shows himself uninterested in ruling the people by the way of the Pharaoh or Caesar. Caesar claims the ‘Son of God’ title by dangling food in front of the people as if he were a god bestowing gifts upon them in return for their loyalty and bonded labor. Jesus refuses to claim the title that way.

Instead, he refers back to Yahweh’s lesson of the Manna and states that the society he has in mind will thrive not on the abuse of the masses, but rather on the Word of Yahweh that lays out a fair and just community. And this is the community he goes on to preach to the people as the Empire / Kingdom of God, an alternative to the manmade Empires of Pharaohs and Caesars.

Soon afterwards he went on through cities and villages, proclaiming and bringing the good news of the kingdom of God. Luke 8:1.