surrounding the Temple and protecting it. In all events, the visibility of the spot may have been greater if the
temptation was staged in the Inner Sanctuary that towered above the city some 46 meters (about twelve
stories high). Also, the Jewish people never really accepted the Herodian retaining wall as part of the
Temple.
A Jewish Midrash (though of a later date) describes the activities of Messiah in the Temple. ―Our teachers
taught, at the time that King messiah would appear, He will come and stand on the roof of the Temple.
He will proclaim to Israel and will say, ̳The time of your redemption has arrived. If you do not believe - behold
My light which shines upon you‘ ―(Pesikta Rabbati 36). If this tradition or a similar one was in place, it would
clarify the place and the nature of Satan‘s test. It suggests that the temptation really centered on the nature
of the Messianic task. Satan was asking Y‘shua to reveal Himself as the Messiah in supernatural power in
the Temple where all would recognise the nature and purpose of His mission. Jerusalem is called the ―holy
city‖ which is a common Rabbinic term for the city (Babylonian Baba Kamma 97b, Sanhedrin 107b).
Interestingly, as Moses was given the design for the Tabernacle (which later became the Temple, and which
Judaism teaches is a "representation" of YHWH's heavenly realm), Satan conversely took Y‘shua up to the
top of the Temple and offered Him "his" realm.
Other commentaries on ―the wing of the temple‖:
―From here James, the Lord‘s brother, was thrown down thirty-eight years later and killed. This wing was
the watch-post, where the white-robed priests customarily called the people to the early worship and
the priests to the morning sacrifice, as the massive Temple gates swung open ere sunrise‖. J.W.
Shepard, The Christ of the Gospels (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1939), p. 77.
―It should be noted that the rabbis identified the person addressed by God in Psalm xci with the Messiah.
The Midrash, known as Pesiqta Rabbati (162a), records a traditional belief that Messiah would manifest
himself standing on the roof of the temple. The part of the temple indicated in the temptation
narrative may have been the part overlooking the “Royal Colonnade”—which Josephus (Antiquities,
xv. 11,5) describes as looking down a precipitous descent into the Kidron valley, the height being so
great as to make the spectator dizzy‖. Norval Geldenhuys, Commentary on the Gospel of Luke (Grand
Rapids: Eerdmans, 1951), p. 162.
4:6-7 It is written again
―(6) And saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his
angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot
against a stone. (7) Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God‖.
(9) ―And he brought him to Jerusalem, and set him on a pinnacle of the temple, and said unto him, If
thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down from hence:
(10) For it is written, He shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee:
(11) And in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone.
(12) And Jesus answering said unto him, It is said, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God‖. (Luke 4:9-12)
The New American Standard Bible on verse 7: ―Jesus said to him, On the other hand, it is written, ̳YOU
SHALL NOT PUT THE LORD YOUR GOD TO THE TEST‘―.
The deceiver now quotes Scripture, attempting to entice Y‘shua into accepting the easy way to success.
The Second Temptation
The Proposition: Having failed in the first recorded effort, the devil moved to an alternate approach
as seen in Matt 4:5-7).
The Premise: Satan‘s presupposition in this challenge was that YHWH‘s faithfulness is best
demonstrated by the spectacular. In addition, there is the implicit assumption that one‘s trustworthiness
should be put to the test. If YHWH was the Father of Y‘shua, let Him prove it; and in such an unusual way
that no one could miss it.
This was a very subtle challenge, for Jerusalem was the sacred city, and the Temple was the center of
Israel‘s religious life. Furthermore, the Old Covenant prophecies anticipated Messiah‘s public presentation at
the Temple: ―Behold, I am sending My messenger, and He will clear the way before Me. And the Lord whom
you are seeking shall suddenly come to His temple, even the Angel of the Covenant, in whom you delight.