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Matthew

About this book
Chapter 4

1 Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.⁠ 2 After he fasted 40 days and 40 nights he was famished.⁠ 3 The tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become bread.”⁠ 4 But he answered, “It is written, ‘Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”⁠ 5 Then the devil took him to the holy city, had him stand on the highest point of the temple, 6 and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down. For it is written, ‘He will command his angels concerning you’⁠ and ‘with their hands they will lift you up, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’” 7 Jesus said to him, “Once again it is written: ‘You are not to put the Lord your God to the test.’” 8 Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain, and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their grandeur.⁠ 9 And he said to him, “I will give you all these things if you throw yourself to the ground and worship me.” 10 Then Jesus said to him, “Go away, Satan! For it is written: ‘You are to worship the Lord your God and serve only him.’” 11 Then the devil left him, and angels came and began ministering to his needs. 12 Now when Jesus heard that John had been imprisoned, he went into Galilee. 13 While in Galilee, he moved from Nazareth to make his home in Capernaum by the sea, in the region of Zebulun and Naphtali, 14 so that what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah would be fulfilled: 15 “Land of Zebulun and land of Naphtali, the way by the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles—⁠ 16 the people who sit in darkness have seen a great light,⁠ and on those who sit in the region and shadow of death a light has dawned.” 17 From that time Jesus began to preach this message: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near!” 18 As he was walking by the Sea of Galilee he saw two brothers, Simon (called Peter) and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea (for they were fishermen). 19 He said to them, “Follow me, and I will turn you into fishers of people!” 20 They left their nets immediately and followed him. 21 Going on from there he saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee and his brother John, in a boat with their father Zebedee, mending their nets. Then he called them. 22 They immediately left the boat and their father and followed him. 23 Jesus went throughout all of Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every kind of disease and sickness among the people. 24 So a report about him spread throughout Syria. People brought to him all who suffered with various illnesses and afflictions, those who had seizures, paralytics, and those possessed by demons, and he healed them. 25 And large crowds followed him from Galilee, the Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea, and beyond the Jordan River.

Texts in conversation

Compare LXX Deuteronomy 8:2 and Matthew 4:1

Septuagint · New Testament

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Summary

Matthew 4 uses the language of Deuteronomy 8, including references to the number forty, to describe Jesus' testing in the wilderness. By quoting Deuteronomy, Matthew connects the reference of forty days of testing with Israel’s forty years of wandering.

Passages

LXX Deuteronomy 8:2

Septuagint
1 You shall observe to do all the commands which I charge you today, that you may live and be multiplied, and enter in and inherit the land, which the Lord your God swore to your fathers. 2 And you shall remember all the way which the Lord your God led you in the wilderness, that he might afflict you, and try you, and that the things in your heart might be made manifest, whether you would keep his commandments or not. 3 And he afflicted you and straitened you with hunger, and fed you with manna, which your fathers did not know; that he might teach you that man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God shall man live. 4 Your garments did not wear out on you, your feet were not painfully hardened, look, these forty years. 5 And you shall know in your heart, that as if any man should discipline his son, so the Lord your God will discipline you.
300–201 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in LXX Deuteronomy

Matthew 4:1

New Testament
1 Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 2 After he fasted 40 days and 40 nights he was famished. 3 The tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become bread.” 4 But he answered, “It is written, ‘Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” 5 Then the devil took him to the holy city, had him stand on the highest point of the temple, 6 and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down. For it is written, ‘He will command his angels concerning you’ and ‘with their hands they will lift you up, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’”
70–90 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Matthew

References

"... Matthew 4:2 probably narrates Jesus being hungry to form a thematic association with the hunger theme in the unquoted half of Deuteronomy 8:3. Although Matthew 4 does not quote this part of Deuteronomy 8:3, there are good reasons for thinking that Matthew 4:2 alludes to it. First, Deuteronomy 8:1-5 and Matthew 4:1-3 share some identical words and a reference to the number 40. Second, the same themes are clustered together in both Deuteronomy 8 and Matt 4. Third, Deuteronomy 8:1-5 and Matt 4:1-4 describe analogous situations. Some identical words and the mention of the number 40 appear in Deuteronomy 8:1-5 and Matthew 4:1-3. The identical words include ἔρημος (“wilderness”) and υἱός (“son”). Deuteronomy 8:2 contains ἔρημος, and Matthew 4:1 uses ἔρημος. Deuteronomy 8:5 includes υἱός, and Matthew 4:3 contains υἱός. The number 40 appears in both Deuteronomy 8:4 and Matthew 4:2. Deuteronomy 8:4 mentions 40 years, and Matthew 4:2 references 40 days and 40 nights. The above details lead many scholars to conclude that the quotation of Deuteronomy 8:3 in Matt 4:4 alludes to Deuteronomy 8:1-5 ..."
Christopher Winchester, “Thematic Association in the Gospel of Matthew: Situating Exegesis in the Gospel of Matthew in Its Second Temple Context” (PhD diss., University of Edinburgh, 2017), 216.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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LXX Deuteronomy 8:2 and Matthew 4:1

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