Texts in Conversation
James insists God tempts no one and is not the author of any person’s testing. Jubilees has a similar concern, reinterpreting the binding of Isaac so that Prince Mastema, not God, proposes the test of Abraham.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Jubilees 17:16
Pseudepigrapha
15 During the seventh week, in the first year during the first month — on the twelfth of this month — in this jubilee [2003], there were voices in heaven regarding Abraham, that he was faithful in everything that he told him, that the Lord loved him, and that in every difficulty he was faithful. 16 Then Prince Mastema came and said before God: ‘Abraham does indeed love his son Isaac and finds him more pleasing than anyone else. Tell him to offer him as a sacrifice on an altar. Then you will see whether he performs this order and will know whether he is faithful in everything through which you test him.’ 17 Now the Lord was aware that Abraham was faithful in every difficulty which he had told him. For he had tested him through his land and the famine; he had tested him through the wealth of kings; he had tested him again through his wife when she was taken forcibly, and through circumcision; and he had tested him through Ishmael and his servant girl Hagar when he sent them away.
James 1:13
New Testament
12 Happy is the one who endures testing because when he has proven to be genuine, he will receive the crown of life that God promised to those who love him. 13 Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted by evil, and he himself tempts no one. 14 But each one is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desires.
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Notes and References
“... This topic of God’s involvement in human trials was actively discussed in biblical religion. Evidence may be cited from 1 Chronicles 21:1, which ‘corrects’ 2 Samuel 24:1 and which avoids the conclusion that Yahweh tempted David to institute the census by ascribing the action to Satan. In a similar manner the testing of Abraham in Genesis 22 is said to be Yahweh’s work; but in Jubilees 17:16 the initiative is attributed to ‘Prince Mastema’ (a name for Satan in this document, acting in the role of the prosecutor as in the drama of Job): ‘He came and said before God, "Behold Abraham loves Isaac, his son. . . . Tell him to offer him [as] a burnt offering upon the altar. And you will see whether he will do this thing. And you will know whether he is faithful in everything in which you test him."’ True, Yahweh is said to test Abraham (17:17-18), but it is significant that in this greatest test the action is traced to Mastema, who is finally put to shame (18:12) as the sequel unfolds. ...”
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