Thursday, June 8, 2023

Charles Nathan Ridlehoover on Some Thematic Links Between Matthew 4:1-4 and Exodus 16

 

1.     Before beginning his ministry in Galilee, Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness. In Exodus 16, Israel is led by God into the wilderness.

2.     Jesus begins a fast for forty days. Israel was in the wilderness for forty years and complained because of their lack of food.

3.     A key difference in these texts is the responses of Jesus and Israel. Whereas Israel demanded bread from heaven from heaven, Jesus continued to fast. Israel complained of their needy state, while Jesus affirmed the will of God. Israel ultimately caved to the temptation of complaining, while Jesus resisted the temptations of the devil. When tempted with the devil’s provision of bread, Jesus exclaims, “Man cannot live on bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.” He trusts that God is sovereign within this temptation and ultimately is in control. By continuing the fast, Jesus additionally affirms that God’s provision is steadfast and sufficient. Jesus’s statement makes clear that earthly needs must be rightly ordered behind the word of God. (Charles Nathan Ridlehoover, The Lord’s Prayer and the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew’s Gospel [Library of New Testament Studies 616; London: T&T Clark, 2020], 147)