Q: THE TEMPTATION OF JESUS
The Q sayings are an early Christian, semibiographical document used
by the Gospels of Matthew and Luke. Q knows Deuteronomy well (Allison 2000,
72). Keeping the importance of quotations in mind, the temptation story of
Jesus plays a crucial role (Q 4:1– 13). First, its narrative setting complies
with the exodus events described in Deuteronomy: forty years in the desert
(Deut. 2:7, 29:5; Exod. 16:35) and forty days of Moses on Mount Horeb (Deut.
9:9, Exod. 34:8) correspond to the forty- day fasting of Jesus in the desert (Q
4:1– 2). The temptation motif is also reminiscent of Deuteronomy (Deut. 8:2).
Jesus and the devil both quote the OT in their arguments, and the three
quotations of Jesus can be attributed to Deuteronomy (Labahn 2010, 255– 264).
Once, Jesus quotes only the negative protasis: “man does not live by
bread alone” (Deut. 8:3; Q 4:4) stressing that God lets Israel suffer from
hunger in the desert (Labahn 2010, 256). Then he quotes “Do not put the Lord
your God to the test” (Deut. 6:16). And, finally, “The Lord your God you shall
fear; him you shall serve” (Deut 6:13). There are parallels in Deut 5:9, Ex
20:5 stressing the call for obedience in the Decalogue, and to Ex 34:14, 4 Kgds
17:35– 36. Consequently, studies interested in the relationship of Christology
and theology consider the love of God in Deuteronomy (Deut. 6:5) to be the link
between the three different temptations (Gerhardsson 1966, 77). Jesus in Q
argues “mit den zentralen Texten des Dtn, indirekt mit Dtn 4 und 5 und d.h. mit
dem Dekalog, und direkt mit Dtn 6, wo mit dem Schema Israel das sog. Hauptgebot
steht (Dtn 6,4f. bzw. 6,4- 9)” (Michel 2011, 77). Such an interpretation
captures the fact that the temptation of Jesus is about exclusive worship of
God, which Jesus as the one who has come and as the Son of God (Q 3:16, 3:22,
4:3, 4:9, 10:22) exemplifies. Nonetheless, the three temptations emerge as a
complex network of intertextuality, which would be too limited by an exclusive
reference to Deuteronomy (Deut. 6:5).
Let us look at the interpretation of the third temptation of Jesus.
The insertion of the μόνῳ (alone) is not necessarily reminiscent of Deut 6:4-
5, but underscores the contrast to the devil’s offer of universal dominion
(πάσας τὰς βασιλείας). As many researchers assume, due to the position of the
temptation narrative, Deuteronomy gives importance to understanding the will of
God. Because of its connection with Jesus as the significant teacher on whose
proclamation Q is based, however, trust and worship of the only true God is
transferred to obedience to Jesus. The assumption that these allusions
including reference to Exodus and Leviticus underline a new Exodus typology
including Jesus’s similarity to Moses can hardly be verified (Allison 2000, 69–
73).
The Gospels of Matthew and Luke (Matt. 4:10; Luke 4:8) have, in turn,
influenced the tradition of Deuteronomy (Deut. 6:13, 10:30) in Codex A LXX
(Wevers 1995, 120). (Michael Labahn, “Deuteronomy in the New Testament,” in The
Oxford Handbook of Deuteronomy, ed. Don C. Benjamin [Oxford: Oxford University
Press, 2025], 386-87)
