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The Life and Times of Jesus the MessiahAlfred Edersheim1883
Book IIITHE ASCENT: FROM THE RIVER JORDAN TO THE MOUNT OFTRANSFIGURATION
 'In every passage of Scripture where thou findest the Majesty of God, thou also findestclose by His Condescension (Humility). So it is written down in the Law [Deut. x. 17,followed by verse 18], repeated in the Prophets [Is. lvii. 15], and reiterated in theHagiographa [Ps. lxviii. 4, followed by verse 5].' - Megill 31
a
.
Chapter 1THE TEMPTATION OF JESUS(St. Matthew 4:1-11; St. Mark 1:12,13; St. Luke 4:1-13.)
 The proclamation and inauguration of the 'Kingdom of Heaven' at such a time, and undersuch circumstances, was one of the great
antitheses
of history. With reverence be it said,it is only God Who would thus begin His Kingdom. A similar, even greater antithesis,was the commencement of the Ministry of Christ. From the Jordan to the wilderness withits wild Beasts; from the devout acknowledgment of the Baptist, the consecration andfilial prayer of Jesus, the descent of the Holy Spirit, and the heard testimony of Heaven,to the utter foresakeness, the felt want and weakness of Jesus, and the assaults of theDevil - no contrast more startling could be conceived. And yet, as we think of it, whatfollowed upon the Baptism, and that it so followed, was necessary, as regarded thePerson of Jesus, His Work, and that which was to result from it.Psychologically, and as regarded the Work of Jesus, even reverent negative Critics
1
haveperceived its higher need. That at His consecration to the Kingship of the Kingdom, Jesusshould have become clearly conscious of all that it implied in a world of sin; that theDivine method by which that Kingdom should be established, should have been clearlybrought out, and its reality tested; and that the King, as Representative and Founder of theKingdom, should have encountered and defeated the representative, founder, and holderof the opposite power, 'the prince of this world' - these are thoughts which must arise ineveryone who believes in any Mission of the Christ. Yet this only as, after the events, wehave learned to know the character of that Mission, not as we might have preconceived it.We can understand, how a Life and Work such as that of Jesus, would commence with'the Temptation,' but none other than His. Judaism never conceived such an idea; becauseit never conceived a Messiah like Jesus. It is quite true that long previous Biblicalteaching, and even the psychological necessity of the case, must have pointed totemptation and victory as the condition of spiritual greatness. It could not have beenotherwise in a world hostile to God, nor yet in man, whose conscious choice determineshis position. No crown of victory without previous contest, and that proportionately to itsbrightness; no moral ideal without personal attainment and probation. The patriarchs had
 
been tried and proved; so had Moses, and all the heroes of faith in Israel. And Rabbiniclegend, enlarging upon the Biblical narratives, has much to tell of the original envy of theAngels; of the assaults of Satan upon Abraham, when about to offer up Isaac; of attempted resistance by the Angels to Israel's reception of the Law; and of the final vainendeavour of Satan to take away the soul of Moses.
2
Foolish, repulsive, and evenblasphemous as some of these legends are, thus much at least clearly stood out, thatspiritual trials must precede spiritual elevation. In their own language: 'The Holy One,blessed be His Name, does not elevate a man to dignity till He has first tried and searchedhim; and if he stands in temptation, then He raises him to dignity.'
3
 
1. No other terms would correctly describe the book of Keim to which I specially refer.How widely it differs, not only from the superficial trivialities of a Renan, but from thestale arguments of Strauss, or the picturesque inaccuracies of a Hausrath, no seriousstudent need be told. Perhaps on that ground it is only the more dangerous.2. On the temptations of Abraham see Book of Jubilees, ch. xvii.; Sanh. 89
b
(anddifferently but not less blasphemously in Pirké de R. Elies. 31); Pirké de R. Elies. 26, 31,32 (where also about Satan's temptation of Sarah, who dies in consequence of histidings); Ab. de R. N. 33; Ber. R. 32, 56; Yalkut, i. c. 98, p. 28
b
; and Tanchuma, wherethe story is related with most repulsive details. As to Moses, see for example Shabb. 89
a
;and especially the truly horrible story of the death of Moses in Debar R. 11 (ed. Warsh.iii. p. 22
a
and
b
). But I am not aware of any
temptation
of Moses by Satan.3. Bemidb. R. 15, ed. Warsh. vol. iv. p. 63
a
, lines 5 and 4 from bottom.
Thus far as regards man. But in reference to the Messiah there is not a hint of anytemptation or assault by Satan. It is of such importance to mark this clearly at the outsetof this wonderful history, that proof must be offered even at this stage. In whatevermanner negative critics may seek to account for the introduction of Christ's Temptation atthe commencement of His Ministry, it cannot have been derived from Jewish legend. The'mythical' interpretation of the Gospel-narratives breaks down in this almost moremanifestly than in any other instance.
4
So far from any idea obtaining that Satan was toassault the Messiah, in a well-known passage, which has been previously quoted,
5
theArch-enemy is represented as overwhelmed and falling on his face at sight of Him, andowning his complete defeat.
6
On another point in this history we find the same inversionof thought current in Jewish legend. In the Commentary just referred to,
7
the placing of Messiah on the pinnacle of the Temple, so far from being of Satanic temptation, is said tomark the hour of deliverance, of Messianic proclamation, and of Gentile voluntarysubmission. 'Our Rabbis give this tradition: In the hour when King Messiah cometh, Hestandeth upon the roof of the Sanctuary, and proclaims to Israel, saying, Ye poor(suffering), the time of your redemption draweth nigh. And if ye believe, rejoice in MyLight, which is risen upon you . . . . . Is. lx. 1. . . . . upon you only . . . . Is. lx. 2. . . . . Inthat hour will the Holy One, blessed be His Name, make the Light of the Messiah and of Israel to shine forth; and all shall come to the Light of the King Messiah and of Israel, asit is written ..... Is. lx. 3. . . . . And they shall come and lick the dust from under the feet of the King Messiah, as it is written, Is. xlix. 23. . . . . . And all shall come and fall on theirfaces before Messiah and before Israel, and say, We will be servants to Him and to Israel.And every one in Israel shall have 2,800 servants,
8
as it is written, Zech. viii. 23.' One
 
more quotation from the same Commentary:
9
'In that hour, the Holy One, blessed be HisName, exalts the Messiah to the heaven of heavens, and spreads over Him of thesplendour of His glory because of the nations of the world, because of the wickedPersians. They say to Him, Ephraim, Messiah, our Righteousness, execute judgment uponthem, and do to them what Thy soul desireth.'
4. Thus
Gfrörer 
can only hope that some Jewish parallelism may yet be discovered (!);while
Keim
suggests, of course without a title of evidence, additions by the early JewishChristians. But
whence
and
why
these imaginary additions?5. Yalkut on Is. ix. 1, vol. ii. p. 56.6.
Keim
(Jesu von Naz. i.
b
, p. 564) seems not to have perused the whole passage, and,quoting it at second-hand, has misapplied it. The passage (Yalkut on Is. lx. 1) has beengiven before.7. u. s. col.
d 
.8. The number is thus reached: as there are
seventy
nations, and
ten
of each are to takehold on each of the
 four 
corners of a Jew's garment, we have 70 x 10 x 4 =2,800.9. u.s. 11 lines further down.
In another respect these quotations are important. They show that such ideas were,indeed, present to the Jewish mind, but in a sense opposite to the Gospel-narratives. Inother words, they were regarded as the rightful manifestation of Messiah's dignity;whereas in the Evangelic record they are presented as the suggestions of Satan, and theTemptation of Christ. Thus the Messiah of Judaism is the Anti-Christ of the Gospels. Butif the narrative cannot be traced to Rabbinic legend, may it not be an adaptation of an OldTestament narrative, such as the account of the forty days' fast of Moses on the mount, orof Elijah in the wilderness? Viewing the Old Testament in its unity, and the Messiah asthe apex in the column of its history, we admit - or rather, we must expect - throughoutpoints of correspondence between Moses, Elijah, and the Messiah. In fact, these may bedescribed as marking the three stages in the history of the Covenant. Moses was its giver,Elijah its restorer, the Messiah its renewer and perfecter. And as such they all had, in asense, a similar outward consecration for their work. But that neither Moses nor Elijahwas assailed by the Devil, constitutes not the only, though a vital, difference between thefast of Moses and Elijah, and that of Jesus. Moses fasted in the middle, Elijah at thePresence of God;
10
Elijah alone; Jesus assaulted by the Devil. Moses had been called upby God; Elijah had gone forth in the bitterness of his own spirit; Jesus was driven by theSpirit. Moses failed after his forty days' fast, when in indignation he cast the Tables of theLaw from him; Elijah failed before his forty days' fast; Jesus was assailed for forty daysand endured the trial. Moses was angry against Israel; Elijah despaired of Israel; Jesusovercame for Israel.
10. The Rabbis have it, that a man must accommodate himself to the ways of the placewhere he is. When Moses was on the Mount he lived of 'the bread of the Torah' (Shem.R. 47).
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