<p>4:2 <i>Being tempted by the Devil for forty days. And he ate nothing in those days; and when they were completed, he was hungry</i>- Commentary on what this passage does <i>not</i> mean can be found in my <a href=http://www.realdevil.info/5-8.htm><i>The Real Devil</i></a>.</p><p>The only other two men recorded as doing this are Moses and Elijah (Ex. 34:28; 1 Kings 19:8). The Lord chose to seek to enter into their experience; it was presumably His decision to fast for this period. And the Father responded to that by giving Him the encouraging vision of those same two men at the transfiguration. We see here how God is in dialogue with man; if we wish to identify with some Bible character, the Father will respond His side to enable us to do so yet more.</p><p>With His familiarity with Scripture, Christ would have seen the similarities between Himself and Elijah, whose morale collapsed after 40 days in the wilderness (1 Kings 19: 8) and Moses, who forfeited his immediate inheritance of the land at the end of 40 years in the wilderness. Jesus at the end of 40 days, was in a similar position to them - faced with a real possibility of failure. Moses and Elijah failed because of human weakness - not because of a person called &ldquo;the devil&rdquo;. It was this same human weakness, the &ldquo;Satan&rsquo;, or adversary, that was tempting Jesus.</p><p>The temptations were controlled by God for the Lord&rsquo;s spiritual education. The passages quoted by the Lord to strengthen Himself against His desires (&ldquo;devil&rdquo;) are all from the same part of Deuteronomy, regarding Israel&rsquo;s experience in the wilderness. Jesus clearly saw a parallel between His experiences and theirs:</p><table border=1 cellspacing=3 cellpadding=0>    <tbody>        <tr>            <td width=440 valign=top>            <p>Deuteronomy 8:2   &ldquo;The Lord thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness to humble   thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou   wouldest keep His commandments (word), or no.&rdquo;</p>            </td>            <td width=603 valign=top>            <p>Matthew 4 /   Luke 4 &ldquo;Jesus led up of the spirit&rdquo; &ldquo;forty days&rdquo; &ldquo;in the wilderness&rdquo;. Jesus   was proved by the temptations. Jesus overcame by quoting the Scriptures that   were in His heart (Ps. 119:11), thus showing it was the Scriptures that were   in His heart.</p>            </td>        </tr>        <tr>            <td width=440 valign=top>            <p>Deuteronomy   8:3. &ldquo;And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with   manna... that He might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only,   but by every word...of the Lord...&rdquo;</p>            </td>            <td width=603 valign=top>            <p>&ldquo;He was   afterward an hungered&quot;. In John 6 manna is interpreted by Jesus as   representing the Word of God, which Jesus lived by in the wilderness. Jesus   learnt that spiritually He lived by the Word of God. &ldquo;He answered...it is   written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word ...of God&rdquo;.,</p>            </td>        </tr>        <tr>            <td width=440 valign=top>            <p>Deuteronomy 8:5   &ldquo;Thou shalt also consider in thine heart, that, as a man chasteneth his son,   so the Lord thy God chasteneth thee&rdquo;</p>            </td>            <td width=603 valign=top>            <p>Jesus no doubt   reflected on His experiences. God chastened His Son, Jesus- 2 Sam. 7:12; Ps.   89: 32.</p>            </td>        </tr>    </tbody></table><p>Thus the Lord showed us how to read and study the Word - He thought Himself into the position of Israel in the wilderness, and therefore took the lessons that can be learnt from their experiences to Himself in His wilderness trials. The description of the Lord Jesus as being in the wilderness with beasts and Angels (Mk. 1:13) is another connection with Israel&rsquo;s experience in the wilderness- they were plagued there by &ldquo;wild beasts&rdquo; because of their disobedience (Dt. 32:19-24 and context).</p>