Bible Characters for your weekly Bible study — May 28 – June 3, 2007
Weekly Bible Study Resources
Bible Characters for Your Weekly Bible Study
Compiled by Lt Gen C. Norman Wood, USAF (Ret), Burke, VA 22015
For week of May 28 – June 3, 2007
The Temptation of Jesus by the Devil (Matt 4: 1-11)
PARALLEL GOSPELS: Mark 1: 12,13; Luke 4: 1-13
TIME LINE: January-February, 27 AD, The Preparation Period, in the Wilderness of Judea
“The narrative which can only have come from our Lord’s own lips, describes an actual historical fact, the great temptation which He underwent at the very beginning of His ministry.” (Dummelow Commentary)
V.1: “God Himself is never the agent of temptation (James 1:13), but here—as in the Book of Job—God uses even satanic tempting to serve His sovereign purposes.” (MacArthur Commentary)
"Although the forty days of temptation [v.2] are the typological equivalent of Israel's forty years of wandering, they also have rightly reminded…others of Moses' fast of forty days and forty nights (Ex 24:18)." (Oxford Bible Commentary)
"The urgency to turn the stones into bread [v.3] appealed to Jesus' most basic human need in light of the extensive fast." (King James Bible Commentary)
V.4: "The victory in each aspect of the temptation is related to Jesus' use of Scripture: It is written. (Ibid)
"the devil"/ Satan
[Dev’uhl] (Gr. diabolis “accuser” or “slanderer”)
“DEVIL. Evil; a lie; error; neither corporeality nor mind; the opposite of Truth; a belief
in sin, sickness, and death; animal magnetism or hypnotism; the lust of the flesh, which
saith: ‘I am life and intelligence in matter. There is more than one mind, for I am mind, —
a wicked mind, self-made or created by a tribal god and put into the opposite of mind,
termed matter, thence to reproduce a mortal universe, including man, not after the image
and likeness of Spirit, but after its own image.’" (S&H 584:17)
The word devil is “used in the Septuagint to translate the Hebrew ‘Satan’ and in the NT as a virtual synonym for the same term. In the KJV, it is also regularly employed as a translation of another Greek word (daimón), which, however, in the RSV is translated as 'demon.'” (HarperCollins Dictionary)
The devil is “the personal dimension of that which opposes God’s purposes in His world. For some people, belief in a personal Satan is part of mankind's nursery furniture.” (Holman Dictionary) He is portrayed as a slanderer, the arch-enemy of man's spiritual interest in Job, Zechariah, and Revelation. The devil is called also "the accuser of the brethren" in Revelation.
In Leviticus, the word "devil" is the translation of the Hebrew sair, meaning a "goat" or "satyr,” alluding to the wood-demons, the objects of idolatrous worship among the heathen.
In Deuteronomy and Psalms it is the translation of Hebrew shed , meaning lord, and idol, regarded by the Jews as a "demon," as the word is rendered in the Revised Version.
"In the NT, other early Christian writings, and some contemporary Jewish pseudepigraphical literature, diábolos is used primarily as one among many proper names or epithets for the figure most generally known as Satan, the supernatural enemy of God and adversary of his people, who in addition to causing suffering and other ills that beset humankind, strives mightily to divert the pious from the path of obedience to God and thus break the bond between God and his servants." (Eerdmans Dictionary) In the narratives of the Gospels regarding the "casting out of devils" the Greek word (daimón) is used. "[The devil] is the great enemy of God and man (I Peter 5:8; I John 3:8), who tempted Christ and incites men to sin (Matt 4:1; John 13:2)." (Westminster Dictionary) In the time of our Lord there were frequent cases of demoniacal possession in Matthew, Mark, and Luke.
"Never too late to pray," Christian Science Monitor (22 December 1998), p. 19.
--…what does All-in-all mean?
--Let's start with All.
• This means God, namely Life, Truth, Love, Mind, Soul, Spirit, Principle.
---God is expressed in all good, including honesty, love, kindness, peace, harmony, good neighborliness, truthfulness.
--So All-in-all means that these spiritual qualities constitute our very being and cannot be invaded or diminished.
• They remain with us at all times.
--Any invasion of that state of harmony is simply an evil suggestion, just as Jesus was tempted by the devil on three occasions—look at Matthew 4:1-11.
• These thoughts are not to be tolerated as a real threat to our well-being but dismissed, just as Jesus kicked them out when he said, "Get thee hence, Satan."
--We must mentally resist devilish suggestions….
Price, Mrs. Naomi (CSB and Associate Editor), "Resist the devil," EDITORIAL, Christian Science Sentinel (27 February 1978), p. 343.
--Subtle suggestions are communicated not only through advertising, but through music, drama, and other forms of art, insisting that matter holds the key to existence and that gratification of the physical senses is all-important to life and happiness.
• In opposition to Bible guidance, dishonesty and violence are presented as normal, and indiscriminate and undisciplined heterosexual activity as well as homosexuality as acceptable and desirable.
--Christ Jesus showed us how to combat evil successfully when he was tempted by the devil in the wilderness.
• He invariably met each suggestion with a strong denial: "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God….Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God….Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve." (Matt 4:4,7,10)
---Here is our example.
--Mrs. Eddy warns us, "The looms of crime, hidden in the dark recesses of mortal thought, are every hour weaving webs more complicated and subtle." (S&H 102)
• But she also says elsewhere in the Christian Science textbook, "Resist evil — error of every sort — and it will flee from you." (Ibid 406)
The Abomination of the Nations, and the Promise of a Prophet Like Moses (Deut 18: 10,11,13,15)
"Moses gave a strict injunction not to copy, imitate, or do what the polytheistic Canaanites did." (MacArthur Bible Commentary)
"The singular pronoun [v.15] emphasizes the ultimate Prophet who was to come." (Ibid)
"divination, or
"With divination, in contrast to magic, one does not seek to alter the course of events, only to learn about them." (HarperCollins Bible Dictionary)
an observer of times(astrologer), or
"Mesopotamian and Egyptian stargazers practiced what moderns would call both astronomy and astrology, and their skill was sophisticated enough to allow accurate predictions of eclipses and construction of calendars. The Neo-Assyrian monarchs (743-612 B.C.E.) in particular were eager patrons of astrologers throughout their empire, and much of their extensive correspondence survives." (Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible)
Astrology is the "belief that the celestial bodies, especially the moon, sun, planets, and stars (in Greek collectively called 'stars'), influence the sublunar world." (Ibid)
an enchanter, or
"In Daniel (ch.2:2,10, RSV) it is the rendering of Heb. 'ashshāph, Aram 'āshaph. It denotes conjurers and exorcists who used incantations and pronounced spells for the purpose of securing the aid of evil spirits or of freeing the supposed victims of evil spirits from their torments." (Westminster Dictionary of the Bible)
a witch, or
A witch used "the practice of sorcery (cf. Exod.22:18) or necromancy (I Sam.28) for divination or the manipulation of (generally evil) spirits (cf.Deut18:10-11)." (Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible)
a charmer, or
A charmer used "magic objects intended to ward off evil; and a method used to prevent poisonous snakes from biting." (Holman Bible Dictionary)
a consulter with familiar spirits, or
"Divination by means of communication with the spirit of the dead (necromancy) was known and practiced in the ancient Near East…)." (Interpreters Dictionary) It was also known as consulting with familiar spirits.
a wizard, or
A wizard was "a professed possessor of supernatural knowledge derived, in the form of wizardry referred to in the Bible, from the pretended ability to converse with the spirits of the dead." (Westminster Dictionary of the Bible)
a necromancer"
"Necromancy was particularly opposed by the religious group that supported the worship of Yahweh alone. This group argued that blessings and the telling of the future were prerogatives of Yahweh, not of the dead, and that consultation with the dead for such purposes was an abomination against Yahweh." (Oxford Guide to Ideas & Issues)
Garinger, Louis D., "The Astrology Fallacy," Christian Science Journal (May 1974), p. 263.
--An understanding of Christian Science shows astrology to be a fundamental fallacy—a delusion within an illusion, multiplying the mesmerism of mortal thought and binding men more tightly to the belief of life and death in matter.
--A glance at the history of astrology is useful in uncovering the limitations of that belief.
• The ancients were convinced that they had discovered a causal relationship, or at the very least a correspondence, between the movements of heavenly bodies and events here on earth.
---In Mesopotamia men concluded that the lights which appeared to move across the skies in fixed patterns, or occasionally with erratic brilliance, were superior intelligent beings, in other words, great gods.
---They decided that what appeared from earth to be the movement and configuration of sun and moon, stars and planets, were of the utmost significance to their own lives.
Martin, Maureen, “Witchcraft Has No Power,” Christian Science Sentinel (18 September 1976), p. 1609.
--Our defense against the belief that suggestion has an evil power able to influence harmfully is the spiritual understanding
that man is exempt from suggestion;
that there is no manipulating mind able to control or influence erroneously and no mind vulnerable to such influence; and
that no power is able to attract through suggestion for any evil purpose.
---The only valid communications to us are God’s angel thoughts, which sustain and maintain us.
--How important it is to be always alert to detect evil suggestions.
• Witchcraft must be seen as unreal.
--If suggestions of unhappiness, discord, or depression enter our thought, we can begin to proclaim silently to ourselves the truths that come to us from God.
• That is what Christ Jesus did when he said, "Get thee hence, Satan."
Howell, Mrs. Sharon Slaton (CS, Knoxville, TN), "Christ nullifies the necromancy of today," Christian Science Journal (July 1996), p. 19.
--Power belongs to God alone.
• It does not belong to evil, not ever.
---And when you and I are convinced of this unchangeable fact, we are able to resist aggressive mental interference, which would otherwise temporarily obscure our responsibility as followers of Christ Jesus to destroy the supposed activity of evil.
--In our day, hidden evil includes black and white magic, demonology, Satanism, voodoo, and palmistry.
• That such practices are not in harmony with divine law is made clear in the Bible in Deuteronomy: "There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch, Or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer. For all that do these things are an abomination unto the Lord." (18:10-12)
--The New Testament says that Jesus selected seventy people whom he taught and sent into certain cities with instructions to "heal the sick" and to say to the inhabitants "The kingdom of God is come nigh unto you."
• The record states, "And the seventy returned again with joy, saying, Lord, even the devils are subject unto us through thy name."
---Thereupon Jesus declared: "I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven. Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you." (Luke 10:9-19)
--"The devils" are still subject to God's power.
Bates, Edward P., “Prophetic Scripture,” Christian Science Journal (December 1893), p. 388
--Moses tried to teach the people a higher sense of God than they had previously conceived, and finally sees that to a prepared people, a fuller consciousness of Truth would be made manifest.
• He saw that as the beliefs of the flesh were overcome in the nation, the statements of prophecy would be received more fully as the people were prepared to receive them.
--Jesus, and his predecessors, taught that when we see the Principle of our Being as greater than any one demonstrator of that Principle, the revelation of Truth in our consciousness will be the all absorbing element in our thought, and will permeate every act of our lives.
• His beloved student John after realizing the essence of Jesus' teaching writes a wonderful book, which concludes Scripture prophecy.
---…in the twelfth chapter [of Revelation] he writes, "And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars."
• In the apocalypse the Revelator sees the complete annihilation of error, and discerns as the fulfillment of all prophecy that man is free, and recognizes himself as the idea of God, created in his likeness and image.
SECTION II: Jesus Gives the Twelve "power and authority over all devils" (Luke 9: 1,2,6)
PARALLEL GOSPELS: Matt 9: 35-11:1; Mark 6: 6-13
TIME LINE: The Year of Popularity (Jesus’ 2nd Year of Ministry), Winter 29 AD at Galilee
Jesus “who has demonstrated his power and proclaimed the nature of the kingdom now gives his successors ‘power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases, [as he sends] them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal’ (9:1-2). The instructions for dress and provisions given to them for their journeys would both make them appear like Cynic preachers and differentiate them from those Hellenistic moralists." (Eerdmans Commentary) "The purpose of this was to place a divine seal of approval upon their message as well as to meet the needs of the people." (MacArthur Commentary)
"The disciples preached the good news (v.6) of the kingdom of God." (King James Bible Commentary)