The Devil's Quotes from the Old Testament and the Sources of the Events of the Story of the Temptation of Jesus

Chapter III

The Sources of the Gospels and the Way of Writing Them

Section V

The Texts of the Old Testament, which were quoted during the Debates and the Arguments and the Dialogues in the Gospels

In this section we will examine some texts in the Gospels that contain debates and dialogues and arguments, in which the Gospels authors have cited texts from the Old Testament; to find out if these texts consistent with the Gospels and not contradicting with them, nor with the principles and the concepts and the texts of the Old Testament, and if the Gospels authors did not distort and manipulate them to serve what they believe, as we have seen in the previous sections how they have used the texts of the Old Testament to write their narratives to bestow a state of holiness and credibility and reliability on what they have written, away from the revelation and the Holy Spirit, or even the historical events; for this they have distorted and manipulated the texts of the Old Testament, whether by changing the meaning of them, or by adding some paragraphs, or by deleting others, or by writing some paragraphs that were not written in the Old Testament, or by writing some names and numbers that are inconsistent with what is written in the Old Testament, etc.

Note: this post includes two threads, the first is the devil's quotes from the Old Testament which is in the section V in the book, and the second is the sources of the events of the story of the temptation of Jesus which is in the section VI in the book.

5 - The Devil's Quotes from the Old Testament

Matthew 4:1 Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.

Matthew 4:2 And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterward He was hungry.

Matthew 4:3 Now when the tempter came to Him, he said, "If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread."

Matthew 4:4 But He answered and said, "It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God’."

Matthew 4:5 Then the devil took Him up into the holy city, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple,

Matthew 4:6 and said to Him, "If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down. For it is written: ‘He shall give His angels charge over you’, and, ‘In their hands they shall bear you up, Lest you dash your foot against a stone’."

Matthew 4:7 Jesus said to him, "It is written again, ‘You shall not tempt the Lord your God’."

Matthew 4:8 Again, the devil took Him up on an exceedingly high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory.

Matthew 4:9 And he said to Him, "All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me."

Matthew 4:10 Then Jesus said to him, "Away with you, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve’."

Matthew 4:11 Then the devil left Him, and behold, angels came and ministered to Him.

Luke 4:1 Then Jesus, being filled with the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness,

Luke 4:2 being tempted for forty days by the devil. And in those days He ate nothing, and afterward, when they had ended, He was hungry.

Luke 4:3 And the devil said to Him, "If You are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread."

Luke 4:4 But Jesus answered him, saying, "It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God’."

Luke 4:5 Then the devil, taking Him up on a high mountain, showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time.

Luke 4:6 And the devil said to Him, "All this authority I will give You, and their glory; for this has been delivered to me, and I give it to whomever I wish.

Luke 4:7 "Therefore, if You will worship before me, all will be Yours."

Luke 4:8 And Jesus answered and said to him, "Get behind Me, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve’."

Luke 4:9 Then he brought Him to Jerusalem, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, "If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down from here.

Luke 4:10 "For it is written: ‘He shall give His angels charge over you, To keep you’,

Luke 4:11 "and, ‘In their hands they shall bear you up, Lest you dash your foot against a stone’."

Luke 4:12 And Jesus answered and said to him, "It has been said, ‘You shall not tempt the Lord your God’."

Luke 4:13 Now when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from Him until an opportune time.

One of the most surprising and striking things is what is written in the Gospels about the devil, that he has quoted texts from the Old Testament during his dialogue with Jesus at the Temptation, which was written by Matthew and Luke in their Gospels.

The first note on these texts is the difference in the sequence of events between the two narratives, Matthew says "the devil took him up into the holy city", while Luke says "the devil, taking him up on a high mountain", then Matthew says "the devil took Him up on an exceedingly high mountain", while Luke says "Then he brought him to Jerusalem", and these things do not indicate that they wrote it by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, or through seeing or hearing from reliable sources; otherwise they should write the same events because they talk about the same story.

The second note is on the Mount of Temptation, and I am wondering how anyone could see all the kingdoms of the world from it, while it is below Sea Level! Even if anyone sat on the peak of Mount Everest he will not be able to see all the kingdoms of the world, or even if he ascended to the moon will not see all the kingdoms of the world, because in this case he will see half of the earth not whole! But what matters here is the reality and the credibility of these texts, which were quoted by the devil, and if they were compatible with the attributes of Jesus as is written in the laws of faith of the churches, or not.

Matthew 4:3 Now when the tempter came to Him, he said, "If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread."

Matthew 4:4 But He answered and said, "It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God’."

Luke 4:3 And the devil said to Him, "If You are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread."

Luke 4:4 But Jesus answered him, saying, "It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God’."

This quote written in the Book of Deuteronomy, which is as follows:

Deuteronomy 8:2 "And you shall remember that the LORD your God led you all the way these forty years in the wilderness, to humble you and test you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not.

Deuteronomy 8:3 "So He humbled you, allowed you to hunger, and fed you with manna which you did not know nor did your fathers know, that He might make you know that man shall not live by bread alone; but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the LORD.

Deuteronomy 8:4 "Your garments did not wear out on you, nor did your foot swell these forty years.

Deuteronomy 8:5 "You should know in your heart that as a man chastens his son, so the LORD your God chastens you.

This text talks about the period of living of the children of Israel in the wilderness, and how that the LORD took care of them in all their affairs for forty years without having to make any effort in order to obtain food or drink, but was required of them to keep the commandments and do them, for this it says "that He might make you know that man shall not live by bread alone; but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the LORD", because the Lord created all things and has the ability to do anything, therefore, if anyone worships Him alone and keeps His commandments; will be saved in his life. This is the ability of the Lord the Creator of the heavens and the earth. So, could we compare this great ability with the ability of Jesus, who refuses to command the stones to become bread, and cited text from the Old Testament?!

Therefore, if what was written about Jesus in the laws of the faith of the churches is true; he should make stones bread to convince the devil that he is the son of God, rather than forcing the devil to continue the temptation!

Then when Jesus succeeded to avoid making the stones become bread to convince the devil that he is the son of God by citing the biblical text, we find that Satan did not give up to attempt him again to know the truth of the saying of Jesus that he is the son of God, as Matthew and Luke wrote that Satan took Jesus up into the holy city and tried to make sure of the saying of Jesus, but this time we read that Satan has cited text from the Old Testament, as in the following texts:

Matthew 4:5 Then the devil took Him up into the holy city, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple,

Matthew 4:6 and said to Him, "If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down. For it is written: ‘He shall give His angels charge over you’, and, ‘In their hands they shall bear you up, Lest you dash your foot against a stone’."

Luke 4:9 Then he brought Him to Jerusalem, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, "If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down from here.

Luke 4:10 "For it is written: ‘He shall give His angels charge over you, To keep you’,

Luke 4:11 "and, ‘In their hands they shall bear you up, Lest you dash your foot against a stone’."

And the quote was mentioned in the Psalm 91, which is as follows:

Psalm 91:9 Because you have made the LORD, who is my refuge, Even the Most High, your dwelling place,

Psalm 91:10 No evil shall befall you, Nor shall any plague come near your dwelling;

Psalm 91:11 For He shall give His angels charge over you, To keep you in all your ways.

Psalm 91:12 In their hands they shall bear you up, Lest you dash your foot against a stone.

Psalm 91:13 You shall tread upon the lion and the cobra, The young lion and the serpent you shall trample underfoot.

Psalm 91:14 "Because he has set his love upon Me, therefore I will deliver him; I will set him on high, because he has known My name.

Psalm 91:15 He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him and honor him.

Psalm 91:16 With long life I will satisfy him, And show him My salvation."

This is the text, which the devil cited it to encourage Jesus to prove if his saying that he is the son of God is true or not.

The first thing that draws attention is that Matthew and Luke had omitted the paragraph "in all your ways"!

Hebrew version

Psalm 91:11 For He will give His angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways.

Psalm 91:12 They shall bear thee upon their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone.

Septuagint version

Psalm 91:11 For he shall give his angels charge concerning thee, to keep thee in all thy ways.
Psalm 91:12 They shall bear thee up on their hands, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone.

This way of deleting from, or adding to, some sentences in the texts of the Old Testament indicates that the Gospels authors have not received any revelation or inspiration from the Holy Spirit, but they had written through a specific approach or method to serve what they believe in, and this shows that they have the ability to distort and twist the texts of the Old Testament and reformulating in their narratives, which appears through the differences between these stories.

The second thing is that the Psalm talks about a man who has made the LORD his refuge, even the Most High, his dwelling place, for this no evil shall befall him, nor shall any plague come near his dwelling; For He shall give His angels charge over him, to keep him in all his ways. And anyone has read the Gospels knows that this case does not apply to Jesus throughout his life on the earth, because he lived afraid of the Jews, for he was thinking that they are seeking to kill him, until they crucified him eventually, and before that they had beaten him, and whipped him, and slapped him, and spat on his face, and mocked him, despite all this pain we did not find the angels have saved him in all his ways, particularly in Calvary Road when they led him to crucify him!

As for the saying "You shall tread upon the lion and the cobra, the young lion and the serpent you shall trample underfoot", the Gospels did not mention that Jesus was treading upon the lion nor the cobra, or he was trampling the lions nor the serpents by his foot.

As for the saying "Because he has set his love upon Me, therefore I will deliver him; I will set him on high, because he has known My name, he shall call upon Me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him and honor him". All this certainly does not apply to Jesus, because the LORD did not save him from crucifixion, although Jesus remained throughout the night prays and calls and requests to be saved from it, but the Lord did not save him, forcing him to cry out on the cross my God, my God, why have you forsaken me, as in the following texts:

Matthew 27:46 And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, "Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?" that is, "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?"

Mark 15:34 And at the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?" which is translated, "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?"

As for the saying "With long life I will satisfy him, and show him My salvation". This is clear evidence that the Psalm was not talking about Jesus, because the LORD did not show him His salvation, and died in the prime of youth.

This of course regarding of what Matthew and Luke stated that the devil has quoted the text to encourage Jesus to prove that he is the son of God, if he is really the son of God, so what is the reaction of Jesus on this quote?

Matthew 4:7 Jesus said to him, "It is written again, ‘You shall not tempt the Lord your God’."

Luke 4:12 And Jesus answered and said to him, "It has been said, ‘You shall not tempt the Lord your God’."

This is the response of Jesus to Satan, rather than throwing himself from the pinnacle of the temple to prove that he is the son of God, or tells him that this text was not talking about him; we find that Matthew and Luke have written that Jesus cited the text from the Old Testament to respond to the devil! This text written in the book of Deuteronomy, which is as follows:

Deuteronomy 6:13 "You shall fear the LORD your God and serve Him, and shall take oaths in His name.

Deuteronomy 6:14 "You shall not go after other gods, the gods of the peoples who are all around you

Deuteronomy 6:15 ‘(for the LORD your God is a jealous God among you), lest the anger of the LORD your God be aroused against you and destroy you from the face of the earth.

Deuteronomy 6:16 "You shall not tempt the LORD your God as you tempted Him in Massah.

Deuteronomy 6:17 "You shall diligently keep the commandments of the LORD your God, His testimonies, and His statutes which He has commanded you.

Deuteronomy 6:18 "And you shall do what is right and good in the sight of the LORD, that it may be well with you, and that you may go in and possess the good land of which the LORD swore to your fathers,

This is the text that has been cited by Jesus as is written in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke,  and we read that we should take oaths in the LORD name, while Matthew had written words on the lips of Jesus that violates this commandment, as in following text:

Matthew 5:33 "Again you have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not swear falsely, but shall perform your oaths to the Lord’.

Matthew 5:34 "But I say to you, do not swear at all: neither by heaven, for it is God’s throne;

Matthew 5:35 "nor by the earth, for it is His footstool; nor by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King.

Matthew 5:36 "Nor shall you swear by your head, because you cannot make one hair white or black.

Matthew 5:37 "But let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes’, and your ‘No’, ‘No’. For whatever is more than these is from the evil one.

In this text Jesus has forbidden all swearing at all, and considered it from the evil one! While the Lord in the Old Testament says that man must swear by his name only, and this proves that the Gospels authors had used the Old Testament texts to serve what they believe in, as is their method of writing the Gospels, regardless if they wrote texts that contradict what they have written elsewhere, and this text once again confirms the warning of the LORD from worship other gods with Him or beside Him, while the Gospels authors had written their books based on worship three gods instead of the LORD the Creator of the heavens and the earth.

As we also read that Jesus has refused to throw himself from the pinnacle of the temple down, and cited the previous text, and this shows that Jesus does not have any divine attributes that have been developed for him by the church councils in the laws of faith of the churches, because if what had been written is true; he will not refuse to do this thing, especially that this action is not a big thing comparing with those attributes.

And then Matthew and Luke wrote that the devil asked Jesus to worship him! Jesus answered him by quoting the text of the Old Testament, as in the following texts:

Matthew 4:10 Then Jesus said to him, "Away with you, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve’."

Luke 4:8 And Jesus answered and said to him, "Get behind Me, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve’."

This saying is the first and the greatest principle in the Old Testament, as shown in the first chapter, but what is surprising and striking is that the Gospels authors and the various churches have not committed to this text, which confirms that the Gospels have not been written by the revelation or the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, and what was quoted from the Old Testament texts and reformulated in their accounts is an attempt to bestow a state of holiness and credibility and reliability on what they have written in their Gospels, as is their method and approach of writing, as is shown in this book, regardless of the true meaning of the texts of the Old Testament and the historical events as they did in this story, which indicates that the law "do not accept the lying and false" applies to the story of the Temptation of Jesus.

7 - The Sources of the Events of the Story of the Temptation of Jesus

In the previous section I had talked about the quotes from the Old Testament in the story of the temptation of Jesus as it is written in the Gospels, and I showed that these quotes are wrong, and here I will examine the events of the story to determine whether they were real events, or they are also quoted from the Old Testament.

The first thing we notice that John did not mention this story in his Gospel!

The second note is that Mark did not write the details of the events of the temptation of Jesus, as in the following text:

Mark 1:12 Immediately the Spirit drove Him into the wilderness.

Mark 1:13 And He was there in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan, and was with the wild beasts; and the angels ministered to Him.

The third note is that Matthew and Luke did not agree with each other on the events of the story, because Matthew wrote that the devil took Jesus up into the holy city and then took him up on an exceedingly high mountain, while Luke wrote that the devil took Jesus up on a high mountain first, and then brought him to Jerusalem!

The fourth note is that Matthew and Luke have agreed to write a scientific error, which is the saying that the devil took Jesus up on an exceedingly high mountain, and showed him all the kingdoms of the world, this saying is wrong, because there is no mountain on the earth could a man see all the kingdoms of the world from its summit, even if this mountain existed; we could not see all the kingdoms from its peak, because the earth is spherical so it will obscured half of the land which opposite to it, and this is why the churches have judged to prison dozens of scientists who said that the earth is spherical, because it considered that they were skeptical about the origin of this story, and tried to hide this fact, despite these provisions, the truth emerged, and it was proved that the earth is spherical, and at the same time, showed that this story is not true.

Thus what are the sources of the story of Jesus' temptation, which have been relied upon by the Gospels authors?

The story included the following events:

1 - The temptation of Jesus as one of three Persons who are one and have the same nature and essence.

2 - The devil tempted Jesus.

3 - Jesus fasted forty days and forty nights, afterwards he was hungry.

4 - The devil took Jesus up on an exceedingly high mountain, and showed him all the kingdoms of the world.

Including of course the texts, which had been quoted from the Old Testament, which were discussed in the previous section, in the following I will review the texts that might be quoted by Matthew and Luke to write this story that contained all these errors, which proves that it did not happen and was not true.

As for the first event, I do think that the Gospels authors had quoted it from the following texts:

Numbers 14:22 "because all these men who have seen My glory and the signs which I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and have put Me to the test now these ten times, and have not heeded My voice,

Exodus 17:2 Therefore the people contended with Moses, and said, "Give us water, that we may drink." And Moses said to them, "Why do you contend with me? Why do you tempt the LORD?"

Deuteronomy 6:16 "You shall not tempt the LORD your God as you tempted Him in Massah.

Although these texts do not talk about Self Temptation, yet it is a state of uncertainty and non-faith that happened to the children of Israel concerning the ability and greatness of the Lord, so they did not believe in what Moses said to them that the Lord will turn bitter water to become fresh water or on the ability of the LORD to feed them meat in Sinai!

As for the second event, I think they have quoted it from the story of Job who was tempted by Satan which is written in the Book of Job, including the following text: 

Job 1:1 There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was blameless and upright, and one who feared God and shunned evil.

Job 1:2 And seven sons and three daughters were born to him.

Job 1:3 Also, his possessions were seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen, five hundred female donkeys, and a very large household, so that this man was the greatest of all the people of the East.

Job 1:4 And his sons would go and feast in their houses, each on his appointed day, and would send and invite their three sisters to eat and drink with them.

Job 1:5 So it was, when the days of feasting had run their course, that Job would send and sanctify them, and he would rise early in the morning and offer burnt offerings according to the number of them all. For Job said, "It may be that my sons have sinned and cursed God in their hearts." Thus Job did regularly.

Job 1:6 Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came among them.

Job 1:7 And the LORD said to Satan, "From where do you come?" So Satan answered the LORD and said, "From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking back and forth on it."

Job 1:8 Then the LORD said to Satan, "Have you considered My servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, one who fears God and shuns evil?"

Job 1:9 So Satan answered the LORD and said, "Does Job fear God for nothing?

Job 1:10 "Have You not made a hedge around him, around his household, and around all that he has on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land.

Job 1:11 "But now, stretch out Your hand and touch all that he has, and he will surely curse You to Your face!"

Job 1:12 And the LORD said to Satan, "Behold, all that he has is in your power; only do not lay a hand on his person." So Satan went out from the presence of the LORD.

But this story talks about the temptation of Job by the devil directly by the order of the Lord, which is similar to the Gospel's story, but with a great difference which is that the devil has tempted Job who was an ordinary human being, even if he was blameless and upright, and one who feared God and shunned evil, while the story of the temptation of Jesus was with one who is supposed to be a god and the son of God, and one of the three Persons who are one and have the same nature and essence, which means that the devil had tempted the LORD Himself, as say the Gospels and the churches!

As for the third event which is that Jesus had fasted forty days and forty nights, I do think it was quoted from the story of Moses when he went up into Mount Sinai to receive the commandments, as in the following text:

Deuteronomy 9:9 "When I went up into the mountain to receive the tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant which the LORD made with you, then I stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights. I neither ate bread nor drank water.

Deuteronomy 9:10 "Then the LORD delivered to me two tablets of stone written with the finger of God, and on them were all the words which the LORD had spoken to you on the mountain from the midst of the fire in the day of the assembly.

As we notice that Moses stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights neither eating nor drinking, which is similar to what has been written by Matthew and Luke about Jesus, but writing the Old Testament about Moses that he was hungry is an acceptable thing and a reasonable thing, while writing about Jesus who is supposed to be a god and the son of God and the one of the three Hypostases, as say the churches, does not make sense!

As for the fourth event which is that the devil took Jesus up on an exceedingly high mountain, and showed him all the kingdoms of the world, I think it was quoted from the Book of Deuteronomy, as in the following text:

Deuteronomy 34:1 Then Moses went up from the plains of Moab to Mount Nebo, to the top of Pisgah, which is across from Jericho. And the LORD showed him all the land of Gilead as far as Dan,

In this text we read that Moses after he went up to Mount Nebo; the LORD showed him all the land of Gilead as far as Dan, and this is true and real! Because all of those who live in that land know that anyone who goes up to Mount Nebo, and looks around will see all the land mentioned in the text, not as the mountain that Matthew and Luke pointed out where the devil took Jesus up to its summit, and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory, because if this mountain was higher ten times more than Mount Everest; he will not be able to see all the kingdoms of the earth, and even if he ascended to the moon, simply because he will only be able to see half of the earth, as is well known in these days!

From all of the above, we see how the Gospels authors try to compose this story according to the Old Testament texts without paying any attention to the reality and credibility of what they wrote, whether if they contradict with each other in terms of the historical events, or writing scientific errors, or if they wrote stories which contradict the attributes of the LORD the Creator of the heavens and the earth, as shown in the first chapter, which indicates that they have not written through the revelation or the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, or even they have written through seeing the events or hearing it through trusted sources, but through their method and approach of writing, which is the quoting from the texts of the Old Testament and reformulating them in their narratives to make similarity with the Old Testament to bestow a state of holiness and credibility and reliability on what they have written, and this means that our law "do not accept the lying and false" applies to this story.