The Four Temptations
1. THEN was Iesus led up of the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the Devil. And the wild beasts (of the desert) were around him, and became subject unto him. And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights he was afterwards an hungered.
2. And when the tempter came to him, he said,
If thou be the Son (of God) command that these stones be made bread, for it is written, I will feed thee with the finest (of wheat and with honey) out of the rock will I satisfy thee.
3. But he answered and said,
It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeded out of the mouth of God.[1]
4. Then the Devil placeth before him a woman, of exceeding beauty and comeliness and of subtle wit, and a ready understanding withal, and he said unto him.
Take her as thou wilt, for her desire is unto thee, and thou shalt have love and happiness and comfort all thy life, and see thy children’s children, yea is it not written, It is not good for man that he should be alone?[2]
5. And Iesu-Maria said,
Get thee behind me, for it is written, Be not led away by the beauty of woman[3], yea, all flesh is [as] grass and the flower (of the field); the grass withereth and the flower fadeth away, but the Word (of the Eternal) endureth for ever. My work is to teach and to heal the children (of men) and he that is born (of God) keepeth his seed within him.
6. And the Devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the Temple. And saith unto him,
If thou be the Son (of God) cast thyself down; for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee; and in their hands they shall bear thee up lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone.
7. And Iesus said unto him,
It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.[4]
8. Then the Devil took him up into an exceeding high mountain in the midst of a great plain and, round about, twelve cities and their peoples, and shown from thence he shown unto him all the kingdoms (of the world) in a moment of time. And the Devil said unto him,
All this power will I give thee, and the glory (of them): for that is delivered unto me; and to whomsoever I will, I give it: for it is written, thou shalt have dominion from sea to sea, so thou shalt judge thy people with righteousness and thy poor with mercy, and. make a full end of oppression. If thou therefore wilt worship me, all shall be thine.
9. And Iesu-Maria answered and said unto him,
get thee behind me, Satan; for it is written, Thou shalt worship thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve.[5] Without the power (of God) the end of evil cannot come.
10. Then the Devil having ended all the temptations leaveth him and departed for a season. And behold, Angels (of God) came and ministered unto him.
LECTION 9. 1 -The Essenes or Nazarenes, somewhat like the Indian Yogi, sought to attain divine union by solitary meditation in unfrequented places. In the monastery of our Lord on the summit of Quarantania, a cell is shown with rude frescoes of the event. This mountain is about 18,000 feet high, in a barren and desolate region east of Ierusalem, north of the road to Iericho, overlooking the valley of the Iordan.
v. 2-9 -Observe, the temptations are addressed to the fourfold nature of man, as recognised by the ancient Egyptians. 1st.-To the outer body, with its physical needs. 2nd. -To the inner body, the seat of the senses and desires. 3rd.-To the soul, the seat of the intellect.
LECTION 9. 3 -In all the ancient initiations woman was one of the temptations placed in the way of the aspirant. That this was not omitted in the trial of the "Perfect Man" we may be certain, and we are expressly told in the Epistle to the Hebrews that "he was in all points tempted even as we are." Why the writers of the Canonical Gospels omitted this trial, or whether it was dropped out of the original by accident we cannot say, but here we have it restored in its place. It is evidently inculcated by Iesus in this second temptation (what has always been known to the wise) that adepts should store up their physical strength for work on a higher plane, and this Iesus did for the work of the ministry as an example for all who would follow him and heal the bodies and souls of others.
Here we have one of the many passages which show that the words attributed to the writers of the Epistles are quotations from this Gospel, and that such portions at least were extant in their time.-e.g., I. Iohn iii. 9. (A. V.).
Read: Deuteronomy 8:3
Read: Genesis 2:18
Read: Ecclesiasticus 9:8; 25:21; Sirach 9:8,9; Proverbs 6:23-29
Read: Deuteronomy 6:16
Read: Deuteronomy 6:13