The “Ground” of the Temptations. Before immersing ourselves in the details of the three temptations, perhaps an overview of their OT background would help locate our gospel in context.

• The First Temptation (4:3-4): If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread. The response is from Deuteronomy 8:3: “It is written, ‘One does not live by bread alone.’” The context in Deuteronomy is that Moses reminds the people of Israel that God tested them in the wilderness by hunger, but he fed them with manna in order to make them understand that one does not live by bread alone.

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