Matt. iv. 1. to be tempted of the devil.
And he was there in the wilderness forty days, tempted derness. of Satan,
despised, insulted, and rejected. At the time when his painful
career was beginning, he was tempted to avoid his appointed
course of suffering, and to assume at once his destined honours,
as the Messiah of Israel. No evil, he was assured, could happen
to him, if he was the Son of God-for he shall give his angels
charge over thee-they shall bear thee up, and protect thee
from suffering, and from danger. Ostentation, presumption,
and vanity, constituted the second temptation.
Adam, was thirdly, tempted to that kind of evil, which
most alienates the human race from their Creator; he was
tempted to the pride of life. "It was a tree to be desired,
to make one wise." The wisdom which an evil spirit would
recommend to the approbation of an accountable being, must
partake of his owu nature; it must be different from that spi-
ritual wisdom which is from above; and of which Adam was a
partaker. It was the wisdom of this world, which is elsewhere
called "earthly, sensual, devilish." It is that human wisdom
by which the pride and glory of life is attained-by which
ambition triumphs, and conquerors obtain their temporal
crowns and kingdoms. To this temptation likewise our
Saviour is now subjected. The devil takes him up into an ex-
ceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of
the world, and the glory of them, and promises them all to
Christ on one condition only, that he will worship him-that
is, provided he will exchange his spiritual kingdom, which is to
be purchased with the most excruciating agony and suffering,
for the kingdoms of this world, all temporal power over every
nation under heaven. In the second temptation he had in-
vited Christ to obtain the homage of his own people, and to
gratify his vanity and ostentation by hearing and receiving the
acclamations of the Jews. In this he is solicited to become the
sovereign of the universe, the powerful chief of one great
empire, embracing alike under his dominion the subdued pride
of Rome, and the submission of all mankind.
Thus was Christ, the second Adam, tempted in the same manner as the first Adam; on the same principles, and by the same tempter. But he was also tempted as we are. The object of Satan, from the creation of Adam to the present moment, is to render man unfit for a spiritual condition, by inducing him uniformly to act from natural motives. The spirit of evil does not desire to diminish the supposed happiness of man in this world; it endeavours to immerse him in the pursuit of worldly enjoyments, comforts, vanities, and pride, in such manner that the soul becomes imbruted and embodied in material objects. The spirit of evil so endeavours to sensualize and animalize the intellectual and moral faculties of man, that his inferior nature may be triumphant; and consequently, when he shall be summoned into another stage of existence, he may be rendered totally unfit to be the eternal companion of God the Judge of all-of Christ the Mediator-of Holy Angels-and of perfect spirits.
Other circumstances may be adduced to complete the parallel between the two temptations. The first Adam fell through the act of eating; the second Adam reversed the sentence of condemnation, by the opposite act of fasting and mortification. The first Adam was tempted in Paradise, surrounded by all the animals of creation, over which he ruled in a state of innocence:
Being forty days tempted of the devil. And in those The Wildays he did eat nothing.
the second Adam is described by St. Mark, i. 13. to have becn
in the wilderness with the wild beasts. He sate among them,
as their acknowledged Lord, in the same state of innocency, as
the first Adam had enjoyed before his fall. When the tempta-
tions were completed, we read in both instances of a most curious
and impressive circumstance, which in a wonderful manner
completes this parallel. When the first Adam fell, the angels
of God were placed at the gate of the garden of Eden, to keep
him from tasting the fruit of the tree of life. When the second
Adam triumphed, angels came and ministered to him of that
immortal food which the flaming sword of divine wrath had
denied to the children of disobedience.
For the passages in the Old Testament, which prophesy
the coming of Christ as the second Adam, compare 2 Sam. vii.
18, 19. with 1 Chron. xvii. 17. When David desired to build the
temple of Jerusalem, he was commanded to leave the perform-
ance of that task to his son, because he had himself been
throughout his life engaged in wars. The message to this effect
was delivered by the prophet Nathan, who consoles the king by
declaring that from him the Messiah should descend. The king,
on receiving this communication from the divine messenger,
goes up to the tabernacle, and returns thanks to God for the
promise. He thanks God that he has been regarded according
to the law (a), or order (b), or arrangement (c) of the Adam that
is hereafter to be from above.
Among the titles given in the Old Testament to the Messiah, collected by Dr. Pye Smith, in his valuable work on the Scripture Testimony to the Person of Christ, I find this "the Adam from above." He cites, in support of the interpretation which he has there given of 2 Sam. vii, and 1 Chron. xvii. 16, 17. the learned criticism of Dr. Kennicott, from which however he has in some measure departed, by rendering the word “order,” instead of "law." Bishop Horsley translates it "arrangement." His criticism is very ingenious. The words in the original are as follow-2 Sam. vii. 19. ma* 978 0780 0 nm-) Chron.
.c. ; on which Dr& וראיתני בתור האדם המעלה יהוה אלהים .17 .xvii
Kennicott observes, "From David's address to God, after
receiving the message by Nathan, it is plain that David under-
stood the son promised to be the Messiah, in whom his house
was to be established for ever. But the words, which seem most
expressive of this, are in this verse now rendered very unintelli-
gibly, and is this the manner of man? Whereas the words
A literally signify, and this is (or must be) the
law of the man, or of the Adam,' i. e. this promise must relate to
the law, or ordinance, made by God to Adam, concerning the
seed of the woman; the man, or the second Adam: as the Mes-
siah is expressly called by St. Paul, 1 Cor. xv. 45-47. This
meaning will be yet more evident from the parallel place,
1 Chron. xvii. 17. where the words of David are now miserably
rendered thus: And thou hast regarded me, according to
the estate of a man of high degrec.' Whereas the words
literally signify, and thou hast regarded וראיתני בתור האדם המעלה
me, according to the Adam that is future, or the man that is
from above,' (for the word by very remarkably signifies
hereafter as to time, and from above as to place); and thus St.
Paul, including both senses, The second man is the Lord from
heaven' and, Adam is the figure of him that was to come, or
the future. Rom. v. 14."
And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he The Wilwas afterward an hungred:
It is upon this passage that Bishop Horsley has remarked (whether or n be read in 1 Chron. xvii. 17.) When these two passages are considered in their respective contexts, it is manifest that they are exactly parallel; and both, when rightly understood, must render the very same sense. The varieties in the expression, being only such as the writer of the Book of Chronicles has introduced, according to his manner for the sake of greater accuracy in relating the words of another, or to explain words and phrases that might seem doubtful in the narrative of the more ancient author. Hence it is to be inferred that the words nn in Samuel, and in the Book of Chronicles, are words of the very same import, and are to be referred to the same root, differing only in the gender, which is feminine in Samuel, and masculine in Chronicles. The writer of the Book of Chronicles probably preferred the masculine form to prevent the necessity of referring the noun to the root
תור may, but the masculine תורה from which the feminine (ירה
cannot, be derived. The true root, therefore, in the judgment
of the inspired writer of the Book of Chronicles, was ; and
the two passages may be thus expounded:
2 Sam. vii. 19. "And this (namely, what was said about his
bouse in distant times,) is the arrangement about The Man, (
Lord Jehovah."
1 Chron. xvii. 17. "And thou hast regarded me in the arrangement about The MAN that is to be from above, O God Jehovah." That is, in forming the scheme of the incarnation, regard was had to the honour of David, and his house as a secondary object, by making it a part of the plan, that the Messiah should be born in his family. This is indisputably the sense of both passages, though far more clearly expressed by the later writer (d). Dr. Kennicott, not perceiving the identity of the two words n and, was not aware that the two passages render the very same sense, with no other difference than the advantage of perspicuity, and perhaps of accuracy, in reciting David's very words, on the side of the author of the Book of Chronicles. I owe, however, to Dr. Kennicott the important hint, that x, in Samuel, and by 7, in Chronicles, allude to Christ, and to none else, which led me to the right understanding of both passages.-Horsley's Biblical Criticisms, vol. i. p. 184. See also Arrangement of the Old Testament, vol. i, p. 651.
It is difficult to say why Bishop Horsley, after this confession, should have differed in another point from Dr. Kennicott, and translated by the Man, instead of the Adam. Dr. P. Smith has very justly observed, from Dr. Kennicott's translation, that the inferences to be drawn from this passage are, that the Messiah would, at a period remotely future, descend from David, and that he would sustain a relation to the human race analogous to that of the first man.
In the New Testament also, our Lord is called the Adam from above. We read these remarkable words, (1 Cor. xv. 47.) The first man is of the earth earthy, the second man is the Lord from Heaven. Through the greater part of that beautiful chapter St. Paul draws a parallel between the first and second Adam. In the Epistle to the Romans (v. 14.) he calls the first Adam the figure of him that was to come. (Compare also John iii. 31. viii. 23.)
And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou The Wilbe the Son of God, command that these stones be made derness. bread.
Luke iv. 3. command this stone that it be made bread.
The Jewish traditions also affirm the same doctrine, and St. Paul, in this passage, (1 Cor. xv. 47.) uses the very same expression which is found in the book Zohar on this subject: a circumstance which may be considered as affording a proof of the real date of that curious book. It is said to consist principally of a recital of the expositions and doctrines of Rabbi Simeon (e), the son of Jochai, who was the cotemporary of the Apostles, and probably known to St. Paul, himself one of the most learned of his day.
The Messiah is there called by, the Adam on high,
and is said to have dominion over all things, as the first man,
the Adam below, л, had by divine appointment over
the inferior creation of this world. The same idea repeatedly
occurs in the rabbinical writings. Plura adhuc, ibi habentur,
says Schoetgenius, sed hæc sufficiant. I have selected a few of
the very curious traditions dispersed through his book (ƒ).
I would here conclude the attempt to prove that Jesus of Na-
zareth was the one Messiah, from his being the second Adam, as
the Old Testament, the New Testament, and the Jewish traditions
assert the Messiah to be; but Mr. Jones has added some ideas
on the time during which the temptation lasted, which may
confirm the propriety of the reasoning now adopted. Accord-
ing to tradition, Adam and Eve are supposed to have been tried
forty days in Paradise. Jones, in his interesting dissertation
on the
Temptation of Christ," arguing on this supposition,
concludes that the period of forty days will, from this circum-
stance, naturally occur in other transactions; and particularly
in this of our Saviour's temptation. The flood brought upon
the world by sin committed in Paradisc, (Geu. v. 29.) lasted for
forty days-and so long were the rains descending, that the sin
and its history might be recognized in the punishment. When
the Israelites searched the land of Canaan, the second Paradise,
they had a foretaste of it for forty days, (Numb. xiv. 33, 34.)
and the people who murmured at the evil report of those faith-
less messengers were condemned to wander forty years (a year
for a day) in the wilderness. (Jones's Works, vol. iii. 173.) To
which may be added many other symbolical coincidences. Moses,
as the founder, and the great lawgiver, of the Jewish Church,
fasted twice forty days and forty nights on Mount Horeb, when
he first received the tables of the law, and after they had been
broken and were again restored. Elijah also, the reformer of
the Jewish Church, by the same superhuman power, after he
had crossed the river Jordan, fasted for the same number of
days, and in the same wilderness, as Moses had formerly done.
Are these mere coincidences? Is it not rather probable that
Christ, who came to fulfil the law to the uttermost, and to esta-
blish on it a more perfect dispensation, should be appointed to
give the same evidence of his divine mission; and to undergo
the same preparation as his typical predecessors had already
fulfilled.
(a) Kennicott's (Posthumous) Remarks on the Old Testament, p. 114. (b) Smith's Scripture Testimony to the Person of the Messiah, vol. i. p. 184. (c) Horsley's Biblical Criticisms, vol. i. p. 350. (d) Smith's Scripture Testimoný, &c. vol. i. p. 185. (e) Schoetgenius Hore He
And Jesus answered him, saying, It is written, that The Wilman shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of derness. God.
Matt. iv. 4. that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.
Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and Jerusalem. 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 over thee, to keep thee:
And in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone.
12. And Jesus answering said unto him,
Matt.iv.7. It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy
God.
8. Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high Quaran-
mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the tania.
world, and the glory of them;
Lukeiv. 5. in a moment of time 52.
braicæ, vol. ii. p. 271. (ƒ) In vol. i. p. 670, of the Hora Hebraica-
Nomina illa duo Jndæis sunt familiaria. Nam Adamus primus semper
,Sohar Genes אדם קדמאי et in libro Sohar ,אדם הראשון et abique
fol. 14. col. 53. Quum nondum consummati essent septem ordines
dierum superiorum, nondum absolutus erat by □ Adam supernus.
Cum absolveretur by superius, dictus est by □ Adam superior:
cum absolveretur inferius, dictus est x . Et quem admodum,
postquam omnia absoluta sunt, Adamus inferior dominatur omnibus
quæcunque in Mundo creata sunt, sic Adam superior x by by,
omnibus omnino rebus dominatur. Schoetgen. Hor. Heb. vol. i. p. 672.
Jalhut Rubeni, fol. 147. 3. nann nn naby 7 David superior et
ותתאה האחרון,superior est Deus primus עילאה הרשון .David inferior
et inferior est Deus postremus. Schoetgen. vol. i. p. 673. In another
passage of one of the Talmudical writings we read that since the first Adam
was in the transgression, the Messiah will be the last Adam to take
away sin. Neve Schalom, fol. 160. 2. citante Edzardo ad Berachoth,
c. 1. p. 176 apud Schoetgen. vol. i. p. 671. In the commentary on Pro-
verbs xxx. 4. we read-What is his name-the Heavenly Adam, or the
Adam from above-and what is his Son's name, the earthly Adam, the
Adam from below. Zobar ad Genes. xxxix. 2. In the hour in which Adam
received the celestial image, all creatures came to him, and acknow-
ledged him king of the earth. Jalhut. Rubeni, fol. 21. 1. Schoetgen.
He was with the wild בשעתי דנחית אדם בדיוקנא עילאה .673 .vol. i. p
beasts. There is much curious matter also of a similar nature on those
words of St. Paul, 1 Cor. xv. 49. εικόνα το χοϊκό, Εικόνα τε ἐπερανίε
-As we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the
image of the heavenly. Schoetgen. Hor. Heb. vol. i. p. 653.
52 Those who reject the literal interpretation of the account
of our Lord's temptation, have laid great weight on this phrase,
"in a moment of time,” ¿v sɩyμn xpóve, as demonstrating the
whole scene to be a vision. The real state of the case seems,
however, to be, that the tempter conveyed, or took, or accom-
panied, our Lord to the mountain, and shewing him in a mo-
ment of time the kingdoms of Judea, which were then before
him, suggested to him at the same moment the superior glory of all
the other governments and dominions of the earth, the greatest
|