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STRONG>Does The "Temptation Of Yahshua" Disqualify Him From Being Yahweh? Contrary to what
some Deity-deniers, quoting exclusively from the Apostolic writings, would have
you to believe, the Tanakh (Hebrew First Covenant) says it does not! Why? Because Tanakh makes clear that Yahweh CAN be tempted/tried!
Deut. 6:16 “Do
not tempt Yahweh your Elohim as you tempted him in
Massah.”
Here Yahweh tells
us that Israel tempted Him in Massah and tells us not to try it again. If
Yahweh could not be tempted/tried, we could try all we wanted, and it would be
harmless; it would not hurt a thing. The only thing is that Scripture
NEVER said that Yahweh couldn’t be tried. Much to the contrary, it states
that He is tried all the time!
Exod. 17:7 And he called the name of the place Massah and Meribah,
because of the ‘strife’ of the children of Israel, and because they tried
Yahweh, saying, Is Yahweh in our midst or not?
Num.
14:22 None of these men who have seen my esteem and the sign which I did
in Egypt and in the wilderness, and have tried me now these ten times, and
have disobeyed my voice, [23] shall see the land of which I swore to their
fathers, nor shall any of those who scorned Me see
it.
Psa.
78:18 And they tried El in their heart by asking food according to their
desire.
Psa.
78:56 Yet they tried and rebelled against the Most High Elohim, and did
not guard His witnesses.
Psa.
95:9 Your fathers tried Me, [and] have proved Me, though they saw My
work.
Psa.
106:13 They soon forgot His works, they did not wait for His counsel,
[14] but greedily lusted in the wilderness, and tried El in the desert.
[15] And He gave them their request, but sent leanness within their
being.
Psa.
78:41 And AGAIN AND AGAIN THEY TRIED ELOAH, and provoked the Set-Apart
One of Israel.
In all of these
occurrences, “tried” is translated from the Hebrew word, NACAH, which means
“To test, try, prove, tempt, assay, put to the proof or
test.” This is the exact action (down to the Hebrew word
number!) which is forbidden of Yahweh in Deuteronomy
6:16!
1Cor. 10:9 Neither let us tempt Messiah, as some of them also tempted
Him, and were destroyed by serpents.
One of the many
ways we can tempt Him today is by claiming that He cannot be
tempted.
Heb.
4:15 For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the
feelings of our infirmities, but was in all points tempted, like as we are.
YET WITHOUT SIN.
So how do we
reconcile Yahweh’s being tempted with Apostolic Scriptures like the verse
in:
Jam.
1:13 Let no one say when he is tempted, I am tempted by Elohim, for
Elohim is not tempted by evil, and He tempts no
one.
“Tempted” in the
phrase, “Elohim is not tempted by evil” is translated from the Greek word,
APEIRASTOS, meaning someone or something “that can not be tempted by
evil, not liable to temptation to sin”
“Evil” in this verse
refers to something:
1) of a bad
nature
a) not such as it ought to be
2) of a mode of thinking, feeling, acting
a) base, wrong, wicked
3)
troublesome, injurious, pernicious, destructive,
baneful.
So all James is
saying is that Yahweh is not tempted by an evil or negative mode of thinking,
feeling, or acting. When Yahshua was in the wilderness with satan, did His
spirit succumb to a “a bad nature such as it ought not to be” or did he
entertain a “mode of thinking, feeling, or acting which was base, wrong or
wicked, troublesome, injurious, pernicious, destructive, or baneful”? If
He had, He would have succumbed to the temptation, but He did not! He
resisted and overcame satan’s endeavors to entrap Him, and He had absolutely no
desire to commit the evil. He loved righteousness so much that sure, he
could be TRIED, but it was no lure, nor was He disqualified from being a
dimension of Yahweh.
Now in James’ statement that Yahweh
“tempts no man”, a completely different Greek word—PEIRAZO— is used, which
means:
1) to try whether
a thing can be done
a) to attempt, endeavor
2) to try, make trial of, test: for the purpose of ascertaining his
quantity, or what he thinks, or how he will behave himself
a) in a good sense
b) in a bad sense, to test one maliciously, craftily to put to the
proof his feelings or judgments
c) to try or
test one’s faith, virtue, character, by enticement to
sin
1) to solicit
to sin, to tempt
a) of the temptations of the devil
d) after the O.T. usage
1) of Elohim: to
inflict evils upon one in order to prove his character and the steadfastness
of his faith
2)
men are said to tempt Elohim by exhibitions of distrust, as though they
wished to try whether he is not justly distrusted
3) by impious or wicked conduct to test
Elohim’s justice and patience, and to challenge him, as it were to give proof
of his perfections.
In this case, it
is perfectly reasonable to conclude that the intended meaning is not that of
trying “in a good sense”, for there is nothing wrong with that!
Yahweh does not, however, tempt or try an individual “in a bad sense, to test
one maliciously [or] craftily to put to the proof his feelings or judgments”, as
satan did to Yahshua in the wilderness. When Yahshua was tried in the
wilderness, PEIRAZO, is used to describe the what He experienced, and in such an
instance, it is clearly referring to the temptations of the devil. Is this
a circumstance to which Yahweh is immune? Consider the account in Job
where the Sons of Elohim appeared before Elohim, and satan was among them
(Job 1:6-9). Was not satan tempting Elohim
then? And suppose that we continue back to the beginning when satan
originally rebelled. Will we deem that as zero-temptation to Elohim, and
if so, then why did Yahweh kick Him out of heaven? It seems to me
that Yahweh is susceptible to the exact form of “temptation”, if you will,
which Yahshua was subject to in the wilderness with satan! You see, in the
entire matter of temptation, trying, proving, or whatever you will translate it
as, it’s only a matter of whether one falls for the temptation, and of course,
Elohim and the Messiah do not. Yahshua bore witness to this in the
wilderness, therefore being tried/tempted does not disqualify Yahshua from
being Yahweh.
Now we are able to see significant
meaning in Yahshua’s words in:
Matt. 4:1 Then Yahshua was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to
be tried by the devil..... [5] Then the devil took Him up into the set apart
city, set Him on the edge of the set apart place, [6] and said to him, “If you
are the Son of Elohim, throw Yourself down....” [7] Yahshua said to him, “It
has also been written, You shall not try Yahweh your Elohim.”
(cf. Deut. 6:16)
Satan told Yahshua
to cast Himself down, and Yahshua’s rebuke was that Torah commands us to not
try/tempt Yahweh. Considering that satan is trying Yahshua here, that was
a very powerful statement, for it was indeed Yahweh in bodily form with whom
satan was conversing!
[Vs.
8] And satan took Him up on a very high mountain and showed Him all the reigns
of the world and their esteem. [9] And said to Him, “All these shall I give
You if You bow down and worship me.” [10] And Yahshua said unto him, “Depart
satan! for it has been written, ‘You shall worship Yahweh your Elohim and Him
alone you shall serve.’” (cf. Deut.
6:13)
So here Yahshua
turned the tables on satan again and said, “YOU shall worship Yahweh YOUR Elohim
instead.” And because Yahshua was Yahweh under veil of human flesh, that
causes the question to be asked:
What About Worship Of
Messiah?
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