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Psalm 91 and Jesus in the Wilderness
The following question was asked by text:
Hey [___], if we get a chance to chat tomorrow, would you help me understand better the connection between Psalm 91 and Jesus in the wilderness. Thanks.
Psalm 91 contains this passage that Satan used to tempt Jesus as they stood on the pinnacle of the Temple:
For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways.
On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone. Ps 91:11-12 ESVThe Psalm is a promise of general protection, even in extraordinary circumstances, of those that love God. The Psalm is written within the Exodus meta-narrative of a journey through the threatening and desolate wilderness.
Satan quotes the verse as a proof-text to justify his instruction: “throw yourself down.” But his instruction violates the one command in the Psalm proceeding the promise:
Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward of the wicked. Ps 91:8 KJV
The pure person will avoid taking any kind of active role in the power leading to death, destruction, and sorting the good and blessed from the cursed wicked. Therefore, the command is to “only observe” what God does in his power and for the protection of the righteous. It’s easy for one to take their protection and advancement into their own hands and soon find that they have become the avenger in violation of God’s role and with severe human consequences.
This is at play when Jesus replies with, “You shall not test the Lord your God.” — a reference to Deuteronomy 6:16:
You shall not put the LORD your God to the test, as you tested him at Massah. Deuteronomy 6:16
At Massah (lit. “trial“), the Israelites quarreled with Moses (and by extension with God) because of lack of water in the dessert journey:
And he called the place Massah and Meribah because the Israelites quarreled and because they tested the Lord saying, “Is the Lord among us or not?” Ex 7:17 NIV
The sin of the Israelites is less that they demanded a sign of God’s favor (the traditional interpretation of the second temptation), and more that they did not believe that God was present with them because of a temporary water shortage, despite God’s promises and past demonstrations.
If the sin of testing God is not believing in his presence, shouldn’t Jesus have jumped, believing in God’s promises in Psalm 91? This is Satan’s argument. But a person who really believes God to be present does not take matters into their own hands to make God in his glory appear. They just observe what he is doing in his will and power, as the Psalmist says.
Think about the consequences if Jesus had jumped from the pinnacle of the Temple — the center of Jewish life in Jerusalem? Sure, he would have been recognized instantly as the Messiah, but what kind of Messiah? A celebrity, far beyond the reach and experience of regular humans. Is there anything more problematic to a Gospel that is at its heart participatory than than a view of the Messiah that makes us think God is with him, but not with us? This is the disastrous effect rock-star and ivory-tower pastors and priests have on the church. They functionally lessen the incarnation with their own glory.
The second temptation is a temptation about means to an end and about relationships. Anytime we do not look for the presence of God — observing what he is saying and doing in each moment and process — we fail to remember God is among us and go on to push for our own ambitions and create principalities ruled by idols. Whenever we fail to see God among us in relationships, we transgress fundamental human identity, and give in to the sins of superiority, inequality, and favoritism. Whether a husband and wife, parent and child, neighbor, stranger, other (them) — it is our failure to see God among us that leads to all our relational sins.
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This discussion was modified 2 years, 7 months ago by
profmag.
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This discussion was modified 2 years, 7 months ago by profmag.
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This discussion was modified 11 months, 2 weeks ago by profmag.
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