And the last verse of the Greek Enoch: “Therefore shall they perish along with all their property.”
Satan’s great confrontation with Jesus, after forty days of fasting, repeats his confrontation with Moses (Moses 1:12-22 [Gen. 1:3-4]) and his proposed deal with Adam, with Abraham, with Job, and with Isaiah. There are all sorts of stories of Satan coming with his propositions, of the kind he converted Cain to.44 The devil said to the Lord himself, who had fasted and was susceptible (otherwise he wouldn’t have been), “If thou be the Son of God, command this stone that it be made bread” (Luke 4:3 [Luke 3:10]). You serve me or you starve. And Jesus said, “Man shall not live by bread alone [that’s the point], but by every word of God. And the devil, taking him up into an high mountain, shewed 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” (Luke 4:4-6 [Luke 3:10-11]). Note, Satan claims to have the power and the glory of this world. It’s delivered unto me, he says. I have the authority. I am authorized to offer you all this glory and power in the world, if you will serve me. “For that is delivered unto me; and to whomsoever I will I give it” (Luke 4:6 [Luke 3:11]). Note that: it is all mine. This is my greatness and my kingdom. He claims it, and the Lord so allows him that for that purpose. “If thou therefore wilt worship me, all shall be thine” (Luke 4:7 [Luke 3:11]). That’s the famous pact that Satan makes.
He promises you anything for this world, and that is what people go for. And Jesus’ answer to him was, “Get thee behind me, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve” (Luke 4:8 [Luke 3:11]).
And Satan said to him, on the pinnacle of the temple, All right, if you are the son of God, cast yourself down from thence and the angels shall save you. And Jesus said, Don’t try to tempt me that way, Satan (Luke 4:9-12 [Luke 3:12]).
The Temptation in the Wilderness
The Spirit leads the Son into the wilderness: not to be tempted, but to be with God. Only after he had fasted and communed with the Father was he left to face the adversary, and he answered every temptation with the written word.
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? How to read this edition
The reading is the Joseph Smith Translation, in the text of the Covenant Christian Edition, carried beside each Gospel and set against the King James baseline. Headers give both numbering systems: the CCE chapter and verse, and the traditional KJV reference.
1Then Jesus was led up of the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil to be with God. 2And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights and had communed with God, he was afterward hungry and was left to be tempted of the Devil. 3And when the tempter came to him, he said, If you are the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread. 4But Jesus answered and said, It is written: Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.
Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple5Then Jesus was taken up into the holy city, and the spirit set him on a pinnacle of the temple. 6And saith Then the Devil came unto him and said, If you are the Son of God, cast yourself down, for it is written: He shall give his angels charge concerning you, and in their hands they shall bear you up, lest at any time you dash your foot against a stone. 7Jesus said unto him, It is written again: You shall not test the Lord your God.
Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him8And again, Jesus was in the spirit, and it took him up into an exceedingly high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them. 9And saith the Devil came unto him again, and said, All these things will I give you if you will fall down and worship me. 10Then said Jesus unto him, Depart from here Satan, for it is written: You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve. 11Then the Devil left him. And now Jesus knew that John was cast into prison, and he sent angels, and behold, they came and ministered unto him.
12And immediately the spirit driveth him took him into the wilderness. 13And he was there in the wilderness forty days, tempted of Satan Satan seeking to tempt him, and was with the wild beasts. And the angels ministered unto him.
1And Jesus, being full of the holy ghost, returned from Jordan and was led by the spirit into the wilderness. Being forty days tempted of the devil.2And after forty days, the devil came unto him to tempt him. And in those days he did eat nothing; and when they had ended, he afterward hungered. 3And the Devil said unto him, If you are the Son of God, command this stone that it be made bread. 4And Jesus answered him, saying, It is written that man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.
And the devil, taking him up5And the spirit took him up into a high mountain, and he beheld all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. 6And the Devil came unto him and said unto him, All this power will I give unto you, and the glory of them; for that is they are delivered unto me, and to whomever I desire, I give it them. 7If you therefore will worship me, all shall be yours. 8Jesus answered and said unto him, Get behind me, Satan, for it is written: You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve.
And he brought him to Jerusalem9And the spirit brought him to Jerusalem and set him on a pinnacle of the temple. And the Devil came unto him and said unto him, If you are the Son of God, cast yourself down from here, 10for it is written: He shall give his angels charge over you, to keep you. 11And in their his hands they shall bear you up, lest at any time you dash your foot against a stone. 12And Jesus answering said unto him, It is said written: You shall not test the Lord your God. 13And when the Devil had ended all the temptation, he departed from him for a season.
The Devil Is an Orator
He Took Our Savior onto a Pinnacle
In instructions probably given in the summer of 1839, as the apostles and seventies prepared for their mission to Europe, Joseph Smith taught them to try every spirit, vision and song, and took this scene as proof of how powerful the devil is. Notice which text he follows: the King James, where the devil takes Jesus up to the pinnacle. His own translation, marked on this page, has the Spirit set Jesus there, and the devil only comes to him afterward. Willard Richards copied the instructions into his notebook in England.
Discourse, between circa 26 June and circa 4 August 1839 (A), Commerce, Illinois · Willard Richards, Pocket Companion, pp. 72–73 (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 162) · Joseph Smith Papers ↗The devil may appear as an angel of light. Ask God to reveal it. if it be of the Devil. he will flee from you. if of God he will manifest himself or make it manifest. we may come to Jesus & ask him he will know all about it.— If he comes to a little child, he will adapt himself to the Language & capacity of a little child— There is no Gold nor silver &c, it is false, all is plain in heaven; every Spirit or vision or singing is not of God. The Devil is an orator, : he is powerful: he took our Savior onto a pinnacle of the temple; & kept him in the Wilderness for forty days. The gift of discerning Spirits will be given to the presiding Elder. pray for him that he may have this gift
Get Behind Me, Satan
At a meeting of the Nauvoo lyceum, Joseph Smith taught that God gave each spirit a body to arm it against the power of darkness, and gave the Lord’s answer to the tempter as his example. Ehat and Cook key the words to Luke 4:8, where the King James Version reads “Get thee behind me, Satan.” William P. McIntire’s minutes are the only record.
Account of Meeting, circa 19 January 1841, Nauvoo · William P. McIntire, Notebook, p. [7] · Joseph Smith Papers ↗Next Meeting— Joseph said that before foundation of the Earth in the Grand-Counsel that the spirits of all men ware subject to opression & the express purpose of God in Giveing it a tabernicle was to arm it against the power of Darkness— for instance Jesus said get behind me Satan also the apostle said Resist the Devil & he will flee from you
Serve Me or Starve
The forty-day fast and Satan’s three offers, Nibley argued, are one recurring confrontation: the same “deal” the adversary pressed on Moses, Adam, Abraham, and Job, now put to the hungry Son of God.
The Pinnacle of the Temple
Barker sets the temptation among Jesus’ visionary experiences: speaking with Satan, seeing all the kingdoms of the world, taken to the pinnacle of the temple.
It is possible, however, that the exaltation and enlightenment had been part of Jesus’ own experience as a mystic, and not simply the church’s post Easter interpretation of the crucifixion. There are many examples which point to this, especially in the Fourth Gospel: being born from above, entering and seeing the Kingdom of God (John 3.3 [John 2:1], 5), the descent of the Son of Man (John 3.13 [John 2:2]), the one who comes from above and tells what he has seen (John 3.31-2 [John 2]), the claim that Jesus was not of this world (John 8.23 [John 6:13]). We have no proof that the Johannine Jesus was not drawn from life. ‘For John’, wrote Morton Smith, ‘Jesus is the incarnation of the pre-existent Logos. But this does not prevent John from preserving and reworking material that has come to him from an earlier and more historical tradition, and to such material we owe the recollection that Jesus in his lifetime claimed to have gone up to heaven and to speak of it from first hand knowledge’31. Similarly, the synoptic gospels describe a Jesus who saw the heavens open (Mark 1.10 [Mark 1:2]), who spoke with Satan and saw all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time, and was taken (how?) to a pinnacle of the temple (Luke 4.1-13 [Luke 3:10-12]), who saw Satan fall from heaven (when, where ? Luke 10.18 [Luke 8:5]).
Origen distinguished between the hidden and the ineffable knowledge. Of some matters he could say: ‘these are hidden’; but of others he said: ‘If anyone is worthy to know the ineffable things he will learn the Wisdom hidden in the mystery which God established before the ages (Commentary on Matthew 7.2). This Wisdom concerned the heavenly powers of which Paul wrote in Colossians. According to Origen: ‘The Jews used to tell of many things in accordance with secret traditions reserved to a few, for they had other knowledge than that which was common and made public’ (Commentary on John 19.92). Daniélou concluded that Origen’s ineffable mysteries were a continuation of the Jewish mysteries and dealt with the same matters. He suggested that some of this knowledge might have been the names of the angels which were part of the secret teachings of the Essenes.