Big Idea: Through the temptation narrative woven with Deuteronomy citations, Matthew compares Jesus’ faithful sonship to Israel’s lack of obedience in their wilderness time and highlights God’s protection of Jesus in the wilderness.

Understanding the Text

After narrating Jesus’ birth and baptism, Matthew concludes his introduction to Jesus’ identity (1:1–4:16) with wilderness temptations. The temptation story continues the comparison between Israel and Jesus, emphasizing how Jesus remains utterly loyal to God during his wilderness testing. This motif emerges via Jesus’ three citations of Deuteronomy that attend to Israel’s lack of loyalty to Yahweh during their wilderness journey (Deut. 6; 8). Matthew displays Jesus as representative Israel who is faithful and true to God’s covenant. Lat…