We will begin commentary here with v. 12 where we hear that the Spirit drove Jesus out into the wilderness to be tempted by Satan for forty days. The nature of the temptation is omitted. Both Matthew and Luke tell this story in much richer detail. Old Testament analogies immediately come to mind. The number forty in days is reminiscent of the forty years that Israel spent in the wilderness. According to Jeremiah 2:1-3 the wilderness was a time of youthful devotion on behalf of Israel. During this time the Moses-led people were fed with manna from on high. In Ezekiel 20:9-26, however, the wilderness experience is understood as a time of Israel's rebellion. Many passages in the Psalms also picture Israel in the wilderness as a time when Israel failed the test of obedience. It may be, therefo…