Out  of  what  impulses,  then,  did  it  arise  ?  One  of
Messiah's  functions  was  to  destroy  the  works  of  the
devil  ( I  John  3®) ;  and  Satan  and  his  demons  are
leagued  against  the  representative  of  the  sovereignty
of  heaven. It  was  Satan  who  tried  Job,  and  incited
David  to  number  the  children  of  Israel  (/  Chron. 22^) ;
p^  and  it  was  the  expectation  of  later  Jewish  theo-
logians that  Messiah  would  be  exposed  to  his
assaults. The  wilderness  was  notoriously  the
haunt  of  the  demonic  powers ;. there,  too,  had
Israel,  firstborn  son  of  Yahweh,  passed  through  its

concerned  here. It  may  be  sufficient  to  notice  that  it  has  somewhat  changed
its  aspect  in  view  of  the  frank  recognition  in  modem  apologetics  of  the  human
element  in  the  person  of  Christ. Thus  in  1863  the  Archbishop  of  York  could
write  (Smith's  Did. of  the  Bible,  \. p. 1042) :  '  It  was  the  trial  of  One  Who
could  not  possibly  have  fallen. This  makes  a  complete  conception  of  the
temptation  impossible  for  minds  wherein  temptation  is  alwa3rs  associated  with
the  possibility  of  sin.'  Dr. Thomson  rejects  the  theories  of  vision  or  ecstasy
and  parable  on  the  ground  that  '  all  these  suppositions  set  aside  the  his-
torical testimony  of  the  Gospels.'  But  he  sets  this  testimony  aside  himself
directly  after  when  he  asserts  that '  in  the  second  temptation  it  is  not  probable
that  they  left  the  wilderness,  but  that  Satan  was  allowed  to  suggest  to  our
Lord's  mind  the  place,  and  the  marvel  that  could  be  wrought  there.'  Simi-
larly, the  '  kingdoms  of  the  world  '  were  seen  <  with  the  mental  vision  of  One
who  knew  all  things.'  Very  different  is  the  reverent  reserve  of  I^f. Sanday
a  generation  later  (Hastings'  Diet,  of  tht  BibU,  ii. p. 612^  :  *  It  is  impossible
for  us  to  understand  it,  in  the  sense  of  understanding  how  what  we  call
temptation  could  affect  the  Son  of  God. It  could  not  have  touched  Him  at  all
unless  He  had  been  also,  and  no  less  really,  Son  of  Man.'


LKCT. V. EARLY    HISTORY    OF    CHRISTIANITY        247

trials. The  forty  days  of  Messiah's  sojourn  were
the  miniature  image  of  those  ancient  forty  years ;
and  his  fast  corresponded  to  the  types  supplied  by
Moses  and  Elijah. 