28
Confrontation
of lustful appetite and corrupt passions. Through the gratification of
appetite he had overthrown the Israelites. He boasted that the Son
of God Himself, who was with Moses and Joshua, was not able to
resist his power, and lead the favored people of His choice to Canaan;
for nearly all who left Egypt died in the wilderness; also, that he had
tempted the meek man Moses to take to himself glory which God
claimed. David and Solomon, who had been especially favored of
God, he had induced through the indulgence of appetite and passion
to incur God’s displeasure. And he boasted that he could yet succeed
in thwarting the purpose of God in the salvation of man through Jesus
Christ.
In the wilderness of temptation, Christ was without food forty
days. Moses had on especial occasions been thus long without food.
But he felt not the pangs of hunger. He was not tempted and harassed
by a vile and powerful foe as was the Son of God. He was elevated
above the human, and especially sustained by the glory of God which
enshrouded him.