A Day of Testing in the Wilderness

The Day of Testing in the Wilderness Commentary by Susan Docherty Cite Share Show Bible Passage The wilderness is a recurrent theme in the Scriptures, where it is sometimes envisaged as a location of potential danger (e.g. Deuteronomy 8:15), but also more positively as a site of God’s revelation (e.g. Exodus 3:1–5; 19:1–25). In Psalm 95—the scriptural text underlying this section of Hebrews—the wilderness region separating Egypt from the promised land of Canaan is remembered as a place of rebellion, ‘where your ancestors put me to the test, though they had seen my works for forty years’ (Hebrews 3:9–10; Psalm 95:9). This is a reference to the failure of the ancient Israelites to trust fully in God’s ability to provide water and food for their journey (Numbers 20:1–13). It is an example of disobedience that the letter’s recipients are urged to avoid (Hebrews 3:12–13). According to Christian tradition, Jesus also went through an experience of being tested in the wilderness (Matthew 4:1–11; Luke 4:1–13). This period of temptation by the devil is depicted in Briton Rivière’s oil painting, produced in 1898 and now in the collection of London’s Guildhall Art Gallery. The impressionistic style and skilful use of colour emphasize the gloomy foreground of this wilderness setting by contrast with its distant reaches, and highlight ‎the lonely isolation of the figure of Jesus in white‎ (O'Neill 2010). He appears drained and exhausted after his struggle with Satan, but the red glow on the horizon offers the viewer a hopeful glimpse of a new dawn. Members of the community addressed in Hebrews are evidently undergoing trials and difficulties of their own (4:15–16), although their nature is not specified. To come through these will require great effort on their part (v.11), as it did for the sorely tempted Christ, with whom they ‘have become partners’ (3:14). References James Stuart O’Neill. 2010. ‘The Temptation in The Wilderness’, available at https://iconsandimagery.blogspot.com/2010/08/temptation-in-wilderness.h… [accessed 23 December 2024]