The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1898-01-02
THE SUNDAY SCHOOL.
LESSON H.. JAN. 9. MATT. q:
I'LL.
Golden Text: For In That NE Himself
Hath Suffered Being Tempted. He Ia
Ablc to succOr Them That Are
Tempted.-Heb. 3: 1S.

The section includes only the lesson.
Read each verse.
Suggestions to teachers-Note the posi-
ton of this lesson in the life of Christ.
as the last of his preparations for his
great work upon which he enters imme-
diately after Note the necessity and
universality of the testing by tempta-
.tion- Almost every true and useful life
begins in this way, sometimes by a def
mite and distinct battle. sometimes by
choices in little things between good and
evil, but which are really decisive. Make
1hfs lesson a mirror in which we may see
our own temptations and the way to vic
tory. Look up the Bible passages con-
cerning temptation. and the helps they
give toward overcoming. The whole les
son is very practical in it's nature.
Historical Setting. Time. = Probably
about January. A. d. q, directly after his
baptism. Place.-There is no hint given
as to the place where Jesus went to be
tempted. but most authorities incline to
the northern part of the wilderness of
Judea, between Jerusalem and Jericho
on the west, and the Jordan and the up
per part of the Dead Sea on the east.
Tradition places it in Mount Quaranta-
mia, not far from Jericho. near the Jor-
dan. 1t was named Quarantania (Which
means space of forty days) because
Jesus was supposed to have passed his
forty days of fasting in one of it's caves
Explanatory.-The Initiatory Battle and
Testlng.-V. l. THE story of our Lords
temptation. have it recorded in de-
tail both in st. Matthew and in st. Luke,
IS almost certainly a fragment of auto
biography. 1 do not mean, of course,
written by our Lord. but it must have
been related by him to his disc c'ples
There was no human witness. Rev. A.
G. A. Hall, Bishop of Vermont
AS the first Adam, the head of the race,
must be tempted and tested at the begin
ming of his career. so must the second
Adam, the head of the redeemei people
of God. be tempted and tested at the be-
ginning of his work. The first Adam
failed. and changed Paradise into a des-
ert; the second Adam gained the victory
and is changing the desert into Paradise
Some Introductory Questions. = First
what was the purpose of these tempta-
tons? They proved that he was worthy
10 be the Messiah, as a battleship is test
ed before it is sent to war. "a For his
own sake. He was a man and had a
character to build. and temptation is es-
sential to character building. No man
knows what is in him-how weak he is
or how strong-till he is tried" Tempta-
ton vanquished is strength, character,
hope. observation-disclosures He needed
20 realize his work and that he was the
Messiah. to conquer his doubts. and gain
assurance. Hence Satan's question "If
thou be the Son of God?" (2) For the
sake of others. if Jesus would be the
Saviour and helper of men, it was neces-
sary that he Slould not only be expose d
to the same temptations we are, but
that he should gain the victory over
them. and by the same means which are
available to us. Qeb 4: SD He con-
quered. not as the Son of God. but as
man, else his victory would be no pledge
that he could give the victory. Sec
ond. How can a holy being be tempted?
Simply because every living being has ap-
petites. desires. avenues of pleasure. these
right things. Jesus was tempted throcga
the good that was in him. (See below on
ach temptaton.) THE force Of a temp
-ation depends not upon the sin involved
in what is proposed. but upon the ad-
vantage connected with it. And a right
eous man. whose will never falters for
moment, may feel the attractiveness of
the advantage more keenly than the weak
man who succumbs; for the latter prob
ably gave way before he recognized the
whole of the attractiveness. his ma
ture may be less capable of such recogni-
tion. In this way the sinlessness of Jesus
augments his capacity for sympathy; fer
in every case he felt the full force of
temptation. Prof Albert Plummer D.
n. sympathy with the sinner in his trial
does not depend on the experience of s,n
hut on the experience of strength of the
temptation to sim which only the sinless
can know i'm its full intensity. He who
falls yields before the last strain."-West-
colt on Heb >: Is International Critical ,
Commentary on Luke. Third. In what
form did the temptations come? They
must have come from without, and not
from within. Satan could not have come
as Satan. as Apollyon to Bunyan's Pr
grim, with horrible form and suIphurous
ana flaming breath: for he does not mpt
us In that way. and Jesus was tempted
like are" He may have come as
an angel of light, or perhaps as some
traveller: or he suggested the temptations
TO his mind, as 1.-THE V licked ones wh's-
perinSly suggested many blasphemies'' to
Christian i'm the Valley of the Shadow of
Death. There are three questions that
must be answered concerning each temp
tation. in order to understand IT'D What
made the act desirable so as to become a
temptation to an innocent being; (2) What
was the wrong in doing it; CD How did
Jesus gain the victory?