Sometimes I get a little epiphany

Sometimes I get a sudden burst of instant insight into things I've been studying and considering for some time.  Often times these little epiphanies come while I am meditating in the temple, but sometimes I get them as I kneel and pray in the evening.

Last evening I got a little insight with regard to Jesus' fast.  Matthew reports in Chapter 4:

1 Then was Jesus aled up of the Spirit into the wilderness bto be ctempted of the devil.
2 And when he had afasted bforty days and forty nights, che was afterward an hungred.
This report given by Matthew is important for a couple of reasons.  It was unusual.  Fasting was not done that way.  In that time period it was normal for the pharisees to fast, but they only fasted during the day and then consumed their meal after dark much as do Muslims today.  So when they fasted for a week, for example, they really didn't miss any calories.  Their fasting was for show and not to weaken their bodies in order to give the spirit a chance to manifest itself.
So, Jesus fasted 40 days and 40 nights and was spiritually enlarged before Satan began to tempt him.  The temptations were as follows:
1.  Food.  He knew that Jesus' body would be craving food, and he knew that Jesus was spiritually powerful, so he said,  (paraphrasing) "If you really do have all that power, turn these rocks into bread so that your hunger can be satisfied".
2.  Personal Safety.  Satan took Jesus to  a pinnacle of the temple and said, (again paraphrasing) "Throw yourself from this pinnacle and have your angels rescue you."  Satan knew Jesus for who he really was.  I suspect he hoped that Jesus didn't yet know His own station.
3.  Power.  Satan took Jesus to a tall mountain and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in all their glory and said, (again paraphrasing) "I'll give you all these things if you will bow down and worship me." (Pretty arrogant, in my opinion.  He didn't and doesn't own them, but he'd like to think he does.)
Jesus parried all of these temptations.  Would we be capable of doing the same? These three temptations are very strong for the natural man.  For most of us these temptations would be overpowering, but for Jesus they were not.  I am convinced that He already knew who he was and what He would be confronting.
I am sure I'm not the only person who has received this enlightening perception, but to me it is new and for this reason I am sharing.
Please enjoy your sabbath.
-30-

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