Bible Lexicons

Girdlestone's Synonyms of the Old TestamentGirdlestone's OT Synonyms

Temptation

The word 'tempt,' or 'temptation,' occurs sixteen times in the O.T in Malachi 3:15 the Hebrew word is Bachan (בחן ), to prove or test, as metals are tested in the crucible (see verse 10, where the same Hebrew word is rendered prove in the remaining passages we find Nasah (נסה ), literally 'to test by the smell,' hence 'to put to the proof.' in all these passages (with one exception, namely, Genesis 22:1, where we are told that God tempted or tested Abraham) the word is used with reference to the way in which man has put God's power or forbearance to the test. Thus in Exodus 17:2; Exodus 17:7, we are told that Israel 'tempted' God in the wilderness, and the place was therefore called Massah, a name derived from the word Nasah in Psalms 78:41 we read, 'They turned back, and tempted God, and limited the Holy One of Israel.' this limitation was the setting an imaginary boundary to God's power and goodness, and thus calling Him forth to step over that boundary. The temptations in the wilderness are referred to several times both in the Pentateuch and Psalms, and usually in the same sense in three passages, however, namely, Deuteronomy 4:34; Deuteronomy 7:19; Deuteronomy 29:3, reference is made not to the provocations which God endured when his forbearance was put to the test in the wilderness, but to the mode in which his purpose towards Israel and his power of working wonders were proved and demonstrated by his conduct towards Pharaoh and his people.

The usage of the two words will be more clearly seen if we compare other passages where they occur.

Bachan is found in the following passages: - Genesis 42:15-16, 'Here by ye shall be proved . that your words may be proved, whether there be any truth in you.' 1 Chronicles 29:17, 'Thou triest the heart.' Job 23:10, 'When he hath tried me, I shall come fort has gold.' Psalms 7:9, 'The righteous God trieth the hearts and reins;' so Jeremiah 11:20. Psalms 11:4-5, 'H is eyelids try the children of men. The Lord trieth the righteous.' Psalms 17:3, 'Thou hast proved mine heart.' Psalms 81:7, 'I proved thee at the waters of Meribah.' Psalms 139:23, 'Try me, and know my thoughts.' Proverbs 17:3, 'The fining pot is for silver, and the furnace for gold; but the Lord trieth the hearts.' Isaiah 28:16, 'Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone;' the LXX, as quoted in the N.T., adopts the word elect (ἐκλεκτός) in this passage. Jeremiah 17:10, 'I the Lord search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways;' see also chap.20:12. Ezekiel 21:13, 'It is a trial.' Zechariah 13:9, 'I will try them as gold is tried.' Malachi 3:10, 'Prove me now herewith' - an idea taken up in the fifteenth verse, where the same word is used in the words, 'They that tempt God are even delivered.'

Nasah occurs in Exodus 15:25, 'There he proved them;' Exodus 16:4; Exodus 20:20; Deuteronomy 8:2; Deuteronomy 8:16; Deuteronomy 13:3; Judges 2:22; Judges 3:1; Judges 3:4; 2 Chronicles 32:31 in Deuteronomy 4:34 it is rendered 'assay' as well as 'temptation;' and in Deuteronomy 28:56, it is rendered 'adventure' in the A. V in Judges 6:39 Gide on says, 'Let me prove, I pray thee, but this once with the fleece.' 1 Samuel 17:39, David girded on his armour and he assayed [It would have been better to put 'he essayed.'] to go (lit. he was on the verge of starting), but he put the armour off again, ' for he had not proved it.'

1 Kings 10:1, the Queen of Sheba came to Solom on 'to prove him with hard words.' Compare 2 Chronicles 9:1.

It is also used in Job 4:2 ('assay'); Job 9:23 ('trial'); Ecclesiastes 2:1; Ecclesiastes 7:23; also in Daniel 1:12; Daniel 1:14, where it is rendered 'prove.'

The two words occur together in Psalms 26:2, 'Examine (bachan) me, O Lord, and prove (nasah) me;' and in Psalms 95:9, 'When your fathers tempted (nasah) me, proved (bachan) me, and saw my work.'

A consideration of these passages leads to the conclusion that the various evils and struggles and difficulties which are prompted from within, or which befall man from without, are ordered by God as part of the great system of probation or testing to which every child of Adam is being subjected. The agency of the Evil One is permitted for the purpose of bringing a man into that sort of contact with evil which will serve to test his real principles.

The LXX translates Bachan by ἐτάζω, ἐξετάζω, φαίνομαι, φανερὸς γίνομαι, μανθάνω, κρίνω, διακρίνω, δοκιμάζω (the most usual word), δικαιόω (Ezekiel 21:13), ἐπιστρέφω, ἀνθίστημι, and ἐκλεκτὸς (Proverbs 17:3 and Isaiah 28:6).

Nasah is always translated by πειράζω, or one of its compounds.

Temptation in the NT

The word ἐτάζωdoes not occur in the N.T., but ἐξετάζω is used three times to represent accurate, scrutinising search (Matthew 2:8; Matthew 10:11; John 21:12); φαίνομαι is used to indicate the result of such scrutiny in 2 Corinthians 13:7; and so φανερὸς γίνεσθαι is found in the sense of being brought to the test in Luke 8:17, 'There is nothing hidden which shall not be made manifest;' 1 Corinthians 3:13, 'H is work shall be made manifest;' see also 1 Corinthians 11:19; 1 Corinthians 14:25; 1 John 3:10.

There is some difficulty in giving a consistent rendering to διακρίνω in the N.T. It often answers, both in sense as well as etymology, to the word discern, as in Matthew 16:3, 'Ye can discern the face of the heavens ;' 1 Corinthians 11:31, 'If we discerned ourselves (i.e. our own motives) we should not be judged of the Lord.' in other passages the word is used in a causative sense, as when we read, 'Who maketh thee to differ,' in 1 Corinthians 4:7; so perhaps we should understand 1 Corinthians 11:29, 'Not making a distinction between ordinary food and that which represents the body of Christ.'

In Judges 1:9 we read of Michael contending (διακρινόμενος) with Satan; but in the twenty-second verse, where the same part of the verb occurs, it has been rendered, ' on some have compassion, making a difference;' might it not be rendered 'contending with them,' in accordance with the previous passage? [But the text is uncertain. See R. V.] The verb has this sense also in Acts 11:2, where we read that they after circumcision contended with Peter.

In the passive voice the word has come to signify doubting, i.e. the subjection of the mind and will to fluctuations and contending impulses. Thus we read in Matthew 21:21, 'If ye have faith and doubt not;' so Mark 11:23; Acts 10:20; Romans 4:20 (where the A. V. reads, 'He staggered not at the promise'); Romans 14:23; James 1:6; James 2:4.

The word δοκιμάζειν is also used of the process of scrutiny whereby a man is brought to the test. It is sometimes used as a substitute for διακρίνειν, as in Luke 12:56, which may be compared with Matthew 16:3, quoted above. So the man says of his yoke of oxen, 'I go to prove them,' Luke 14:19; Romans 2:18, 'Thou discernest what is excellent.' Compare Romans 12:2, 'That you may make proof of what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God;' 1 Corinthians 3:13, 'The fire shall test every man's work;' 1 Corinthians 11:28, 'Let a man scrutinise himself;' compare the thirty-first verse, where διακρίνω is used. Compare also 2 Corinthians 8:8; 2 Corinthians 8:22; 2 Corinthians 13:5; Galatians 6:4; Ephesians 5:10; Philippians 1:10; 1 Timothy 3:10; 1 John 4:1.

Sometimes the verb signifies that the scrutiny has been satisfactory; it is then rendered to approve. So we read in 1 Thessalonians 2:4, 'We have been approved of God.' Compare Romans 1:28, 'They did not approve of the retaining God in their knowledge.' in this verse the Apostle carries on the idea contained in the verb δοκιμάζωa little further, for he proceeds, 'Wherefore God gave them up to a reprobate mind' (ἀδόκιμον νου̂ν) They rejected Him, so He rejected them. The word ἀδόκιμος has usually been rendered reprobate, as in 2 Corinthians 13:5, where we have the same connection of words as in the passage last quoted, 'Prove (δοκιμάζετε) your own selves . unless ye be reprobate' (ἀδόκιμοι) in one place, however, and that a very remarkable one, our translators have preferred to render ἀδόκιμος by 'castaway,' namely, in 1 Corinthians 9:27, where St. Paul says, 'I bring my body into subjection, lest, whilst I have preached to others, I myself should be unable to pass the scrutiny (of the last day).'

St. James and St. Peter concur in using the expression 'the trial of your faith.' Here the word is δοκίμιον (James 1:3; 1 Peter 1:7), and the idea suggested is that the faith which a Christian professes has to be submitted to the test of affliction and temptation, just as gold is put into a crucible and passed through the fire.

The word δόκιμος is used several times by St. Paul, and signifies the condition of him who has stood the test and is approved. See 2 Timothy 2:15, and compare James 1:12, 'When he is tried,' i.e. approved in accordance with these passages, we can understand Romans 5:4, where we read that 'Patience worketh experience' (δοκίμην). this doubtless means that as tribulation is the occasion whereby endurance or patience is developed, so this endurance becomes a test or proof that our faith is living and true.

When we turn from these various Greek words which stand for the Hebrew word Bachanto πειράζειν, which always represents the word Nasah, we notice a marked difference of sense. The scrutiny or testing process which we have been considering is exercised by men, aided by the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit, in this life, and will be brought to bear up on the hearts and lives of all men by God hereafter. But πειρασμός is almost always represented in the N.T. as the work of the devil or of those who are following his guidance. Thus Christ during his earthly ministry 'suffered, being tempted,' and those temptations, which were of various kinds, were thrown in his path sometimes by Satan himself, and sometimes by the Pharisees and others, who sought to entangle Him in an offence against God or man in the Acts we read of Anani as and Sapphira tempting the Spirit of God (Acts 5:9), and of Peter asking the brethren why they tempted God by imposing the law of Moses on the Gentile converts (15:10) in James 1:13-14, we have the whole history of temptation, so far as the operations of the human heart are concerned. Satan's operations are implied, but not directly stated. A man is said to be led away when he is baited (δελεαζόμενος) by his own passions. But who is it that uses these things as a bait? Not God. Let no man say, in this sense, I am tempted of God. Not man; for he cannot bait the hook with which he himself is to be beguiled and destroyed. It must, then, be the Evil One, who makes use of the inclinations of the heart as a means of dragging him to ruin.

When we ask God not to lead us into temptation, we mean, Lead us not into that position, and put us not into those circumstances, in which we should be in danger of falling an easy prey to the assaults of Satan in connection with this prayer, we have the promise that with every temptation in which God permits us to be placed, He provides a way of escape that we may be able to go through without falling. He allows the way in, and He makes the way out (τὴν ἔκβασιν), 1 Corinthians 10:13.

One or two passages only in which the verb occurs are to be interpreted differently in 2 Corinthians 13:5, 'tempt yourselves' means put yourself to the test, as we see from the context, which shows that the word is used as a parallel to the verb δοκιμάζειν in this sense we must understand the use of the word in Hebrews 11:17, where the writer refers to the temptation of Abraham in the matter of the offering of Isaac. God put Abraham's faith and obedience to the test, whilst Satan tempted him to disobey.