Ben C. Smith wrote: ↑Fri May 10, 2019 1:45 pmA more lenient interpretation would leave the context, but then that context would overlap with Mark and not really be "Matthew without Mark" anymore.
"Context", however, is everything:
Matthew 4: 1 - 11 (RSV):
[1]Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.
[2] And he fasted forty days and forty nights, and afterward he was hungry.
[3] And the tempter came and said to him, "If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread."
[4] But he answered, "It is written, `Man shall not live by bread alone,
but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.'"
Compare this with Matthew 7: 8 - 14 (RSV):
[8] For every one who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.
[9] Or what man of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone?
[10] Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent?
[11] If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!
[12] So whatever you wish that men would do to you, do so to them; for this is the law and the prophets.
[13] "Enter by the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is easy, that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many.
[14] For the gate is narrow and the way is hard, that leads to life, and those who find it are few.
"Bread and Stone" are repeated Motifs in these two Passages. Note the little Joke in Matthew 7:
[9] Or what man of you,
if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone?
[10]
Or if he asks for a fish,
will give him a serpent?
[11] If
you then,
who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children...
This is part of the Herod Story. Josephus records that Herod, in the face of a blistering famine, sold everything of value in the palace and used the proceeds to buy grain from Petronius. He drops huge stones into the water at Caesarea to create a Breakwater for the constructed Safe Port and distributes the grain to all.
Josephus, Ant..., 15, 9, 2:
"...sent the money to
Petronius, who had been made prefect of Egypt by Caesar; and as not a few had already fled to him under their necessities, and as he was particularly a friend to Herod, and desirous to have his subjects preserved, he gave leave to them in the first place to export corn, and assisted them every way, both in purchasing and exporting the same; so that he was the principal, if not the only person, who afforded them what help they had.
And Herod taking care the people should understand that this help came from himself, did thereby not only remove the ill opinion of those that formerly hated him, but gave them the greatest demonstration possible of his good-will to them, and care of them..."
So, "...you who are evil..." refers to Herod in both the particular instance and the general here.
[5] Then the devil took him to the holy city, and set him on the pinnacle of the temple,
[6] and said to him, "If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down; for it is written, `He will give his angels charge of you,'
and `On their hands they will bear you up,
lest you strike your foot against a stone.'"
[7] Jesus said to him, "Again it is written, `You shall not tempt the Lord your God.'"
Josephus, Ant..., 15, 11, 1:
"AND now Herod, in the eighteenth year of his reign, and after the acts already mentioned, undertook a very great work, that is, to build of himself the temple of God, (22) and make it larger in compass, and
to raise it to a most magnificent altitude, as esteeming it to be the most glorious of all his actions, as it really was, to bring it to perfection; and
that this would be sufficient for an everlasting memorial of him; but as he knew the multitude were not ready nor willing to assist him in so vast a design, he thought to prepare them first by making a speech to them, and then set about the work itself..."
The entirety of 15, 11, 1 is worth reading. Herod performs tasks that are ostensibly for God but are actually about Herod's Grandeur.
[8] Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain, and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them;
[9] and he said to him, "All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me."
[10] Then Jesus said to him, "Begone, Satan! for it is written, `You shall worship the Lord your God
and him only shall you serve.'"
[11] Then the devil left him, and behold, angels came and ministered to him.
Josephus, Ant..., 15, 11, 6:
"They feasted and celebrated this rebuilding of the temple: and for the king, he sacrificed three hundred oxen to God, as did the rest every one according to his ability; the number of which sacrifices is not possible to set down, for it cannot be that we should truly relate it;
for at the same time with this celebration for the work about the temple fell also the day of the king's inauguration, which he kept of an old custom as a festival, and it now coincided with the other, which coincidence of them both made the festival most illustrious..."
Compare with Luke 13: 11 - 13 (RSV):
[11] And there was a woman who had had a spirit of infirmity for eighteen years; she was bent over and could not fully straighten herself.
[12] And when Jesus saw her, he called her and said to her, "Woman, you are freed from your infirmity."
[13] And he laid his hands upon her, and immediately she was made straight, and she praised God.
This is around 10 BCE and the Matthean Passages are describing the same time as here in Luke. Herod finishes the Cloisters and opens the Temple on the same day as a Holy Day. It is the anniversary of Herods' ascension to the throne. You worship God and Herod on the same day. The Story is Pre-Transvaluation and it tells of the Priesthood fighting a Rear-Guard action against Herod.
Context here is EVERYTHING.
Best,
CW