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•TEMPTATION (1.) Trial; a being put to the test. Thus God “tempted [Genesis 22: 1; R.V., ‘did prove’] Abraham;” and afflictions are said to tempt, i.e., to try, men (James 1:2, 12; comp. Deuteronomy 8:2), putting their faith and patience to the test. (2.) Ordinarily, however, the word means solicitation to that which is evil, and hence Satan is called “the tempter” (Matthew 4:3). Our Lord was in this way tempted in the wilderness. That temptation was not internal, but by a real, active, subtle being. It was not self-sought. It was submitted to as an act of obedience on his part. “Christ was led, driven. An unseen personal force bore him a certain violence is implied in the words” (Matthew 4:1-11).
The scene of the temptation of our Lord is generally supposed to have been the mountain of Quarantania (q.v.), “a high and precipitous wall of rock, 1,200 or 1,500 feet above the plain west of Jordan, near Jericho.”
Temptation is common to all (Daniel 12:10; Zechariah 13:9; Psalm 66:10; Luke 22:31, 40; Hebrews 11:17; James 1:12; 1 Peter 1:7; 4:12). We read of
the temptation of Joseph (Genesis 39), of David (2 Samuel 24; 1
Chronicles 21), of Hezekiah (2 Chronicles 32:31), of Daniel (Daniel 6), etc. So long as we are in this world we are exposed to temptations, and need ever to be on our watch against them.
•TENT (1.) Hebrews ‘ohel (Genesis 9:21, 27). This word is used also of a dwelling or habitation (1 Kings 8:66; Isaiah 16:5; Jeremiah 4:20), and of the temple (Ezekiel 41:1). When used of the tabernacle, as in 1 Kings 1:39, it denotes the covering of goat’s hair which was placed over the mishcan.
(2.) Hebrews mishcan (Cant. 1:8), used also of a dwelling (Job 18:21; Psalm 87:2), the grave (Isaiah 22:16; comp. 14:18), the temple (Psalm 46:4; 84:2; 132:5), and of the tabernacle (Exodus 25:9; 26:1; 40:9; Numbers 1:50, 53; 10:11). When distinguished from ‘ohel, it denotes the twelve interior curtains which lay upon the framework of the tabernacle (q.v.).
(3.) Hebrews kubbah (Numbers 25:8), a dome-like tent devoted to the impure worship of Baal-peor.
(4.) Hebrews succah (2 Samuel 11:11), a tent or booth made of green boughs or branches (see Genesis 33:17; Leviticus 23:34, 42; Psalm 18:11;
Jonah 4:5; Isaiah 4:6; Nehemiah 8:15-17, where the word is variously rendered).
Jubal was “the father of such as dwell in tents” (Genesis 4:20). The patriarchs were “dwellers in tents” (Genesis 9:21, 27; 12:8; 13:12; 26:17); and during their wilderness wanderings all Israel dwelt in tents (Exodus 16:16; Deuteronomy 33:18; Joshua 7:24). Tents have always occupied a prominent place in Eastern life (1 Samuel 17:54; 2 Kings 7:7; Psalm 120:5; Cant. 1:5). Paul the apostle’s occupation was that of a tent-maker (Acts 18:3); i.e., perhaps a maker of tent cloth.