about not tempting God, which quotes that commandment. It is the story of Jesus' temptation by the devil after fasting in the wilderness. Satan offers 3 temptations. One of them is that Jesus should jump from a great height to prove that God has his back and will rescue him. In the KJV that I was raised on, Jesus responds with, "Get thee hence, Satan. For it is written that thou shalt not tempt the Lord, thy God."

I am not a very literal believer. I take most religious teachings and the Bible more metaphorically than literally. I am a member of a liberal, mainstream Christian denomination.

Recently, my church reopened for indoor services with very strict precautions on social distancing, wearing masks, being screened on entry for temperature and recent contacts or exposure, hymnbooks and Bibles removed from the pews, humming instead of singing, etc. The pastor seemed concerned about how members would react to the new rules. I suggested that if anyone objected, he could do a sermon on the temptations of Jesus.

IncidentalIy, I have not been to the reopened services. Sitting still for an hour in an enclosed space, even with precautions, still seems like a risk to me. I am a senior with a few health issues.

The Ten Commandments I'm familiar with don't mention a prohibition against tempting God. That was Jesus, who after his 40 days and 40 nights in the desert, admonished Satan for trying to tempt him (Matt 4: 1-11).

Here's the 2nd Commandment: “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments” (Exodus 20:4; Deuteronomy 5:8).

besides the 10 commandments. Jews of Jesus' time considered them commandments from God to obey as much as the ones we know as the 10 commandments. They concerned things like alms, priestly rules for purity, dietary laws, etc.

I cannot quote for you the source that Jesus was referring to. I presume that he was learned in the Jewish scriptures and how they were taught by the priests and religious teachers. Doesn't the Bible say that he discussed and argued religious law and points with them from a young age and into adulthood? For the temptation story to appear in writings like Matthew for the early Christians, many of whom were from Jewish backgrounds themselves, suggests that they would have recognized the reference.

Of the 4 Gospels, Matthew is the most "Jewish oriented" in its chapters and verses. Yes, it was written in its final form many years after the events that it depicts, and after the destruction of Jerusalem by Rome. But there were oral stories and written pieces from earlier years, exchanged among the early followers, before the form we know was written, before Christians were called Christians, when they were known as and considered themselves a Jewish sect..

Thanks for the background.

Tempting God for believers.

Tempting fate or the laws of physics for non-believers.

Personally, I like the story told in Matthew. It has richer, more personal and inspirational messages than simply saying, "Don't jump off a cliff or the laws of physics will snuff you out."

The Matthew story warns against egotism. It tells of a personal struggle of someone who desires to teach and lead others not to let it go to his head. It says that people are responsible for their own actions to be sensible and prudent and not to go off the rails in their beliefs.

I have no quarrels with science. But for me, religious stories offer spiritual and personal enrichment of life that science, because of its need to at least strive for objectivity, cannot and should not offer.

It's like the difference between prose and poetry, or a dry news story vs. a novel.