Tony N, Please explain the difference you see in the usage of the word "tried" when other translations will have "tempted in all points as we are, yet without sin." How does being tried differ?
The Concordant Literal always uses "tried" and "trial" rather than tempt or temptation.
I believe Jesus was tried but never tempted. He didn't have sin in his flesh that made Him want to sin. But His faith was tried. He was tried in all points as we are.
TRIAL IN THE HEBREW SCRIPTURES
In Hebrew two distinct words are rendered {tempt}, {bchn},
TEST, and {nse}, PROBE, try. The first is rendered {try, prove,
examine, tempt}, and the second {adventure, assay, prove, try,
tempt}, its noun ({msse}, PROBing) {massah}, {trial, temptation}.
The intertwining of these two words, and the needless variety of
renderings excuse, in part, the hazy conceptions which we have on
this subject. The former word we will ignore, as it corresponds
rather with the Greek {dokimazoo}, TEST. The latter corresponds
closely with the Greek word we have been considering, {peirazoo},
PROBize, try, so we render it the same. A weighty consideration
lies in the fact that it is always found in a special form in
Hebrew usually called {Piel}, in which the central letter is
doubled (nsse), and which we represent by the standard {make},
{make}-PROBE, {try out}, which corresponds closely with the
phrase {bring into trial}, or {put on trial}. This is the phrase
used by the apostle when referring to {Massah} (Trial) where the
sons of Israel "tempted the Lord" (+1 Cor.10:9; Ex.17:7).
The force of this special form may be shown most clearly,
perhaps, by the Hebrew word {lmd}, LEARN, which changes to
{make}-LEARN, {teach}, when we double the middle letter (lmmd).
The "Hebrew" bibles with Chaldee characters do not repeat the
{m}, but put a small dot within it to indicate that it is to be
doubled. The force of this doubling may be seen in the Authorized
Version renderings. Moses said, "Hear, O Israel, the statutes and
judgments which I speak in your ears this day, that ye may
{learn} them..." (+Deut.5:1). In the previous chapter he speaks
of the same statutes and judgments, "which I {teach} you" (4:1)
and that parents "may {teach} their children" (4:10). In Hebrew
{learn} and {teach} are only one word, as they should be, for the
action is the same. Only the direction is changed. We might say
that {teach} is an irregular form of {make-learn}. So {put on
trial} is the English {Piel (make- try}) for {try}.
p309 God Did Not {Tempt} Abraham
PUTTING THE LORD ON TRIAL
You shall not put the Lord your God on trial, as you put Him
on trial at Massah (+Deut.6:16; Matt.4:7; Luke 4:12). These
quotations confirm our deductions as to the force of the Hebrew
form, which gives us the solution to this profound difficulty.
The Authorized Version says that "God did tempt Abraham"
(+Gen.22:1), yet, as we have seen, James insists that He does not
tempt any man (+James 1:13). Such questions come very close to
our hearts, and affect His glory, hence they urgently demand a
solution. As usual, the discrepancy lies only in the translation.
The word {tempt} is misleading. Even if we correct it to try,
that is not enough. It should be {made trial of, put on trial,
brought into trial}. God did not {try} Abraham in order to
discover what he would do, neither does He do so with any one. On
the other hand, He brought this trial upon him directly. Before
this we read that He knew Abraham (+Gen.18:19), so that every
trial would be superfluous.
The standard example of the sin of putting Jehovah on trial
occurred at Rephidim, where there was no water for the people to
drink (+Ex.17:1-7). Then the people contended with Moses, and
murmured against him. Moses remonstrated, and said, "Why do you
put Jehovah on trial?" When they were almost ready to stone
Moses, he called on Jehovah, Who told him to smite the rock in
Horeb in the sight of the elders of Israel, so that water would
flow forth for the people. Alas! how often, when refreshment
fails, do we blame God, and contend with Him, instead of thanking
Him for the lack and looking forward to its sequel! There is
water everywhere. All that is needed is the rod of God. Then even
a rock will supply us with the life-sustaining fluid. So in every
trial that God sends us. It is intended to reveal His grace to
us, not to expose His impotence and lack of love. Let us never
blame Him or contend with His messengers! But, alas! how many
places in our wilderness might be called
p310 We {Probe} the Scriptures
Massah or Meribah! We continually put Jehovah on trial in our
unbelief.
The purpose of the eons demands that man be put on trial so
that all His creatures may share God's knowledge of them. The
best way to learn is by experiment. Very little progress was made
in science during the middle ages because reasoning was deemed a
proper means of acquiring knowledge. When Galileo and others
began to put their deductions on trial, the experiments led to
real results. Men began to understand some of the phenomena in
nature. Since then physical and chemical science has been taught
largely by experiment. This is the method God uses during the
eonian times. Evil is the chief reagent in the first three eons.
It exposes our weakness and folly and sinfulness, yet prepares us
to appreciate the power and wisdom and grace of God.
It may be helpful here to point out that the concordant
method is essentially the same as that used by God. We put
everything on trial to expose the facts and the truth. We do not
try the Scriptures to see if they are true, but probe to see what
the truth is. In this investigation, I reasoned out from the
passages in the Greek that the Hebrew word must be in the {Piel}
form. But I did not rest my ease on that, but looked up the word
in a Hebrew concordance. The fact that the Greek uses
{ekpeirazoo}, OUT-PROBE, put on trial, in translating the Hebrew
word (+Deut 6:16) rather than the simple form, was good ground
for deducing this, but the form of the Hebrew is actual evidence,
and an investigation of its contexts is a good example of its own
meaning. We tried it first to {learn} its meaning and now we put
it on trial in order to {teach} this to others.
Trial is not an eternal institution. Not only is it confined
to the eons but it gradually vanishes during the eons of the
eons. The prayers of the disciples, "bring us not into the
trial," is a kingdom petition which will find its fulfillment in
that happy day. Evil will then be repu-
p311 The Eons {Demonstrate} God's Ability
diated. Under the beneficent rule of the Messiah there will not
be much to try mankind. In the last eon, when all doom and dying
cease, there will be even less. It looks as if man's cup of trial
is nearly full. After it overflows in the coming affliction for
Israel and indignation for the nations, man's impotence and
insufficiency will have been exposed, and little more evil will
be needed. It is a comforting thought that we have nearly reached
the climax of this way, so that God's severity will soon give
place to His goodness in His dealings with mankind.
Only unbelief will ever put Jehovah on trial. The eons were
not made to see if God can elope with sin and evil but to
{demonstrate} His ability and love. An unbeliever may raise his
hand on high and dare God to lower it if He is able. Even if God
does not interfere, that is no proof of His impotence. It does
not disprove His deity. It is only a pitiable disobedience to
God's own prohibition He will reveal Himself through Christ, not
through foolish experiments which prove nothing because they are
made in ignorance of His will and His ways and His Word. Let us
never put Him on trial {contrary} to His Word, but learn to know
Him {through} His Word!
GOD IS NOT TRIED BY EVILS
In almost all of man's trials evil is used as the reagent.
Abraham was to slay his son. Job lost all of his children and
suffered from a sore disease. Our Lord was tried by hunger and
danger. Paul suffered much in the flesh. Who has not endured
evil? Such is the way that man is tried. But this method cannot
be used of God. Death and disease and hunger and danger cannot
touch Him, so that they cannot try Him. God cannot be {tried} by
{evil}. He must be {tested} by {good}. We can do nothing to harm
Him, but we can do much to please and glorify Him. Though evil
does not affect Him, yet good will bring a gracious response.
p312 God Controls Evil, We Cannot
TESTING THE LORD
On the other hand, Jehovah invited His people to {test
(bchn}) Him. "Bring all the tithes to the treasury, and there
will be prey in My house. And {test} Me now in this, says Jehovah
of hosts, should I not open to you crevices in the heavens and
empty for you a blessing..." (+Mal.3:10). This is most
commendable and altogether different in motive and character from
putting Him on trial. One is done out of confidence, the other
springs from unbelief. Let us never question His ability or love
in any way, but rather let us give them opportunities to display
themselves. When we cast ourselves on God we test Him and
experience the truth of His Word. It is the exercise of faith, in
contrast to the unbelief which seeks to escape trial by putting
Jehovah on trial. Our Lord, at Satan's suggestion, could have
shortened His trial by means of miraculous bread, but He refused
to do so, for it is God's prerogative to put His creatures on
trial, not theirs to try Him out.
One of the most serious lacks among the saints today is the
failure to give God His supreme, incomparable, exclusive place as
the Deity, in contrast to maggots of mud, such as we are. We are
so democratic that we demand equal rights with the Creator. If He
puts us on trial, we retaliate by trying Him out. We can have no
object in this except to expose Him, as if He also were subject
to the ravages of evil as we are. Being the Creator of evil, He
has a relation to it altogether unlike ours. Tn our utter
inability to cope with it, we would stamp it out of existence,
instead of bringing it into the world. He can use it because He
can control it. We cannot put God on trial by means of it because
we cannot control its operations or its results. However much we
may be affected by evil, God is not. It is no trial to Him.
It is humiliating to acknowledge that, until recently, we
have not been as clear on this subject as we should have been.
Besides, in English the word {try} is used
p313 Anticipate the Sequel!
loosely to cover both of the separate senses which we seek to
distinguish. Hence there may be passages in our former writings
which seemingly contradict this later light. The word test also
encroaches on the territory of try in popular usage, so we will
need to use all of these words in a restricted and exclusive
sense if we desire to obtain a clear conception of this important
truth.
May God Himself enable us to give Him the place due to His
deity! This will prepare our hearts for most of the grand truths
which are unknown or denied in these last days. The practical
denial of God's deity is the greatest hindrance to a heart
appreciation of His glorious ultimate, and to an understanding of
His ways at the present time, and especially in the midst of
trial. It is only as we are abased to the place proper to our
depravity, and He is exalted to the position becoming His deity,
that we can perceive the wisdom and love which inhere in our
trials, and are able to anticipate the sequel for which the trial
is the essential preparation. Then we will intuitively realize
that trial is for the creature, but not for God. Man must be
exposed by trial and failure by means of the Adversary. God must
be revealed by testing and success through Christ. A. E. K.
