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The earliest gospel disposes of the forty days in the wilderness, the wild animals, the temptation by the Devil and the ministrations by angels in one verse. Let us not forget what we have already learned about the Darkness be equated with Evil and the word play: D-evil or the Devil. Now understanding this let us continue and see what we shall see.
The gospel writer of the Gospel of John does not mention any of this. Yet Luke and Matthew give details of the fasting and the temptation with Jesus offered the world from the top of a mountain. By coincidence:
Forty is one of those mystical numbers that pop up in old religions: there were forty days of sacrifice in the Persian Salutation to Mithras; forty days of mourning in the mysteries of the goddess Persephone; the deluge lasted forty days, etc. The story is introduced to establish Jesus as a great leader, superior even to Moses. Furthermore the offer of the kingship of the world by the devil was intended by Gentile Christians as a rebuttal of the idea that Jesus was a Messiah in the Jewish mould who would become a world ruler - that is what the Devil offered him and he refused it.
The temptation by, and victory over the evil one, the D-Evil, or whether Mara or Satan, is nothing more than primitive man's personification of the Sun and the victory of the Sun over the clouds of storm and darkness. In ancient mythology, all heroes of light were opposed by the "Old Serpent," the Devil, symbolized by Serpents, Dragos, Sphinxes and other monsters. The Serpent was, among the ancient Eastern nations, the symbol of Evil, of Winter, of Darkness and of Death. The Serpents was never understood to be "literal" in these Eastern nations.
Now, when one personifies the Sun, we have the picture of "evil" (Serpent) trying to destroy the Savior.
The Serpent is one of the chief mystic personifications of the Rig-Veda, under the names of Ahi, Suchna, and others. The Serpents of various nations represented the Clouds, the enemy of the Sun, keeping back the fructifying rays. Indra struggles victoriously against him, and spreads life on the earth, with the shading warmth of the Father of Life, the Creator, the Sun.
Buddha, the Lord and Savior, was described as a superhuman organ of light, to whom a superhuman organ of darkness Mara, the Evil Serpent, was opposed. He, like Christ Jesus, resisted the temptations of this evil one, and is represented sitting on a serpent, as if its conqueror (Bunsen, Angel-Messiah, p. 39).
Chrishna also overcame the evil one, and is represented "bruising the head of the serpent," and standing upon it (Asiaatic Researchers, and vol. ii of Higgins Anacalypsis).
In Egyptian Mythology, one of the names of he god-Sun was Ra. He had an adversary who was called Apap, represented in the form of a serpent (Renouf, Hibbert Lectures, p. 109).
Horus, the Egyptian incarnate god, the Mediator, Redeemer and Savior, is represented in Egyptian art as overcoming the Evil Serpent, and standing triumphantly upon him (Bonwick, Egyptian Belief, p. 158; Monumental Christianity, p. 402).
Osiris, Ormuzd, Mithras, Apollo, Bacchus, Hercules, Indra, CEdipus, Quetzalcoatle, and many others Sun-gods, overcame the Evil One, and are represented in the above described manner (Cox, Tales of Ancient Greece, p. xxvii; Cox, Aryan Mythology, vol. ii, p. 129; Baring-Gould's Curious Myths, p. 256; Bunsen, Angel-Messiah, p. x; Kingsborough, Mexican Antiquities, vol. vi. p. 176).
Growing up in obscurity, the day comes when he makes himself known, tries himself in his first battlers with his gloomy foes, and shines without a rival. He is rife for his destines mission, but is met by the demon of storm, who runs to dispute with him in the duel of the the storm. In this struggle again darkness the beneficent hero remains the conqueror, the gloomy army of Mara, or Satan, broken and rent, is scattered; the Apearas, daughters of the demon, the last light vapors which float in the heaven, try in vain to clasp and retain the vanquisher; he disengages himself from their embraces, repulses them; they writhe, lose form, and vanish.
Free from every obstacle, and from every adversary, he sets in motion across space his disk with a thousand rays, having avenged the attempts of his eternal foe. He appears then in all his glory, and in his sovereign splendor; the god has attained the summit of his course, it is the moment of triumph (Doane, Bible Myths, p. 482-483).
To understand this we must regress to what we learned from a prior article.
These "destruction myths" (the life of the Sun/Son was sought by the Darkness which was threatened by the coming Light) find their origin, like most Christian doctrine, in the stars. The new Son (Son) is born in the winter as we have seen. The astrological sign of Capricorn represents the lord of Hades. This is the Cardinal sign of Winter (opposition, Satan, Saturn). Winter takes control (at the Winter Solstice on Dec. 22), and within three days of mounting his throne, he is challenged by the Sun (Son) of the Father (Sun) that he, or some other ruffians captured (at the autumnal equinox) and has finally slain at the winter solstice. So now the king (Winter, Darkness) is worried and knows that he must murder the Sun (Son) before he gains the strength of his Father (Sun). The guardians of the Sun (Son) know that he can not withstand the power of the Winter (Satan, Herod), so they shield him (Son) and hide him till his time of glory approaches (he reaches maturity) (Jabbar, The Astrological Foundation of the Christ Myth, p. 34).
The Sun (Son) will be mature enough to withstand the powers of Satan after he reaches the age of thirty. This Thirty does not mean years, it means degrees of arc. The Sun is born right after the King of Darkness takes his throne, in the sign of Capricorn. This king (Herod) is determined to kill all opposition to his power within the nether world. But Capricorn (Herod) will die after thirty years (degrees), because each zodiacal sign is limited to thirty degrees of arc. Therefore after the death of Herod (Capricorn), the Sun (Son) comes out from hiding to begin his mission, he is thirty years (degrees) old. But even though the chief rival (Herod/Capricorn) of the Sun(Son) has died, the Sun is yet within the domain of Satan, under the equinoxes. He, the Sun, must face more struggles and temptations as he climbs and fights his way to his glory, at the vernal equinox (Jabbar, The Astrological Foundation of the Christ Myth, p. 35).
Now, let us pick up the story.
The guardians were successful in protecting the infant (Sun, Son) but still he has not reached his glory (the vernal equinox) i.e. the resurrection of Spring. The Sun (Son) at this point (the thirtieth degree of Capricorn) has matured (survived to 30 years (degrees) from his birth) but he (Sun, Son) is still within the realm of winter (Satan). Winter (Satan) knows that he cannot kill the Sun (Son) at this point of maturity, therefore he (Satan) seeks to torment the Sun (Son), tempt him, cajole him to prevent the Sun (Son) from escaping his (Satan's/Darkness') domain. The torment, or temptation is described as lasting for forty days. The ancients, in this case, used the term days as a metaphor for degrees. The sign of Capricorn (the birth place of the Sun (Son) lies at minus 16 degrees south declination i.e. sixteen degrees below the celestial equator. The sign of Aries (the vernal equinox, the birth place of spring, where Christ enters his glory and the Sun rises above the equator signaling the coming of Spring and life) lies at plus twenty-four degrees north declination. Add this twenty-four degrees to the sixteen degrees (position of Capricorn below the celestial equator) and you get forty degrees (the ancients told the story as 40 days to the masses). This is the distance, relevant to the position of the two Cardinal signs, Capricorn and Aries, that the Sun (Son) must climb, struggle, suffer, be tempted, before he (The Sun) escapes the clutches of Satan (Winter). This term forty represents the struggle of the Sun (Son) in the wilderness of Darkness, climbing and overcoming torments toward salvation and life of Spring. With Israel, it was forty years in the wilderness, and with Noah, it was forty days of torrential rains, but regardless, the symbology is the same; the plight of the young Sun in the valley of Amenta, the Nether World, fighting his way to cross the forsaken territory (wilderness) between the zodiacal sign of the winter solstice (Capricorn) and the Spring equinox (Aries) (Jabbar, The Astrological Foundation of the Christ Myth, p. 36-37).
The bottom line for you, if you are a Christian, is that there are many "myths" which have been added to the life of Jesus in the New Testament by Gentiles who, because they forsook Biblical Judaism and the Jew's enlightenment, remained in Darkness and they spread this darkness of ignorance, superstition, and falsehoods where ever they went. Now you go to their churches where you inherit such fables as truth.
I hope you have the reason and sense enough to at least see the evidence for yourself and ask yourself if these "harmless" fables are the extent of such error as found in the New Testament. I assure you it is not. Most who read our articles have never investigated such materials for themselves and they simply do not know about such things. It is our hope at Bet Emet that what you see in these articles will cause you to seriously investigate other teachings in the New Testament as well which I assure you affect your relationship with God which you have been taught in error and again at this time in your life are not aware. We stand ready to help those who truly want the truth about God and His revelation before they die.
Answer for yourself: As you step back and examine the evidence, is it not overwhelming that what we interpret literally today is nothing more than a allegory to primitive man? The true religion and faith of Jesus awaits you if you are interested and really hungry for God. Shalom.