Temptation

Temptation is framed here not as an ancient curiosity but as a timeless pattern — the same destructive cravings that ruined the wilderness generation are still active and present for believers in Corinth.

Temptation appears at the chapter's close as a final exhortation — Abigail's courage in speaking up is held as the counter-model to staying silent when a wise word could change everything.

Temptation here is at its most concrete: a sleeping enemy, a ready weapon, a willing companion, and a perfect alibi — David names and refuses the impulse rather than simply acting on opportunity.

Temptation appears here in the specific form of selective prayer — the very human pull to pray only for people within your circle rather than for all people as God desires.

Temptation is invoked here specifically around the judicial context — the pull toward favoritism and bribery that Jehoshaphat explicitly warns his judges to resist in God's name.

Temptation here takes the subtle form of pride and short-sightedness — Hezekiah isn't tempted by anything obviously sinful, but by the very human pull toward impressing powerful visitors and caring more about present comfort than future consequences.

The man of lawlessness embodies the oldest temptation in Scripture — 'you will be like God' — now manifested in a person who actually attempts to make that claim real.

Temptation is invoked here to describe the deeply human pull toward comfortable, affirming teaching over difficult truth — Paul warns that entire audiences will give in to it by curating only voices they want to hear.

Temptation here refers to Israel's pull toward hoarding power and control over others — God counters it by pointing them back to their own history as slaves in Egypt.

The temptation Moses addresses here is specifically syncretism — not abandoning God outright, but hedging by placing Asherah poles next to his altar, blending traditions rather than choosing one.

Temptation here takes a precise and instructive shape — not a wholesale return to idol worship, but the rationalized desire to keep the valuable-looking parts of what God has declared off-limits, which Moses warns is equally dangerous.

Temptation surfaces here as the specific danger Moses is preempting — not sexual or material temptation, but the subtler pull to rewrite God's gift as personal achievement after success.

Temptation is framed here not as abstract moral struggle but as a geopolitical reality — Canaan's gods promised the same things God was promising, making the pull toward them a genuinely credible threat.

Temptation is raised here as the obvious pressure the people would face — with the most important construction project imaginable underway, the pull to skip the Sabbath in the name of sacred urgency would be powerful.