Part of the origin of the Halloween tradition reminds one of the country bluegrass song "The devil went down to Georgia" made famous by the Charlie Daniels Band, released May 21, 1979.

Of course, it is ironic that being temped by the prospect of a golden fiddle may mean that the devil has already won.

Saying (of snakes, etc.): Heads I win. Tails you lose.
Here is a summary if the "things" with which Jesus was tempted by the devil.

• wealth - stones to bread
• health - not be hurt
• power - rule kingdoms



More: Matthew 4:1-11 Examining evil temptations

More: October 31: Halloween

As a secondary meaning, Jesus is the "head" of the "church" of "believers".
Let us paraphrase both verses using this insight and using a "person" (or "believer") as a "hair". That is, use the code word meanings.

• Matthew 5:36: Do not swear by Jesus because you cannot make/judge/separate one believer/person as 'white' or 'black'. (or "narrow gate" or "wide area" or "heaven" or "hell", etc.).
• Matthew 10:30: But the very believers/persons of Jesus are all numbered.

[one cookie rule]

More: Matthew 13:31-32 Third kingdom parable: mustard seeds and trees

More: Parables and secret codes used and explained by Jesus

More: Matthew 5:33-37: Hairs of the head - yes no

The ancient Greek word "ἀντίδικος" ≈ "legal opponent" but could, in general, mean any opponent. The literal meaning is that of someone "in place of you or yours".

Peter says that the "devil" is the "adversary". Can the "adversary" work through others? In the temptation of Jesus, Jesus does not dispute who controls the kingdoms (mountains) of the world. Here is one progression.

• Adversary: (snake) world power and those using world power
• Judge: birds (false teachers and decision makers)
• Officer: pigs (enforcers and influencers)
• Prison: watch (passive spies such as the fish who observe and talk)

Discuss: Are people who offer at the altar watched? Are there fish (spies) reporting back through the pigs to the birds? What happens if the sheep do anything wrong according to the rules of the bird house?

More: Matthew 5:25-26 Adversarial agreement

Are these actual "scorpions"? People have died thinking that this "dreaded" verse would protect them.

• The first "power" is that of "lack of restraint".
• The second "power" is that of "potentiality".

The word translated as "hurt" is the ancient Greek word "ἀδικοῦσιν" ≈ "in the wrong, do one wrong" and is from "ἀδικέω" ≈ "be in the wrong, do one wrong" which is from "ἀδικος" ≈ "wrong, unjust" and is related to the Greek word for "righteousness". The "not hurt you" appears to be that of "not deceive you".

Do false teachers or "snakes" inflict "pain" or "hurt"? Do false teachers "do wrong" that, like the sting of a "scorpion", may not be noticed immediately.

More: A scatter-brained approach to the sting of a scorpion

Remember that Luke reports what people remembered.

More: A scatter-brained approach to the sting of a scorpion

Paraphrase: Do not be deceived by ideas/beliefs that you already think you understand. Help us move/flow from being oppressed by others or oppressing others or oppressing ourselves with toils (based on those deceptions).

• Avoid confirmation bias (deciding what it says before investigation).
• Ask deep questions.
• Do fundamental research on meanings and ideas.
• When there are differences, which makes more sense?



More: Matthew 4:1-11 Examining evil temptations

Jesus tells us who we should "fear" and it is not "fear" about the cares and concerns of this world. The most dangerous attacks are not from the outside but from the inside and involve deception.

One cannot "destroy the soul" by "killing" the body is in persecution (e.g., by the Roman administrations). The primary way to "destroy the soul" is through deception so that you "sell yourself out" or are "sold out".

Jesus provides an example in the next verse.

More: Matthew 10:26-27 The fear deception: focus on friends rather than Jesus

Discuss:

• How might "sparrows" (birds of the evil one) deceive to "destroy the soul" in order to achieve "earthly gain" (money) by "selling out"?
• Do "sparrows" succeed because those being deceived do not "understand"? This is what Jesus says of the birds in the Parable of the Sower in Matthew 13.
• Have those "deceived" separated themselves from the love of Christ?



More: Matthew 10: 28-31 Taking care of the sparrows

Paraphrase: Which is the better toil, to say your sins are forgiven or to say arise and walk?

Only one way has a decision procedure to confirm that it has been done. How should "better" be defined? Which of the following do most churches do?

• Get up, wave their hands, say your sins are forgiven, and sit down.
• Help people get up and help them in to walk in righteousness.

Which is easier? Which is the better toil? Which is more often than not actually done?

More: Whether this or that: What is your opinion on glory?

More: Whether this or that: What is your opinion on glory?

A "snake" has a rather small "head" and a very long "tail". A common saying/symbol for self-reference is the "snake" eating it's "tail". The "ouroboros", from the Greek for "eating the tail" is an ancient symbol of self-reference.
The ancient symbol of Ouroboros, via the Greek ουροβόρος for "tail" and "food", originated in Egyptian symbology.

• In mathematics, something that refers to itself is called recursive.
• In mathematics, a relation (or condition) that refers to itself in a true way is called reflexive.

Note: Cats will sometimes go after their own tail without realizing that it is their tail.

Do "evil" entities as represented by "snakes", "birds", "wolves" or "wolf-dogs", etc., ever eat their own? Can this be a self-deception such as with a cat not realizing it is their own tail?

More: Psalms 2: Self-reference of robots and humans rebelling

In the work of ancient Greek philosopher Diogenes Laertius, Kratos makes a comment.

• Greek: «χρείαν ἔχειν ἱματίου καινοὖ» = "they need to have new clothes" as in "garments".
• Greek: «χρείαν ἔχειν ἱματίου και νοὖ» = "they need to have clothes and a brain" (play on words)

This is a play on the Greek for "new" with "and" and "brain" or "mind". Here are the ancient Greek words.

• "καινός" ≈ "new" in the nominative.
• "καινοῦ" ≈ "new" in the genitive.
• "και" ≈ "and".
• "νοῦ" ≈ "mind, brain" in the genitive.
• "νοῦς" ≈ "mind, brain"in the nominative.



More: Nouthetic counseling: Having peace of mind or giving piece of mind

More: Matthew 9:17-18 Old and new garments and bottles

• «καινους» is "new" as in "bottles" "new" (no spaces in Greek)..
• «και νους» is "and" "mind" as in "bottles" "and" "mind".

As translated: ... but they put new wine into new bottles and both are preserved.
Greek word order: ... but they put wine new into bottles new and both are preserved.
Play on words: ... but they put new wine into bottles and mind and both are preserved.

That is, the new "doctrine" of the "wine" (as in "drink my blood") is put into the containers (body) and the "mind" and, thus, both body and mind are preserved (resurrected). If one puts new "doctrine" of the "wine" into the old containers (body) those containers are not preserved (resurrected)

More: Matthew 9:17-18 Old and new garments and bottles

The ancient Greek word "ουρανός" ≈ "sky, heaven".

The English word for the planet "Uranus", discovered by William Hershel in 1781, is from the ancient Greek word "Οὐρανός" ≈ "Uranus" who was a god in Greek mythology.

• Kingdom of "heaven".
• Kingdom of the "sky".



More: Matthew 16:1-3 Red sky at night

If Jesus is the "head", then what is the "tail"?

Jesus often uses code words where nouns are replaced with other nouns - so that the people will not understand. In the security field, this is the definition of a secret code. An interesting play on words is the use of a certain form of the word "heaven" - the genitive singular form.

• "ουρανου" ≈ "heaven, sky".
• "ουρά" ≈ "tail" and "νου" ≈ "of the mind" (genitive)

• Saying: Your mind is in the gutter. One might say the gutter of your mind.

Note: Play on words to not need to follow grammar and/or spelling rules to be recognized and/or be effective.

Let us see how Jesus uses this form of the word in Matthew.

More: Parables and secret codes used and explained by Jesus

At the request of the disciples, Jesus provides the code-word meaning of the "birds" or "fowls" as those of the "wicked one". This happens when one does "not understand" as in "deception" (including self-deception).


The "catcheth away" is related to the word for "rapture". The KJV (King James Version) translates as "evil" or "wicked" the Greek word that means "oppression" or "oppressor".

More: Matthew 6: The missing part worked out for the birds

More: Matthew 10: 28-31 Taking care of the sparrows

More: Crying wolf for the search and seizure of the rapture

More: Overly burdened in the cares and concerns of evil

More: Evil training is toilsome work: no pain no gain

The Greek for "snatch away" is the word used for "rapture" and the source of the English word "harpoon". It is also used as "ravenous" in terms of "wolves".

The "seed" that was "snatched away" in parable 1 appears to have been deposited (by the "birds") in parable 2 as "weeds" and then grows into a "tree" in parable 3 so that those "birds" have a place to make their "nests".

More: Matthew 12:26-29 Snatching the raptured goods from the strong man

More: Exodus 18: Hierarchy as a man-made tree structure

The step omitted by Jesus is the "grow" part. The "birds" work the growing harvest by "pecking" and taking part of the harvest (first parable), and, in turn, sowing "weeds" (second parable). You are "rather different" (at least you should be). The KJV, influenced by the Latin, says "much better".

The "birds" are used by Jesus as a symbol of "false teachers" who "prey", rather than "pray", on others. The "wolf" or "wolf-dog", as contrasted to a "sheep-dog", and the "snake" or "viper" appear to be used in the same manner.

More: Matthew 6: The missing part worked out for the birds

Is the "kingdom of heaven" actually "heaven" as in the "kingdom of God"?

• "βασίλεια των ουρανών" ≈ "kingdom of heaven" or "kingdom of the air".
• "πετεινα του ουρανου" ≈ "birds of the air" or "birds of heaven".
• Wycliffe uses the phrase "briddis of heuene" or "birds of heaven".

Some will attempt to "fix" a perceived "error" in the Bible text by asserting their opinion (or glory) that "kingdom of God" and "kingdom of heaven" are the same thing.

If birds represent "evil" or "oppression" (parable 1), are there any birds in heaven?

More: Matthew 13:3-23 First kingdom parable: sower

More: Matthew 10: 28-31 Taking care of the sparrows

More: Matthew 6: The missing part worked out for the birds

More: Matthew 13:51-53 Eighth kingdom parable: treasure of new and old codes

The ancient Greek word "οὐρανός" ≈ "heaven, air".

Wycliffe translates the Greek as the Middle English phrase "briddis of heuene" ≈ "birds of heaven" as does the Wessex Old English phrase "heofene fugeles" ≈ "birds of heaven".

The old English word "briddis" for "bird" may be the source of the English word "bride".

More: Foxes and birds and nests

The "mustard seed" :

• is not the "smallest" of all "seeds".
• is not the "greatest" of all "herbs".
• grows into a bush, not a tree.

The "birds" do not (usually) nest in small bushes. Are the "birds" good? What is a "mustard seed"? What does a "tree" represent? The word for "air" or "sky" or "heaven" can be a play on words for "tail" of the "mind".

More: Matthew 13:31-32 Third kingdom parable: mustard seeds and trees

In the 4th century, the "meek" small Christian churches started to "inherit" worldly power and grew into a huge "tree" such that "birds" started to "lodge" in the "branches".
The Greek word for "mustard plant", with play-on-word meanings with Rome, appears in only two stories (five verses) in the GNT and connects with the idea of "moving this mountain".

More: Matthew Mustard seeds and moving mountains

More: Matthew 13:31-32 Third kingdom parable: mustard seeds and trees

• In the evening [you snakes], you say it is good weather (through which) to examine heaven (Jesus).
• In the morning, it will be a bitter cold adversity (for you): for heaven is examining (by fire) and you appear hostile/grim.
• You know well the face of heaven [tail of the mind] (you are looking at the real heaven).
• @OMIT(t=[but]) can you not discern (through separation) the miracles/indications done of the season [hand]?

Only one of the four "heaven" or "sky" words, the last one by Jesus, fits the play on words with "tail" "of the mind".

More: Matthew 16:1-3 Red sky at night