For you endure nisyonos for the sake of musar. And Hashem is dealing with you as banim. For what ben is there whom an Abba does not give musar? The word nisyonos means tests and the word musar means paternal discipline. Moshiach with his Etz Chayim had his tests and you will have yours. Foreglimpses of Moshiach's Etz Chayim are seen in places like Gen 2:9 and here in Num 21:8 and 2Sm 18:9 and Deut 27:26 combined with Deut 21:23. All Scripture is given that we might learn from the tests of the kadoshim and not fail where they failed and not fall where they fell. Satan by his cunning wants to lead us astray from our sincere and pure devotion to Moshiach (see 2Co 11:3). Moshiach's Etz was foreordained before the foundation of the world. And the focus of his whole life was to pass the test and resist all temptation to lapse into disobedience from the akedah of our redemption. Remember Aaron. He fell in with his brother and in testy self-promotion did not uphold the kedushah of Hashem in the matter of the water-giving rock. But even before that he rose up in jealousy under a pretext and complained against his brother in the wilderness at Chatzerot. All Scripture is given for reproof that we might live and not die (Ro 8:13). Remember Abimelech. He took a married woman into his harem and the dream he dreamed from the L-rd contained a death threat from the L-rd. Remember murdered Abner, the political wheeler-dealer, who slept with Saul's concubine. Remember Abraham who had a tendency to "go down to Egypt" rather than wait on the L-rd. Remember rebellious and vain Absalom who plotted rebellion against the Great King. Remember Achan with the temptation of his secret sin. Remember Adam who did not take responsibility but instead caved in to a woman and with her introduced sin into a ministry that was uncontaminated before he arrived. Remember Adonijah who had the temerity to try to grab a crown that belonged to someone else. Remember Agag (1Sa 15:32) who miscalculated and refused to believe that the wages of his sin is death. Remember Ahab who wanted a pagan wife and got a Jezebel who made him a pagan. Remember anticharismatic Ahaz who would not lower himself to "factor in" a sign, a sign that G-d was going to give him whether he wanted it or not. Remember Ahithophel, not a wonderful counselor! Hashem turned his wisdom into stupidity (2Sa 15:31) so that he was hanged by his own head and hand (2Sa 17:23). Remember Alexander who had nothing better to do with his time than oppose the Besuras HaGeulah. Remember Amaziah and his spiritual rebellion that kindled the Af Hashem. Remember Amnon and his soul-tie. Remember the Light of the World and Annas whose inquiry brought this religious man no light but only caused more pain to the Ohr HaOlam (Yn 18:13-23). Remember Athaliah, a woman of influence, who used it for evil and was repaid in kind. Remember Azariah (Uzziah) who proudly usurped the turf of another's ministry and received a stroke of isolation from the L-rd's ministry. Remember Balaam, the internationally famous preacher who made the fatal (Nu 31:8) mistake of encouraging his own idol cult and celebrity. Remember Barnabus and Peter at Antioch when they were tempted to stay aloof from treifa goyim who were in actuality Achim B'Moshiach. Remember Bathsheba, a soldier's wife who lost the battle away from the battle. While the soldier husband was at the front, she should have been the soldier-wife battling on her knees at the front lines of intercession, but like many others she stupidly presumed to have pentecostal religion without pentecostal prayer meeting. Remember Belshazzar who used holy vessels for unholy pleasures. Remember cursed Cain who had murderous resentment when G-d's way didn't go Cain's way. Remember David who overestimated his palace prerogatives. David had to learn just like ministers have to learn not to overstep the L-rd to satisfy their flesh and not to overestimate their pastoral prerogatives. Remember blind Delilah. Remember co-dependent wicked Eli and sons. He wanted peace in his house at any price and did not firmly deal with the sins of his sons necessitating G-d's having to deal with them. Remember Elymas who had an evil political influence. Remember Esau who surrendered his birthright for a bowl of soup. Remember Esther who was tempted by a delusion called "Security" to not come out of the closet and give her testimony. Remember Eve who didn't notice the price-tag on the alluring piece of forbidden fruit, the price-tag that said simply, "Paradise." Remember Felix who saw nothing of worth about the Apostle Paul but bribe money for his release, though paradoxically Paul was actually redeemed and free and Governor Felix was in fact in the chains of perdition. Remember Festus who thought that the evangelist was a crazy fundamentalist. Remember Gehazi and what greed (1Co 6:10) got him. Remember Gideon and his inconstant faith. Remember Hagar running away from her problems (Gen 21:16). Remember Herod and his Planned Parenthood clinic in Bethlehem. Remember Hezekiah who showed his pearls to some swine from Babylon. Remember Isaac who favored his worldly son (Gen 25:28). Remember Ishmael who mocked a Jew. Remember Jacob the conniver. Remember Jehoiakim and his attack on the inerrant Bible. Remember Jehoshaphat and his tendency to make worldly alliances. Remember Jehu and his wicked dynasty and legacy. Remember Jephthah and the rash vow that cost him. Remember Jeroboam and what his antimoshiach cunning got him. Remember Jezebel and her corrupt new age influence. Remember Joab and how his untrustworthy faithlessness left him, in the end, no refuge and no asylum from divine justice. Remember Jonah who found out there is a whale of a problem when you run from your call. Remember Joseph who found out it is never wise in the ministry to be alone with a woman. Remember Joshua who neglected prayer meeting when he needed divine counsel regarding the Gibeonites. Remember Josiah who rushed into war when he was warned not to. Remember Judah who like many today did not grieve over the ruin of Joseph. Remember Judas and how close his gallows was in time and place to the empty tomb. Remember Korah who didn't believe in hell until it swallowed him and who forgot he was rebelling against Someone more terrifying than Moses. Remember Lot's wife. Remember Manasseh's new age cults and his son's Pro-Choice demise. Remember Mark's fearful flight and how it caused division among great men preparing to embark upon a second great Jewish crusade for the salvation of the world. Remember Micaiah who did not give in to the temptation to preach only what people want to hear. Remember Miriam whom jealousy brought disgrace. Remember Moses who discovered very painfully that no matter how great you are, G-d is no respecter of persons. Remember Nabal who had an anger related cardiac condition but also a hard heart that did not welcome the Coming King. Remember Naomi who thought G-d was against her when in fact a glorious future was in the divine turn of events. Remember Nebuchadnezzar's insane pride. Remember Nicodemus who had scholarly wisdom but spiritual ignorance. Remember Noah who was saved but had to be delivered from substance abuse. Remember Omri who was politically powerful but as morally corrupt as his daughter-in-law Jezebel. Remember Pilate who met the Truth but didn't want to be a moral absolutist about it. Remember Potiphar's Wife who met the Jewish Savior and lied about him. Remember Rehoboam who thought that the youth culture would give him the best advice to follow. Remember Reuben and illicit sex. Remember Samson who forgot his father's holy counsel. Remember Samuel who preached to the whole nation but whose own sons lacked a close relationship with G-d. Remember Saul when he was still small in his own eyes. Remember Sennacherib's folly of threatening G-d's chosen people. Remember Solomon and how women were his downfall. Remember Zipporah who left her husband to go live with her father. (We are doing the A-B-C's of temptation according to the Bible, A to Z! But the point is this: Satan wants to lead us astray (Rev 12:9) and outwit us (2Cor 2:11) and test us more than we can bear (Job 2:4-7, 9-10; 1Thes 3:5) so that we will be tempted and dragged away by our own evil desires (Ya 1:13-14). But all the stratagems of the devil are given to us in Scripture so that we may resist every temptation.