Ambrose of Milan : When temptation arose, it tempted him, and he tempted them by deceiving them. Temptation is the gathering and cunning of the scribes and priests who were tempting the Lord Jesus about the tribute to Caesar, and about John's baptism, as the Scripture teaches, to whom the Lord Jesus, in his righteousness, turned the temptation back. By deceiving, that is, constantly and without any deliberation, with the intention of deceiving the tempters even more. For they said: In what authority do you do these things? He did not answer about what was asked, but he also proposed saying: I will also ask you one question: if you tell me, I will also tell you by what authority I do these things. Again they said: Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not? He said: Why are you testing me, hypocrites? Show me the coin for the tax. And they brought him a coin, then he asked them: Whose image and inscription is this? They said to him: Caesar's. Therefore, he bound them with their own words, with their own obligation. Then he said to them: Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's, so that they could not come against their own words. Finally, they marveled and went away from him. But it is not surprising if he answered differently than what they expected, since he could see what was before his feet. Moses clearly explained that this prophecy of Jacob was about Christ. For he said: Blessed be he that enlarges Gad. As a lion, he rested, breaking the arms and the heads of the rulers, and saw from the beginning that the land was divided with the princes of the people. The Lord has executed justice, and judgment with Israel. Therefore, we recognize who has rested like a lion, who has broken the arms of the mighty, who has seen the divisions of those who tempt from the beginning. Therefore, there is a chasm in the earth, which swallows the slanderers, where the temptation of the treacherous is. — On the Blessings of the Patriarchs Hippolytus of Rome : Through the expression "a gang of enemies" (or "a place of trial") the prophet signifies the evil Sanhedrin of the high priests and scribes, who tested the Savior with different pretenses in order to find some ground to move accusations against him and then take hold of him and execute him. But he, knowing their intentions, put them to test in his justice and delivered them to death for their sin. — ON THE BLESSINGS OF ISAAC AND JACOB 23 Jerome : (Verse 19.) Gad the robber will rob him, and he himself will rob a plant. We are interpreted according to the Hebrew. But where we put the robber, it is written Gedud (), to allude to the name Gad, which can be more significantly expressed as εὔζωνος, that is, girded or ready. But the whole story is that after fourteen years, when Reuben and half of the tribe of Manasseh had returned to the sons whom he had sent across the Jordan to take possession, he found a great war against the neighboring peoples, and after defeating the enemy, he fought bravely. Read the book of Joshua (Joshua 13) and Chronicles (1, 5). I am aware that there are more mysteries in the blessings of the patriarchs, but they are not relevant to the current work. — Hebrew Questions on Genesis Tyrannius Rufinus : And therefore, according to a similar process, the moral sense develops: that man of ours, after confessing his error, by his repentance turns out to be converted through knowledge and shows a significant progress, so that he is tempted by the enemy and the strength of his soul and the soundness of his intentions are tested. In fact, the Scripture says, "The one who is not tempted is not credible." No one will ever reach perfection if he is not first tested in temptations. — THE BLESSINGS OF THE PATRIARCHS 2.20