Related commentaries – Temptation

The Temptation of Christ – Luke 4:1 – 4:13

The Way an Eskimo Kills a Wolf

The way an Eskimo kills a wolf offers fresh insight into the self-destructive nature of yielding to temptation. First the Eskimo coats his knife blade with animal blood and allows it to freeze. Then he adds another layer of blood, and another until the blade is completely concealed by blood. Next the hunter fixes his knife in the ground with the blade up. When the wolf discovers the bait he licks it, tasting the fresh frozen blood. Then he begins to lick faster and more vigorously until the keen edge is bare. In his craving for the blood the wolf does not realize that his thirst is being satisfied by his own warm blood until the dawn finds him dead in the snow. (Paul Harvey, “Sin’s Peril,” Leadership magazine, Winter 1987).