`Then the devil took him to the holy city and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple, saying to him, "If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down; for it is written, 'He will command his angels concerning you,' and 'On their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.'"  Jesus said to him, "Again it is written, 'Do not put the Lord your God to the test.'"

The devil became smarter after his first temptation failed.  He tries to use Jesus' own response to the first temptation against him by quoting scripture - twice.

Scripture can be used to help us escape a temptation but it must never be used as an argument to justify our sinful actions.

In the first temptation Satan tried to exploit a very basic human need Jesus was experiencing: hunger.  We see that the nature of this temptation is to dramatically experience the presence of God; to force his hand so as to experience his presence and love.  Can we speculate then that, just as he did on the cross, Jesus was suffering in his human nature a lack of the sense of the Father's presence?

I imagine that since this is the second temptation and Satan quotes scripture twice it is more difficult than the first to overcome.  Further, because it does not involve a physical but rather a spiritual lack so to speak, it shows us that temptations on the spiritual plane are more difficult to overcome.  This may seem strange at first but experience shows us the body can be overcome more readily than the spirit.

Jesus overcomes this temptation with scripture yet again.  By doing so he shows that scripture cannot contradict itself.  If it is seen as contradictory its application is being abused, just as it is by Satan.  He isn't applying it as a standard for light, truth, adoration and wisdom for living the Christian way but rather as an enticement and justification for personal sin.  Have none of us ever experienced, during a moment of temptation, the suggestion of a Bible verse echoing in our head?  Often it is a verse about the love and mercy of God, or human weaknesses.  "God will understand," Satan suggests.

The best part about this passage comes in verse 11, where the scripture Satan cites gets fulfilled!  The angels do indeed come and wait on Jesus, but it is only after he obeys the Father.  "Do not put the Lord your God to the test."