The illusion of being alone in temptation

It's fairly well-known among Christians that Jesus fended off temptations by quoting the Torah. Here's a brief summary of the temptations recorded in Luke 4:

Temptation #1

After 40 days' fast in the wilderness, to use his power as Son of God to feed himself. 

Jesus' response: "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God." 

Temptation #2

To be handed the kingdoms of the world, with power and glory, in return for worshiping the tempter. 

Jesus' response: "You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve."

Temptation #3

In which the devil quotes Scripture to tempt Jesus to test God's providence. 

Jesus' response: "You shall not tempt the Lord your God." 

It is some comfort that Jesus' only tool in defeating Satan was the Scripture -- even just the book of Deuteronomy, which is in some ways a recap of what had gone before in the Torah. But I've felt stumped how or why Jesus chose those particular verses. Of course there is always the plain fact that Jesus' knowledge of Scripture is infinitely above my own, that he is the Christ. And of course they're apt verses to meet the occasion. But on the sense that I was still missing something, a context-check of those quotes shows some things that I had not noticed before. 

After the temptation to turn stones into bread after 40 days in the wilderness, the verse that Jesus quotes is from a passage about how God did not provide bread during Israel's 40 years in the wilderness, and yet He did provide for them. In Jesus' temptation in the wilderness, his situation was similar to Israel's journey in the wilderness: 

And you shall remember the whole way that the LORD your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not. And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD. (Deuteronomy 8:2-3)

Israel entered the wilderness as refugees and were humbled and tested for 40 years. But they didn't eat bread. They left having received God's word. They were transformed in the wilderness to a people with a calling, a vocation, bearers of the Word of God, people of a covenant. 

The tempter then promises to Jesus kingdoms and power, honor and glory, in return for his worship. The verse that Jesus quotes in response calls back to how Israel left the wilderness ready to take possession of kingdoms that others had prepared: 

 And when the LORD your God brings you into the land that he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give you—with great and good cities that you did not build, and houses full of all good things that you did not fill, and cisterns that you did not dig, and vineyards and olive trees that you did not plant—and when you eat and are full,  then take care lest you forget the LORD, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.  It is the LORD your God you shall fear. Him you shall serve and by his name you shall swear. You shall not go after other gods, the gods of the peoples who are around you. (Deuteronomy 6:10-14)

By the time of Jesus' temptation, Israel had lost the promised land to more than one set of conquerors by bowing down to other gods besides the LORD. Anything gotten wrongly, or kept unworthily, cannot be kept forever. 

For the final temptation, the tempter borrows Scripture as well, but uses it against God's purposes. In reply Jesus quotes a passage that follows quickly after the one above: 

You shall not put the LORD your God to the test, as you tested him at Massah. (Deuteronomy 6:16)

The context-check for Jesus' chosen verses made it clearer to me how those verses carried messages not just of standing up against temptation, but of reprising Israel's temptations -- and our own. That is, it built an awareness of how my temptations are like others throughout time, and how that likeness can open doors to resist that temptation in ways it has been resisted before. I think everyone who has read the Old Testament is aware of Israel's struggles in the wilderness. Jesus' replies to the tempter show me how the writings of the Old Testament can be useful in my own struggles. Given that in my own struggles I will be imperfect. But in those struggles, Scripture also teaches that I am not as alone as I may think.