One way of keeping from being a 'fundamentalist' i.e. taking the bible literally is being able to discern the themes used in a passage which had already been used in some other passages.
If you read closely you would find that some stories in the bible used similar themes, for example the link of marriage to a story about a man meeting a woman in a well, or the different elemets present in a story about calling, like the appearance of an angel, the element of fear, etc.
Another commonly used theme is bible stories is the number 40. This number appeared several times in the Bible, among which are the 40 years in the wilderness, 40 days and 40 nights of flood, etc.
Jesus faster for 40 days and 40 nights and during those times he overcame the temptation of the devil.
Whether he stayed in that dessert for 40 days or not, it does not really matter. What is important is that when we fast we become spiritually strong that we are able more to resist temptations. It's just like building spiritual muscles.
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