Son of God, command that stones be made bread.

с

4 But he answered and said,

c De. 8: 8.

denial of this would be a denial of the reality of the temptation, and make it, as it is regarded by some, a mere vision, phantasy, or allegorical representation. Of the reality of the temptation there can then be no question. The manner in which it was done, next claims attention. It has been the opinion of not a few, that the devil assumed a bodily form, and that the temptation was external and not internal. But this view is not only liable to many objections drawn from the narration itself, but is contradicted in the most express terms by the words to which we have referred: "in all points tempted like as we are.' Since the first temptation in Eden, we have no evidence that the devil was ever permitted to assume a bodily shape, for the purpose of tempting men, or that any person was ever thus tempted. We must conclude, then, that the temptation of Christ consisted in mental suggestions, addressed with diabolical cunning to the peculiar emotions which swelled his soul, as he was about to enter upon his official work, and concealed as to their true character, by texts of Scripture which accompanied their presentation. They were unseen and subtle, working their way into the mind of Jesus, at first hardly distinguishable from his own thoughts, but soon betraying their source and character, by their contravention to God's law. The power of this internal temptation was far greater than it would have been, if presented openly by the tempter in bodily shape.

The devil; literally, the accuser, slanderer. The word is applied by the New Testament writers to Satan, the enemy of God and every thing good. He is represented as subtle, malignant, powerful, the prince of fallen angels (9:34, on which see Note), continually engaged in seducing men from truth, and in endeavoring to thwart the merciful designs of God in saving our race

from ruin. He now comes in the solitude of the desert, and exercises all his art and power to draw our blessed Savior into sin.

2. When he had fasted, &c. It is uncertain whether this refers to an entire or partial fast. The word may be used undoubtedly in the sense of abstaining from meat, or pleasant food, or regular meals (1 Sam. 31: 13; Dan. 10: 3; Acts 27: 33). Some give it this sense here, and think that Jesus subsisted on such coarse and scanty food, as he found in the desert. But the clause added in Luke, "in those days he did eat nothing," seems to favor the idea, if it be not an absolute assertion, that he totally abstained from food, and was miraculously preserved during his long fast. The expression “forty days and forty nights," seems also to point to total abstinence from food. Afterward. During the days of his fasting, he was doubtless in a state of ecstasy, so as to be insensible to hunger.

3. The tempter; literally, the one who tempts, i. e. is in the habit of seducing to sin. This was Satan, whose great business is to tempt men to sin. The temptations here enumerated took place at the close of the forty days. It appears from Mark and Luke, that he was tempted also during the forty days (Mark 1:13; Luke 4: 2), but now at the close, new and more powerful assaults are made upon his integrity. If thou be the Son of God. These words do not imply doubt, but are equivalent to, "seeing that thou art the Son of God." Reference may be had, possibly, to the voice from heaven, which declared Christ's Sonship. Satan's use of the phrase in this and the second temptation, would seem to imply that he was not ignorant of that divine voice. The absence of the article in the original, however, leads some to think that nothing more is meant by the expres

5 Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple,

d Ne. 11:1, 18; 1s. 48:2, & 52:1; ch. 27: 53; Re. 11: 2.

sion than a son of God, i. e., a pious man. But the spirit and wants of the narrative are not met, by sinking this wondrous assault upon our Savior's in tegrity, to a level with an ordinary temptation, addressed to a merely pious

man.

Nor is the absence of the article any objection to its higher sense, as may be seen by referring to 27: 40, 43; Mark 1: 1; John 10: 36. Command that these stones be made bread. As Jesus had fasted for the space of forty days, he must at this time have been exceedingly hungry, if not in an almost starving condition. The temptation, therefore, to satisfy the cravings of hunger by a miracle, must have been to one in his situation very strong. But had he supplied his wants by working a miracle, he would have sinned, inasmuch as it would have manifested a distrust in the providential care of his Heavenly Father. This appears from his reply to the tempter, the substance of which is, that obedience to God will always insure a supply of our physical wants. Compare 6: 31-33, on which see Notes. It may be further observed, that neither Christ nor his apostles wrought any miracle for self-preservation.

From

this we may infer, that such interpositions in their own behalf were contrary to the divine will. Had Christ changed the stones into bread, he would have violated this rule of action.

4. He answered and said. No proof is furnished by these words of the bodily presence of Satan. Nothing is more common than to employ words denoting a vocal utterance, when a person, in a highly excited state of feeling, or in a process of deep thought, is communing with himself. Compare 9: 3, 21; Luke 12: 45; Rom. 10: 6; Eph. 5 19. It is of common occurrence also in Homer, and other ancient and profane writings. This mode of expression imparts life and vivacity to the narration. It is written. The VOL. I.-2

6 And saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down, for it is written, 'He shall

e Ps. 91:11, 12.

quotation is from Deut. 8: 3, where the expression word, in the sense of thing, is supplied by our translators, on the authority probably of this quotation. Every word that proceedeth from the mouth of God," means every thing which God has appointed for food, or every arrangement by which man's wants are to be supplied. God has other ways and means of preserving life than by mere bread. That is an important article of food, but life is not dependent upon it, but rather upon the whole economy of God's plan, which may render it proper to feed his people on manna for years, in order to teach them their dependence upon Him, and that from his storehouse they are to look for the supply of their daily wants. The quotation as thus explained, was a most apt reply to the wicked suggestion of Satan. It also contains a sentiment of universal application; that we are to receive from God's hand our common food with thankfulness, and not resort to ways of our own, in hopes of improving the divinely appointed means of our subsistence. Man; literally, the man, the article imparting to the word a generic signification, all mankind, man.

5, 6. The second temptation, which Luke places in the order of third, claims a brief consideration of its manner of presentation, and then of its nature. In taking Christ to the holy city, we are not to suppose that Satan transported him through the air, or coerced him to go against his will. In the transfiguration, our Lord is said to have taken Peter, and James, and John, and brought them up into a high mountain, but this does not imply that he took them thither miraculously or by force. So also in going to Jerusalem (20: 17), he took the twelve disciples apart, &c. Nothing is meant by this expression beyond the ordinary influence, which one person has over an

no sin in that. Thousands of Jews resorted daily to the battlements, to walk and enjoy the prospect and the invigorating breeze. This was no part of the temptation, nor did Satan regard it as such. It was only preliminary to it, as the fact that Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, was preliminary to the great object for which he went there, to be tempted of the devil. His going to Jerusalem at the suggestion of the tempter, to vary the temptation, and give it the point and power, which we shall see in the sequel it had, was no more sinful than his previous going up into the wilderness for the very purpose of being tempted. It formed a part of the divine plan that he should be tempted, and that Satan should select the place and manner of temptation. We must admit this, or give up our defence of the whole transaction. He went to work and placed before our Savior inducements to sin, precisely as he would before any human being, although with a degree of skill, adroitness, and perseverance, which showed his estimate of the mighty prize for which he was contending. It was to avoid this objection, which we see to have no force, that a voluntary going to Jerusalem at the suggestion of the tempter, seemed to imply a sinful acquiescence to his will on the part of Christ, that so many commentators have explained the word taketh, as denoting physical coercion, not reflecting that the difficulty, which they thus seek to remove, lies not more in the way of our Lord's going to the holy city, than his previous going up into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.

In what did this second temptation consist? It must have been something more than to merely test God's providential care of his Son, for that could have been made from any rocky ledge or cliff of the desert, to leap from which

7 Jesus said unto him, It is would be self-destruction. It could not refer to a presumptive trial of his own self-sustaining power, inasmuch as the Scripture quoted by the devil, would then have been inapposite. It was not a vain display of the care of his Heavenly Father which was urged upon him by the tempter. It must then be referred to some proof of his Messiahship, different from that which God intended. Before him, on the one hand, were toil, privation, suffering, and death. The nation was to reject his claim, and treat him as an impostor. His divine mission would be acknowledged by only a few obscure and unlettered men. On the other hand, he might be revealed at once, as the kingly, conquering Messiah, so long expected and earnestly desired by the nation. Descending unhurt from the dizzy height on which he stood, he would be received with acclamation by the multitude below, and hailed at once as their Messiah. The notion entertained by the Jews, that this personage was to remain during his early years in some retired place, and at the proper age to come, as it were, by some miraculous descent from the air, together with God's promise, that the angels were to have him in charge, and bear him up on just such an emergency as this, at the suggestion of the tempter, passed through his mind, and constituted a strong temptation to do the thing proposed. But he instantly spurns the temptation, and by another apt quotation from Scripture, silenced the adversary, and cut him off from every hope of success in this insidious appeal to his ambition of earthly honor and applause. The holy city, i. e. Jerusalem, where was the temple and the seat of religion. A pinnacle. This refers to the central porch, or Herod's royal portico, on the south side of the temple, impending over the valley of Jehoshaphat, which was 500 cubits below. Josephus (Antiq. xv. 11, § 5) says, that if any one looked down from

written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.

8 Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mounƒ De. 6:16.

the top of this battlement, "he would be giddy, while his sight could not reach to such an immense depth." For it is written. This quotation is from Ps. 91 11, the words in the original, "to keep thee in all thy ways," being omitted by Matthew, and partially so by Luke.

7. The reply of our Lord is quoted from Deut. 6: 16, and is introduced by the word again, because it was not opposed to that cited by Satan, but limited, qualified, and explained it. Thou shalt not tempt. The word tempt here signifies to put to the proof, to test, try, &c. see N. on v. 1. It would be a sinful trial of God's promised care and protection, to rush into danger, either for one's private ends and purposes, or to make trial of His fidelity to his promises.

8, 9. The general principles, which have guided us in our investigation of the first and second temptations, are also applicable to the third. In the same way by the suggestion of the tempter, he was taken up into an exceeding high mountain, where he was shown all the kingdoms of the world. The best commentators are agreed, that no miracle was here wrought, or illusion practised upon the vision of Jesus, but that he was shown the tetrarchies of Palestine, and some of the countries bordering on the Mediterranean. There is a difference, however, in the mode of explanation, by which this sense of the passage is obtained. Some take the word world, in the restricted sense which it has in Luke 2: 1; Rom. 1: 8; 4: 13. But as it generally refers to the universe, world, earth, in the most enlarged sense, it is better to regard it as used here hyperbolically. Some seek to shun the difficulty, by supposing that in imagination the whole world lay at the feet of Jesus. But there was no necessity of ascend

tain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them;

9 And saith unto him, All

ing an exceeding high mountain, to enable the imagination to encircle the whole earth. The temptation was indeed addressed to the mind, but in view of the panorama of countries, which the eye of Jesus could take in at a glance. These portions of Palestine were called kingdoms, because they were governed by ethnarchs with kingly power. The glory of them, i. e. their wealth, resources, and power. All these things will I give thee. In this lay the temptation. His allegiance to Satan was to be rewarded with temporal power. To us who look upon the Redeemer as God-man, the Lord of heaven and earth, this temptation would seem to be ill adapted to entice him to sin. But we must not forget that he had a nature like ours, susceptible of like emotions, and that it was to this nature that these temptations were addressed. It is another question, which cannot be satisfactorily answered, to what extent Satan was acquainted with the complex nature of Jesus. It is enough to know that he regarded him as capable of being tempted, and that he "was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin." Fall down and worship me. This does not refer to bodily prostration, which would have been repulsive in its very nature, but to obedience, vassalage, of which bodily homage is the symbol.

10. Jesus, with a holy indignation at these repeated assaults of Satan upon his integrity, now commands the tempter to be gone. Get thee behind me, Satan, i. e. begone, away. Luke says that "when the devil had ended all the temptation, he departed from him for a season.' He was once more to return (John 14: 30), not so much to assail our Lord with new temptations, as to distress him as far as he had power, and to stir up against him the rage and

me.

10 Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the g De. 6: 13, & 10:20; Jos. 24: 14; 1 Sa. 7:3.

malice of wicked men. Satan, a word of Hebrew origin, signifying an adversary. In the New Testament, the adversary, the devil. Thou shalt worship, &c. The collocation of the words in the original is more emphatic: The Lord thy God shalt thou worship. The quotation is from Deut. 6: 16, in which the homage asked by Satan for himself, is declared to belong only to God. The future tense is here expressive of obligation, a sense which it not unfrequently has. See Rom. 6:15; 1 Cor. 11: 22.

11. Angels came and ministered unto him. These conflicts with the adversary, together with his long fast, must have reduced our Savior to great physical weakness. But angels were now sent to minister unto him. With what rapture must he have hailed the presence of those glorious beings, sent by his Father to sustain and comfort him. Thus God often manifests his loving kindness unto his people, by granting them the clearest tokens of his presence and love, when brought out of the furnace of affliction, in which he has seen fit to try them.

12. A considerable interval of time is here passed over by Matthew, in which our Lord, after calling Andrew, Peter, Philip, and Nathanael, went forth into Galilee (John 1: 40-51), was present at the marriage in Cana (John 2: 12), attended the passover at Jerusalem, and drove the traders from the temple (John 2: 13-17), discoursed with Nicodemus (John 3: 1-12), remained in Judea, and baptized by his disciples (John 3: 22), and after a while returned to Galilee, on hearing that John had been cast into prison. This journey into Galilee is the one here referred to by Matthew, and in the parallel passages

11 Then the devil leaveth him, and behold, "angels came and ministered unto him.

12 Now when Jesus had h He. 1:14. i Ma. 1:14; Lu. 3: 20, & 4: 14, 31; Jn. 4:43.

in Mark 1:14, and Luke 4:14. The imprisonment of John by Herod, rendered it necessary for him to visit Galilee, in order that the work of reformation might not cease through want of laborers. He wished, perhaps, also, to take advantage of any sympathetic excitement in John's favor, by the unjust persecution of Herod. The jealousy of the Pharisees in respect to the success of Christ's ministry in Judea, may also in part have been the cause of his departure from that region (see John 4:1-3). On his way to Galilee, he passed through Samaria, and held his discourse with the woman of that city (John 4: 4-42), and thence proceeded to Cana, of Galilee, where he healed at a word the nobleman's son, lying sick at Capernaum (John 4: 46-54). From this place he went to Nazareth (Luke 4:16-31), at which point in the history, Matthew takes up the narration. It is highly necessary, to a right understanding of many incidents in our Lord's history, that we get a clear and connected view of his journeyings, and the order of events in his ministry.

13. And leaving Nazareth. In Luke 4: 16-31, we are informed of the circumstances of his visit to Nazareth, and his rejection by his fellow townsmen. Alford, however, thinks that this visit to Nazareth took place some time previous to that which is referred to in Luke. But there is an abrupt chasm in Matthew, which can be filled by nothing better than Luke's account as above referred to, and the internal evidence is therefore very clear, that the same visit is referred to by both evangelists. And dwelt in Capernaum. This city of Galilee was situated on the western shore of Lake Tiberias, on the borders of Zebulon and Naphtali.