3 And when the tempter came | Son of God, command that these to him, he said, If thou be the herbs, honey-dew; thus scantily sustaining his animal nature, and giving his soul undisturbed opportunity for contemplation and communion with God, adapted to the extraordinary work which he had undertaken. A comparison of other passages of the Scriptures favors this view. In Esther 4:16, the Jews were directed to fast, and neither eat nor drink, three days, night nor day, on account of their imminent danger. In Matt. 11: 18, John is said to have come neither eating nor drinking; yet we are informed in Matt. 3:4, that he lived in a coarse and unusual manner, denying himself the ordinary comforts of life. By comparing Matt. 11: 18, with Luke 7: 33, we discover, that John's not eating nor drinking, means, not eating nor drinking the ordinary articles of food, living in a very selfdenying way. Just so the fast in Esther's time was probably an abstaining from the ordinary way of living, so as to have as little time as possible occupied in preparing and eating food, and living in a manner corresponding to the deeply-distressing circumstances of the Jews; so that, in comparison with the usual method of living. they might well be said to be fasting for three days. We may regard our Saviour as feeling all the natural consequences of so long an abstinence from ordinary food, and thus being in a situation that would render the temptation to create food a very powerful one. Luke does indeed say (4:2), that " in those days he did eat nothing." But by comparing this expression with another, recorded by the same writer, in Acts 27: 33, "This is the fourteenth day that ye have tarried, and continued fasting, having taken nothing," we perceive he may have meant, ant, that the Saviour ate nothing in the usual regular manner. He lived most scantily. He ate what came to hand; and with no regular meals, and with none of common food, he passed the forty days stones be made bread. This mode of speaking may be illustrated by the manner in which we might speak of a person in a wasting sickness, or in deep affliction, without a relish for the common enjoyments or business of men, or for ordinary food. In conversation, we might say of such a person, He has eaten nothing for many a day. But while the language does not render it positively certain that our Lord underwent an entire abstinence from food, it cannot, on the other hand, be shown that he did not wholly abstain from food of all kinds. Clearly, he might have been miraculously sustained; and at the end of the forty days, his natural appetite for food might have returned with distressing keenness, so that the temptation to obtain food by a miracle would be peculiarly powerful. || An hungered; the same as our modern word hungry. 3. And when the tempter came to him. Satan came to Jesus, probably in the same way that he comes to us; that is, by suggesting wrong thoughts and proposals to our minds. The language of Mark (1: 13), and particularly that of Luke (4:2), intimate that Satan was tempting Jesus during the forty days. Of all the particular temptations presented, perhaps only the most signal and trying ones are recorded; namely, those which were presented at the close of the forty days. || He said. Matthew's representing Satan as holding a conversation with Jesus, is fully explained by the artless manner in which many honest and pious persons speak of their being tempted, or of Satan's tempting them, to commit sin. The evangelist's manner of speaking respecting Satan, corresponds also with the manner of other sacred writers. See Rom. 16:20. 1 Pet 5:8. Rev. 2:10. That is, they speak of him as we speak of one another. God, also, is spoken of in the same way, as having eyes, hands, feet, &c., and as speaking to men. || The Son of God; the Messiah. Compare 3:17. In the 4 But he answered and ceedeth out of the mouth of said, It is written, Man shall God. not live by bread alone, 5 Then the devil taketh him but by every word that pro- up into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the plest at any time thou dash th temple, original, the article is not used; and there might be a question, whether we should translate the expression thus-the Son of God, meaning the Messiah; or thus a son of God, meaning a pious man. There is, however, no serious difficulty; for if Satan tempted Jesus on the ground merely of his claiming to be a pious man, the temptation to work a miracle would not have been appropriate; whereas it was appropriate, on the ground of his claiming to be the Messiah. || That these stones be made bread. How artful the suggestion presented to Jesus, while in his distressing circumstances, in a state, so to speak, of starving, that he should employ his miraculous power in creating a supply for his wants! p 4. He answered and said. As Saan's suggestion is represented in the ight of a remark made to the Saviour, the thought thought which at once arose in he Saviour's mind in opposition to it, is called an answer; as if there had been a conversation between them. It is written; in Deut. 8:3. The thought expressed in the passage referred to, is, that bread is not the only substance which can sustain human life; that bread is not absolutely necessary, but that whatever God may please to appoint for that end, will sustain the life of man. || Word. The original term thus rendered, has as extensive a signification as our term thing; and the expression Every word [thing] that proceedeth out of the mouth of God, is equivalent to, Whatever God shall appoint. Man's life can be sustained not only by bread, but by any thing which God may appoint. This was the thought which Jesus contemplated, and perhaps uttered, as refreshing to his soul, and making powerless the evil suggestions of the adversary. The exercise of the Messiah's supernatural power on such an occasion, might imply a distrust of divine providence, and would not have been in accordance with the design of miracles. That design was, to furnish public evidence of his being commissioned from God; not to satisfy the cravings of his own hunger. Besides, to perform a miracle at the suggestion of Satan, and with the view of removing his pretended doubts, would have been wholly unsuitable. 5. The holy city; Jerusalem, so called, as being the place where the temple was situated, and the public worship of God was performed. Compare Is. 48:2. Dan. 9:24. || Pinnacle of the temple. The temple, in the time of Christ, had several porches. There was one distinguished by its size and height. It was one hundred cubits high, or, reckoning from the valley below, down which a person could not look without dizziness, four or five hundred cubits, that is, six or seven hundred feet. It was this, in all probability, which is here meant. But how did the devil take him to this place? Probably as one person takes, or carries, another to some place. A man takes another to a place, when he accompanies him, particularly with a design to accomplish something respecting him in that place. Jesus, having spent as much time as he desired in the wilderness, again sought the habitations of men. He was now probably proposing, in his own mind, to visit the temple in Jerusalem. From the loftiest elevation of the temple, he could take a survey of the city and of the surrounding country, to whose inhabitants he was soon to appear in a most important relation. In prosecuting this design, the tempter accompanied him; and he might in a guileful manner communicate such thoughts as would strengthen the Saviour's purpose to ascend the highest spot of the building. And when the Saviour arrived foot against a stone. 7 Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. 6 And saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, at that spot, a favorable opportunity presented for insinuating another faith. temptation. 8 Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and showeth him all tested the reality and strength of his 8. The devil availed himself of 6. Cast thyself down. There might another favorable opportunity to se have been some reference in this temptation to what we find expressed by some of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, in John 7:27 - " No man knoweth whence he [the Messiah] is." Should Jesus have cast himself down from that elevation, and the knowledge of so wonderful a descent be spread abroad, it might have given him immediate favor with the people. Such might have been the form of the temptation. Or it might have been simply a strong temptation presumptuously to put divine providence to the test, such as might well be supposed to arise in the mind of a man who was standing on a very giddy height. || For it is written; Ps. 91: 11, 12, a passage expressing the care of divine providence over the righteous. 7. It is written again; Deut. 6:16. || Tempt. This word here signifies to put to the proof, or to test. Thus, Thou shalt not put the Lord thy God to the proof; thou shalt not test the truth of his promises, by needlessly placing thyself in dangerous circumstances. The force of this passage, in rebutting Satan's suggestion, consisted in its being a caution against a presumptuous confidence in God, and a needless testing of the veracity of God. We are not to understand the Saviour as here calling himself "the Lord thy God," and cautioning Satan not to persist in tempting him. The view presented above is the only one consistent with the connection. The word tempt is used in the same sense in Gen. 22 : 1 - " God did tempt Abraham;" that is, put him to trial, duce the Messiah to take a wrong course. Taketh him; that is, as in the former instance, induced him to go, and went with him. There is no need, from the nature of this language of regarding Jesus as putting himse into Satan's power, or as at all ex couraging Satan in his foul designs, or as allowing himself to be in any degree overcome by him. The design of Jesus in ascending the lofty mountain was doubtless a very dif ferent one from that which Satan wished to accomplish in accompanying him, or in any way inducing him to go. || An exceeding high mountain. In the vicinity of Jerusalem there were lofty elevations. East from Jerusalem, on the other side of the Jordan, there was also Mount Nebo, from one of whose summits, namely, Pisgah, Moses had a view of the promised land. Deut. 34:1-4. What mountain was intended by the evangelist, cannot be determined. || All the kingdoms of the world. Luke (4:5), adds, " in a moment of time; that is, so to speak, at a single glance. The world is sometimes used to denote an extensive region. Compare Rom. 1:8. The word used in the original of Luke 4: 5, is somewhat different from the word used by Matthew, but, like that, is applicable to a smaller or to a larger extent of country, and is actually used when only Palestine is meant. See Acts 11: 28. History shows that Palestine was the country where the famine there spoken of prevailed. In the verse before us, we may understand the " the kingdoms of the world, and he glory of them; 9 And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me. 10 Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan. for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. 11 Then the devil leaveth him, and behold, angels came and ministered unto him. present case, Jesus might be said to be paying homage to Satan, had he been willing to renounce God and to seek for great worldly power. word in this limited sense, as expressing the principalities in and around Palestine. This whole region was divided into several governments - a term which answers well to the original one rendered kingdoms. But as Palestine, with the country around, was an appendage to the vast Roman empire, a mind which was contemplating worldly authority and the ry. To him only is such homage due splendor connected with it, might naturally pass from viewing Palestine to a mental apprehension of the whole empire, and even of the government of the whole world. While, then, Jesus, on the summit of the mountain, was surveying the land, with the design of deeply affecting his heart in prospect of what he was to do and to suffer in that region, 10. The thought of grasping at temporal power was instantly repelled. It is written; Deut. 6:13. Jehovah only is the Lord of power and might, the dispenser of kingdoms and of glo as Satan sought for himself. "The earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof." Ps. 24: 1. 11. The devil leaveth him. Luke (4: 13) adds the words "for a season." Satan renewed his attacks near the termination of the Messiah's work on earth. John 14:30. || Angels came and ministered unto him. Compare Mark 1:13. Heavenly beings came, Satan may have suggested the ideas, to rejoice with him at the triumphant 12 Now when Jesus had he came and dwelt in Caperheard that John was cast into naum, which is upon the seaprison, he departed into Galilee: coast, in the borders of Zabu13 And leaving Nazareth, lon and Nephthalim : How glorious it would be to become the monarch of these regions! and, as the people were expecting the Messiah, and expecting in him a great temporal deliverer and prince, How easily might all this power and splendor be acquired! If Jesus would but renounce the authority of God, and, ceasing to contemplate his real work, would place himself on the side of Satan, and pay homage to him, all this power and glory might become his own! 9. Will I give thee. Satan was called the god, or prince, of this world. John 12:31. 14:30.2 Cor. 4:4. In accordance with this idea was the impious suggestion of the adversary. || Fa'l down and worship me. Respect and homage were frequently expressed by prostration, together with corresponding language. Hence the phrase "fall down and worship," signifies what we express by the phrase do homage. In the issue of his trials, to administer in various ways to his wants, and particularly to impart consolation to his mind. So, on another occasion, an angel from heaven strengthened him. Luke 22:43. Compare Heb. 1: 14. For Luke's account of our Saviour's temptation, see Luke 4: 1-13. HINTS FOR REFLECTION, suggested by the account of our Lord's temptation. 1. Jesus, in view of his great work, sought opportunity for special communion with God. See the note on v. 1. How suitable an example for us, when undertaking any important work! 2. In immediate connection with special religious exercises, was dreadful temptation. When, then, we are in the most devout and religious state, let us specially guard against temptation. 3. Temptations are often presented in a very specious guise. Even the word of God may be abused to the purpose of encouraging a person in sin. v. 6. 4. The word of God, properly understood and applied, is a happy preservative from temptation. vs. 4,7, 10. 5. Worldly advancement ought to be of no weight, when contrasted with duty to God and with our spiritual interests. 6. Holy angels are not indifferent spectators of our sorrows and trials. v. 11. Heb. 1: 14. 7. We have a Saviour, who has been sorely tempted, and who is able to succor us when tempted. Heb. 2: 17, 18. 4:15. 12. Matthew here passes over a considerable space of time, which intervened between the temptation and our Saviour's taking up his abode in Capernaum. To obtain a correct view of our Saviour's history, the evangelists must be compared together. One of them omits some things, which another relates. One gives a more full account than another. Hence the accounts of all are necessary in order to obtain a connected view of events. According to the statements of John, it would seem, that Jesus became considerably known in Judea, by means of John the Baptist and certain persons whom he had invited to an acquaintance with himself (John 1:35, &c.); that he went to Galilee, and attended the wedding at Cana (2:1-11); that thence he went to Capernaum and spent a few days (2: 12); that he again went to Jerusalem to attend a passover (2: 13-25), and remained some time in Judea, increasing the number of his followers, before John the Baptist was cast into prison (3: 22-36). After John was imprisoned, Jesus retired from Judea to Galilee. Of this last-mentioned going to Galilee Matthew now speaks. VOL. I. 5 John was cast into prison. For an account of John's imprisonment, see Matt. 14:3-5. Mark 6: 17-20. Luke 3: 19, 20. || Into Gulilee; the northern part of the country. See the Map. Jesus retired to Galilee, probably because he had accomplished in Judea as much as circumstances rendered suitable at present; and, the jealousy of the Pharisees and other distinguished men having been excited (John 4: 1), a longer continuance there might only have cherished their ill-will, and exposed himself prematurely to their machinations. Galilee was a part of the land where their influence was less felt, and where he could more profitably devote himself to the object of his mission. It was necessary, too, that all parts of the land should share in his labors. On this journey to Galilee, probably, he passed through Samaria, as is related by John, 4th chapter. When arrived in Galilee, he healed in Cana the nobleman's son (John 4: 46-54), and exercised his ministry in the synagogues of Galilee. 13. And leaving Nazareth. Luke (4:16-31) informs us of the Saviour's going to Nazareth, and of the circumstances in which he departed from it. || Dwelt in Capernaum; made Capernaum the principal place of his residence. See Luke 4:31. Capernaum, as the Map shows, was situated on the north-western shore of the sea of Galilee. || Zabulon and Nephthalim; names of two tribes of the Israelites, so called from the two sons of Jacob, Zebulun and Naphtali. Gen. 49:13, 21. There is a slight difference in the sounds of these names, as expressed in the Hebrew and in the Greek languages. In the division of the land among the tribes under Joshua, these two obtained their lots in the neighborhood of the sea of Galilee. Josh. 19: 10, 11, 32. |