TH

CHAPTER

IV.

HEN was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness, to be tempted of the devil.

2 And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungred.

3 And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.

4 But he answered and said, It is written, Manl shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.

Jesus.) This view will at once be rejected by all those who hold that Jesus Christ was the sinless Son of God, in whose pure heart no solicitations of evil could arise of themselves to lure him to sin. If we accept the narrative at all, we must accept, as the very essence of it, that the suggestion of recreancy did not spring spontaneous in his heart from evil desires which lurked unrecognized there, but that they were suggested to him by the tempter only to be instantly and indignantly rejected.

5. That it is a literal narrative; that Satan really appeared in tangible form to Jesus, and proposed to him to convert the stones into bread, carried him bodily to the pinnacle of the temple, and showed him from some high eminence a view which at least suggested all the kingdoms of the world. This is a common view among evangelical interpreters; to it there are serious objections, objections which seem to me to be conclusive. a. We must either impute to the devil a degree of supernatural power, which the Bible nowhere else attributes to him, or must suppose that Jesus exercised it in his flight to the pinnacle of the temple, and this for the very purpose of entering into temptation. i. There is no mountain from which all the kingdoms of the known world could be seen; in part, then, the narrative cannot be a literal one. c. The Bible nowhere else represents the devil appearing undisguised to man; on the contrary, his power lies in his disguises and concealments (Gen. ch. 3; 2 Cor. 11 : 3). d. In this particular case the temptation, especially the last, would be robbed of all its power if the devil had been recognized before his proposition. It seems impossible that the suggestion of literal worship to a bodily fiend could offer any temptation-we will not say to Jesus-to any one of ordinary purity of heart and strength of conscience.

6. That it describes in dramatic language a real but internal experience, that Satan was really present, whispering the suggestions of evil to the soul of Jesus, as he still does to us (see note on verse below), but unrecognized until the last, the subtlest and worst of the three temptations; that the narrative describes a succession of pictures which passed before Christ's imagination, by which Satan endeavored to seduce him; that it was in imagination that Jesus was carried to the pinnacle of the temple, and in imagination was shown the kingdoms of the world, and that he was invited to gain control of them, not by a literal worshiping of the bodily

We

fiend, but by yielding to the arts of the evil one, and serving him as the previous conquerors of the world, Cyrus and Alexander, for example, had done. This opinion is also beset with difficulties. Our temptations possess their strength and their bitterness in large measure because we possess a fallen nature which Christ did not. To us Satan is often undisclosed, and our sluggish consciences do not recognize quickly the evil when covertly disguised as good. But we cannot attribute to Christ a blunted and insensitive moral nature. These and kindred difficulties, however, are inherent in any conception of Christ's temptation here, and in any attempt to understand his experiences of conflict elsewhere recorded. can only reverently accept the declaration that he was tempted in all points like as we are, yet without sin, and interpret his experiences by our own, fully recognizing the truth that our souls cannot gauge and measure his, and that the utmost study and thought will yet leave in this passage, as in all of Christ's mysterious life, an utterly inexplicable element, a mystery that is insoluble. Fully recognizing this, I adopt the last of the interpretations given above as on the whole the one most consonant with other Scripture, the narrative itself, and with reason. grounds on which I accept this interpretation, have been in part indirectly stated in disposing of the other views; they will appear more fully in interpreting the passage itself. It is to be remembered that, though Satan is more distinctly embodied in this narrative than in any other, yet he is repeatedly referred to in Scripture as bringing trouble or temptation in cases in which no other than a purely spiritual and unrecognized presence is indicated (1 Chron. 21:1; Job 2:7; Matt. 13: 19, 39; Luke 13: 16; John 13: 2).

The

1. Then. Immediately after the baptism and the descent of the Spirit. "Thou didst take up arms, not to be idle, but to fight."—(Chrysostom.) After the baptism of grace comes the battle. It is the wilderness, not Jordan and the dove, which tries us and shows our true character. Compare 2 Cor. 12: 7-10. Was Jesus led. Rather brought or carried. The word is used to signify something more than a mere leading, and is the same translated brought in Luke 2:22; Acts 9: 39; 12: 4. It is used also in describing 9:39; the bringing of sacrifice to the altar. In Acts 7: 41, it is translated offered. Under an irresistible impulse Christ was carried away into the wilderness (compare Acts 7:39). ness (compare Acts 7:39). By the Spirit, i. e.,

the Holy Spirit. God tempteth no man, but he sometimes brings us into temptation (compare Matt. 6:13; 26: 41; Job 1:12; 2:6; 2 Cor. 12: 7). Into the wilderness (see note on Matt. 3: 1). Between Jericho and the Mount of Olives is a wild region, where is a mountain called Quarantana, which Robinson describes as (( an almost perpendicular wall of rock, twelve or fifteen hundred feet above the plain." This is fixed on by tradition as the site of the temptation, and particularly as the mountain to which Christ was carried in the last one. But the tradition is entirely untrustworthy. The site is wholly a matter of conjecture. To be tempted. This was the purpose for which he was led into the wilderness. "As he had been subject to his earthly parents at Nazareth, so now he is subject, in the outset of his official course, to his Heavenly Parent, and is by his will thus carried up to be tempted. (Alford.) By the devil. Not by his own heart, nor by a human tempter. The term, "the devil," is always used in the Bible to signify an evil spirit, never to personify the evil in man or in the world. On the contrary, the work of evil spirits is contrasted with the evil influence of the world (Eph. 6:12). Judas Iscariot is called a devil but not the devil (John 6: 70); and in Rev. 2: 10, the devil working in the hearts of malignant persecutors is intended; the word is not put for the persecutors themselves. The word devil (Gr. diúßolos) signifies accuser (Rev. 12: 9, 10). He is also called Abaddon (Hebrew) or Apollyon (Greek), i. e., destroyer (Rev. 9:11); Belial, i. e., a good-for-nothing (2 Cor. 6:15); Satan, i. e., an adversary (Job 2:1). See also for descriptive titles: John 8: 44; 12: 31; 2 Cor. 4:4; Ephes. 6: 12; 1 Pet. 5:8; 1 John 3:8; Rev. 12:7; 20: 10. Less is disclosed concerning him in Scripture than many suppose; much of the popular impression concerning him is derived from mediaval theology, and yet more from Milton's Paradise Lost. It certainly is not true that the idea of a personal devil was derived by the Jews from Persian philosophy during their captivity, for he appears by implication, though not expressly named, in the history of the fall (Gen. ch. 3), and more distinctly, probably, in Job, one of the oldest books of the Bible, if not the very oldest, than anywhere else (Job 1:6; 2: 3-7; compare also 1 Chron. 21:1). He is represented in the N. T. as an adversary of human souls, endeavoring by various snares to take us captive, suggesting evil thoughts to our minds, or erasing good impressions which have been produced there, or putting hindrances in the way of Christian work, or inspiring persecutors of the faithful, and as certain at last to be bound in chains, and finally cast into torment (Matt. 13: 19; Luke 22: 31; John 13:2; 2 Cor. 2: 11; 11: 3, 14; Ephes. 6:11; 1 Thess. 2:18; 2 Tim. 2; 26; 1 Pet. 5:8, 9; Rev. 2: 10; 12: 9; 20: 1-3 and 7-10).

2. Fasted. This does not necessarily imply that he ate nothing (Dan. 10: 2, 3). Some commentators think that his fasting may have consisted simply of abstaining from all ordinary food and subsisting only on the scanty supplies of the desert (compare with Matt. 3:4; 11: 18). But the language of Luke 4:2, taken with Exod. 34 : 28, and 1 Kings 19:8, implies that he literally ate nothing, being miraculously sustained during the period of fasting. Observe that the duration of Christ's fast was the same as that of Moses and that of Elijah, who were transfigured with him (Matt. 17:3). According to Luke 4:2, and apparently Mark 1:13, he was subjected to temptations during this whole period of forty days; those here recorded would seem to be the culmination of these temptations.

3, 4. THE FIRST TEMPTATION. It appeals to a natural and sinless appetite-hunger. It suggests an act seemingly innocent. Why should not Christ make bread of the stones, and so supply his wants? Because he had taken upon himself the nature of man and the condition and sufferings of mankind (Phil. 2: 6-8). To have availed himself of his divine power to escape the bodily discomforts of humanity, would have been to fail in his mission of becoming our pattern and our sympathizing high priest at the very outset. Accordingly, there is no case in the N. T. in which Christ exercises miraculous power for his own benefit. The escapes recorded in Luke 4:30, John 8:59, and 10:39, are sometimes regarded as miraculous, but there is no Scripture authority for so regarding them; and the taking of the tax-money from the fish's mouth (Matt. 17: 27) was for a moral purpose. (See note there.) I doubt whether there is any case in Scripture in which a genuine miracle is recorded as being wrought for the benefit of him at whose bidding it is performed.

3. If thou be. Rather, Since thou art. The "if," says Alford, "implies no doubt.'

4. It is written, in Deut. 8:3. The reference there is to the feeding of Israel with manna in the wilderness, and may be literally rendered, "by every outgoing of the mouth of the Lord; i. e., by the whole course of God's providential care over those who obey his word. The meaning is the same as that involved in Matt. 6: 24-34, viz. that he who seeks first the kingdom of God and his righteousness may leave all questions of food and raiment to God. If man obeys the divine will, he may trust himself to the divine providence. The divine will respecting Christ was that he should be found in condition as a man. He obeys that will, and leaves to God to provide for his physical wants (compare Deut. 29: 5, 6). "They that taunted him on the cross, 'He saved others, himself he cannot save,' bore an unconscious testimony to the unselfishness of

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

6 And saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down, for it is written, Hen shall give his angels charge concerning thee; and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone.

7 Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.

8 Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them;

9 And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.

his spirit and the thoroughness with which he took upon himself the life of common humanity. He that fed five thousand in the wilderness, from two small loaves and five little fishes, would not supply himself, except by ordinary means, with one."

5-7. THE SECOND TEMPTATION. The devil appeals to love of fame, and proposes to Christ to found his kingdom upon fame. A single miracle wrought before all the people shall secure their reverence and allegiance. A single trial of the divine power which belongs to the Son of God will put an end to all doubts, in Christ's own mind and in the mind of the people. "If he would have a prosperous following and an easy victory over the world, let him become the master of marvels. Let him show men that a Divinity was among them, not by the inspiration of a higher life in their souls, but by such a use of divine power as should captivate the fancy of all who saw the wonders of skill, of beauty, of daring, which he should show.”—(Beecher's Life of Christ.) This, I think, is the true interpretation of the second temptation, which is one of ambition, or rather vain glory, not one of mere pre'sumption, as supposed by Alford. The same demand for a wonder-working evidence of his divine authority is frequently repeated throughout Christ's life (Matt. 12: 38, 39), and always refused. It reappears in demands of modern skeptics for modern miracles, and in the language of Renan, who treats Christ as a thaumaturgist, i. e., a mere wonder-worker.

5. The holy city. Jerusalem. Pinnacle Pinnacle of the temple. The temple was built on Mount Moriah, on a foundation built up of solid masonry, so as to present a nearly perpendicular wall of over 200 feet from the floor of the temple to the valley below, "almost equal in height to the tallest of our church spires." On this wall, overhanging the valley of the Kedron, was Herod's royal portico. From the roof of that portico to the valley below was not less than 300 feet. "The valley was very deep, insomuch that if any one looked down from the top of the battlements, he would be giddy, while his sight could not reach to such an immense depth." (Josephus.) According to Alford, it was the roof of this porch which is intended by the description here. According to others, it was the apex of the temple proper from which he was called upon to cast himself down into the court below

among the people who were always assembled there. If we suppose the whole event to have taken place in thought only, the location could not have been very definitely described, because it would not necessarily have been very definitely conceived. The essence of the temptation appears to me to be its publicity, and, therefore, whatever point of the temple was brought to Christ's mind, it must have been one from which the miracle proposed could have been generally observed.

6. It is written, in Psalm 91:11; not, however, as a prophecy of the Messiah, but as applicable to all the children of God. Christ has replied to the devil's first suggestion as a man, and the devil cites a promise of God applicable to all men in his second temptation. Observe that the devil misapplies Scripture, using it to lead into error. “If," says Jerome, "the text which he quotes refers to Christ, he ought to have added what there follows against himself the dragon shalt thou tread under thy feet (verse 13).

7. It is written, in Deut. 6:16; thou shalt not tempt, i. e., try him, put him on trial, presume on his aid, and therefore attempt exploits which he does not command, or neglect precautions which reason dictates.

8-10. THE THIRD TEMPTATION. An appeal to ambition. The Pharisees expected a literal establishment of a universal Jewish domain. As Alexander had conquered all the world, so they expected Judaism would conquer all the world, and Jerusalem would be its capital. This was unmistakably the expectation of Christ's own disciples, even to the close of his life (Matt. 20: 20, 21; Luke 19: 11; 24: 21). The third temptation of the devil was an appeal to Christ to realize this dream of the nation. "There was a tremendous temptation to exhibit before men his real place and authority; to appear as great as he really was; to use his energies that men should admit him to be greater than generals, higher than kings, more glorious than temple or palace.”

·(Beecher's Life of Christ.) "It was a proposition to use physical force for the accomplishment of moral results--to turn from the path of suffering and labor and martyrdom for the truth. (Deems' "Jesus.") "All this power and glory will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.' In other words, the glory and power shall be the Messiah's, if he consents to act in the spirit of the prince of this world."-(Pressense's

12 Now when Jesus had heard that John was cast into prison, he departed into Galilee :

13 And leaving Nazareth, he came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is upon the sea coast, in the borders of Zabulon and Nephthalim :

14 That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying,

15 The land of Zabulon, and the land of Nephthalim, by the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles

Satan tried to pervert. The first called for an act seemingly miraculous; the second for one ostentatious and presumptuous, the third for one blasphemously wicked. The first disguised itself under an appeal to reason; the second sustained itself by an appeal to Scripture; and in the third all disguise was cast off, and Satan revealed himself. The first was the most deceptive; the second the most plausible; the third the most audacious. In the first, Satan tried to mislead by hiding the sin; in the second, by sanctioning the sin because of a greater good to be accomplished by it; in the third, to compensate for the sin by a promised reward.

IV. Christ receives the temptation as a man and resists it as a man. As he is tempted in all points like as we are, so his resistance is an example to us how to resist. He conquers the temptation through bodily hunger by trust in God, the temptation to presumption and ostentation by humble obedience to and patient waiting on God, the temptation to worldly ambition by supreme love and reverence for God; thus in every onset it is faith in God which is the shield that quenches the darts of the adversary (Ephes. 6 : 16).

V. We share Christ's first experience when poverty tempts us to violate God's law that we may provide for our daily wants; we share the second experience when we are tempted to neglect duties which God's providence lays upon us or to run into needless dangers or difficulties, or to assume uncalled-for hazards, and trust the result to God, or to make an ostentatious display of our faith in God; we share the third experience when we are tempted, for the sake of power, wealth, or influence, to conform to the world and to employ Satan's instruments in even seeming to do God's service. We yield to the first temptation when we distrust God's providential care; we yield to the second when we presume unwarrantably on his grace, or make a show of our reliance on his word; we yield to the third when we are conformed to this world and adopt its policies and methods and imbibe its spirit for the sake of its rewards. The first sin is forbidden by Matt. 6:25, the second by 6:1-7, the third by 6 : 24. We resist the first temptation when we seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and trust food, raiment, and shelter to Him; we resist the second when, in humble trust in Him, we do all that God has given us power to do, looking to Him only to protect us from ills against which we cannot, by

reasonable precaution, guard ourselves, and patiently waiting for Him to bring about his own results in his own time and way; we resist the third when we make a supreme love to God the sole inspiration of our hearts, and a supreme allegiance to Him the sole rule of our lives.

Ch. 4:12-25. CHRIST'S FIRST MINISTRY IN GALILEE. -THE MISSION OF CHRIST: TO GIVE LIGHT TO THOSE IN DARKNESS, LIFE TO THOSE IN DEATH. THE MESSAGE OF CHRIST: REPENT, FOR THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN IS AT HAND. THE CALL OF CHRIST: TO CHRISTIAN LABOR: I WILL MAKE YOU FISHERS OF MEN,-HOW TO ACCEPT CHRIST'S CALL: IMMEDIATELY, THOUGH IT REQUIRE US TO LEAVE PROPERTY, BUSINESS, FRIENDS.-CHRIST, THE MODEL FOR THE PREACHER; CHRIST, THE MODEL

FOR THE PHYSICIAN.

12. Now. An interval of about a year, perhaps more, elapses between verses 11 and 12. During this time Christ goes from the wilderness to Cana of Galilee, where he performs the miracle at the wedding feast (John 2:1-11), goes up to Jerusalem to inaugurate his ministry there (John 2: 13-25; 3: 1-21); after the Passover, joins the Baptist in Enon (John 3: 22-36); leaves Judea to avoid threatened controversy, going through Samaria on his way, and arriving at the residence either of his mother or some friends in Cana, where he heals the sick child by a word (John, ch. 4), and where he hears of the imprisonment of John the Baptist, which takes place about this time. There is some uncertainty as to the chronology, but this I think to be the most probable order of events. See Abbott's Jesus of Nazareth, p. 139, note. Jesus had heard. John (the Evangelist) says the reason why he departed into Galilee was that "the Lord knew how the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John," i. e. the Baptist (John 4: 1, 3). The true explanation seems to be that this was the reason of his leaving the vicinity of the Jordan, viz. to avoid the collision of his disciples with those of the Baptist, but that he did not commence public preaching in Galilee until after John's imprisonment. John was cast into prison. For account of this imprisonment and its result, John's death, see Matt. 14: 3-12; Mark 6:14-29.

13. And leaving Nazareth. He was driven out of it by a mob, in consequence of a sermon in which he disclosed the opening of the door of salvation to the Gentiles (Luke 4: 16-31). Alford places this sermon later; but his reasons for differing from the opinions of most other scholars