Matthew 4

The Pulpit Commentary - Matthew 4:4

The true food of a spiritual being. "Man shall not live by bread alone." Observing the original connection of the words quoted, we find an illustration of the fact that God could sustain life by other means than ordinary food. "Such an answer must have peculiar force and meaning, as it comes from the lips of Christ. He tells Satan that obedience to God is better than bread; that if either is to be given up there cannot be a doubt, there can hardly be a difficulty, about the decision Simply... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Matthew 4:5

Then the devil taketh him up. Revised Version omits "up." Matthew ( παραλαμβάνει , here and verse 8) lays stress on the companionship, and, in a sense, compulsion; Luke ( ἤγαγεν , verse 9; ἀναγαγὼν , verse 5), on guidance and locality. Into the holy city (Luke, "into Jerusalem"). From Isaiah 52:1 , the end of which verse, "There shall no more come into thee the uncircumcised and the unclean," heightens the implied contrast of the devil's presence there. (For the... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Matthew 4:5-6

Temptation through human ambitions. The second temptation was to the sin of presumption, to which sin the ambitious man, who sets an end before him, and means to gain it somehow, is especially exposed. From the tempter's point of view Jesus was ambitious to be the Messiah, so he tempted him to adopt the most showy and most speedy way of fulfilling his ambitions. "Make a show; the people love a show, and you will gain the end of your ambition at once; everybody will shout that you are... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Matthew 4:5-7

The second ordeal-temptation. It is very naturally and universally supposed that the three temptations recorded here, as making their assault on Jesus, are typical of those to which human nature is exposed. All are exposed to temptations that come through the body, wide as is their range of variety. And therefore, probably, it was that this kind is exampled in the most generic instance and the simplest—one of hunger. According to this very supposable theory, we must expect to find the... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Matthew 4:5-11

Presumption and ambition. All three of the temptations of our Lord turned on the abuse of his newly developed Messianic powers; but while the first temptation urged him to use those powers for the satisfaction of a natural appetite common to all men, the other two were concerned directly with his unique position and destiny. The tempter perceives that he has made a mistake in choosing too low a ground on which to approach One so completely emancipated from the dominion of the body as Christ.... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Matthew 4:6

If thou be the Son of God ( Matthew 4:3 , note). For it is written . Psalms 91:11 , Psalms 91:12 , verbally from the LXX ., but omitting the clause, "to keep thee in all thy ways." Luke omits only "in all thy ways." The clause, according to either record, was omitted possibly because the devil shrank from reminding Jesus of "ways" which he need not take; more probably because ' ways" hardly fitted this case (cf. Weiss). Trench, following St. Bernard, says that the omission of the... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Matthew 4:6

The limits of angel-charge. Observe the sentence omitted in the quotation. The psalmist wrote, "For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways." It may be that, from our points of view, the omission is not important, because we can see that it is involved even if it be not explicitly stated. The Divine care always assumes that its objects are in the sphere of duty. But it is significant that the tempter should omit what he evidently felt would spoil his... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Matthew 4:7

It is written again ; i.e. in addition, not to our Lord's previous quotation ( Matthew 4:4 ), in which case we should expect to lind πάλιν in Matthew 4:10 , but to the devil's appeal to Scripture. Bengel, "Scriptura per Scripturam interpretanda et concilianda". Thou shalt not tempt ( Deuteronomy 6:16 , verbally from the LXX ., and equivalent to the Hebrew, except that the Hebrew verb is in the plural). In Deuteronomy the sentence continues, "as ye tempted him in Massah;" i.e.... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Matthew 4:8

Into an exceeding high mountain ( εἰς ὄρος ὑψηλὸν λίαν ; cf. Ezekiel 40:2 ; Revelation 21:10 ). Not in Luke. While no material mountain would have enabled our Lord to see all the kingdoms, etc., with his bodily eyes, it is probable that the physical elevation and distance of landscape would psychologically help such a vision. The Quarantana, which "commands a noble prospect", may have been the spot. In the case of Ezekiel it is expressly said that his being "brought into the... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Matthew 4:8-9

Temptation through the consciousness of power. Bushnell observes that the report of the temptation can only have come from Christ himself. "And he simply meant, I have no doubt, in the three temptations recited, to report what appeared to him visionally speaking, or how they stood before his fevered brain. To believe that he was taken up into a mountain so exceedingly high that he could see all the kingdoms of the round world from the top, is fairly impossible. All temptations are but... read more

The Pulpit Commentary - Matthew 4:4

The Pulpit Commentary - Matthew 4:5

The Pulpit Commentary - Matthew 4:5-6

The Pulpit Commentary - Matthew 4:5-7

The Pulpit Commentary - Matthew 4:5-11

The Pulpit Commentary - Matthew 4:6

The Pulpit Commentary - Matthew 4:6

The Pulpit Commentary - Matthew 4:7

The Pulpit Commentary - Matthew 4:8

The Pulpit Commentary - Matthew 4:8-9

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