Matthew 4:3-10 NLT

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

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Matthew 4:8-10

The third ordeal-temptation of Jesus. The first temptation was aimed at Jesus in the matter of the appetite of the body. The second in that of the audacious ambition of a daring mind, whose pride of self and of thought would court every presumption whatsoever. The third is an immediate assault on the properly spiritual nature of man, which involves first of all conception of duty, of religion, and of its grandest presentation in commandment the first, for ever and ever the first ! ... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Matthew 4:9

All these things will I give thee ( ταῦτά σοι πάντα δώσω ). The devil puts "these things" and "thee" in the sharpest contrast. In Luke the devil says, "To thee will I give all this authority, and the glory of them: for it [ i.e. the authority] hath been delivered unto me; and to whomsoever I will I give it;" i.e. there the devil speaks of giving, not actual possession of the things themselves (Matthew), but the authority that this implied, "and the glory of them." According to St.... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Matthew 4:10

Get thee hence, Satan . "Avaunt, Satan" (Rheims). Christ does not address him.directly till this climax. The two previous temptations were, comparatively speaking, ordinary and limited. This temptation calls out a passionate utterance of a personality stirred, because touched, in its depths. Only once again do we find our Lord so moved, in Matthew 16:23 (the "Western" and "Syrian" addition here of ὀπίσω μου from that passage emphasizes the feeling common to the two cases), when a... read more

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

The Pulpit Commentary - Matthew 4:8-10

The Pulpit Commentary - Matthew 4:9

The Pulpit Commentary - Matthew 4:10

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