Mt 4:1-11. TEMPTATION OF CHRIST. ( = Mr 1:12, 13; Lu 4:1-13).
1. Then--an indefinite note of sequence. But Mark's word
(Mr 1:12)
fixes what we should have presumed was meant, that it was "immediately"
after His baptism; and with this agrees the statement of Luke
(Lu 4:1).
was Jesus led up--that is, from the low Jordan valley to some more
elevated spot.
of the Spirit--that blessed Spirit immediately before spoken of as
descending upon Him at His baptism, and abiding upon Him. Luke,
connecting these two scenes, as if the one were but the sequel of the
other, says, "Jesus, being full of the Holy Ghost, returned from Jordan,
and was led," &c. Mark's expression has a startling sharpness about
it--"Immediately the Spirit driveth Him"
(Mr 1:12),
"putteth," or "hurrieth Him forth," or "impelleth Him." (See the same
word in
Mr 1:43; 5:40;
Mt 9:25; 13:52;
Joh 10:4).
The thought thus strongly expressed is the mighty constraining impulse
of the Spirit under which He went; while Matthew's more gentle
expression, "was led up," intimates how purely voluntary on His own
part this action was.
into the wilderness--probably the wild Judean desert. The particular
spot which tradition has fixed upon has hence got the name of
Quarantana or Quarantaria, from the forty days--"an almost
perpendicular wall of rock twelve or fifteen hundred feet above the
plain" [ROBINSON, Palestine]. The supposition of those who incline
to place the temptation amongst the mountains of Moab is, we think, very
improbable.
to be tempted--The Greek word (peirazein) means simply to
try or make proof of; and when ascribed to God in His dealings with
men, it means, and can mean no more than this. Thus,
Ge 22:1,
"It came to pass that God did tempt Abraham," or put his faith to a
severe proof. (See
De 8:2).
But for the most part in Scripture the word is used in a bad sense, and
means to entice, solicit, or provoke to sin. Hence the name here given
to the wicked one--"the tempter"
(Mt 4:3).
Accordingly "to be tempted" here is to be understood both ways. The
Spirit conducted Him into the wilderness simply to have His faith
tried; but as the agent in this trial was to be the wicked one, whose
whole object would be to seduce Him from His allegiance to God, it was a
temptation in the bad sense of the term. The unworthy inference which
some would draw from this is energetically repelled by an apostle
(Jas 1:13-17).
of the devil--The word signifies a slanderer--one who casts
imputations upon another. Hence that other name given him
(Re 12:10),
"The accuser of the brethren, who accuseth them before our God day and
night." Mark
(Mr 1:13)
says, "He was forty days tempted of Satan," a word signifying an
adversary, one who lies in wait for, or sets himself in
opposition to another. These and other names of the same fallen spirit
point to different features in his character or operations. What was
the high design of this? First, as we judge, to give our Lord a taste
of what lay before Him in the work He had undertaken; next, to make
trial of the glorious equipment for it which He had just received;
further, to give Him encouragement, by the victory now to be won, to go
forward spoiling principalities and powers, until at length He should
make a show of them openly, triumphing over them in His cross: that the
tempter, too, might get a taste, at the very outset, of the new kind of
material in man which he would find he had here to deal with;
finally, that He might acquire experimental ability "to succor them
that are tempted"
(Heb 2:18).
The temptation evidently embraced two stages: the one continuing
throughout the forty days' fast; the other, at the conclusion of that
period.
JFB.
Outline
1 The temptation of Jesus
13 Jesus dwells in Capernaum
17 Jesus begins to preach
18 Jesus calls Peter and Andrew, James and John
23 Jesus heals the sick
Drawing of the Temptation of Jesus Christ by Dore
Important Topics for Bible Study
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Painted Illustration of Jesus Calling James and John
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