4. But he answered and said, It is written--
(De 8:3).
Man shall not live by bread alone--more emphatically, as in the
Greek, "Not by bread alone shall man live."
but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God--Of all
passages in Old Testament Scripture, none could have been pitched upon
more apposite, perhaps not one so apposite, to our Lord's purpose. "The
Lord . . . led thee (said Moses to Israel, at the close of their
journeyings) these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to
prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep
His commandments, or no. And He humbled thee, and suffered thee to
hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy
fathers know; that He might make thee know that man doth not live by
bread only," &c., "Now, if Israel spent, not forty days, but forty
years in a waste, howling wilderness, where there were no means of human
subsistence, not starving, but divinely provided for, on purpose to
prove to every age that human support depends not upon bread, but upon
God's unfailing word of promise and pledge of all needful providential
care, am I, distrusting this word of God, and despairing of relief, to
take the law into My own hand? True, the Son of God is able enough to
turn stones into bread: but what the Son of God is able to do is not the
present question, but what is man's duty under want of the
necessaries of life. And as Israel's condition in the wilderness did not
justify their unbelieving murmurings and frequent desperation, so
neither would Mine warrant the exercise of the power of the Son of God
in snatching despairingly at unwarranted relief. As man, therefore, I
will await divine supply, nothing doubting that at the fitting time it
will arrive." The second temptation in this Gospel is in Luke's the
third. That Matthew's order is the right one will appear, we think,
quite clearly in the sequel.
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
Quick Reference Map
Map of Galilee and northern Israel
(Click to Enlarge)
Painted Illustration of Jesus Calling James and John
Ancient Customs
Geography
Capernaum
Galilee
Matthew Resources
The New Testament