5. Then the devil taketh him up--rather, "conducteth Him."
into the holy city--so called (as in
Isa 48:2;
Ne 11:1)
from its being "the city of the Great King," the seat of the temple,
the metropolis of all Jewish worship.
and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple--rather, "the pinnacle"--a
certain well-known projection. Whether this refers to the highest
summit of the temple, which bristled with golden spikes
[JOSEPHUS, Antiquities, 5.5,6]; or whether it refers to another peak,
on Herod's royal portico, overhanging the ravine of Kedron, at the
valley of Hinnom--an immense tower built on the very edge of this
precipice, from the top of which dizzy height
JOSEPHUS says one could
not look to the bottom [Antiquities, 15.11,5]--is not certain; but
the latter is probably meant.
JFB.
Picture Study Bible