Matthew · Chapter 4

V. 1. Then-After this glorious evidence of his Father's love, he was completely armed for the combat. Thus after the clearest light and the strongest consolation, let us expect the sharpest temptations. By the Spirit-Probably through a strong inward impulse. Mark 1:12; Luke 4:1.

Verse 1. Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit] This transaction appears to have taken place immediately after Christ’s baptism; and this bringing up of Christ was through the influence of the Spirit of God; that Spirit which had rested upon him in his baptism.

To be tempted] The first act of the ministry of Jesus Christ was a combat with Satan. Does not this receive light from Genesis 3:17. I will put enmity between the woman’s seed and thy seed: it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.

Verse 1. Then — After the afore-mentioned glorious manifestation of his Father’s love, by which he was armed for the combat. Was Jesus led by the Spirit — By a strong impulse of the Spirit of God, of which he was full; into the wilderness — Probably, the wilderness near Jordan, which, as Mr. Maundrell, who travelled through it, assures us, is a miserable and horrid place, consisting of high, barren mountains, so that it looks as if nature had suffered some violent convulsions there. Our Lord, probably, was assaulted in the northern part of it, near the sea of Galilee, because he is said by Luke to be returning to Nazareth, from whence he came to be baptized. To be tempted of the devil — That is, the chief of the devils, Satan, the everlasting enemy of God and man. The proper meaning of the original word here, and in other places of the Old and New Testaments, translated to tempt, is to try. Hence we sometimes, as Genesis 22:1, read of God’s tempting men, as well as of the devil’s tempting them. But there is this difference between the temptations, or trials, that are immediately from God, and those that are from Satan, by God’s permission. We are tempted, or tried, by God, that our righteousness, our faith, love, patience, and every grace and virtue, may be manifested, approved, and further increased: and therefore, as James says, Blessed is the man who, in this sense, endureth temptation. But the devil tempts, or tries us, in expectation of finding us insincere, or unstable, and with a view to lead us into sin by his subtlety and power; in which sense God, who cannot be tempted with evil, or see any thing desirable in it, tempteth no man. Doubtless, it must have been for some very great and good ends that the Holy Spirit thus moved our Lord to repair into the wilderness, to be tempted of the devil. For though, by his repairing thither, he might partly intend to enjoy a devout retirement, that as man he might give vent to those sacred passions which the late grand occurrences of the descent of the Spirit upon him, and the miraculous attestation of a voice from heaven, had such a tendency to inspire; yet no doubt he foresaw that this season of intercourse with heaven would be followed by a violent assault from hell, and he went into the wilderness with a view also to meet and combat with the grand adversary of mankind. Probably, as Theophylact observes, one grand end might be to teach us that when we have consecrated ourselves to God’s service, and have been favoured with peculiar marks of divine acceptance, and the consolations of his Spirit, we must expect temptations; and to teach us, by our Lord’s example, how we may best and most effectually resist them, even by an unshaken faith, 1 Peter 5:9; and by the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, Ephesians 6:17. 2d, Our Lord was tempted thus, that his perfect holiness might be tried and approved. 3d, That Satan might be conquered, which he never had perfectly been by any man before. 4th, That Christ might become a merciful and faithful high priest, one who can succour his people in time of need, and pity them when they happen to fall by temptation. The apostle assigns this reason expressly, Hebrews 2:17 Hebrews

Verse 1. Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit, upo tou pneumatov, the Holy Spirit, as indicated by the Greek article, and declared in the verses preseding. Led into the wilderness, where he was with the wild beasts. Mark 1:12, 13. Here, like Moses on the mount, Exodus 24., the Saviour enjoyed abstraction from the world, and lived with the Father, without need of earthly food, as the saints shall live in heaven. Here also, as Moses received the law, so the Saviour received the new law, the law of the Spirit of life.

To be tempted of the devil, of the accuser, as in Revelation 12:9, 10. But the word in authors is often applied to persons guilty of calumny and slander. In Hebrew, the evil one is called Satan, the adversary. The LXX call him diabolov diábolus, dev, or devil, from the Persic. St. Paul charges both men and women not to be diaboloi diaboloi, false accusers. 2 Timothy 3:3. Titus 2:3. Satan is often called o ponhrov, the evil one, as in 1 John 5:18, and again in ver. 19. “The whole world lieth in the wicked one.” The satyrs mentioned in Isaiah 13:21. 34:14, are called diamonia demons by the LXX, and are followed by the evangelists when speaking of inferior spirits. In many places they are called diamwn, and diamonion; and in profane authors, numen, larva, genius, &c. Christian, these are thine enemies. Take the panoply, the whole armour of God. What Milton says is founded on ancient faith.

Millions of spiritual creatures walk the earth

Unseen, both when we wake, and when we sleep.

Paradise Lost, book 4:677.

§ 17. — TEMPTATION OF JESUS, 1-11.

For great missions the preparation is great trials. It was befitting that the newly inaugurated Prince of Light should come into a trial-contest with the prince of darkness. Our views of this transaction we present with sincere diffidence, giving often what appears to us as on the whole the best solutions, rather than dogmatic certainties.

We can view this transaction neither as a mere train of thought, as a vision, as a parable, nor a myth; but as a great verity, occupying a most significant place in the system of sacred realities. The first Adam truly was tempted, and fell; the second Adam was as truly tempted, and won the victory. Hence he became the great head of triumphant humanity. Tempted in all points as we, he shows how to overcome. We remark:

1. The history implies in the abstract human nature of Jesus the power to sin. This is necessary in order to a responsible, free agency. If he had no power to choose sin, it is difficult to see how he could be tempted to a choice, not only impossible, but consciously impossible. If he could not comply with temptation, there could be no danger, and truly no temptation at all. If he was unable to comply with the temptation, there was no virtue in the non-compliance. He was that much no free agent; his non-compliance was necessary and mechanical, and so non-meritorious. The supposition that Christ could not sin raises him above all fitness to be an example for us as one “tempted in all points like as we are, yet without sin.” Propose such a pattern to a fallible sinner, and he can answer conclusively, “Make it impossible for me to sin and I will be as holy as he.” None but a free agent can be an example for a free agent, Nor is any but a free agent capable of responsible probation. This free agency implies not, indeed, a preferential state of soul for evil, as exists in depraved man, but a susceptibility, as in the perfect first Adam, to impressions which, voluntarily followed out to excess or misdirection, would become sin. This view implies no uncertainty of his accomplishing our redemption. For, in full view of all possibilities, the infinite wisdom and foreknowledge of God had selected, for Messiah, that being, of all others, who, he foresaw, would, with perfect free will, prefer God to Satan, and, in spite of all temptation, prove true to his redemptional office. Hence, while there was an intrinsic possibility in the thing, there was a full and perfect certainty upon which the divine mind could rest, that that possible catastrophe of his fall would not take place.

1 Christ fasteth, and is tempted. 11 The angels minister unto him, 13 He dwelleth in Capernaum, 17 beginneth to preach, 18 calleth Peter, and Andrew, 21 James and John, 23 and healeth all the diseased.

CHAPTER 4. Verse 1. Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness. — Tote appears here to have the sense of afterward; for in John 1:35, 48; 2:1, there is an account of the transactions of three days immediately following the baptism of Christ; on one of which he attended the marriage in Cana of Galilee. On the completion of these he was led UP of the Spirit, that is, he was led up from the plain to the mountainous parts of the desert. This mode of speaking plainly shows that the transaction was not in vision. He was impelled by a strong influence of the Spirit, from one place to another. Any place would have been equally suitable for the purpose of producing an impression upon the imagination during sleep, or in a trance; but here a solitary, wild, and secluded region is chosen, that during his forty days’ trial he should be subject to no intrusion, and that he might have no relief from food at that distance from the habitations of men. The Spirit here mentioned is the Holy Spirit, which had just descended upon him; and as that Spirit exerted an extraordinary power upon the animal frame of some of the prophets, impelling them to various places, and signally sustaining them under great exertions and fasts, so this was a sensible proof that the same mighty prophetic Spirit, though in him “without measure,” had been received by him. — St. Mark uses the strong phrase, to Pneuma auton ekballei, “the Spirit driveth him into the wilderness.” The place is generally supposed to be the wilderness of Judea, a sterile, rocky, and desolate region, “of savage aspect,” says Maundrell; and which a more modern traveller describes as having “the rudest appearance; not a blade of verdure is to be seen over all the surface, and not the sound of a living creature is to be heard over all the extent.” It is, however, debated whether this wilderness, which ran southward along the Dead Sea, or some part of the mountainous region near the lake of Tiberias, and which in many places is equally wild and solitary, was the scene of the temptation. A third opinion places the transaction in the desert of Quarantonia, which extends from Jericho, by the mountain of Bethel, two miles and a half from Jerusalem, which also was desert and uncultivated. This is maintained by Wetstein, Rosenmuller, and Koinoel. It had its modern name from the forty days during which the temptation continued.

To be tempted of the devil. — The word answers to the Hebrew Satan, “an adversary.” Wickliffe, in his translation, has rendered it the feende, a word derived from the German feind, which also signifies an enemy. This temptation was part of our Lord’s humiliation. His holy soul was to be subject, through this long period of forty days and forty nights, to the foul suggestions of evil; it was also appointed that he should be made, in this respect, as in all others, like unto his brethren, “for that he himself both suffered, being tempted, he is able to succour them that are tempted;” of which ability his victory is the indubitable proof. By this, too, he was to show forth his power over Satan, by whose guile the first Adam had been seduced; and to begin to justify his title to be that seed of the woman, whose office it was to bruise the serpent’s head. Our modern rationalists, as they would be esteemed, but who have a much better title to be considered as the Sadducees of the Christian Church, deny the existence of the devil, and resolve therefore the whole of this account of our Lord’s conflict partly into vision and partly into personification. It may, however, be affirmed that on philosophic grounds the existence of such malignant spirits as are employed in the work of tempting men involves no absurdity, and accords with analogies among men which cannot be denied, because they are obvious facts. If man, a rational being, is often seen to hate all good, and delighting only in evil, superior intelligences may possess the same characters. If we see in many men a maturity of vice which expels all the better feelings, and an anxiety in such depraved persons to corrupt others, and to glory in the miseries they thus inflict, what have we in these cases but visible portraits of what Satan himself is, and exemplifications of the work in which he is employed? And, finally, if it enters into our state of probation to be tempted to evil; that such temptations should not arise as well from the influence of evil spirits as from the effect produced upon the imaginations, passions, and appetites by visible external things, no good reason can be given. There is nothing in this case which is contrary to any principle clearly laid down in the word of God, who maintains our free agency, in these circumstances of our state of trial, by the succours of his grace. On the other hand, the denial of the doctrine of temptation from the influence of invisible beings upon the soul of man must force us either to reject the Scriptures altogether, or to adopt those modes of violent interpretation which are wholly inconsistent with the simplicity of their historical narratives, and which would render their meaning in all cases so uncertain as to destroy their character as a revelation of truth from God. Nor less objectionable is the principle advocated by the neological critics of Germany, and applied to this and other cases, namely, that our Lord and his apostles often adopted, the erroneous theological opinions and modes of speaking current among the Jews, just as they employed the philosophic language and allusions of the age in which they lived, without intending to give their sanction to any system of human science. For it remains to be proved, that either our Lord or his apostles in any case do ever speak according to an erroneous philosophy of the day; and, if they do, it is only allusively in cases where the current notions of the day would serve the moral purpose they intended just as well as the more correct mode of speaking now used, if, indeed, we are nearer to philosophic truth on such subjects than the ancients. But an error in what may be called pneumatological divinity stands on a very different ground. If there be no Satan, there is no Holy Ghost; for each maybe resolved into personification: if there be no spiritual evil influence, we have no reason to conclude from the same Scriptures that there is any supernatural good influence. Farther: if there were no true demoniacal possessions, then were the persons reputed to be so possessed mere lunatics and epileptics; and the casting them out was a deceptive assumption of pretended power, fatal to the character of our Lord, and the honesty of his disciples; and if there be no disembodied spirits, then were the disciples deceived, and that by our Lord himself; and the hope of conscious existence immediately after the death of the body, so cheering to them and to all good men since, is without any foundation in truth. Finally, not to push these consequences any farther, it follows, in direct opposition to our Saviour’s own words, that, although Jehovah is called the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, he is the God of the DEAD, and not of the LIVING. All these consequences may, indeed, be hazarded by bold men, who treat the Scriptures with little deference; but their crime is not lessened by their temerity; for they profanely represent the inspired writers as teaching popularly what is not true, on some of the most serious subjects which can influence human feelings and human conduct. They change, too, the whole economy of Christianity, which presents us with a grand view of the connection of man, and the events and history of our world, with invisible worlds and beings, and thus isolate our earth as the theatre on which these great displays of the wisdom, power, and mercy of God take place, from those innumerable other beings which take an interest in them, and for whose instruction and advantage, or discomfiture and punishment, they are also permitted. A large portion of the grandeur of the great scheme of human redemption is thus at once annihilated by these petty and minifying systems. As to the notion that the temptation of our Lord was transacted in vision, it is contradicted by the simple narrative form which is used by the evangelists. It is in the same style that they record this event, and those which the objectors themselves acknowledge to be real and with quite as much reason might the history of the crucifixion be resolved into the phantasms of a dream as the account before us. Thus viewed, too, the temptation could no longer be one of the circumstances of our Lord’s humiliation; and the great moral use which St. Paul draws from it, as affording an assurance to the followers of Christ, that in all temptations they might rely upon his sympathy as having been “in all points tempted like unto us, yet without sin,” is lost; seeing that we are tempted to evil, not in vision, but in reality. Finally: it is sufficient to settle this whole question entirely, to remark that if the temptation of our Lord were a dream or visionary representation, the usual exercise of the reason and the senses being suspended, it was no temptation at all; for there could have been no sin, if in a dream or a vision, in which all free agency would be suspended, our Lord had either commanded the stones to be made bread, or had cast himself down from the pinnacle of the temple, or had even done homage to Satan himself.

V. 2. Having fasted-Whereby doubtless he received more abundant spiritual strength from God.

Forty days and forty nights-As did Moses, the giver of the law, and Elijah, the great restorer of it.

He was afterward hungry-And so prepared for the first temptation.

Verse 2. And when he had fasted forty days] It is remarkable that Moses, the great lawgiver of the Jews, previously to his receiving the law from God, fasted forty days in the mount; that Elijah, the chief of the prophets, fasted also forty days; and that Christ, the giver of the New Covenant, should act in the same way. Was not all this intended to show, that God’s kingdom on earth was to be spiritual and Divine?-that it should not consist in meat and drink, but in righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost? Romans 14:17. Relative to the forty days’ fast of Moses, there is a beautiful saying in the Talmudists. “Is it possible that any man can fast forty days and forty nights? To which Rabbi Meir answered, When thou takest up thy abode in any particular city, thou must live according to its customs. Moses ascended to heaven, where they neither eat nor drink therefore he became assimilated to them. We are accustomed to eat and drink; and, when angels descend to us, they eat and drink also.” Moses, Elijah, and our blessed Lord could fast forty days and forty nights, because they were in communion with God, and living a heavenly life.

2:17, 18. And, 5th, That assurance might be given to his people of an everlasting victory over, and deliverance from, the power of Satan. Verse 2. And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights — As Moses, the giver, and Elias, the restorer of the law, had done before: he was afterward a hungered — That is, he was as sharply assaulted with hunger, as any man is at any time for want of food. Thus he was fitted for the ensuing trial of his trust in God. And, as an ancient writer observes, We are then especially to expect temptations, when we are alone, and when we are in straits and exigencies, from which we see no ordinary way of deliverance, which was the case with Christ. For he was hungry, and in a wild wilderness, where was no food, and was at last fed miraculously by angels ministering unto him.

Ver. 2. He was afterwards an hungered. Hunger may be regarded as the keenest sensation of nature, and has often excited the passions to desperate deeds.

2. In the whole transaction we are to view the Saviour in pure humanity. As he is led by the Spirit to the scene, so the blessed human one stood sole and singular in the universe — a pure lone man, as the first Adam himself, leaning, indeed, as every Christian may, on the divine arm, yet as truly able to fall by his own will from all union with God, as our first progenitor, and truly able, by freely standing, to maintain an identification with God, impossible to the man of Eden.

Verse 2. Fasted forty days and forty nights. — Thus Moses and Elijah fasted, being like our Lord sustained by “the Preserver of men.” The nights are mentioned as well as the days, because the Jews used to eat in the night during their common fasts; and, indeed, according to Maimonides, they might eat and drink after sunset during all the fasts, except the month of Abib. Throughout the whole of this period, however, our Saviour felt no hunger; for it is added, “AFTERWARD he hungered.”

V. 3. Coming to him-In a visible form; probably in a human shape, as one that desired to inquire farther into the evidences of his being the Messiah.

Verse 3. And when the tempter] This onset of Satan was made (speaking after the manner of men) judiciously: he came when Jesus, after having fasted forty days and forty nights, was hungry: now, as hunger naturally diminishes the strength of the body, the mind gets enfeebled, and becomes easily irritated; and if much watching and prayer be not employed, the uneasiness which is occasioned by a lack of food may soon produce impatience, and in this state of mind the tempter has great advantages. The following advice of an Arabian philosopher to his son is worthy of attention. “My son, never go out of the house in the morning, till thou hast eaten something: by so doing, thy mind will be more firm; and, shouldest thou be insulted by any person, thou wilt find thyself more disposed to suffer patiently: for hunger dries up and disorders the brain.” Bibliot. Orient. Suppl. p. 449. The state of our bodily health and worldly circumstances may afford our adversary many opportunities of doing us immense mischief. In such cases, the sin to which we are tempted may be justly termed, as in Hebrews 12:1, thn euperistaton amartian, the well circumstanced sin, because all the circumstances of time, place, and state of body and mind, are favourable to it.

If thou be the Son of God] Or, a son of God, uiov tou qeou. uiov is here, and in Luke 4:3, written without the article; and therefore should not be translated THE Son, as if it were o uiov, which is a phrase that is applicable to Christ as the Messiah: but it is certain, whatever Satan might suspect, he did not fully know that the person he tempted was the true Messiah. Perhaps one grand object of his temptation was to find this out. Command that these stones] The meaning of this temptation is: “Distrust the Divine providence and support, and make use of illicit means to supply thy necessities.”

Verse 3. And when the tempter came to him — In a visible shape and appearance, to tempt him outwardly, as he had done inwardly before. For it appears from the account which Mark and Luke have given us of this matter, that our Lord had been tempted by the devil invisibly during the whole of the above-mentioned forty days — but now, it seems, he came to him in a visible form, probably in the human, as one that desired to inquire further into the evidences of his mission. Accordingly he said, If thou be the Son of God — In such an extraordinary sense as thou hast been declared to be, and if thou art indeed the promised Messiah, expected under that character, command that these stones be made bread — To relieve thy hunger, for in such circumstances it will undoubtedly be done. Thus Satan took advantage of our Lord’s distress to tempt him to doubt his being the Son of God in the sense in which he had just been declared to be so; and it seems the object of this first temptation was, to excite in his mind a distrust of the care and kindness of his heavenly Father, and to induce him to use unwarranted means to relieve his hunger. But it is objected here, If Christ were God, why should he be tempted? Was it to show that God was able to overcome the temptations of the devil? Could there be any doubt of this? We answer, he was man, very man, as well as God, “of a reasonable soul, and human flesh subsisting,” and it was only as man that he was tempted. If it be replied, that seeing his human nature was personally united to the divine, it must still be superfluous to show that even his human nature, thus influenced, should be able to baffle the assaults of Satan: Irenæus, an eminent father of the second century, answering this very objection, then made by the Ebionites, (the elder brethren of the Photinians and Socinians,) observes that, as he was man, that he might be tempted, so he was the Word, that he might be glorified; the Word, (or Godhead,) being quiescent in his temptation, crucifixion, and death. These words being preserved and cited, says Dr. Whitby, by Theodoret, show that the latter fathers approved of this solution of this difficulty. Among the reasons assigned of our Lord’s temptation, one is, the consolation of his members conflicting with the adversary of their souls. For, in that he suffered, being tempted, he can sympathize with, and succour those that are tempted; affording them the same Spirit that was in him, that they may resist the devil with the same weapons, and overcome him with the same assistance, by which he, in his human nature, combated and conquered. Now this ground of comfort would be wholly taken from us, if Christ overcame Satan merely by virtue of that nature, by which he was apeirastov kakwn, James 1:13, incapable of being overcome by temptation. But if, with Irenæus, we affirm that the divinity was then quiescent in him, and that he overcame Satan by virtue of the Spirit given to him, we, who have the same unction from the Holy One, may also hope to do it by his aid.

Ver. 3. The tempter came to him. Probably in the person of some aged patriarch, full of good offices; but though professing humanity, he brought him stones instead of bread. Our Milton, whose genius is surpassed by none, in the ninth book of Paradise Lost, makes the same tempter enter the serpent, and sport his coils and gambols in the presence of Eve, who being delighted and astonished with his conversation, said, I thought the beasts were dumb; — how is it that you can reason and speak? I have acquired all this vivacity, and all these superior endowments, he replied, by eating the most delicious fruits of a certain tree. Eve beguiled by these and similar arguments, plucked and ate! The serpent then fled, well knowing the influence the woman would have over her husband.

In like manner, the second Adam must be tried as well as the first. No auxiliaries must be allowed the Saviour, and no restraints must be imposed on the prince of darkness, beyond the limits of his commission. The battle must be fairly fought, and on the great theatre of the spiritual world. The ministry of angels must be suspended, as was the battle between the Trojans and the Greeks, while Achilles and Hector engaged in single combat.

If thou be the Son of God. If thou art what the voice from heaven has said, God’s beloved Son; the only begotten, the emanation of the Father’s glory, the Word, the Wisdom, the power of God by whom all things were created, command that these stones be made bread. Here is the true idea of the Son of God, who is one substance with the Father. Here is the true, the fair inference drawn from his Divinity, — that of creative power. Command that these stones be made bread. The inference of the apostle John is the same: “all things were made by him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.” Such also is the inference of other inspired men. Psalm 33:6. Proverbs 8:22, 30. Colossians 1:15. Satan’s design however was hidden under fair appearances of words; his aim was if possible to beguile the Saviour, to induce a distrust of providence, and attempt a miracle in unbelief. Nay, not a miracle only, but a superabundance of miracles; he does not say this stone, but “these stones.” Had he succeeded in this temptation, he had succeeded also in drawing the Saviour into sin, and so of frustrating the work of human redemption. — What was the Saviour’s reply?

3. As God said to Satan of Job, so now, we conceive, he said of his Son: “Behold, he is in thine hand, but save his life.” Satan had it in his power to tempt him only with apparent good. Not now was his hour and power to try him with untold agonies. But by withstanding the temptations to the apparently good, the man Jesus proved his fitness to stand the terrible ordeal of ill.

Verse 3. And when the tempter came to him. — This probably was the first visible appearance of Satan during the temptation; though, as it was the sole object of our Lord’s being led up into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil, we must conclude, that a series of temptations, arising from that secret, invisible influence which the tempter was permitted to exercise upon his thoughts, had troubled his spirit through the whole of that painful season; and so, indeed, it is stated by the other evangelists. Now, however, Satan appears in a human form, as it would seem, for no other is intimated. It has been asked whether it is likely that Satan knew the dignity of our Lord’s person; and if so, what hope of success could he have in tempting him? The question is more curious than useful; and perhaps is not capable of an answer entirely satisfactory. We may, however, remark that Satan could not be ignorant that the Messiah was promised and expected, nor of the high and Divine character assigned to him in the writings of the Jewish prophets; and as perhaps he was a better interpreter of Scripture than the Jews, he would not be thrown into any doubts as to the Messiahship of Jesus by the humility of his advent, and his then apparent indigent circumstances. But of the mystery of the personal union of the Divine and human natures in Christ he could have no adequate conception; for this is one of those respects in which “no man knoweth the Son, but the Father.” Being therefore in necessary ignorance of the mode and degree in which the human nature of our Lord was sustained by the Divine, he could not ascertain how far our Lord AS A MAN was capable of sinning. He might therefore hope to prevail against the inferior nature, and, by defiling that, to render, at least, that incarnation of a Redeemer void. And said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread. — The temptation here is suitable to the circumstances: evil and good each derive force from their seasonableness; a point which a tempter so long practised and subtle as Satan well understands; and hence, our Lord being oppressed with hunger, he suggests to him to command the stones near them to be made bread, to answer the double purpose of supplying his own wants, and giving to a pretended inquirer as to the truth of his mission, which was the character he appears to have assumed, a miraculous proof of his dignity and office. — Satan evidently alludes to the baptism of Christ, in which he had been declared to be the Son Of God. This very allusion shows that the absence of the article before uiov does not lower its sense. This is true also where the article is wanting both before uiov and qeou, as is proved by Matthew 27:43.

V. 4. It is written-Thus Christ answered, and thus we may answer all the suggestions of the devil.

By every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God-That is, by whatever God commands to sustain him. Therefore it is not needful I should work a miracle to procure bread, without any intimation of my Father's will. Deuteronomy 8:3.

Verse 4. But by (or, upon, epi) every word] rhma, in Greek, answers to rbd dabar in Hebrew, which means not only a word spoken, but also thing, purpose, appointment, &c. Our Lord’s meaning seems to be this: God purposes the welfare of his creatures-all his appointments are calculated to promote this end. Some of them may appear to man to have a contrary tendency; but even fasting itself, when used in consequence of a Divine injunction, becomes a mean of supporting that life which it seems naturally calculated to impair or destroy.

Verse 4. It is written — There is no better way of answering the tempter, than by opposing the word of God to his temptations. This is that sword of the Spirit that must put him to flight. The Church of Rome, therefore, by taking from the people the word of God, disarm them as to the spiritual combat. Man shall not live by bread alone — These words are quoted from Deuteronomy 8:3, and signify that bread, or ordinary sustenance, is not necessary to support the life of man; that God can feed and sustain him by other means: but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God shall man live — That is, by whatsoever he shall appoint for his sustenance; or even by his bare word. Therefore, it is not needful that I should work a miracle to procure bread, without any intimation of my Father’s will. He can support me without bread, as he fed the Israelites in the wilderness; and, on the other hand, even bread itself, if these stones were turned into it, could not nourish me without his blessing; which I could not expect, were I to attempt a miracle of this kind merely in compliance with thy suggestions. Here we are taught, in imitation of Christ, always to maintain such an humble dependance on the divine blessing, as never to venture out of the way of it, be our necessity ever so urgent.

Ver. 4. Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. This was our Lord’s answer, which intimates that as bread sustains the body, so the promises of God sustain the soul. Thus also he teaches us in the trying hour, to run to the bible for counsel and divine support. Those weapons of distrust, of doubt and fear, are still the artillery of the prince of darkness to harrass the saints. Strange arguments, that we should distrust the love of a heavenly Father, and the promises of God, which are all yea and amen in Christ Jesus. To these precious words of grace, let us alway have recourse in the day of conflict; and let us abate nothing of their plenitude, because they are like the source from which they flow, infinite and inexhaustible.

4. This surrender to Satan was greater, we think, than is ordinarily conceived. So far forth as the necessities of the trial required, yet with no power of violence or contamination, our Lord’s person was in his hand. How else did Satan take him to the temple’s summit, or to the mountain top? Or how did he make all the kingdoms of the world visible to his eye? The miracles indicated in the first query maybe supposed to be performed,

1. By creating the conceptions in the Saviour’s mind; or, 2. By snatching his soul from his body; or, 3. By transporting his person so with the quickness of a thought, that he is not to be conceived as on his way at any intermediate point. We adopt the last as being perfectly supposable, and as best meeting the honest demands of the literal history. The miracle suggested in the second question above, of making visible to his eye all the kingdoms of the world, but simply requires that we frame our ideas to the unparallelled statement. It is as conceivable that Satan should endow a human eye with miraculous vision, as that he should fire the human blood of Job with miraculous heat, and compel it to fling out boils upon the skin. That he should do this upon a high mountain, where the natural eye could see as far as possible, accords with the universal rule that the miraculous should never be used where the natural will suffice; or rather that the natural should furnish a nucleus for the miraculous, just as our Saviour, touching with his finger, or with a clay and spittle ointment, the eyes of the blind, formed a nucleus for the miracle of restoration of sight.

1. Led up… into the wilderness — As the preposition up indicates that the wilderness was high ground, and the circumstances of the temptation suggest the nearness of the temple, we may accept the tradition which assigns the wilderness of Judea and Mount Quarantania as the locality. This is in the mountainous region toward Jericho, within a brief distance of Jerusalem. Dr. Durbin thus describes the scene on his journey from Jerusalem to Jericho:

“After pursuing our way for an hour or two down the rugged ravine which forms the road, we turned to the left, and ascended into the desolate and blackened mountains of the ‘Wilderness of Judea,’ the scene of John the Baptist’s ministration and of our Lord’s temptation. Of all places in the world, it is naturally fittest for the centre and kingdom of Satan the destroyer; for, as Maundrell says, ‘it is a most miserable, dry, barren place, consisting of high, rocky mountains, so torn and disordered as if the earth had suffered some great convulsion, in which its very bowels had been turned outward.’ This fearful wilderness, not ten miles east of Jerusalem, has always been the abode of violence and misery. The very road on which we passed was the scene of our Lord’s parable of the Good Samaritan.

“About half way between Jerusalem and Jericho we passed the crumbling walls of a large khan, with immense cisterns. Following the rugged road, often through avenues cut in the rock, we came, by two o’clock, to the eastern edge of the wilderness which overlooks the plain of Jericho, clad in deep green verdure, caused by the fertilizing streams of the Fountain of Elisha. Beyond it, deep in the valley, and as yet invisible, flowed the Jordan, while the view beyond was closed by the dark masses of the mountains of Moab, inviting the eye of the pilgrim to select Nebo and Pisgah. I paused on the brow of the mountain, near the well-preserved remains of a Roman aqueduct, which once supplied water to the city of Jericho, and gazed upon this wide and gloomy panorama encircling the rich green plain which lay spread out far away below me. Immediately around was the dreary wilderness already described; to the right, in their deep, sunken bed, lay the still waters of the Dead Sea; far to the left, the mountains of the wilderness projected into the Jordan, and closed the plain to the north. In that direction, just above the Fountain of Elisha, rose above the rest the dark, thunder-scathed head of Mount Quarantania, which tradition assigns as the ‘exceeding high mountain’ from which Satan showed our Lord ‘all the kingdoms of this world.’ Its summit seems inaccessible; yet a little chapel is perched upon it, and its side next the Jordan is cut into caverns and chambers, in which we saw at night the flitting taper of the hermit, or of the pilgrim doing penance during Lent.” Of the Spirit — So Ezekiel 3:14: “The spirit lifted me and took me.” So also Acts 8:39: “The Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip… Philip was found at Azotus.”

To be tempted — Put to the test. His virtues were to be tried by a contest with his and our great adversary. The heads of the kingdom of heaven and the kingdom of hell must meet in contest. How vapid to reduce all this to a vision! The devil — The Diabolus or Accuser. The being who accused Job, and who brings ever a charge against God’s elect. He is not the “personified principle of evil,” but a being deeply animated by the purpose of evil.

1. We have no more right to reduce Satan and hell to figure, than we have Christ, angels, and heaven, nay, God himself. If there are good beings in the body there are also bad. So, also, if there are good bodiless spirits, there may be bad. It is no more contrary to the nature of God’s government that there should be a Satan, than that there should be a Nimrod, a Tamerlane, or a Mohammed.

2. Though Satan is not omnipresent nor omnipotent, he may fill a vast space with his presence. We know not how much of the earth he may overshadow at the same moment. And we know not how numerous the demoniac angels who do his bidding, and through whom he tempts the sons of men.

3. The allusions to his fall from a state of purity are too numerous and pointed to leave a doubt as to its being a doctrine of Scripture. Such are John 8:44; Jude 1:6; 2 Peter 2:4.

4. Satan is crafty beyond measure, but very little wise. There may be depths of cunning and masses of knowledge in him, and yet many of the plainest, simplest things of redemption, Christ, and Scripture, may be utterly unintelligible to his fatuity. The simplest saint, though immeasurably outwitted by him, may be deep, beyond his comprehension, in the things of God. So the bee can build her comb with the science of a profound mathematician without being able to count three.

2. Had fasted forty days — Just so Moses fasted forty days at Sinai, (Deuteronomy 9:9,) and so Elijah fasted forty days. Moses was founder of a dispensation; Elijah was restorer; and Christ was both founder and restorer. And as Christ was led by the Spirit, so it was the divine will and order that he should pass this ordeal as an induction to his office. As Adam and Eve in the garden were, by the divine order, made to fast from a particular food, so Christ in the wilderness was required, by the same divine order, to fast for a particular season. He was… ahungered — He hungered.

THE FIRST TEMPTATION, 3-4.

3. The tempter — The being who loves to lead man into sin. Came to him — In what form Satan came is not said. He tempted Eve as a serpent; perhaps he tempted our Lord as an angel of light or truth. At any rate, he was at first disguised; for our Saviour did not recognize him to be Satan until the deceiver claimed his worship.

If thou be the Son of God — The consciousness of his divine union with God, so far forth as he had yet received it, may now, perhaps, be supposed to be in a measure withheld. He is the pure-minded, guileless, guiltless Jewish youth, alone in the wilderness; worn and weak with the fasting and the excitement with which the fast had been sustained. Was it not a rare chance for Satanic counsels? “How know you that you are the Son of God? True, there are some prodigious narratives about your birth, but they may be fables; there were the dove and the voice dropped from the sky at your baptism; but that may have been an ocular illusion. It is a great thing for a quiet young man to imagine himself Messiah and Son of God.” Command — Nothing like experiment. Try to put forth miraculous power, and that will show whether or not you are divine. That these stones be made bread — You are hungry. Here is the material, and you have the power. Use your Messianic power to supply your bodily wants. So you will at once prove your divinity and satisfy your hunger.

In this first temptation Satan tempts our Lord, as he did Eve, by the bodily appetite. He appeals to the animal nature first. By this avenue he approaches and conquers the great majority of mankind. Beneath this temptation of bodily appetites all gluttons, drunkards, and debauchees have fallen and become the devil’s prey.

4. He answered — Our Lord, like Eve, though with more constancy and better success, quotes God hath said. Our Saviour may not have known to whom he quoted Scripture; but as the devil dared not reveal his wicked character, Jesus won the argument. Man shall not live by bread alone — Man’s whole life and nature are not sustained solely by material food. Bodily food may imperfectly sustain the body. But man has something nobler than stomach. He has a spirit, noble, God-given, immortal. Hence, though feeding my body with bread made from stones may gratify my hunger, it may irreparably ruin my higher nature. By every word… of God — As the bread feeds the body, so the word feeds the soul. The word is the manna by which God sustains our spiritual nature. Whether it be his instructive, consoling, or preceptive word, it is by that every word proceeding from the mouth of God that man’s soul liveth. The soul of the man Jesus, as here intimated, lived by a perfect obedience to every preceptive word proceeding from God, which preceptive word now forbade him to create that bread by which the body might live, but the soul perish. But what wrong would there have been in transforming the stones and eating the bread? We answer, he would have transgressed the divine order specified in our comment on verse 2. He was still under the rule of the Spirit; and the period of his inductive probation was unexpired. Had he complied with the tempter, he would have fallen by just the same sin as the first Adam. His probation lasted until the moment that angels came and ministered unto him. Adam chose to live by the corporeal food; Christ chose to live by the word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.

Verse 4. But he answered and said, It is written, &c. — Our Lord puts honour upon the written word of God, by making use of it in repelling every temptation. He in whom were treasured up the riches of wisdom and knowledge, could have given such answers as had not previously been “written;” but he thus teaches us the sufficiency of God’s revelations for every condition of man; and that we are to rely upon the wisdom of God as revealed in his word, with which we ought to have our memory richly furnished, rather than upon our own. Another important lesson is, that whatever is settled by the word of God admits of no appeal; and therefore, that we are not to dispute, but promptly, and without hesitation, to act upon it. He who lives in this habit soonest escapes from the entanglements of temptation. “He keepeth himself, and that wicked one toucheth him not.” Our Lord’s quotation is from Deuteronomy 8:3. “God suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord doth man live.” The Israelites, when they hungered, were not sustained by bread, but by manna, a new substance created and “rained from heaven” by “the word” of the Lord. It is that WORD which gives efficacy to the ordinary food of man; or it can provide him with new and extraordinary means of subsistence; or it can sustain him by its own almighty power, without the intervention of means at all, as it had done Christ, and Moses, and Elijah, in their fasts. It is therefore never necessary to do wrong in order to supply our wants. Our only concern is to please God, who has a thousand means of relieving the wants of those who need his interposition, and put their trust in him. But what evil would there have been in our Lord commanding the stones to be made bread? The answer is, that it would have betrayed impatience under the suffering of hunger, which he was to sustain until God sent him supplies, which was therefore done at the best time by the ministry of angels. Our Lord would not shorten the assigned duration of his trial by taking his cause out of the hands of God. Beside this, our Lord knew who the tempter was, though under the guise of a man inquiring after the truth; and thus taught us that we are not to do the devil’s bidding to relieve ourselves from inconvenience or calamity. Even had the pretended inquirer been a real man, it is not allowed to man to prescribe on what signs or evidences he will consent to admit a message or revelation from God. Yet how many ask for different or stronger evidences of the truth of Christianity, or its separate doctrines? Let such persons stand reproved by this history. “It is an evil and adulterous generation which seeketh after a sign;” such signs as they think fitting, and neglect those with which Divine wisdom has been pleased to stamp his own authority upon his own truth.

V. 5. The holy city-So Jerusalem was commonly called, being the place God had peculiarly chosen for himself.

On the battlement of the temple-Probably over the king's gallery, which was of such a prodigious height, that no one could look down from the top of it without making himself giddy.

Verse 5. Pinnacle of the temple] It is very likely that this was what was called the stoa basilikh, the king’s gallery; which, as Josephus says, “deserves to be mentioned among the most magnificent things under the sun: for upon a stupendous depth of a valley, scarcely to be fathomed by the eye of him that stands above, Herod erected a gallery of a vast height, from the top of which if any looked down, he would grow dizzy, his eyes not being able to reach so vast a depth.”-Ant. l. xv. c. 14. See Dr. Lightfoot on this place.

Verses 5-7. Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city — That is, the city Jerusalem, frequently called the holy city in Scripture, see Nehemiah 11:1; Isaiah 52:1; Daniel 9:24; and that with great propriety, as being for ages the place of the special residence of Jehovah. It has been supposed by many, that Satan transported our Lord through the air, but whether he did or not cannot be determined from this passage, the original word, paralambanei, signifying no more than that he took him along with him. And setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple — That is, one of the battlements, for it is not to be supposed that our Lord stood on the point of a spire. The roof of the temple, like that of their houses, was flat, and had a kind of balustrade round it, to prevent people falling off, and somewhere on the edge of this we may suppose that Satan placed Christ, in his attacking him with this temptation. This, in some parts of it, and particularly over the porch, was so exceedingly high that one could hardly bear to look down from it. And saith, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down — Thereby to show to all the people about the temple, that thou art indeed the Son of God; which they will fully believe when they shall see thee fly without falling, or fall without being hurt. As in the former assault, Satan tempted Christ to distrust the care of divine providence, so he now tries to persuade him to presume upon it, and to expose himself to danger unnecessarily; nay, in effect, to take the direct course to destroy himself, and try whether God would preserve him as his Son. For it is written, &c. — In the former temptation the devil did not quote Scripture, but having been repelled in that assault by the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, he here takes up the same weapon. He shall give his angels charge concerning thee — As if he had said, Since thou trustest so much in providence as to expect to be sustained by it, even without food, now throw thyself down, to give more undoubted evidence of thy dependance upon it: and, as the miracle will be a full proof that thou art the Son of God, and will undeniably convince the people of it, so thou canst have no room to doubt of thy safety, the Scripture having declared that his angels shall take care of thee. Jerome, and many after him, have well observed here, that though Satan quotes Scripture, he does it falsely. He artfully leaves out the words, In all thy ways. To throw himself down, and fly through the air, was none of our Lord’s ways. He had no call, no warrant, from God, to decline the stairs by which he might go down from the top of the temple, and precipitate himself from the battlements thereof. God had never granted, nor even promised to any, the protection of angels in sinful and forbidden ways; nor adjudged that his special providence should watch over and preserve them, who should voluntarily throw themselves into dangers which they might lawfully avoid. Add to this, that Satan seems to mock our Saviour’s true use of Scripture by this abuse of applying it, not to instruct but to deceive, separating the protection of God’s providence from man’s duty, and extending the promise of the former to those who neglected the latter; and putting God upon working a miracle, to declare that which he had already made sufficiently evident. We learn from our Lord’s example here, that it is never right to expose ourselves to unnecessary danger in expectation of an extraordinary deliverance. And we learn, too, that it is not only necessary that we should take the sword of the Spirit, the word of God, and make ourselves familiarly acquainted with it, that we may be furnished for the combat with the prince of darkness, but that we should enter into the design and meaning of it, in order that, if Satan attempt to draw his artillery from thence, we may be able to guard against that most dangerous stratagem, and to answer perverted passages of Holy Writ by others more justly applicable. Jesus said, It is written again — Viz., Deuteronomy 6:16, to prevent the ungrateful abuse of such promises as these, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God — By demanding further evidence of what is already made sufficiently plain, as my being the Son of God is, by the miraculous and glorious testimony he has so lately given me. I shall not, therefore, require any more signs to prove it, nor express any doubt of God’s power or goodness toward me; nor shall I act as the Israelites did, when they said, Exodus 17:7, Is the Lord among us or not? when he had given them ample proof that he was present with them, and had taken, and would take care of them, and provide for them. It is to be observed that the above precept, respecting tempting God, does not forbid too much, but too little confidence in God, and the calling in question his presence with, and care over his people. But in the general, to make an undue and unwarrantable trial of God, is to tempt him, whether the trial respect his power or goodness. See Numbers 14:22; Psalm 78:18; Isaiah 7:12; Matthew 16:1.

Ver. 5-7. Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, the name of Jerusalem in all the east, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple, and said, If thou be the Son of God, a point, (according to Theophylact) of which I am in doubt, give proof that thou art the Messiah of the ancient church by riding on the wings of the wind, and making the clouds thy chariot. Cast thyself down, for he shall give his angels charge concerning thee. To this insinuation our Lord answered, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. Thus Satan was completely foiled; he could neither excite the Saviour to vanity, nor disturb the meekness of his temper. God has indeed given his angels charge concerning us; but it is while we are in the path of duty, and not of presumption: how otherwise have we lived among deaths, and been safe in the midst of dangers? Assuredly the good angel of the Lord hath redeemed us from all evil, and from all mischief.

THE SECOND TEMPTATION, 5-7.

5. Taketh him — Many commentators interpret this as merely meaning that Satan induced the Saviour to go with him to the temple. But these same commentators do not maintain that in verse 8 our Lord walked up the exceeding high mountain. And yet the words implying Satan’s control of his person are the stronger in this verse. The devil not only taketh him, but setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple. To suppose that our Lord voluntarily walked from the wilderness, breaks the continuity of the scene, and the unity of place.

Holy city — So called, in spite of many a wickedness, as being the seat of the theocracy. “They call themselves of the holy city,… but not in truth, nor in righteousness.” Isaiah 48:1, 2. Pinnacle — or little wing, as the word means. It was doubtless the summit of the royal gallery built by Herod over the brink of the valley of Kedron, with a dizzy height from summit to bottom of seven hundred feet, down which as any one looked, according to Josephus, “he would become dizzy, his eyes being unable to reach so vast a depth.”

Verse 5. Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, &c. — The holy city was the name by which Jerusalem was always called by the Jews; and the inscription on their shekel was, “Jerusalem the holy.” That our Lord was taken up by Satan, and transported through the air, as the Holy Spirit carried away Philip to Azotus, Acts 8:39, is a mere conjecture; nor is it indicated in the word used, which signifies to take along with one as a companion is taken. And if Satan appeared, as is likely, in the form of a man, personating, as stated above, an inquirer after truth, it is not probable that he would, by such an act of supernatural power, reveal at once his real character. This was reserved to the last temptation, when other means had failed. We may conclude, therefore, that he proposed it to our Lord to accompany him to Jerusalem, and that he yielded, as well knowing his character and purpose, yet meekly submitting to the whole process of the trial appointed by God.

And setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple. — Grotius takes pterugion to have been a battlement on the temple; but the courts, and all the buildings connected with the temple, may be included, and the battlement of the royal portico, built by Herod, which was at the outer court, was probably the place; especially as this was raised upon the verge of a precipice so deep, that, according to Josephus, it made persons dizzy to look down from it. To the roof of this portico there was easy access; and it was a proper place for the temptation with which our Lord was assaulted.

V. 6. In their hands-That is, with great care. Psalm 91:11, 12.

Verse 6. Cast thyself down] Our Lord had repelled the first temptation by an act of confidence in the power and goodness of God; and now Satan solicits him to make trial of it. Through the unparalleled subtlety of Satan, the very means we make use of to repel one temptation may he used by him as the groundwork of another. This method he often uses, in order to confound us in our confidence.

He shall give his angels charge, &c.] This is a mutilated quotation of Psalm 91:11. The clause, to keep thee in all thy ways, Satan chose to leave out, as quite unsuitable to his design. That God has promised to protect and support his servants, admits of no dispute; but, as the path of duty is the way of safety, they are entitled to no good when they walk out of it.

In their hands they shall bear thee up] This quotation from Psalm 91:11, is a metaphor taken from a nurse’s management of her child: in teaching it to walk, she guides it along plain ground; but, when stones or other obstacles occur, she lifts up the child, and carries it over them, and then sets it down to walk again. Thus she keeps it in all its ways, watching over, and guarding every step it takes. To this St. Paul seems also to allude, 1 Thessalonians 2:7. We were gentle among you, even as a nurse cherisheth her children. Thus the most merciful God deals with the children of men, ever guarding them by his eye, and defending them by his power.

Verses 5-7. Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city — That is, the city Jerusalem, frequently called the holy city in Scripture, see Nehemiah 11:1; Isaiah 52:1; Daniel 9:24; and that with great propriety, as being for ages the place of the special residence of Jehovah. It has been supposed by many, that Satan transported our Lord through the air, but whether he did or not cannot be determined from this passage, the original word, paralambanei, signifying no more than that he took him along with him. And setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple — That is, one of the battlements, for it is not to be supposed that our Lord stood on the point of a spire. The roof of the temple, like that of their houses, was flat, and had a kind of balustrade round it, to prevent people falling off, and somewhere on the edge of this we may suppose that Satan placed Christ, in his attacking him with this temptation. This, in some parts of it, and particularly over the porch, was so exceedingly high that one could hardly bear to look down from it. And saith, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down — Thereby to show to all the people about the temple, that thou art indeed the Son of God; which they will fully believe when they shall see thee fly without falling, or fall without being hurt. As in the former assault, Satan tempted Christ to distrust the care of divine providence, so he now tries to persuade him to presume upon it, and to expose himself to danger unnecessarily; nay, in effect, to take the direct course to destroy himself, and try whether God would preserve him as his Son. For it is written, &c. — In the former temptation the devil did not quote Scripture, but having been repelled in that assault by the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, he here takes up the same weapon. He shall give his angels charge concerning thee — As if he had said, Since thou trustest so much in providence as to expect to be sustained by it, even without food, now throw thyself down, to give more undoubted evidence of thy dependance upon it: and, as the miracle will be a full proof that thou art the Son of God, and will undeniably convince the people of it, so thou canst have no room to doubt of thy safety, the Scripture having declared that his angels shall take care of thee. Jerome, and many after him, have well observed here, that though Satan quotes Scripture, he does it falsely. He artfully leaves out the words, In all thy ways. To throw himself down, and fly through the air, was none of our Lord’s ways. He had no call, no warrant, from God, to decline the stairs by which he might go down from the top of the temple, and precipitate himself from the battlements thereof. God had never granted, nor even promised to any, the protection of angels in sinful and forbidden ways; nor adjudged that his special providence should watch over and preserve them, who should voluntarily throw themselves into dangers which they might lawfully avoid. Add to this, that Satan seems to mock our Saviour’s true use of Scripture by this abuse of applying it, not to instruct but to deceive, separating the protection of God’s providence from man’s duty, and extending the promise of the former to those who neglected the latter; and putting God upon working a miracle, to declare that which he had already made sufficiently evident. We learn from our Lord’s example here, that it is never right to expose ourselves to unnecessary danger in expectation of an extraordinary deliverance. And we learn, too, that it is not only necessary that we should take the sword of the Spirit, the word of God, and make ourselves familiarly acquainted with it, that we may be furnished for the combat with the prince of darkness, but that we should enter into the design and meaning of it, in order that, if Satan attempt to draw his artillery from thence, we may be able to guard against that most dangerous stratagem, and to answer perverted passages of Holy Writ by others more justly applicable. Jesus said, It is written again — Viz., Deuteronomy 6:16, to prevent the ungrateful abuse of such promises as these, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God — By demanding further evidence of what is already made sufficiently plain, as my being the Son of God is, by the miraculous and glorious testimony he has so lately given me. I shall not, therefore, require any more signs to prove it, nor express any doubt of God’s power or goodness toward me; nor shall I act as the Israelites did, when they said, Exodus 17:7, Is the Lord among us or not? when he had given them ample proof that he was present with them, and had taken, and would take care of them, and provide for them. It is to be observed that the above precept, respecting tempting God, does not forbid too much, but too little confidence in God, and the calling in question his presence with, and care over his people. But in the general, to make an undue and unwarrantable trial of God, is to tempt him, whether the trial respect his power or goodness. See Numbers 14:22; Psalm 78:18; Isaiah 7:12; Matthew 16:1.

Ver. 5-7. Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, the name of Jerusalem in all the east, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple, and said, If thou be the Son of God, a point, (according to Theophylact) of which I am in doubt, give proof that thou art the Messiah of the ancient church by riding on the wings of the wind, and making the clouds thy chariot. Cast thyself down, for he shall give his angels charge concerning thee. To this insinuation our Lord answered, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. Thus Satan was completely foiled; he could neither excite the Saviour to vanity, nor disturb the meekness of his temper. God has indeed given his angels charge concerning us; but it is while we are in the path of duty, and not of presumption: how otherwise have we lived among deaths, and been safe in the midst of dangers? Assuredly the good angel of the Lord hath redeemed us from all evil, and from all mischief.

6. If thou be the Son of God — By resisting the former temptation, Jesus had maintained himself to be the Son of God, and had sustained his own faith in his own divide mission. Let him now show that faith in his mission on a more heroic scale. A sublime faith is just the temper for a sublime display. Let him leap from the summit of the pinnacle to the depth of the gorge. All the world will wonder at so grand an exploit. Cast thyself down — Put God to the test, and astonish the universe. Use thy Father’s power, like a wanton son, for freaks and experiments at miracle. For it is written — And so the devil can quote Scripture to make out his point. Nothing makes wicked men so self-satisfied as to be able to bless their crime with a holy text. They can ridicule the Bible, and trample upon it at any other time. But they are profoundly biblical, and deep reverers of God’s holy and inspired word, if a text can be wrested to their purpose. They, like Satan, only use the Bible for the occasion, as the plaster for sin. They truly insult the word of God, and do truly add blasphemy to the sin which they try to make it cover. He shall give… charge — Psalm 91:12. Some have questioned how this text in the Psalms is truly to be applied to Christ. But it is a probable fact that the main body of the book of Psalms has for its subject, a holy one, a perfect and therefore divine man, a Messiah. Mark that the Bible, like every other good, can be misused and wrested for our own destruction. It is a part of our probation, that God has not given a revelation so unequivocal that perverse minds may not pervert it to the service of error and sin. The honest heart can alone use it with true security. Charge concerning thee — As a parent gives the nurse charge concerning the tottering child, so God has given his angels charge concerning thee, his dear son. Hands shall bear thee up — Angel nurses shall carry thee in their arms. Dash thy foot — Hit thy foot against an obstacle and stumble.

Verse 6. If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, &c. — Here the Scripture is quoted by the tempter in aid of his design; and as the object of this suggestion was to lead to an unauthorized presumption upon special Divine interposition, it represents a numerous class of temptations, by which many have been misled to put themselves into circumstances of moral danger, without a Divine warrant. The promises of Scripture are also often perverted by such persons to support their vain confidence, who consider not the persons and their circumstances to whom they are spoken. The quotation used by Satan is from Psalm 91:12, and was employed by him either because, the Jews applied it prophetically to the Messiah, or because it expresses God’s special care of good men, and so suited his purpose; for the argument was, If God takes charge of good men generally, how much more of “the Son of God” himself! “If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down,” and let thy safety be the proof that thou art so. It is an observation of weight made by Jerome and others, that the tempter makes a mutilated citation of the passage, and leaves out a material circumstance: “He shall give his angels charge concerning thee, to keep thee in all thy ways;” that is, in all thy lawful courses of conduct, of which to cast himself down from a precipice was not one. Thus our Lord was first tempted to distrust God’s care, and then to presume without warrant upon it.

V. 7. Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God-By requiring farther evidence of what he hath already made sufficiently plain. Deuteronomy 6:16.

Verse 7. Thou shalt not tempt] To expose myself to any danger naturally destructive, with the vain presumption that God will protect and defend me from the ruinous consequences of my imprudent conduct, is to tempt God.

Verses 5-7. Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city — That is, the city Jerusalem, frequently called the holy city in Scripture, see Nehemiah 11:1; Isaiah 52:1; Daniel 9:24; and that with great propriety, as being for ages the place of the special residence of Jehovah. It has been supposed by many, that Satan transported our Lord through the air, but whether he did or not cannot be determined from this passage, the original word, paralambanei, signifying no more than that he took him along with him. And setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple — That is, one of the battlements, for it is not to be supposed that our Lord stood on the point of a spire. The roof of the temple, like that of their houses, was flat, and had a kind of balustrade round it, to prevent people falling off, and somewhere on the edge of this we may suppose that Satan placed Christ, in his attacking him with this temptation. This, in some parts of it, and particularly over the porch, was so exceedingly high that one could hardly bear to look down from it. And saith, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down — Thereby to show to all the people about the temple, that thou art indeed the Son of God; which they will fully believe when they shall see thee fly without falling, or fall without being hurt. As in the former assault, Satan tempted Christ to distrust the care of divine providence, so he now tries to persuade him to presume upon it, and to expose himself to danger unnecessarily; nay, in effect, to take the direct course to destroy himself, and try whether God would preserve him as his Son. For it is written, &c. — In the former temptation the devil did not quote Scripture, but having been repelled in that assault by the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, he here takes up the same weapon. He shall give his angels charge concerning thee — As if he had said, Since thou trustest so much in providence as to expect to be sustained by it, even without food, now throw thyself down, to give more undoubted evidence of thy dependance upon it: and, as the miracle will be a full proof that thou art the Son of God, and will undeniably convince the people of it, so thou canst have no room to doubt of thy safety, the Scripture having declared that his angels shall take care of thee. Jerome, and many after him, have well observed here, that though Satan quotes Scripture, he does it falsely. He artfully leaves out the words, In all thy ways. To throw himself down, and fly through the air, was none of our Lord’s ways. He had no call, no warrant, from God, to decline the stairs by which he might go down from the top of the temple, and precipitate himself from the battlements thereof. God had never granted, nor even promised to any, the protection of angels in sinful and forbidden ways; nor adjudged that his special providence should watch over and preserve them, who should voluntarily throw themselves into dangers which they might lawfully avoid. Add to this, that Satan seems to mock our Saviour’s true use of Scripture by this abuse of applying it, not to instruct but to deceive, separating the protection of God’s providence from man’s duty, and extending the promise of the former to those who neglected the latter; and putting God upon working a miracle, to declare that which he had already made sufficiently evident. We learn from our Lord’s example here, that it is never right to expose ourselves to unnecessary danger in expectation of an extraordinary deliverance. And we learn, too, that it is not only necessary that we should take the sword of the Spirit, the word of God, and make ourselves familiarly acquainted with it, that we may be furnished for the combat with the prince of darkness, but that we should enter into the design and meaning of it, in order that, if Satan attempt to draw his artillery from thence, we may be able to guard against that most dangerous stratagem, and to answer perverted passages of Holy Writ by others more justly applicable. Jesus said, It is written again — Viz., Deuteronomy 6:16, to prevent the ungrateful abuse of such promises as these, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God — By demanding further evidence of what is already made sufficiently plain, as my being the Son of God is, by the miraculous and glorious testimony he has so lately given me. I shall not, therefore, require any more signs to prove it, nor express any doubt of God’s power or goodness toward me; nor shall I act as the Israelites did, when they said, Exodus 17:7, Is the Lord among us or not? when he had given them ample proof that he was present with them, and had taken, and would take care of them, and provide for them. It is to be observed that the above precept, respecting tempting God, does not forbid too much, but too little confidence in God, and the calling in question his presence with, and care over his people. But in the general, to make an undue and unwarrantable trial of God, is to tempt him, whether the trial respect his power or goodness. See Numbers 14:22; Psalm 78:18; Isaiah 7:12; Matthew 16:1.

Ver. 5-7. Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, the name of Jerusalem in all the east, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple, and said, If thou be the Son of God, a point, (according to Theophylact) of which I am in doubt, give proof that thou art the Messiah of the ancient church by riding on the wings of the wind, and making the clouds thy chariot. Cast thyself down, for he shall give his angels charge concerning thee. To this insinuation our Lord answered, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. Thus Satan was completely foiled; he could neither excite the Saviour to vanity, nor disturb the meekness of his temper. God has indeed given his angels charge concerning us; but it is while we are in the path of duty, and not of presumption: how otherwise have we lived among deaths, and been safe in the midst of dangers? Assuredly the good angel of the Lord hath redeemed us from all evil, and from all mischief.

7. It is written again — One text should limit, modify, and explain another. Promises are not to be wantonly presumed upon. They are to be interpreted in the spirit of the divine Promiser. The promise of God to keep us presumes that we soberly and truly desire to be kept. It would be well for those who maintain the infallible perseverance of all saints to ponder this point. They quote God’s promises to keep and preserve the converted man in every case, omitting to note that all such promises of God are conditional. He will keep us, under proviso that we rationally and voluntarily will to be in his holy keeping. Tempt — Or put to the test. To assume to draw at will upon the fund of his Father’s omnipotence, to perform a capricious experiment, would be a presumptuous tempting and insulting God.

The first temptation, as we showed, (in verse 3,) appealed to the animal appetites. This second rises to the higher sentiment, the love of show — the gratification of admiration. All those who are carried away from God by the love of pomp, the gratification of mental taste, the pleasures of imagination, the gaieties of fashion, the enthusiasm for fame, and are induced to pervert for these objects powers given by God for rightful use, fall by this temptation. They tempt God by expending the powers he has given for ostentatious, wanton, selfish, and destructive purposes. The first temptation was animal, the second aesthetical.

Verse 7. Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. — It has been disputed among critics whether to tempt God in this passage signifies to presume upon his goodness, or to distrust it. The word tempt, when applied to God, as it signifies to make trial of him, has always a bad sense, and in general seems to mean to seek from God displays of his power on occasions and in a way prescribed by ourselves. Now this may proceed either from distrust or presumption; and so the opinions alluded to may be somewhat reconciled. — The passage referred to is, “Ye shall not tempt the Lord your God, as ye tempted him in Massah,” Deuteronomy 6:16. Now, although on that occasion, so provoking to God, when the Israelites wanted water, they are said to have tempted the Lord by saying, “Is the Lord among us or not?” it does not appear that this language proceeded so much from distrust, as from a petulant demand for an exertion of the Divine power at the time and in the manner they dared to prescribe. And though in a case of simple presumption upon Divine interposition, the perverse temper of the Israelites on that occasion maybe wanting, yet the essence of their fault is involved in it; a bold and unauthorized demand being made upon God in our own will for the exercise of his power. The appositeness of the quotation is therefore apparent.

V. 8. Showeth him all the kingdoms of the world-In a kind of visionary representation.

Verse 8. An exceeding high mountain, and showeth him] If the words, all the kingdoms of the world, be taken in a literal sense, then this must have been a visionary representation, as the highest mountain on the face of the globe could not suffice to make evident even one hemisphere of the earth, and the other must of necessity be in darkness.

But if we take the world to mean only the land of Judea, and some of the surrounding nations, as it appears sometimes to signify, (see on Luke 2:1,) then the mountain described by the Abbe Mariti (Travels through Cyprus, &c.) could have afforded the prospect in question. Speaking of it, he says, “Here we enjoyed the most beautiful prospect imaginable. This part of the mountain overlooks the mountains of Arabia, the country of Gilead, the country of the Amorites, the plains of Moab, the plains of Jericho, the river Jordan, and the whole extent of the Dead Sea. It was here that the devil said to the Son of God, All these kingdoms will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.” Probably St. Matthew, in the Hebrew original, wrote xrah haarets, which signifies the world, the earth, and often the land of Judea only. What renders this more probable is, that at this time Judea was divided into several kingdoms, or governments under the three sons of Herod the Great, viz. Archelaus, Antipas, and Philip; which are not only called ethnarchs and tetrarchs in the Gospels, but also basileiv, kings, and are said basileuein, to reign, as Rosenmuller has properly remarked. See Matthew 2:22; 14:9.

Verses 8, 9. Again the devil taketh him up — In what way is not said; into an exceeding high mountain — Probably one of the mountains in the wilderness, and from that eminence, partly by the advantage of the place, from which he might behold many magnificent buildings, rich fields, pleasant meadows, hills covered with wood and cattle, rivers rolling through the fertile valleys, and washing the cities as they passed along; and partly by an artful visionary representation, showeth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them — Whatsoever was gay, splendid, or glorious, either in respect of the honours, riches, or pleasures of the world; their great and opulent cities, sumptuous edifices, costly attire, equipage, pomp, and splendour; displaying to his view one of the finest prospects that the most pleasurable and triumphant scenes could furnish out; and all this, not one after another, but in a moment of time, that so they might amaze and affect him the more with their splendour, and on a sudden prevail upon him, which otherwise they would not have been so likely to do. And saith unto him — With the most egregious impudence, falsehood, and pride; All these things will I give thee — All this glory and power, and all these possessions, if thou wilt fall down and worship me — The devil now showed clearly who he was, and therefore Christ, in answering this suggestion, calls him by his proper name, Satan, which, though he undoubtedly knew him, he had not done before. We may learn from hence not to conclude we are utterly abandoned of God when we are assaulted with horrible temptations; Christ himself, we see, was tempted even to worship the devil: but in such cases let us, like Jesus, resolutely repel the temptation, rather than parley with it. Dr. Doddridge observes, that, if we suppose Satan, in these two last temptations, to have worn the form of an angel of light, it will make them both appear more plausible; “for thus he might pretend, in the former, to take charge of Christ in his fall, as one of his celestial guards; and in this latter to resign to him a province which God had committed to his administration and care.” And this, he thinks, may not be inconsistent “with supposing that he first appeared as a man, (it may be as a hungry traveller, who pretended to ask the miracle of turning stones into loaves for his own supply,) for angels, under the Old Testament, had often worn a human form.”

Ver. 8. Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them. Here is the third round of the combatants, and the last effort of the foe. Here was presented the riches, the glories, and pleasures of the world in the aggregate; the glory for which the Sesostrises, the Nebuchadnezzars, the Alexanders, the Cæsars have waded through rivers of blood. The world have bowed to these fading glories and worshipped their gods. They were presented to the Saviour with all the plausible eclat of Lucifer, that he who could show them, could also give them. This was Satan’s grand stroke for victory, a stroke which seldom fails; for what can dazzle mortals more than a crown?

THE THIRD TEMPTATION, 8-11.

8. Again — Satan is twice defeated. He could not persuade Jesus to distrust his Sonship, nor presumptuously to assume it. He will make a third effort. He will offer Jesus a Messiahship and a royalty beyond all possibility of doubt, and beyond all limitation. He will first authenticate his power by miracle; he will then show the splendor of the prize; he will then declare on how easy terms, and under what allegiance, Jesus can be a Satan’s Messiah, lord of the world under “the god of this world.” An exceeding high mountain — Arriving like a thought at his destination, Satan lays no hand upon him; all is done, as we may suppose, by the power and with the quickness of a volition. And as the Saviour’s bodily eye took in the limits of the prospect, his perceptive faculty, out-reaching its material organ, acquiring the sweep of Satan’s own vision, beheld all the kingdoms of the earth and around the globe, with the glory thereof, in an instant of time. Yet, after all, it is not said that our Lord really beheld the world’s kingdoms. It only says that Satan showed, that is, pointed them out, for the word asserts nothing more. Yonder, eastward, lies Persia; down southward is old Egypt; and, lo! far to the west, beyond the Mediterranean, is imperial Rome, where Tiberius now rules the world. Thou shalt possess his throne and more. And Satan points with his hand, and paints with his tongue, and offers him a warranty of all that goodly parcel of land. Why should he prefer a doubtful Messiahship to a certain universal monarchy?

Verse 8. Into an exceeding high mountain, &c. — The scene is here again changed into the same wilderness, or some other elevated region. From some of the mountains of Palestine the views are very extensive, as Mount Nebo, from the top of which Moses saw “all the land of Gilead unto Dan, and all Naphtali, and the land of Ephraim, and all the land of Judah, unto the utmost sea,” the Mediterranean, “and the south, and the plain of the valley of Jericho, unto Zoar.” Modern travellers have given their testimony to the vastness of the prospect opened also from some other mountains. Perhaps, as the old dominions of Judah and Israel were now divided into several provinces and tetrarchies, popularly called “kingdoms,” no more is meant by the “kingdoms of the world” than those, the states into which the ancient kingdom of David was now divided; for in this restricted sense the original word is sometimes used. But if “the world” be taken in a more extensive meaning, then, as from such a height, a vast landscape of woods, rivers, lakes, fertile fields, villages, towns, and opulent and splendid cities, would be exhibited, the tempter might from such a scene take occasion to descant upon other and still more glorious kingdoms of the civilized “world;” especially that vast portion of it comprised in the Roman empire, itself often called “the world;” using the actual scene before them to give effect to the picture, which was drawn no doubt with a powerful eloquence. In support of this it may be said that the Greek word rendered “to show,” like the Latin ostendere, and indeed the English verb itself, does not necessarily signify to exhibit to the sight; but also to describe and make known in any mode. In either sense there is no need to suppose that phantasms and images of worldly regal splendour were supernaturally produced, to give effect to the temptation. It must be confessed, however, that the natural import of the words of Matthew leans this way; and St. Luke’s words, who says that he “showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time,” still more so. But if this should be allowed, it gives no weight to the notion of those who think that the whole temptation took place in a vision; for there is an essential difference between a transaction and a vision, and the connecting of phantasms or aerial, optical appearances with a real scene, which do not affect the mental faculties of the beholder. But whether this preternatural illusion, favoured by the situation, did take place, or the kingdoms of Palestine only were represented to the eye, the devil in desperation now undisguises himself, and makes a bold attack upon our Lord, hoping to influence his mind with the ambition of attaining a splendid earthly monarchy; and that he presented this temptation in his proper character as Satan, is manifest, from his declaration, Luke 4:6, “For that is delivered unto me, and to whomsoever I will I give it;” a falsehood worthy of the “father of lies,” but yet often to appearance, and considering the manner in which earthly power was acquired in that age, and is often acquired now, had great verisimilitude; and it was true, in fact, that he had established a dark and polluted, though not an uncontrolled, dominion among the nations.

V. 9. If thou wilt fall down and worship me-Here Satan clearly shows who he was. Accordingly Christ answering this suggestion, calls him by his own name, which he had not done before.

Verse 9. If thou wilt fall dozen and worship me] As if he had said, “The whole of this land is now under my government; do me homage for it, and I will deliver it into thy hand.”

Verses 8, 9. Again the devil taketh him up — In what way is not said; into an exceeding high mountain — Probably one of the mountains in the wilderness, and from that eminence, partly by the advantage of the place, from which he might behold many magnificent buildings, rich fields, pleasant meadows, hills covered with wood and cattle, rivers rolling through the fertile valleys, and washing the cities as they passed along; and partly by an artful visionary representation, showeth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them — Whatsoever was gay, splendid, or glorious, either in respect of the honours, riches, or pleasures of the world; their great and opulent cities, sumptuous edifices, costly attire, equipage, pomp, and splendour; displaying to his view one of the finest prospects that the most pleasurable and triumphant scenes could furnish out; and all this, not one after another, but in a moment of time, that so they might amaze and affect him the more with their splendour, and on a sudden prevail upon him, which otherwise they would not have been so likely to do. And saith unto him — With the most egregious impudence, falsehood, and pride; All these things will I give thee — All this glory and power, and all these possessions, if thou wilt fall down and worship me — The devil now showed clearly who he was, and therefore Christ, in answering this suggestion, calls him by his proper name, Satan, which, though he undoubtedly knew him, he had not done before. We may learn from hence not to conclude we are utterly abandoned of God when we are assaulted with horrible temptations; Christ himself, we see, was tempted even to worship the devil: but in such cases let us, like Jesus, resolutely repel the temptation, rather than parley with it. Dr. Doddridge observes, that, if we suppose Satan, in these two last temptations, to have worn the form of an angel of light, it will make them both appear more plausible; “for thus he might pretend, in the former, to take charge of Christ in his fall, as one of his celestial guards; and in this latter to resign to him a province which God had committed to his administration and care.” And this, he thinks, may not be inconsistent “with supposing that he first appeared as a man, (it may be as a hungry traveller, who pretended to ask the miracle of turning stones into loaves for his own supply,) for angels, under the Old Testament, had often worn a human form.”

THE THIRD TEMPTATION, 8-11.

8. Again — Satan is twice defeated. He could not persuade Jesus to distrust his Sonship, nor presumptuously to assume it. He will make a third effort. He will offer Jesus a Messiahship and a royalty beyond all possibility of doubt, and beyond all limitation. He will first authenticate his power by miracle; he will then show the splendor of the prize; he will then declare on how easy terms, and under what allegiance, Jesus can be a Satan’s Messiah, lord of the world under “the god of this world.” An exceeding high mountain — Arriving like a thought at his destination, Satan lays no hand upon him; all is done, as we may suppose, by the power and with the quickness of a volition. And as the Saviour’s bodily eye took in the limits of the prospect, his perceptive faculty, out-reaching its material organ, acquiring the sweep of Satan’s own vision, beheld all the kingdoms of the earth and around the globe, with the glory thereof, in an instant of time. Yet, after all, it is not said that our Lord really beheld the world’s kingdoms. It only says that Satan showed, that is, pointed them out, for the word asserts nothing more. Yonder, eastward, lies Persia; down southward is old Egypt; and, lo! far to the west, beyond the Mediterranean, is imperial Rome, where Tiberius now rules the world. Thou shalt possess his throne and more. And Satan points with his hand, and paints with his tongue, and offers him a warranty of all that goodly parcel of land. Why should he prefer a doubtful Messiahship to a certain universal monarchy?

Verse 9. If thou wilt fall down and worship me. — This mode of paying homage was exacted by eastern monarchs; but, when understood to imply a reference to the Divinity of the person so honoured, was refused by Jews and Christians. Here it is manifest from the answer of our Lord, that it was demanded by Satan as the god and absolute ruler of the world; on which our Lord indignantly rebukes him: “Then saith Jesus unto him. Get thee hence Satan; for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.” Our Lord here showed both that he knew Satan, and that he had power to command him away, — a proof that his submission to the humiliation and pain of these temptations had been voluntary; and that they were endured not for his own sake, but for ours.

V. 10. Get thee hence, Satan-Not, get thee behind me, that is, into thy proper place; as he said on a quite different occasion to Peter, speaking what was not expedient. Deuteronomy 6:13.

Verse 10. Get thee hence] Or, behind me, opisw mou. This is added by a multitude of the best MSS., VERSIONS, and FATHERS. This temptation savouring of nothing but diabolical impudence, Jesus did not treat it as the others; but, with Divine authority, commanded the tempter to return to his own place.

In the course of this trial, it appears that our blessed Lord was tempted, 1st. To DISTRUST. Command these stones to become bread. 2dly. To PRESUMPTION. Cast thyself down. 3dly. To worldly AMBITION. All these will I give. 4thly. To IDOLATRY. Fall down and worship me, or do me homage. There is probably not a temptation of Satan, but is reducible to one or other of these four articles.

From the whole we may learn:

First. No man, howsoever holy, is exempted from temptation: for God manifested to the flesh was tempted by the devil. Secondly. That the best way to foil the adversary, is by the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, Ephesians 6:17. Thirdly. That to be tempted even to the greatest abominations (while a person resists) is not sin: for Christ was tempted to worship the DEVIL.

Fourthly. That there is no temptation which is from its own nature, or favouring circumstances, irresistible. God has promised to bruise even Satan under our feet.

As I wish to speak what I think most necessary on every subject, when I first meet it, and once for all, I would observe, first, That the fear of being tempted may become a most dangerous snare.

Secondly, That when God permits a temptation or trial to come he will give grace to bear or overcome it.

Thirdly, That our spiritual interests shall be always advanced, in proportion to our trials and faithful resistance.

Fourthly, That a more than ordinary measure of Divine consolation shall be the consequence of every victory.

Verse 10. Then saith Jesus, Get thee hence, Satan — The expression, Upage, Satana, plainly expresses Christ’s authority over Satan, as well as his detestation of so vile a suggestion: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, &c. — It would therefore be unlawful to worship thee, who art no other than a mere creature, even though thou wast indeed his deputy on earth; and how much more then must it be so, as thou art, in reality, the great avowed enemy of God and man! for such, under all thy disguise, I well know thee to be. It appears from these words, that religious worship, or service, is due to God alone, and cannot be lawfully given to a creature. From whence we must infer, that Christ is not a mere creature: for all men are to honour him, even as they honour the Father, John 5:23. And all the angels of God are commanded to worship him, Hebrews 1:6: and it is given as the character of all Christians, 1 Corinthians 1:2, that they call on the name of Jesus Christ our Lord: and Colossians 3:24, That they serve the Lord Christ. As to the answer made by some to this irrefragable argument in favour of our Lord’s divinity, it appears from this very passage to have no weight in it. God alone say they, is to be worshipped as the first and principal cause of all things, and the chief author of our salvation; but yet, religious worship and service may be paid to Christ, as the intermediate cause of that salvation which God, by him, hath revealed and brought to us. For as there are no footsteps of this distinction in the holy Scriptures, so it is plain that our Lord’s reply to Satan here entirely condemns it. The devil, it is manifest, did not require to be worshipped by Jesus as the original cause and supreme governor of the world. He frankly owns that all the power he had over the kingdoms of the earth was given to him. He claims, therefore, only a subordinate worship; and yet our Lord rejects his claim, not on the ground of his being a liar and usurper, who had no such power, and therefore had no right to any such worship; but on the ground of God only having a right to any kind of religious worship, saying, in the words of Moses, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him ONLY shalt thou serve. Christ, therefore, cannot be worshipped lawfully, if he be not God as well as man.

Ver. 10. It is written, said the Saviour, thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. This simple word, the sharp sword of the Spirit, vanquished the foe; he fled, too far degraded for disgrace, leaving the Lord arrayed in all his conquering glory. Now, as at his resurrection, he beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven. Beware, oh christian, of the unitarian philosophy, a vain substitute for revelation. With these men, all is here a mere vision, a dream, a nothing. Thus the glory of Christ is lost in the pride of science, falsely called wisdom. Thus the mediatorial glory is lost, that Christ was made like unto his brethren, and was tempted in all points like as we are, yet without sin.

10. Get thee hence, Satan — For now Satan has, so to speak, showed his cloven foot. This soft-spoken man, this most interesting angel, turns out to be none else than God’s foe. He demands to be worshipped! and that ends the matter. The devil is a coward; he only needs resistance, and he runs. James 4:7. Jesus had but to give him a Get thee hence and he is gone, and makes room for the better company of angels, whose benevolence and whose form, perhaps, he had been counterfeiting.

As the first temptation appealed to the animal appetites, and the second to the mental tastes, so the third appealed to the ambition. This is the very triple division referred to by St. John: “The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life.” John 2:16. It is the very triple temptation by which Eve fell. The fruit was good for food, and so appealed to the appetite; it was pleasant to the eyes, and so pleased the sense of beauty; it would make her as the gods, and so it awakened her ambition. By this last temptation the great men of this world have fallen in myriads. Not that true greatness is incompatible with goodness. Many a ruler of the people has been the servant of God; but often their ruin has been this temptation — serve the devil and rule the world. They have believed the devil to be the true dispenser of this world’s endowments, and they have sought his patronage.

V. 11. Angels came and waited upon him-Both to supply him with food, and to congratulate his victory.

Verse 11. Behold, angels came and ministered unto him.] That is, brought that food which was necessary to support nature.

The name given to Satan in the third verse is very emphatic, o peirazwn, the tempter, or trier, from peirw, to pierce through. To this import of the name there seems to be an allusion, Ephesians 6:16: The fiery DARTS of the wicked one. This is the precise idea of the word in Deuteronomy 8:2. To humble thee, and to prove thee, TO KNOW WHAT WAS IN THY HEART: Ëtcnl linesteca, peirash se, LXX. that he might bore thee through. The quality and goodness of many things are proved by piercing or boring through; for this shows what is in the heart. Perhaps nothing tends so much to discover what we are, as trials either from men or devils. Shalt thou serve, or pay religious veneration, larreuseiv. This is Mr. Wakefield’s translation, and I think cannot be mended. latreia comes from la, very much, and trew, I tremble. When a sinner approaches the presence of God, conscious of HIS infinite holiness and justice, and of his own vileness, he will then fully comprehend what this word means. See this religious reverence exemplified in the case of Moses, when in the presence of God; I exceedingly fear, said he, and tremble, Hebrews 12:21. And yet this fear of God is the beginning of wisdom. See the observations at the end of the chapter.

Verse 11. Then the devil — Being so baffled and confounded as not to be able to present any other temptation which seemed more likely to prevail, leaveth him — Namely, for a season, as Luke observes meditating no doubt some future assault, and especially designing, by and by, to use all stratagems to take away his life. And, behold, angels came and ministered unto him — Not only furnishing him with proper supplies for his hunger, but also congratulating him on so illustrious a victory over the prince of darkness; and doing him honour by the appearance of a number of them, (for one of them would nave sufficed to bring him food,) after this horrible combat with Satan, to which, for wise and gracious reasons, he was pleased to condescend. And it may encourage us in all our temptations to remember, that if our conflict be thus maintained, the struggle will, ere long, be over; and angels, who are now spectators of the combat, will at length congratulate our victory. God teaches us, by all this, that our lives are to have their vicissitudes of temptation and consolation, and that our temptation shall have a happy issue, and that when ordinary means fail we may expect extraordinary helps.

11. Devil leaveth him — Victory, glorious victory, is now won by the Prince of Light. The prince of hell is defeated and overcome. This defeat is the prelude to the hour when the Messiah will cast him into the lake of fire. The second Adam did not, like the first, fall before the power of the tempter; and the victory which he won was won for us, that he might restore the lost Paradise to our race. Angels came and ministered unto him — As soon as the angel of darkness departed the angels of light appeared upon the scene. It is a change from deep night to glorious morning. The Messiah is faint with the terrible combat; and to indicate that he is truly master, angels become the providers of his food and the waiters at his table. And so all his followers, who in his strength win the victory, will find angels to become their ministering servants, and will partake, at the table of their Lord, of the feast of victory.

§ 23. — DEPARTURE INTO GALILEE; AND

V. 12. He retired into Galilee-This journey was not immediately after his temptation. He first went from Judea into Galilee, John 1:43; 2:1. Then into Judea again, and celebrated the passover at Jerusalem, John 2:13. He baptized in Judea while John was baptizing at Enon, John 3:22, 23. All this time John was at liberty, John 3:24. But the Pharisees being offended, John 4:1; and John put in prison, he then took this journey into Galilee. Mark 1:14.

Verse 12. Now when Jesus had heard that John was cast into prison — Namely, for reproving Herod Antipas, tetrarch of Galilee, for taking his brother Philip’s wife, and for other evils, Matthew 14:3, 4: he departed into Galilee — Viz., from Judea. This it seems he did, partly to avoid the envy of the Pharisees, John 4:3, and partly to encourage John’s disciples, and to continue the preaching interrupted by his confinement, being desirous to improve those good impressions which the ministry of John had made on the minds of the people, and which would not be erased but deepened by the injurious things they saw him suffer. Thus it becomes one messenger of God to carry on the work begun by another. But it is to be observed, that this was not the first, but the second time of Jesus’s going into Galilee. Nor did he take this journey immediately upon his temptation; but at some distance of time: viz., after the events had taken place which are recorded in the latter part of the first, and in the second and third chapters of John’s gospel. His first journey from Judea into Galilee is mentioned John 1:43, and 2:1. Then he went into Judea again, and celebrated the passover at Jerusalem, John 2:13. He baptized in Judea, while John was baptizing at Enon, John 3:22, 23. All this time John was at liberty. But the Pharisees being offended, chap. 4:1, and John put in prison, he then took this journey into Galilee.

Ver. 12. Now, when Jesus had heard that John was cast into prison, by the malice of Herodias, aided as critics say, by the malice of the scribes and pharisees, he departed from Nazareth to Galilee of the gentiles; for Herod’s territories extended to upper Galilee. It is probable that some storm of persecution followed the arrest of John the baptist. Matthew 14.

§ 25. — RESIDENCE AT CAPERNAUM, 12-17.

12. Now — With the temptation at the close of the last verse, the first two Periods of our Lord’s history, embracing the Infancy and Qualification, terminate. Thus far Matthew’s narrative has marched forward in regular chronological order. But from this point to the next great crisis, namely, his laying the platform of his dispensation in the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew’s account (constituting only the remainder of this chapter,) is very brief, and unobservant of chronology.

John was cast into prison — The third period, embracing our Lord’s Preparatory Ministry, has now commenced. It begins with (events which Matthew omits) his first miracle at Cana, the casting out the traders at his first passover, his discourse to Nicodemus, his baptizing, and receiving John’s final testimony, (§ 19-§ 22;) opens more distinctly as John recedes, but maintains its preparatory character until the inauguration of the apostolic college and the Sermon on the Mount. The imprisonment of the Baptist finds Jesus tarrying and baptizing in Judea. By the divine plan, as predicted by prophecy, his preparatory ministry must take place in Galilee. He retires therefore from Judea, and takes his position at the predicted spot.

Departed into Galilee — Galilee was the most northerly of the three general divisions of Palestine. There was an upper or northern part, and a lower or southern part. The latter, lying between the Mediterranean and Lake Gennesaret, was the principal scene of our Lord’s ministry. Its principal towns were Tiberias, Chorazin, Bethsaida, Nazareth, Cana, Capernaum, and Nain. Our Lord’s disciples were all from Galilee. The Galileans were a turbulent and fighting race, whose presence frequently produced great disturbances at Jerusalem during the passover. Their dialect was considered by the people of Jerusalem as rustic and impure. Hence Peter’s speech proved his Galilean origin, and confirmed the charge of his being a follower of Christ. The name of Galilee occurs in the Old Testament as early as Joshua 20:7.

Verse 12. He departed into Galilee. — This is the commencement of a distinct part of St. Matthew’s gospel, and contains a narrative of the acts and discourses of our Lord in Galilee; not the Galilee over which Herod who had cast John into prison ruled; but Galilee of the Gentiles, so called because it had a great mixture of Gentiles in the population; the coasts of the lake of Tiberias, in the dominions of Philip the tetrarch.

V. 13. Leaving Nazareth-Namely, when they had wholly rejected his word, and even attempted to kill him, Luke 4:29.

Verse 13. And leaving Nazareth] Or, entirely leaving Nazareth, kai katalipwn thn nazaret, from kata, intensive, and deipw, I leave. It seems that, from this time, our blessed Lord made Capernaum his ordinary place of residence; and utterly forsook Nazareth, because they had wholly rejected his word, and even attempted to take away his life. See Luke 4:29.

Galilee was bounded by mount Lebanon on the north, by the river Jordan and the sea of Galilee on the east, by Chison on the south, and by the Mediterranean on the west.

Nazareth, a little city in the tribe of Zebulon, in lower Galilee, with Tabor on the east, and Ptolemais on the west. It is supposed that this city was the usual residence of our Lord for the first thirty years of his life. It was here he became incarnate, lived in subjection to Joseph and Mary, and from which he took the name of a Nazorean.

Capernaum, a city famous in the New Testament, but never mentioned in the Old. Probably it was one of those cities which the Jews built after their return from Babylon. It stood on the sea-coast of Galilee, on the borders of Zabulon and Nephthalim, as mentioned in the text. This was called his own city, Matthew 9:1, &c., and here, as a citizen, he paid the half shekel, Matthew 17:24. Among the Jews, if a man became a resident in any city for twelve months, he thereby became a citizen, and paid his proportion of dues and taxes. See Lightfoot. Capernaum is well known to have been the principal scene of our Lord’s miracles during the three years of his public ministry.

Zabulon, the country of this tribe, in which Nazareth and Capernaum were situated, bordered on the lake of Gennesareth, stretching to the frontiers of Sidon, Genesis 49:13. Nephthalim was contiguous to it, and both were on the east side of Jordan, Joshua 19:34.

Verse 13. Leaving Nazareth — Namely, when they had rejected his word, and even attempted to kill him, as is described Luke 4:29: he came and dwelt in Capernaum, upon the sea-coast — “Capernaum is nowhere mentioned in the Old Testament, either by its own name or by any other. Probably it was one of those towns which the Jews built after their return from Babylon. Its exact situation has not, as yet, been determined with certainty by geographers: only, from its being on the confines of the two tribes, Reland and others conjecture that it stood somewhere on the north-west shore of the lake of Gennesareth. According to Josephus, Bell., 3:18, the length of this lake was one hundred furlongs, or twelve miles and a half, and its breadth forty furlongs, or five miles. Pliny says it was sixteen miles long, and six broad. Anciently, the lake of Gennesareth was called the sea of Chinneroth, Numbers 34:11; but in later times, it was named the sea of Galilee, because that country formed part of its shore, and the sea of Tiberias: from the city Tiberias, lying on the south-west coast thereof. Its bottom is gravel, which gives its waters both a good colour and taste. The river Jordan runs through the middle of it, and stocks it with a variety of excellent fish. In the countries round this lake, our Lord spent a great part of the two former years of his public life; and though he afterward enlarged the compass of his journeys, yet they always enjoyed a considerable share of his blessed company and divine instructions.” — Macknight.

13. Leaving Nazareth — After being rejected there the first time. (See Hist. Synop.) As Nazareth was in Galilee, this implies that our Lord’s course from Judea was first to Nazareth. Thence, for reasons we proceed to explain, he went and took his residence at Capernaum. Came and dwelt at Capernaum — As Bethlehem was the place of Jesus’s birth, and Nazareth of his childhood, so Capernaum was the home of his ministry, and Jerusalem the place of his death.

Capernaum was a town situated upon the western shore of the Lake of Gennesaret. Its name is compounded of the words Kefr, village, and Nahum, refreshment. It was called the place of refreshment, from the springs near which it stood. There is much difference of opinion as to its true position. We adopt, however, the opinion of Dr. Thomson, that it was situated at the point which is now called Tell-Hum. The word Hum is doubtless the closing syllable of thee word Capernaum. As the word Kefr signifies a village, and the word Tell signifies a mound, or ancient, site, so the ancient Kefr-Nahum would be the modern Tell-Hum. The town of Khorazy, about two miles north of Tell-Hum, seems to represent the ancient Chorazin. This place was eminently suited to be the location of our Lord’s ministry. The lake by which it stood, though now deserted and lonely, was then the scene of busy life. “Situated,” says Stanley, “in the midst of the Jordan valley, on the great thoroughfare from Babylon and Damascus, in Palestine, its waters seemed to answer a purpose like that served by the Lake of Lucerne, between Italy and Germany. Its fisheries furnished a source of sustenance to the surrounding inhabitants, and an industry for its labourers. Its surface was alive with the ships, or rather lake-boats, of fisher-men and navigators. Under the Roman government custom-houses were established, at which tribute was taken by the publicans, of which Matthew was one. The adjoining countries of Naphtali and Zebulun, diversified with mountain and vale, were covered with verdure, and cultivated by a swarming population. Its surface was dotted by countless villages, visited by our Lord at various times, mentioned or unmentioned by the evangelists. Thus the double advantages of intercourse by sea and land were secured by our Lord’s position at Capernaum.” Which is upon the sea coast — The coast or shore of the Lake of Gennesaret. This lake and its surrounding localities must ever remain one of the most interesting spots on the map of the globe.

The Lake of Gennesaret is seldom mentioned in the Old Testament, or in secular history. In the dim antiquity of the most ancient records, its name appears to have been Cinneroth, of which Gennesaret is the modernized Greek form, and which appears to have been derived from a town of Cinneroth, on its western shore. It was afterward called the Sea of Galilee, and finally, in honour of the Emperor Tiberius, it was called the Lake of Tiberias, and a town was called Tiberias on its western coast. The Sea of Tiberias is about thirteen miles in length, and, in its broadest part, six miles in breadth. In the clearness of the eastern atmosphere it looks much smaller than its real size. What gives it a remarkable aspect, is the deep depression of its surface not only far below the lofty summits of its banks, but far below the level of the Mediterranean Sea. As the traveller descends from the rocky walls by which it is encompassed, the temperature of its deep basin grows warm. In the summer or late spring it is filled with an atmosphere of oppressive heat, in great contrast with the bracing breezes of the neighbouring hills of Galilee. “All along the edge of this secluded basin,” says Stanley, “runs the whole way round from north to south a level beach, at the southern end roughly strewn with the black and white stones peculiar to this district, and also connected with its volcanic structure; but the central or northern part formed of smooth sand, or of a texture of shells and pebbles so minute as to resemble sand, like the substance of the beach on the Gulf of ‘Akabah. Shrubs, too, of the tropical thorn, fringe the greater part of the line of shore, mingled here and there with the bright pink colours of the oleander,

‘All thro’ the summer night

Those blossoms, red and bright,

Spread their soft breasts’

long before they are in flower in the valleys of the higher country. On this beach, which can be discerned running like a white line all round the lake, the hills plant their dark base, descending nowhere precipitously, but almost everywhere presenting an alternation of soft grassy slopes and rocky cliffs, occasionally broken away so as to exhibit the red and gray colours so familiar in the limestone of Greece.”

Through the centre of this lake, from north to south, runs the rapid current of the River Jordan, which, coming down from its sources in the Lebanon, passes onward to the Dead Sea. On both sides of the inlet of the River Jordan, at the northern extremity of the lake, stood the double town of Bethsaida. Thence on the curve of the northeastern shore was the grassy plain of Butaiha, where the five thousand were miraculously fed. Moving down the eastern shore, we come to Kersa or Gergesa, the place of the two demoniacs and the possessed swine. On the western banks were the towns of Tiberias, of Magdala, (the residence of the Magdalen,) Capernaum, and Chorazin. These localities are unparalleled in interest to the heart of the Christian traveller, and no waters in the world are surveyed with such emotions as the Lake of Gennesaret, and the stream of the Jordan.

Borders of Zebulun and Nephalim — By the ancient division of the tribes, Zebulun bordered on this Sea of Gennesaret. Long before the settlement of the tribes in the land of Canaan, the dying Jacob prophesied of Zebulun, (Genesis 49:13:) “Zebulun shall dwell at the haven of the sea; and he shall be an haven of the ships; and his borders shall be unto Zidon.”

Verse 13. He came and dwelt in Capernaum. — Henceforward

Capernaum is to be considered as Christ’s place of residence. Hence it is called “his own city.” It was upon “the coast” of “the sea” of Galilee; and gave him easy access by water to many very populous districts, where he delivered many of his discourses, and wrought his astonishing miracles; but from this country he went up thrice in the year, at the great feasts, to Jerusalem.

Verses 14, 15. That it might be fulfilled. — Or, whereby was fulfilled, that which was spoken by Esaias — Namely, Isaiah 9:1, 2, where see the notes. The land of Zabulon, and the land of Nephthalim, &c. — Isaiah, in this passage, comforts the Jewish Church of his time against the desolation about to be made through the Assyrian invasion, by foretelling that they who should have the greatest share in that calamity should afterward enjoy, in the greatest plenty, the means of salvation through Christ’s abode and preaching among them: By the way of the sea — That is, on the coasts of the lake of Gennesareth, commonly called a sea: Galilee of the Gentiles — Or nations; that is, Galilee in the confines of, or encompassed by, the heathen nations. Or, perhaps the reason of the name may rather be, that many Gentiles were early settled there, and had filled the country with a variety of superstitions, in consequence of Solomon’s giving a tract of land here to Hiram. See 1 Kings 9:11-13. Hence it was soon filled with foreigners, and peopled with a mixture of Phœnicians, Egyptians, and Arabians, as we learn from Strabo, an ancient writer.

14. Which was spoken by Esaias the prophet — Isaiah 9:1, 2. The prophecy from which Matthew extracts a brief and abrupt fragment, extends through chap. 8, to 9:7. This entire passage forms one distinct piece of prophecy. Through the eighth chapter the prophet predicts the overthrow of Syria and the northern tribes of Israel by the mighty power of the king of Assyria. The ninth chapter opens with a beam of hope to succeed this terrible overthrow. Terrible as was this period of vexation, “nevertheless,” says the prophet, (Isaiah 9:1,) “the dimness shall not be such as was in her vexation, when at the first he lightly afflicted the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, and afterwards did more grievously afflict her by the way of the sea beyond Jordan in the Galilee of the nations.” The reason why the dimness should not be such as under the Assyrian overthrow, the prophet proceeds to tell in the six following verses, (2-7,) namely: A great light should arise upon them, an emancipation like the “joy in harvest;” all the weapons of war should be destroyed by the power of the Prince of Peace; “for unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given,” etc.”

“But there shall not hereafter be darkness in the land which was distressed: In the former time he debased

The land of Zebulun, and the land of Naphtali;

But in the latter time he made it glorious:

Even the way of the sea beyond Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles, The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light; They that dwelled in the land of the shadow of death, Unto them hath the light shined.

Thou hast multiplied the nation, thou hast increased their joy: They rejoice before thee as with the joy of harvest;

As they rejoice who divide the spoil.

For the yoke of his burden, the staff laid on his shoulder, The rod of his oppressor hast thou broken, as in the day of Midian. For the greaves of the armed warrior in the conflict, And the garment rolled in much blood

Shall be for a burning, even fuel for the fire.

For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given,

And the government shall be upon his shoulders,

And his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor,

The Mighty God, the Father of the Everlasting Age, the Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end; Upon the throne of David and upon his kingdom,

To fix it, and to establish it

With judgment and with justice, henceforth and forever: The zeal of JEHOVAH, God of Hosts, will do this.”

In this piece of prophetic poetry the development and emancipation from its enemies of the Messianic “nation” or kingdom is compared as far superior to the deliverance from Assyria, though upon the same spot. Upon that same locality the light should rise, the joyous kingdom should increase, the oppressor’s “rod” should be broken before it, all armour should “be for a burning,” and war should cease, for the “Prince of Peace” is born. He is son of David, seated on his throne and ruling his kingdom; which throne and kingdom under him become eternal, since he is “the Mighty God.”

Verse 14. That it might be fulfilled, &c. — St. Matthew begins his quotation with a part of the first verse of Isaiah ix, which has led some to refer the former part of the verse to the preceding chapter; so that a distinct prophecy will begin with “the land of Zebulun, and the land of Naphtali,” &c., which tribes formerly possessed what was afterward called Galilee of the Gentiles. Bishop Lowth, however, following Mr. Mede, begins the prophecy as in our Bibles, with the whole of the first verse, and translates it, “But there shall not hereafter be darkness in the land which was distressed; in the former time, (alluding to the Assyrian invasion, and the captivity of the ten tribes,) he debased the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali; but in the latter time he hath made it glorious, even the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles, the people that walked in darkness,” &c. To prevent these countries from being confounded with Persia, which is called “beyond Jordan,” in verse 25, Peran tou Iordanou may be rendered, “on the Jordan,” on this side Jordan, which was the situation of Galilee, with reference to Judea, where Isaiah delivered his prophecies. Peran in this sense is a translation of rb[ which signifies near to, as well as beyond. There can be no pretence here to suppose an accommodation of this prediction quoted from Isaiah ix, since it stands in connection with that illustrious prophecy of Christ, “For unto us a child is born, unto us a Son is given,” &c. Here the Divine Saviour, so predicted, rises as the light of the world upon “Galilee of the Gentiles,” a province which had within itself a mixed population of Jews and Gentiles; being partly inhabited, says Strabo, by Egyptians, Arabians, and Phenicians, and so was a striking emblem of the whole world of Jews and Gentiles. These “sat in darkness,” in ignorance of God and spiritual things, and “in the region and shadow of death;” expressions used for the grave, and for the obscure abodes of the departed spirits of the wicked in the invisible world; and, by a strong and impressive metaphor, they are used to describe the misery, helplessness, and danger of a people without truth and piety. In a still stronger sense they apply to all the pagan Gentile nations, and the Jews in that state of unbelief and rejection in which they have been for so many ages, But as Christ fixed his dwelling in Galilee of the Gentiles as THE LIGHT in these regions of darkness, and THE LIFE amidst these shadowy abodes of death, and filled this benighted country with his heavenly doctrine; so shall this glorious prophecy, one of those which, as Lord Bacon says, have “a germinant accomplishment,” be in every succeeding age more extensively fulfilled, until “the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.” Isaiah uses the phrase, “walked in darkness,” and St. Matthew, “sat,” the meaning of which is the same; each, in the Hebrew mode of speaking, signifying TO BE or TO DWELL.

V. 15. Galilee of the Gentiles-That part of Galilee which lay beyond Jordan was so called, because it was in a great measure inhabited by Gentiles, that is, heathens. Isaiah 9:1, 2.

Verse 15. Galilee of the Gentiles] Or of the nations. So called, because it was inhabited by Egyptians, Arabians, and Phoenicians, according to the testimony of Strabo and others. The Hebrew גוים goyim, and the Greek eqnwn, signify nations; and, in the Old and New Testaments, mean those people who were not descendants of any of the twelve tribes. The word Gentiles, from gens, a nation, signifies the same. It is worthy of remark, that it was a regular tradition among the ancient Jews, that the Messiah should begin his ministry in Galilee. See the proofs in Schoetgen.

Verses 14, 15. That it might be fulfilled. — Or, whereby was fulfilled, that which was spoken by Esaias — Namely, Isaiah 9:1, 2, where see the notes. The land of Zabulon, and the land of Nephthalim, &c. — Isaiah, in this passage, comforts the Jewish Church of his time against the desolation about to be made through the Assyrian invasion, by foretelling that they who should have the greatest share in that calamity should afterward enjoy, in the greatest plenty, the means of salvation through Christ’s abode and preaching among them: By the way of the sea — That is, on the coasts of the lake of Gennesareth, commonly called a sea: Galilee of the Gentiles — Or nations; that is, Galilee in the confines of, or encompassed by, the heathen nations. Or, perhaps the reason of the name may rather be, that many Gentiles were early settled there, and had filled the country with a variety of superstitions, in consequence of Solomon’s giving a tract of land here to Hiram. See 1 Kings 9:11-13. Hence it was soon filled with foreigners, and peopled with a mixture of Phœnicians, Egyptians, and Arabians, as we learn from Strabo, an ancient writer.

15. The land of Zebulun and the land of Nephthalim — The territories of these two tribes were the first to feel the overthrow and captivity of Assyria, at first lightly, and then more grievously. And according to this prophecy, that ancient dimness and darkness should be reversed by a light that should burst upon the people, produced by the coming of the Prince of Peace. The ancient Jews accordingly expected that the coming of the Messiah would be in these regions. One of their books, called the Sohar, has this declaration: “The Messiah shall be revealed in the land of Galilee.” Grammatically, we may remark that the repeated word land in this verse is in apposition with the people in verse 16. The two lands and the people it is which sat in darkness, and saw the great light.

By the way of the sea — The word way here signifies route or tract of country; and the phrase, by the way of the sea, signifies on the borders of the sea. It describes the situation of the land of these two tribes, as being contiguous to the Sea of Tiberias.

Galilee of the Gentiles — This phrase is commonly understood as a geographical name of a particular part, namely, of northern Galilee. But it is very plain that northern Galilee, which lay far beyond the lake, could not here be meant. Hengstenberg says that it is not a geographical name specifying a particular part, but simply a phrase of description. Galilee is called of the Gentiles because, from various circumstances, a Gentile population had largely intermingled with the Jewish. This had corrupted their religion, debased their character, and produced much of the darkness which had deepened into the shadow of death.

V. 16. Here is a beautiful gradation, first, they walked, then they sat in darkness, and lastly, in the region of the shadow of death.

Verse 16. The people which sat in darkness] This is quoted from Isaiah 9:2, where, instead of sitting, the prophet used the word walked. The evangelist might on purpose change the term, to point out the increased misery of the state of these persons. Sitting in darkness expresses a greater degree of intellectual blindness, than walking in darkness does. In the time of Christ’s appearing, the people were in a much worse state than in the time of the prophet, which was nearly 700 years before; as, during all this period, they were growing more ignorant and sinful.

The region and shadow of death] These words are amazingly descriptive. A region of death-DEATH’S country, where, in a peculiar manner, Death lived, reigned, and triumphed, subjecting all the people to his sway. Shadow of death] skia qanatou, used only here and in Luke 1:79, but often in the Old Covenant, where the Hebrew is twm lx tsal maveth, It is not easy to enter fully into the ideal meaning of this term. As in the former clause, death is personified, so here. A shadow is that darkness cast upon a place by a body raised between it and the light or sun. Death is here represented as standing between the land above mentioned, and the light of life, or Sun of righteousness; in consequence of which, all the inhabitants were, involved in a continual cloud of intellectual darkness, misery, and sin. The heavenly sun was continually eclipsed to them, till this glorious time, when Jesus Christ, the true light, shone forth in the beauty of holiness and truth. Christ began his ministry in Galilee, and frequented this uncultivated place more than he did Jerusalem and other parts of Judea: here his preaching was peculiarly needful; and by this was the prophecy fulfilled.

Verse 16. The people who sat in darkness — They whose predecessors were afflicted by the Assyrians, and who, before Christ visited them, were captives of Satan, and had lived in gross ignorance of God and religion, being far from Jerusalem, the place of worship, and intermixed with the Tyrians, Sidonians, and other wicked heathen: saw a great light — This is spoken by Isaiah in the prophetic style, which represents things future as already accomplished, because certainly to be accomplished. This whole country had been overspread with spiritual darkness, but, by the example and preaching of Christ, the day-spring from on high visited it, diffusing among its inhabitants knowledge and holiness, and guiding their feet into the way of peace. “There were several reasons,” says Dr. Macknight, “which might determine Jesus to be so much about the sea of Galilee. 1st, The countries which surrounded this sea were large, fertile, and populous, especially the two Galilees. For, according to Josephus, Bell., 3:2, they alone had many towns, and a multitude of villages, the least of which contained above 15,000 souls. On the east side of the lake were Chorazin, Gadara, and Hippon; on the west, Capernaum, Tiberias, Bethsaida, and Tarrichea, with other places of inferior note. Wherefore, as it was agreeable to the end of Christ’s coming that his doctrine should be spread extensively, and his miracles wrought publicly, no country could be a fitter scene for his ministry than this. Besides its numerous inhabitants, there were at all times many strangers resorting to the trading towns on the lake, who, after hearing Jesus preach, could carry home with them the glad tidings of salvation which were the subjects of his sermons. Capernaum, chosen by Christ as the place of his residence, was a town of this kind, and much frequented. 2d, The countries round the lake were remote from Jerusalem, the seat of the scribes and Pharisees, who would not have borne with patience the presence of a teacher held in such estimation as Jesus deservedly was. We know this by what happened in the beginning of his ministry, when he made and baptized many disciples in Judea. They took such offence at it, that he was obliged to leave the country. Wherefore, as it was necessary that he should spend a considerable time in preaching and working miracles, both for the confirmation of his mission, and for the instruction of his disciples in the doctrines they were afterward to preach, these countries were, of all others, the most proper for him to reside in, or rather, they were the only places where he could be with safety for any time.”

Ver. 16. The people which sat in darkness saw great light. Isaiah spake these words to comfort the nation in complicated invasions and wars; but ever worshipping with the Messiah before his eyes, he saw him coming as the light of the gentiles and the glory of the people of Israel. A state of nature is a state of darkness, loaded with crimes, and groaning with miseries; and what is worse, they know not the way of life, till the dayspring from on high shall visit them.

16. The people — That is, the people of the land of Zebulun and Naphthali. Sat in darkness — The prophet says, “Walked in darkness.” Sat in darkness embraces the same idea, but an intenser meaning. He who walks in darkness may be looking for light; but he who sits in darkness is settled in his condition. Saw great light — The prophet describes the future as past. Before his eye the scene transpires. The people are described as sitting in hopeless midnight, when a sudden noonday breaks upon them. Shadow of death — Physically we conceive there to be a darkness of night, and also a deeper darkness of death. Spiritually, too, as here, there is to the souls of men a darkness of moral night; and when this becomes hopeless it deepens to the shades of spiritual and eternal death. In this condition of hopeless spiritual darkness of death, were these Galileans when the Messianic light, Jesus, the Redeemer, sprung up upon them.

V. 17. From that time Jesus began to preach-He had preached before, both to Jews and Samaritans, John 4:41, 45. But from this time begin his solemn stated preaching.

Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand-Although it is the peculiar business of Christ to establish the kingdom of heaven in the hearts of men, yet it is observable, he begins his preaching in the same words with John the Baptist: because the repentance which John taught still was, and ever will be, the necessary preparation for that inward kingdom. But that phrase is not only used with regard to individuals in whom it is to be established, but also with regard to the Christian Church, the whole body of believers. In the former sense it is opposed to repentance; in the latter the Mosaic dispensation.

Verse 17. Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent] See on Matthew 3:1, 2. Every preacher commissioned by God to proclaim salvation to a lost world, begins his work with preaching the doctrine of repentance. This was the case with all the prophets, John the Baptist, Jesus Christ, all the apostles, and all their genuine successors in the Christian ministry. The reasons are evident in the notes already referred to; and for the explanation of the word khrussein, preaching or proclaiming as a herald, see at the end of chap. 3.

Verse 17. From that time Jesus began to preach — He had preached before, both to Jews and Samaritans, John 4:41, 45, but from this time he began to preach publicly and statedly, and to insist on the same doctrine that John had done: and with good reason, for the repentance which John taught, still was and ever will be, the necessary preparation for that inward kingdom of heaven, or, of God, which is righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost. The phrase, however, is not only used with regard to individuals, in whom that kingdom is to be established, but also with regard to the Christian Church, the whole body of believers. In the former sense, it is opposed to repentance, by which it is preceded; in the latter, to the Mosaic dispensation. Our Lord now properly and fully entered upon his prophetic office; which consisted of three things: preaching, or making known the will of God; gathering disciples; and working miracles. The first of these he does here, and more largely chap. 5., 6., 7., and in his many parables and other discourses. The second, verses 18-22. The third, as being necessary to confirm his doctrine, on all occasions, from time to time, till his departure hence.

17. From that time — From the time of John’s imprisonment and the Saviour’s settlement in Capernaum.

Began… to say, Repent — As the preaching of the Baptist had ceased, the Saviour took up the Baptist’s theme. That theme was repentance, as preparatory to the founding of Messiah’s kingdom. Repent — Repentance includes two elements, renunciation of our past sin, and the adoption of a future better course. This renunciation is founded upon a sorrow more or less emotional, and an abhorrence, more or less earnest, of our past misdoing. But the genuineness of our repentance depends less upon the emotional excitement, than upon the strength of the volition by which we have renounced the past, and the reality of the reformation in the future. The repentance that produces no reformation may have some sincerity, but little soundness, and no happy result.

Kingdom of heaven — See note on Matthew 3:2.

Verse 17. From that time Jesus began to preach, &c. — He fully employed himself henceforth in his public ministry; and to show that the doctrine of the necessity of repentance was not to be confined to John’s dispensation, he himself begins by preaching it as a necessary preparation for that spiritual kingdom which he was about to establish; and thus he taught all his servants, by his own example, where their ministry was to BEGIN. In that respect he took up the dispensation of John the Baptist into his own, and laid the foundations of his religion in “repentance toward God,” as well as faith in his own offices.

V. 18. Mark 1:16; Luke 5:1.

Verse 18. Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother] Why did not Jesus Christ call some of the eminent Scribes or Pharisees to publish his Gospel, and not poor unlearned fishermen, without credit or authority? Because it was the kingdom of heaven they were to preach, and their teaching must come from above: besides, the conversion of sinners, though it be effected instrumentally by the preaching of the Gospel, yet the grand agent in it is the Spirit of God. As the instruments were comparatively mean, and, the work which was accomplished by them was grand and glorious, the excellency of the power at once appeared to be of GOD, and not of man; and thus the glory, due alone to his name, was secured, and the great Operator of all good had the deserved praise. Seminaries of learning, in the order of God’s providence and grace, have great and important uses; and, in reference to such uses, they should be treated with great respect: but to make preachers of the Gospel is a matter to which they are utterly inadequate; it is a, prerogative that God never did, and never will, delegate to man.

Where the seed of the kingdom of God is sowed, and a dispensation of the Gospel is committed to a man, a good education may be of great and general use: but it no more follows, because a man has had a good education, that therefore he is qualified to preach the Gospel, than it does, that because he has not had that, therefore he is unqualified; for there may be much ignorance of Divine things where there is much human learning; and a man may be well taught in the things of God, and be able to teach others, who has not had the advantages of a liberal education. Men-made ministers have almost ruined the heritage of God. To prevent this, our Church requires that a man be inwardly moved to take upon himself this ministry, before he can be ordained to it. And he who cannot say, that he trusts (has rational and Scriptural conviction) that he is moved by the Holy Ghost to take upon himself this office, is an intruder into the heritage of God, and his ordination, ipso facto, vitiated and of none effect. See the truly apostolic Ordination Service of the Church of England. Fishers.] Persons employed in a lawful and profitable avocation, and faithfully discharging their duty in it. It was a tradition of the elders, that one of Joshua’s ten precepts was, that all men should have an equal right to spread their nets and fish in the sea of Tiberias, or Galilee. The persons mentioned here were doubtless men of pure morals; for the minister of God should have a good report from them that are without.

Verse 18. And Jesus, walking, &c., saw two brethren — One of the two, at least, namely, Andrew, had been a disciple of the Baptist. And the Apostle John “informs us, John 1:40, 42, that they had both before been called to the knowledge of Christ, upon the banks of Jordan, and that the name of Peter had been given to Simon. And it is probable that, from their first acquaintance with him, they followed Jesus for some time, and went with him to Cana and Capernaum, John 2:3, 12; and afterward to Jerusalem, John 2:13, 17; and tarried with him while he continued in Judea, John 3:22. But when the Pharisees grew jealous of the number of his followers, and Herod was offended at the popularity of John, we may suppose that Jesus, at his return to Galilee, might think it prudent to dismiss his disciples for a time, till he himself had gone about from place to place to preach the gospel, and had informed the people more particularly of the character of his person, and the nature of his doctrine: or, possibly, they might leave him at the time when the Samaritans prevailed upon him to go with them to their city, John 4:40. Be this as it may, we read no more of his disciples being with him, till he now found them at the sea of Galilee. For they no sooner were gone home, but they returned again to their old employment, and continued in it till they were now taken off from any further regard to their worldly business, and were particularly called by Christ to a constant attendance upon him.” — Doddridge. Casting a net into the sea. — Namely, to wash it, for, according to Luke 5:2, they were washing their nets, when he called them. For they were fishers — He called such mean persons to show, 1st, the freedom of his grace, in choosing such weak instruments; 2d, his power, in that by such men he could subdue the world; 3d, the depth of his wisdom, in providing thus for his own honour, that the instruments might not carry away the glory of the work.

§ 26. — CALL OF FOUR DISCIPLES, PRECEDED BY MIRACLES, 18-22.

18. Saw two brethren — Of this call of Simon and Andrew a fuller account is given in Luke 5:1-11. This was not the first meeting of our Lord with the brothers, for that is narrated in the first chapter of John. Nor is it to be identified with their incorporation into the body of the twelve apostles, which is narrated in Matthew 3:14. This call to follow him as a disciple was intermediate between those two events and preparatory to the latter. It may be remarked that in the apostolic college there were two couples of brothers, namely, Simon and Andrew, James and John. All four were from Bethsaida, on the Galilean side of the Jordan.

Simon, called Peter — A Hebrew and a Greek name, according to the custom of that day. The Greek name, Petros, was given by our Lord in allusion to the hardy nature of this, the oldest, the most ardent, and, from the boldness of his character, the most conspicuous of the apostles. Hence he was chief of the apostles until surpassed by St. Paul; but not in the Romish sense. He possessed not a primacy of office, but a pre-eminence of character. On the contrary, Andrew, of the same stock, is tame in character and obscure in history. As apostles, they were officially equal; as men, they possessed by nature a great disparity.

They were fishers — We have already remarked that the waters of the Gennesaret were prolific of fish, the taking of which formed a large share of the occupation of the dwellers upon its shores.

Verse 18. Walking by the sea of Galilee. — This was otherwise called the sea or lake of Tiberius, from the city of that name which was built on its western shore by Herod the tetrarch, and so named in honour of Tiberius Cesar, This inland sea had also the appellation of the lake of Gennesaret; and in the Old Testament is called “the sea of Cinnereth.” It is between seventeen and eighteen miles in length, and near six in breadth. It is surrounded with a varied scenery of mountains and valleys; is generally smooth and tranquil, but subject to storms of wind suddenly beating down upon it from the mountains.

Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother. — These had been disciples of John the Baptist; but this was not their first calling, which is related John 1:37, &c. At first, therefore, they only continued with Christ for a time; now they were more specially called to “follow” him, and to abandon their occupation to be trained up to be apostles for Christ, by constant attendance upon his teaching, and observance of his example, and of those mighty works by which he demonstrated himself to be “sent of God.” They and others were first called by Christ as disciples; afterward he chose twelve apostles to be “with him always,” Mark 3:14. For they were fishers. — Why then did our Lord, choose men in this humble station? — The answer is,

1. That they were pious men, the fruit of the ministry of John the Baptist.

2. That it might in future be acknowledged, that “the excellency of the power was of God, not of man.” That the Gospel might appear to all not to be a device of human genius and subtlety, but “the wisdom of God, and the power of God.” These “fishers” nothing but that wisdom and that power could make fishers of men, in the sense of our Lord; which meant, not only to bring men into the visible community of Christians, but into a state of personal reconciliation with God, and the experience of his regenerating grace. No minister “catches men” until these changes are effected in them by his labours; and his instrumentality as to these stupendous results, affecting the present and eternal interests of his hearers, can only be rendered effectual by the constant co-working of a Divine power. The metaphor suited these circumstances; they had been successful in their occupation as fishermen; now they were to be appointed to the office of instructing and saving souls, and our Lord promises to give them good success in that loftier calling.

Verse 19. Follow me] Come after me, deute opisw mou. Receive my doctrines, imitate me in my conduct-in every respect be my disciples. We may observe that most of the calls of God to man are expressed in a few solemn words, which alarm, the conscience, and deeply impress the heart. I will make you fishers of men.] Ezekiel Ezekiel 47:8-10, casts much light on this place; and to this prophet our Lord probably alludes. To follow Christ, and be admitted into a partnership of his ministry, is a great honour; but those only who are by himself fitted for it, God calls. Miserable are those who do not wait fur this call-who presume to take the name of fishers of men, and know not how to cast the net of the Divine word, because not brought to an acquaintance with the saving power of the God who bought them. Such persons, having only their secular interest in view, study not to catch men, but to catch money: and though, for charity’s sake, it may be said of a pastor of this spirit, he does not enter the sheepfold as a thief, yet he certainly lives as a hireling. See Quesnel. Some teach to work, but have no hands to row;

Some will be eyes, but have no light to see;

Some will be guides, but have no feet to go;

Some deaf, yet ears, some dumb, yet tongues will be;

Dumb, deaf, lame, blind, and maimed, yet fishers all!

Fit for no use but store an hospital.

Fletcher’s Piscatory Eclogues. Ec. iv. 5, 18.

Following a person, in the Jewish phrase, signifies being his disciple or scholar. See a similar mode of speech, 2 Kings 6:19.

Verses 19, 20. He saith unto them — Namely, after some previous circumstances, an account of which is given, Luke 5:1-11. Follow me — That is, not only now and then, as you have hitherto done, since my baptism, John 1:37; but now leave your ordinary employments, and become my constant attendants; that by continually hearing my doctrine, and seeing my miracles, you may be fitted, in due time, to become my messengers to mankind. It is observable that, when God has called men to offices of dignity and usefulness among his people, or has particularly appeared in their favour, they have generally been engaged in some honest employment. Saul was seeking his father’s asses, and David was keeping his father’s sheep, when the Lord called them to the kingdom. The shepherds were feeding their flocks when they received information from the angel, accompanied by the heavenly host, of the birth of Christ. God called Amos from the flock, Gideon from the threshing floor, and the apostles here from their fishing. God does not encourage idleness, nor despise persons in mean employments. And I will make you fishers of men — You shall gather men into the gospel net, and gain them over to the faith; and such abundant success will I give you, that the number of souls converted by you, shall be greater than that of the fishes you have been used to catch. See notes on Ezekiel 37:6-10. Observe, reader! The work of ministers is here set forth. They are not to fish for a livelihood, much less for honour and applause to themselves, but to win souls to God, and are to bait their hooks and order their nets for this end: which, however, will never be answered if, either by mere general discourses, they make the meshes so wide that sinners will find an easy passage through them, or, by abstract reasonings, and fine-spun speculations, they make the threads so small that they can easily break them; or, if they neglect to close the net upon those they have enclosed, by a proper and pointed application of their subject. Nor will all our art or labour make us fishers of men, without the divine blessing. Without this, like the disciples of old, we may toil all day and all night, but we shall catch nothing, or nothing to purpose. And it is to be observed further, that the apostles were not immediately to enter upon the work of the ministry, but were first to follow Jesus. And the apostles, in the choice of one to succeed Judas, limited themselves in their election to those that had companied with them all the time the Lord Jesus had gone in and out among them, Acts 1:21. Those who do not observe this become fishers for something else rather than the souls of men. They straightway left their nets and followed him — Influenced by the power of his word, and struck with the wonderful miracle recorded Luke 5:6-9. It is not of indispensable necessity that those who are called to the ministry of the word should have nothing else to do. Paul’s hand ministered to his necessities and those of his companions. But it is very desirable that they should be so supported as to be able to give themselves wholly up to the work of the Lord.

Ver. 19. I will make you fishers of men. Sweet is that voice, and gracious that call, to cast the net into the sea and save souls. And of all the godlike pleasures which the mind can taste, none is equal to that. Oh young man, pursued with that inward call, quench it not. To gain the mind by truth, and win the heart with grace, is to save a soul from death, to become a crown of rejoicing in the day of the Lord. Resist it not, and God who gives it will make your way to the sanctuary.

19. Fishers of men — The comparison of the preacher to the fisherman, as derived from this passage, was a favourite idea with the early writers of the Christian Church. Fish in the waters are as sinners in the world. It is the preacher’s art so to bait the hook of divine truth as that, with ready appetite, the sinner will receive it and be captured for salvation. Hence there was a striking accordance, and perhaps even an intended typeism, between the early engagements of these men and their subsequent profession as apostles.

Verse 20. They straightway left their nets] A change, as far as it respected secular things, every way to their disadvantage. The proud and the profane may exult and say, “Such preachers as these cannot be much injured by their sacrifices of secular property-they have nothing but nets, &c., to leave.” Let such carpers at the institution of Christ know, that he who has nothing but a net, and leaves that for the sake of doing good to the souls of men, leaves his ALL: besides, he lived comfortably by his net before; but, in becoming the servant of all for Christ’s sake, he often exposes himself to the want of even a morsel of bread. See on Matthew 19:27.

Verses 19, 20. He saith unto them — Namely, after some previous circumstances, an account of which is given, Luke 5:1-11. Follow me — That is, not only now and then, as you have hitherto done, since my baptism, John 1:37; but now leave your ordinary employments, and become my constant attendants; that by continually hearing my doctrine, and seeing my miracles, you may be fitted, in due time, to become my messengers to mankind. It is observable that, when God has called men to offices of dignity and usefulness among his people, or has particularly appeared in their favour, they have generally been engaged in some honest employment. Saul was seeking his father’s asses, and David was keeping his father’s sheep, when the Lord called them to the kingdom. The shepherds were feeding their flocks when they received information from the angel, accompanied by the heavenly host, of the birth of Christ. God called Amos from the flock, Gideon from the threshing floor, and the apostles here from their fishing. God does not encourage idleness, nor despise persons in mean employments. And I will make you fishers of men — You shall gather men into the gospel net, and gain them over to the faith; and such abundant success will I give you, that the number of souls converted by you, shall be greater than that of the fishes you have been used to catch. See notes on Ezekiel 37:6-10. Observe, reader! The work of ministers is here set forth. They are not to fish for a livelihood, much less for honour and applause to themselves, but to win souls to God, and are to bait their hooks and order their nets for this end: which, however, will never be answered if, either by mere general discourses, they make the meshes so wide that sinners will find an easy passage through them, or, by abstract reasonings, and fine-spun speculations, they make the threads so small that they can easily break them; or, if they neglect to close the net upon those they have enclosed, by a proper and pointed application of their subject. Nor will all our art or labour make us fishers of men, without the divine blessing. Without this, like the disciples of old, we may toil all day and all night, but we shall catch nothing, or nothing to purpose. And it is to be observed further, that the apostles were not immediately to enter upon the work of the ministry, but were first to follow Jesus. And the apostles, in the choice of one to succeed Judas, limited themselves in their election to those that had companied with them all the time the Lord Jesus had gone in and out among them, Acts 1:21. Those who do not observe this become fishers for something else rather than the souls of men. They straightway left their nets and followed him — Influenced by the power of his word, and struck with the wonderful miracle recorded Luke 5:6-9. It is not of indispensable necessity that those who are called to the ministry of the word should have nothing else to do. Paul’s hand ministered to his necessities and those of his companions. But it is very desirable that they should be so supported as to be able to give themselves wholly up to the work of the Lord.

20. Straightway left their nets — They had been previously disciples of John. The preaching of Jesus had divinely impressed their hearts. The miracle performed upon the present occasion, as detailed by Luke, had filled their hearts with awe. Straightway they left their nets, their boats, their father, and their father’s house, surrendering all to follow him, with a quickness that renders them the very model of a prompt obedience.

Verses 21, 22. Going on from thence — Mark says, A little further thence, He saw two other brethren, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother — The reader will observe, there was another James, the son of Alpheus, or Cleophas, commonly called James the Less. In a ship, with Zebedee their father — By the sea-side, mending their nets — Which had been broken by the vast draught of fishes they had taken just before. And he called them — Not with his voice only, but by his Spirit affecting and drawing their hearts, so that they immediately left their ship and their father, and indeed their earthly all, and followed him.

§ 26. — CALL OF FOUR DISCIPLES, PRECEDED BY MIRACLES, 18-22.

18. Saw two brethren — Of this call of Simon and Andrew a fuller account is given in Luke 5:1-11. This was not the first meeting of our Lord with the brothers, for that is narrated in the first chapter of John. Nor is it to be identified with their incorporation into the body of the twelve apostles, which is narrated in Matthew 3:14. This call to follow him as a disciple was intermediate between those two events and preparatory to the latter. It may be remarked that in the apostolic college there were two couples of brothers, namely, Simon and Andrew, James and John. All four were from Bethsaida, on the Galilean side of the Jordan.

Simon, called Peter — A Hebrew and a Greek name, according to the custom of that day. The Greek name, Petros, was given by our Lord in allusion to the hardy nature of this, the oldest, the most ardent, and, from the boldness of his character, the most conspicuous of the apostles. Hence he was chief of the apostles until surpassed by St. Paul; but not in the Romish sense. He possessed not a primacy of office, but a pre-eminence of character. On the contrary, Andrew, of the same stock, is tame in character and obscure in history. As apostles, they were officially equal; as men, they possessed by nature a great disparity.

They were fishers — We have already remarked that the waters of the Gennesaret were prolific of fish, the taking of which formed a large share of the occupation of the dwellers upon its shores.

Verse 21. James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother. — There was another James, the son of Alpheus. These were also distinguished by the former being called James the Greater, and the latter James the Less; which was probably a distinction founded upon seniority. The John here mentioned was “the beloved disciple.” He, it is probable, had previously become a disciple of Christ at the same time with Andrew and Simon Peter, though he suppresses his name in the account, John 1:35. In a ship. — Ploion denotes a vessel of any size. In a boat is somewhat too diminutive a rendering; in a ship, too stately. A fishing vessel may express the precise idea.

Verse 22. Left the ship and their father] By the ship, to ploion, we are to understand the mere fishing-boat, used for extending their nets in the water and bringing the hawser or rope of the farther end to shore, by which the net was pulled to land. But why should these be called to leave their employment and their father, probably now aged? To this I answer, that to be obedient to, provide for, and comfort our parents, is the highest duty we owe or can discharge, except that to God. But, when God calls to the work of the ministry, father and mother and all must be left. Were we necessary to their comfort and support before? Then God, if he call us into another work or state, will take care to supply to them our lack of service some other way; and, if this be not done, it is a proof we have mistaken our call. Again, were our parents necessary to us, and in leaving them for the sake of the Gospel, or in obedience to a Divine command, do we deprive ourselves of the comforts of life? No matter: we should prefer the honour of serving the Most High, even in poverty and humility, to all the comforts of a father’s house. But what an honour was the vocation of James and John, to old Zebedee their father! His sons are called to be heralds of the God of heaven! Allowing him to have been a pious man, this must have given him unutterable delight.

Verses 21, 22. Going on from thence — Mark says, A little further thence, He saw two other brethren, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother — The reader will observe, there was another James, the son of Alpheus, or Cleophas, commonly called James the Less. In a ship, with Zebedee their father — By the sea-side, mending their nets — Which had been broken by the vast draught of fishes they had taken just before. And he called them — Not with his voice only, but by his Spirit affecting and drawing their hearts, so that they immediately left their ship and their father, and indeed their earthly all, and followed him.

§ 26. — CALL OF FOUR DISCIPLES, PRECEDED BY MIRACLES, 18-22.

18. Saw two brethren — Of this call of Simon and Andrew a fuller account is given in Luke 5:1-11. This was not the first meeting of our Lord with the brothers, for that is narrated in the first chapter of John. Nor is it to be identified with their incorporation into the body of the twelve apostles, which is narrated in Matthew 3:14. This call to follow him as a disciple was intermediate between those two events and preparatory to the latter. It may be remarked that in the apostolic college there were two couples of brothers, namely, Simon and Andrew, James and John. All four were from Bethsaida, on the Galilean side of the Jordan.

Simon, called Peter — A Hebrew and a Greek name, according to the custom of that day. The Greek name, Petros, was given by our Lord in allusion to the hardy nature of this, the oldest, the most ardent, and, from the boldness of his character, the most conspicuous of the apostles. Hence he was chief of the apostles until surpassed by St. Paul; but not in the Romish sense. He possessed not a primacy of office, but a pre-eminence of character. On the contrary, Andrew, of the same stock, is tame in character and obscure in history. As apostles, they were officially equal; as men, they possessed by nature a great disparity.

They were fishers — We have already remarked that the waters of the Gennesaret were prolific of fish, the taking of which formed a large share of the occupation of the dwellers upon its shores.

V. 23. The Gospel of the kingdom-The Gospel, that is, the joyous message, is the proper name of our religion: as will be amply verified in all who earnestly and perseveringly embrace it.

Verse 23. Teaching in their synagogues] Synagogue, sunagwgh, from sun, together, and agw, I bring, a public assembly of persons, or the place where such persons publicly assembled. Synagogues, among the Jews, were not probably older than the return from the Babylonish captivity. They were erected not only in cities and towns, but in the country, and especially by rivers, that they might have water for the convenience of their frequent washings.

Not less than ten persons of respectability composed a synagogue; as the rabbins supposed that this number of persons, of independent property, and well skilled in the law, were necessary to conduct the affairs of the place, and keep up the Divine worship. See Lightfoot. Therefore, where this number could not be found, no synagogue was built; but there might be many synagogues in one city or town, provided it were populous. Jerusalem is said to have contained 480. This need not be wondered at, when it is considered that every Jew was obliged to worship God in public, either in a synagogue or in the temple.

The chief things belonging to a synagogue were:

1st. The ark or chest, made after the mode of the ark of the covenant, containing the Pentateuch.

2dly. The pulpit and desk, in the middle of the synagogue, on which he stood who read or expounded the law.

3dly. The seats or pews for the men below, and the galleries for the women above.

4thly. The lamps to give light in the evening service, and at the feast of the dedication. And,

5thly. Apartments for the utensils and alms-chests.

The synagogue was governed by a council or assembly, over whom was a president, called in the Gospels, the ruler of the synagogue. These are sometimes called chiefs of the Jews, the rulers, the priests or elders, the governors, the overseers, the fathers of the synagogue. Service was performed in them three times a day-morning, afternoon, and night. Synagogue, among the Jews, had often the same meaning as congregation among us, or place of judicature, see James 2:2. Preaching the Gospel of the kingdom] Or, proclaiming the glad tidings of the kingdom. See the preceding notes. Behold here the perfect pattern of an evangelical preacher: 1. He goes about seeking sinners on every side, that he may show them the way to heaven. 2. He proclaims the glad tidings of the kingdom, with a freedom worthy of the King whom he serves. 3. He makes his reputation and the confidence of the people subservient not to his own interest, but to the salvation of souls. 4. To his preaching he joins, as far as he has ability, all works of mercy, and temporal assistance to the bodies of men. 5. He takes care to inform men that diseases, and all kinds of temporal evils, are the effects of sin, and that their hatred to iniquity should increase in proportion to the evils they endure through it. 6. And that nothing but the power of God can save them from sin and its consequences.

For glad tidings, or Gospel, see chap. 1. title. Proclaiming, see Matthew 3:1, and end; and for the meaning of kingdom, see Matthew 3:2.

All manner of sickness, and all manner of disease] There is a difference between nosov, translated here sickness, and malakia, translated disease. The first is thus defined: nosov, thn cronian kakopaqeian, a disease of some standing, a chronic disorder.

Infirmity, malakia thn proskairon anwmalian toi swmatov, a temporary disorder of the body. Theophylact. This is a proper distinction, and is necessary to be observed.

Verse 23. And Jesus went about all Galilee — Accompanied, it seems, by the four disciples above named; teaching in their synagogues — The word, sunagwgh, rendered, synagogue, may either signify the congregation, or the place in which they assembled. But it seems here, and generally, to mean the latter. Synagogues were in every city, from the time of the Babylonish captivity, and perhaps before that time. For, it is certain, the Jews neither did nor could assemble in the temple at Jerusalem for public worship every sabbath day, and therefore it is probable they had other places throughout the country to assemble in. This seems, indeed, to have been absolutely necessary, not only that the people might join in prayer together, but to bring them, in some degree, acquainted with the law of God. For, as copies of it were very scarce, the body of the people must, of necessity, have remained ignorant of it, unless it were read to them in public, and that in other places besides the temple, which the women in general could not visit at all, and the men but very seldom. Accordingly, in the 74th Psalm, which, by whomsoever it was composed, plainly speaks of the destruction of the temple, of Jerusalem, and of the Jews, by the Chaldeans, we read of all the synagogues of the land being burned up, which certainly implies that there were synagogues in the land before they were thus destroyed; and therefore before the captivity of Babylon. After the restoration from Babylon, they became very frequent. Even in Jerusalem itself, where one would have imagined they were less necessary, on account of the temple being there, the Hebrew doctors and other ancient and learned writers inform us, that there were above four hundred. It was usual to have service in them thrice a day, on three days of the week, when public prayer was put up, and the Scriptures were read and expounded. And though it belonged chiefly to the priests, Levites, and scribes to teach, yet it was the custom for any one of ability to do it. Preaching the gospel of the kingdom — Namely, that doctrine whereby the kingdom of heaven, that is, of grace here and glory hereafter, is revealed and offered to men, and, by obedience to which, they come to partake of it. Healing all manner of sickness, and all manner of disease among the people — Intending by these beneficent actions to confirm his doctrine, at the same time that he relieved the temporal distresses of mankind.

Ver. 23. Teaching in their synagogues. A synagogue was not formed but where there were ten men learned in the law, and men who were at leisure from secular affairs. Hence the synagogues were mostly governed by men advanced in years. Three of these were magistrates, according to Dr. Lightfoot, who judged of disputes, of thefts, of various acts of uncleanness, of the admission of proselytes, and of the laying on of hands. Next to these was the Chazan, that is the angel of the church, or episcopos — overseer of the congregation. He superintended those who read the law, and sometimes preached; but he employed whom he pleased to read. Three of the ten were called Parnasin: that is pastors, deacons or almoners. And these officers are frequently called the seven good men of the city by the Talmudists. The man who held the eighth rank in the synagogue was the interpreter; the office of the ninth and tenth is not so distinctly known. This account justifies an assertion of Ostervald, that the primitive christians performed their worship much after the manner of the jews. See my translation of his Exercise of the Sacred Ministry. It justifies, in regard to officers, what Jerome says, that bishop and presbyter were originally the same office; the one being the title of age, the other of dignity.

§ 28. — JESUS’S MINISTRY THROUGH GALILEE, 23-25.

23. Jesus went about all Galilee — In regard to Galilee, consult notes on Verse 12.

Synagogues — The word synagogue is from the Greek sun, syn, together, and agw, ago, to collect; and its signification is about synonymous with our American word “meeting-house.” They were very numerous in Palestine in our Saviour’s time, it being allowable to raise a synagogue wherever ten responsible men could be found. Our Saviour and the apostles found the synagogues most eligible places for the first preaching of the Gospel, both in Palestine and in Gentile countries where Jews resided. St. James calls the place of Christian worship synagogue. James 2:2.

The existence of synagogues long before the captivity cannot be proved. The Church of the Patriarchs worshipped in tents, or under the open sky, or wherever their devotion saw reason to raise an altar. The words in Psalm 84:8: They have burned up all the synagogues of God in the land, prove the existence of edifices of worship which fire could consume, before the captivity. After the re-establishment of the Jewish Church in Palestine, care seems to have been taken for their general diffusion, in order that worship and instruction might spread and perpetuate doctrine and piety.

The arrangements of a Jewish congregation, as well as the construction of the synagogue, seem to have resembled those of a modern Christian Church. The people in the front part of the building sat facing the pulpit, or desk on a platform, which was occupied by the reader or speaker. Behind the pulpit were ranged high seats of honour, “chief seats,” where the Scribes and Pharisees loved to sit facing the people. A chest or ark was near the pulpit, in which the Scriptures of the Old Testament were deposited. From the pulpit the Scriptures were read; and the reader or some other person expounded, taught, or preached. Prayers were also offered; and at the close a solemn benediction was pronounced, and the people responded Amen and dispersed. These exercises took place every (Saturday) Sabbath.

The synagogue had its regular officers, who may be divided simply into four classes. First, a “ruler of the synagogue,” who was not the minister, but a sort of president or executive over its management. Second, a body of elders, nearly corresponding, perhaps, with our modern trustees. Third the legatus ecclesiae; that is, the delegate or representative of the Church, appointed to lead the devotional exercises, corresponding somewhat to the modern preacher or reader. Yet he was often nothing more than the man selected, as we would say, to lead the exercises. Fourth, the minister, as he is called in Luke 4:20, or servant; that is, the sexton, who took care of the cleanliness of the building and other conveniences of the congregation and worship. To these may also, perhaps, be added the deacons; that is, the almoners or takers of the collections or alms.

Verse 23. Teaching in their synagogues. — The antiquity of synagogues is a matter of dispute, but at least from the return of the Jews from the Babylonian captivity, they were established in all their towns and cities, and in the larger cities were very numerous. This was the case also in foreign countries wherever the Jews resided. They were not places for offering sacrifices, which could only be done at Jerusalem, but for public worship on the Sabbath; comprising the reading of the law and the prophets, exhortation, and the oblation of alms. Their officers were,

1. The ruler of the synagogue, arcisunagwgov, who presided, and called persons to read the sections for the day, or to exhort, out of the congregation assembled, unless some one voluntarily offered himself, for which it appears there was full liberty given.

2. The elders of the synagogue, presbuteroi, who were the counsellors of the ruler, and with him formed a court for the settling of disputes, and the punishment of minor offences by expulsion or the infliction of “forty stripes save one.” Hence our Lord foretells that his disciples should be “scourged in the synagogues;” and allusion is made several times in the Gospel, to the penalty of being “cast out of the synagogue.”

3. The collectors of alms, diakonoi, deacons.

4. The servants. The Jews who were unable to go up to Jerusalem on these great festivals are supposed to have had worship in the synagogue on those festivals as well as the Sabbath. This important institution of synagogues, where a congregation was always to be met with on the Sabbath, and often at other times, and where liberty of exhortation and of interpretation was allowed to qualified persons, our Lord availed himself of to teach his heavenly doctrine; and itinerated through all Galilee, preaching the Gospel of the kingdom. It was also by ministering in synagogues that the apostles gathered Churches in different parts of the world; and when Christian congregations were formed, they followed, during the first ages, nearly the same mode of worship as that of the synagogues, with the addition of the Lord’s Supper.

Sickness and disease. — These terms are often used promiscuously; but if any distinction can be. made, nosov rather signifies a violent disorder; malakia, a chronic debility. In the next verse is added, divers diseases and torments, with which people were seized and bound; by which are probably meant those torturing spasmodic affections to which the people of those countries are liable, as tetanus, spasmodic cholera, as well as rheumatic and other more lingering maladies, &c. Those which were possessed with devils, daimonizomenouv, (see the following note,) and those who were lunatic, selhniazomenouv, that is, epileptic; and perhaps also deranged patients, whose disease was generally thought to be affected by the age of the MOON, and hence the name both in Greek and English; and those that had the palsy, paralutikouv, the paralytic. All these disorders are mentioned at once, to indicate the immense number of sick persons that were brought to Christ, and his unbounded benevolence and power. Here truly we see the light shining upon these Galileans and Syrians, the people who sat in darkness and the region and shadow of death, as “the Sun of righteousness rising with HEALING in his wings.”

V. 24. Through all Syria-The whole province, of which the Jewish country was only a small part.

And demoniacs-Men possessed with devils:

and lunatics, and paralytics-Men ill of the palsy, whose cases were of all others most deplorable and most helpless.

Verse 24. Sick people] touv, kakwv econtav, those who felt ill-were afflicted with any species of malady.

And torments] basanoiv, from basanizw, to examine by torture, such as cholics, gouts, and rheumatisms, which racked every joint. Possessed with devils] Dæmoniacs. Persons possessed by evil spirits. This is certainly the plain obvious meaning of dæmoniac in the Gospels. Many eminent men think that the sacred writers accommodated themselves to the unfounded prejudices of the common people, in attributing certain diseases to the influence of evil spirits, which were merely the effects of natural causes: but that this explanation can never comport with the accounts given of these persons shall be proved as the places occur. Our common version, which renders the word, those possessed by devils, is not strictly correct; as the word devil, diabolov, is not found in the plural in any part of the Sacred Writings, when speaking of evil spirits: for though there are multitudes of dæmons, Mark 5:9, yet it appears there is but one DEVIL, who seems to be supreme, or head, over all the rest. diabolov signifies an accuser or slanderer, 1 Timothy 3:11; 2 Timothy 3:3; Titus 2:3. Perhaps Satan was called so, 1st. because he accused or slandered God in paradise, as averse from the increase of man’s knowledge and happiness, Genesis 3:5; John 8:44; and 2dly. because he is the accuser of men, Revelation 12:9, 10. See also Clarke on “Job 1:2”. The word comes from dia, through, and ballein, to cast, or shoot, because of the influence of his evil suggestions; compared, Ephesians 6:16, to fiery darts; and thus it is nearly of the same meaning with o peirazwn, he who pierces through. See on Matthew 4:3.

Lunatic] Persons afflicted with epileptic or other disorders, which are always known to have a singular increase at the change and full of the moon. This undoubtedly proceeds from the superadded attractive influence of the sun and moon upon the earth’s atmosphere, as, in the periods mentioned above, these two luminaries are both in conjunction; and their united attractive power being exerted on the earth at the same time, not only causes the flux and reflux of the ocean, but occasions a variety of important changes in the bodies of infirm persons, of animals in general, but more particularly in those who are more sensible of these variations. And is this any wonder, when it is well known, that a very slight alteration in the atmosphere causes the most uncomfortable sensations to a number of invalids! But sometimes even these diseases were caused by demons. See on Matthew 8:16, 34, and Matthew 17:15. Palsy] Palsy is defined, a sudden loss of tone and vital power in a certain part of the human body. This may affect a limb, the whole side, the tongue, or the whole body. This disorder is in general incurable, except by the miraculous power of God, unless in its slighter stages.

He healed them.] Either with a word or a touch; and thus proved that all nature was under his control.

Verse 24. His fame went through all Syria — Of which the country of the Jews and Samaritans was but a small part. Pliny tells us, that Syria contained several provinces, Comagene to the north, Phœnicia to the west, Cœlosyria to the south, Palmyrene, and the province of Seleucia, in the middle part. If, by all Syria, the evangelist means all these different provinces of Syria, our Lord’s fame must at this time have been exceedingly great. Nor is there any thing incredible in the evangelist’s affirmation, taken in the largest sense. For considering the number and greatness of the miracles which he performed, it would not have been beyond belief, had the historian told us that the fame of them reached as far as the communication of the Jews with the rest of the world extended. And they brought unto him those that were possessed with devils, and those lunatic, and those that had the palsy — These are justly reckoned cases of as great misery, and of as little hope, as any to be found among men. The evangelist, therefore, properly instanced these. And he healed them, and thereby wonderfully displayed both his power and his love.

Ver. 24. Those which were possessed with devils, and those which were lunatic — he healed. Wide as all India, and the gentile islands, devil-worship is practised; but the priests of demons mostly officiate in the night. Why then doubt that Satan may really dwell in his worshippers? St. Luke, a physician, makes the same distinction between demoniacy and lunacy. The former is supernatural, and often connected with disease, as in Mark 9:25: the latter is a corporeal infirmity, and claims the most indulgent compassion.

24. All Syria — The extent of the country of Syria cannot be defined with much exactness. The name was, perhaps, derived from Syr or Tyre, so that Syria is equivalent to Tyria. In its widest limits it seems to have comprehended all the country lying between the Mediterranean and the Euphrates. The rumour of our Lord’s miracles was no doubt circulated with more or less clearness over all that land. The territory from which there came followers and bearers of invalids was of a much narrower extent, as defined in the following verse.

Diseases and torments — Diseases are those illnesses by which the body is enfeebled and the life consumed. Torments are those inflictions producing bodily torture and agony. Possessed with devils — That evil spirits are permitted, in some ages of gross wickedness, to possess men, has been the doctrine of the Church in all ages, until the cavils of some modern thinkers, more skeptical than wise, brought it in question. The word here rendered devils is more properly demons. Strictly speaking, there is but one devil, diabolus. He is called Satan, and is the prince of evil spirits or demons. Possession implies that the demon occupied the body of a man, like a second more powerful soul, controlled his mental faculties, spoke through his organs, and mastered his limbs. These phenomena might be combined with natural disease. A person enfeebled by malady might be the more easily overcome by the demon, and physical or mental derangements might invite his entrance. Especially maladies and corruption produced by vices and depravity might fit a man for demoniac possession; the demon might operate through his diseases, maliciously aggravate their symptoms, and increase their violence. But the possession and the disease were two distinct things. This appears from the preceding verse. Diseases, torments, lunacy, and palsy are all mentioned as separate afflictions, differing in nature from demoniac possession. Lunatic — This word is derived from luna, the moon. It signifies insane persons, whose case is supposed to be aggravated by the influence of the moon. The name remains as a simple term for insane persons after the belief in the influence of the moon has ceased. Its use does not imply at the present day, nor any more in the evangelist, any belief that the moon produces insanity. The most skeptical physician of the present day would not hesitate to use the word, apart from all reference to its etymology.

Verse 24. Those possessed with devils. — An affliction, calamitous beyond all others, and therefore not only distinguished from the diseases which follow, but put at the head of them; and the removal of which, even more decidedly than any other, marked the Divine power of Christ, and set the broadest seal upon his mission: “But if I with the FINGER OF GOD cast out devils, no doubt the kingdom of God is come upon you,” Luke 11:20. The word used in such cases is daimwn, a term applied by the Greeks to their gods; but which the Jews applied only to evil spirits, in the number of which indeed they reckoned the Gentile deities. Very strenuous have been the attempts of a certain class of commentators to resolve these demoniacal possessions into madness, and other disorders, which they say the Jews popularly ascribed to evil spirits, as the ignorant among ourselves ascribe extraordinary complaints to witchcraft. But who does not see that this theory seriously compromises the character of our Lord himself? — because it supposes him to have practised upon the credulity and ignorance of the people, and to have falsely represented the casting out of devils as a stronger proof of the Divine power than the healing of diseases; whereas, according to this view, it was but an act of the same kind. How, also, will they reconcile to this theory the conduct of our Lord, who addressed them as beings separate from, and independent of, the possessed; and held conversations with them? How, again, will they account for the use of the phrase “casting” them out? how, that those afflicted persons, who were possessed, should UNIFORMLY address Jesus as the Messiah? And, finally, how can the history of the devils being permitted to enter the herd of swine be interpreted consistently with common sense, unless an actual possession of men by evil spirits, inflicting torments, and producing and exasperating diseases, be admitted? Human philosophy must necessarily be unable to penetrate the mystery of this permitted evil, because the invisible world and its laws cannot be made the subject of investigation; but with such consequences as must follow from the rejection of the historical character of the narrative, no modest or serious man will dare to entangle himself. Better reject the revelation of God entirely, than set up a mode of interpretation which renders its meaning uncertain, and its use doubtful. (See note on verse 1.) “When,” says Campbell, “I find mention made of the number of demons in particular possessions, their actions so expressly distinguished from those of the man possessed, conversations held by the former in regard to the disposal of them after their expulsion, and accounts given how they were actually disposed of; when I find desires and passions ascribed peculiarly to them, and similitudes taken from the conduct which they usually observe, it is impossible for me to deny their existence.”

V. 25. Decapolis-A tract of land on the east side of the sea of Galilee, in which were ten cities near each other.

Verse 25. This verse is immediately connected with the fifth chapter, and should not be separated from it.

Great multitudes] This, even according to the Jews, was one proof of the days of the Messiah: for they acknowledged that in his time there should be a great famine of the word of God; and thus they understood Amos, Amos 8:11. Behold, the days come-that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread-but of hearing the words of the Lord. And as the Messiah was to dispense this word, the bread of life, hence they believed that vast multitudes from all parts should be gathered together to him. See Schoettgenius on this place.

Decapolis] A small country, situated between Syria and Galilee of the nations. It was called Decapolis, dekapoliv, from deka, ten, and poliv, a city, because it contained only ten cities; the metropolis, and most ancient of which, was Damascus.

From beyond Jordan.] Or, from the side of Jordan. Probably this was the country which was occupied anciently by the two tribes of Reuben and Gad, and the half tribe of Manasseh; for the country of Decapolis lay on both sides of the river Jordan. See Numbers 32:5, 33. THE account of our Lord’s temptation, as given by the evangelist, is acknowledged on all hands to be extremely difficult. Two modes of interpretation have been generally resorted to, in order to make the whole plain and intelligible: viz. the literal and allegorical. In all cases, where it can possibly apply, I prefer the first: the latter should never be used, unless obviously indicated in the text itself; or so imperiously necessary that no other mode of interpretation can possibly apply. In the preceding observations, I have taken up the subject in a literal point of view; and it is hoped that most of the difficulties in the relation have been removed, or obviated, by this plan. An ingenious correspondent has favoured me with some observations on the subject, which have much more than the merit of novelty to recommend them. I shall give an abstract of some of the most striking; and leave the whole to the reader’s farther consideration. The thoughts in this communication proceed on this ground: “These temptations were addressed to Christ as a public person, and respected his conduct in the execution of his ministry; and are reported to his Church as a forcible and practical instruction, concerning the proper method of promoting the kingdom of God upon earth. They are warnings against those Satanic illusions, by which the servants of Christ are liable to be hindered in their great work, and even stopped in the prosecution of it. “As our Lord had, at his baptism, been declared to be the SON of God, i.e. the promised Messiah, this was probably well known to Satan, who did not mean to insinuate any thing to the contrary, when he endeavoured to engage him to put forth an act of that power which he possessed as the Messiah. The mysterious union of the Divine with the human nature, in our Lord’s state of humiliation, Satan might think possible to be broken; and therefore endeavoured, in the first temptation, Command these stones to be made bread, to induce our Lord to put forth a separate, independent act of power; which our Lord repelled, by showing his intimate union with the Divine will, which he was come to fulfil-Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. Thus showing, as he did on another occasion, that it was his meat and drink to do the will of his Father.

“2. The ground of the temptation was then changed; and the fulfilment of the Divine will, in the completion of a prophetic promise, was made the ostensible object of the next attack. Cast thyself down-for it is WRITTEN, He will give his angels charge concerning thee, and in their hands shall they bear thee up, &c. This our Lord repelled with-Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God-as Satan had designed to induce him to seek this public miraculous confirmation of God’s peculiar care over him, as the promised Messiah, of his being which, according to the hypothesis above, Satan had no doubt. Moses, being appointed to a great and important work, needed miraculous signs to strengthen his faith; but the sacred humanity of our blessed Lord needed them not; nor did his wisdom judge that such a sign from heaven was essential to the instruction of the people.

“3. The last temptation was the most subtle and the most powerful-All these will I give unto thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me. To inherit all nations, had been repeatedly declared to be the birthright of the Messiah. His right to universal empire could not be controverted; nor could Satan presume to make the investiture. What, then, was his purpose? Satan had hitherto opposed, and that with considerable success, the kingdom of God upon earth; and what he appears to propose here, were terms of peace, and an honourable retreat. The worship which he exacted was an act of homage, in return for his cession of that ascendancy which, through the sin of man, he had obtained in the world. Having long established his rule among men, it was not at first to be expected that he would resign it without a combat: but the purpose of this last temptation appears to be an offer to decline any farther contest; and, yet more, if his terms were accepted, apparently to engage his influence to promote the kingdom of the Messiah. And as the condition of this proposed alliance, he required, not Divine worship, but such an act of homage as implied amity and obligation; and if this construction be allowed, he may be supposed to have enforced the necessity of the measure, by every suggestion of the consequences of a refusal. The sufferings which would inevitably result from a provoked opposition, which would render the victory, though certain to Christ himself, dearly bought; added to which, the conflict he was prepared to carry on through succeeding ages, in which all his subtlety and powers should be employed to hinder the progress of Christ’s cause in the earth, and that with a considerable degree of anticipated success. Here the devil seems to propose to make over to Christ the power and influence he possessed in this world, on condition that he would enter into terms of peace with him; and the inducement offered was, that thereby our Lord should escape those sufferings, both in his own person, and in that of his adherents, which a provoked contest would ensure. And we may suppose that a similar temptation lies hid in the desires excited even in some of the servants of Christ, who may feel themselves often induced to employ worldly influence and power for the promotion of his kingdom, even though, in so doing, an apparent communion of Christ and Belial is the result: for it will be found that neither worldly riches, nor power, can be employed in the service of Christ, till, like the spoils taken in war, Deuteronomy 31:21-23, they have passed through the fire and water, as, without a Divine purification, they are not fit to be employed in the service of God and his Church.

“Hence we may conclude, that the first temptation had for its professed object, 1st, our Lord’s personal relief and comfort, through the inducement of performing a separate and independent act of power.-The second temptation professed to have in view his public acknowledgment by the people, as the MESSIAH: for, should they see him work such a miracle as throwing himself down from the pinnacle of the temple without receiving any hurt, they would be led instantly to acknowledge his Divine mission; and the evil of this temptation may be explained, as seeking to secure the success of his mission by other means than those which, as the Messiah, he had received from the Father. Compare John 14:31. The third temptation was a subtle attempt to induce Christ to acknowledge Satan as an ally, in the establishment of his kingdom.” E. M. B. The above is the substance of the ingenious theory of my correspondent, which may be considered as a third mode of interpretation, partaking equally of the allegoric and literal. I still, however, think, that the nearer we keep to the letter in all such difficult cases, the more tenable is our ground, especially where the subject itself does not obviously require the allegorical mode of interpretation. Among many things worthy of remark in the preceding theory the following deserves most attention: That Satan is ever ready to tempt the governors and ministers of the Christian Church to suppose that worldly means, human policy, secular interest and influence, are all essentially necessary for the support and extension of that kingdom which is not of this world! Such persons can never long preserve hallowed hands: they bring the world into the Church; endeavour to sanctify the bad means they use, by the good end they aim at; and often, in the prosecution of their object, by means which are not of God’s devising, are driven into straits and difficulties, and to extricate themselves, tell lies for God’s sake. This human policy is from beneath-God will neither sanction nor bless it. It has been the bane of true religion in all ages of the world; and, in every country where the cause of Christianity has been established, such schemers and plotters in the Church of God are as dangerous to its interests as a plague is to the health of society. The governors and ministers of the Christian Church should keep themselves pure, and ever do God’s work in his own way. If the slothful servant should be cast out of the vineyard, he that corrupts the good seed of the Divine field, or sows tares among the wheat, should be considered as an enemy to righteousness, and be expelled from the sacred pale as one who closes in with the temptation-“All these things (the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them) will I give unto THEE, if thou wilt fall down and worship ME.” However necessary the Church may be to the state, and the state to the Church, as some people argue, yet the latter is never in so much danger as when the former smiles upon it.

ST. MATTHEW

Verse 25. And there followed him great multitudes — Affected with the sight, or fame of his miracles, which was now very great, from Galilee — Its many and populous towns and villages. See note on verse 15. From Decapolis — A tract of land on the east side of the sea of Galilee, which had its name from deka, ten, and poliv, a city, because it contained only ten cities, which were situated near each other, and formed into a distinct district, the metropolis of which was Damascus.

25. Followed him great multitudes — How true to the life this picture is, the following passage will show. “The news that a foreign hakeem or doctor was passing through the country,” says Mosier, “very soon was spread abroad, and at every halt our camp was thronged with the sick, not only of the village near to which we were encamped, but of all the surrounding villages. Many came several days’ journey to consult our doctor, and were brought to him in spite of every difficulty and inconvenience. Some came on asses, bolstered up on cushions, and supported by their relations; others on camels, whose rough pace must have been torture to any one in sickness. It may be conceived what a misfortune sickness must be in a country where there is no medical relief, nor even a wheel conveyance to seek relief when it is at hand.” Our Lord, as a miraculous healer, as well as teacher, doubtless attracted, in a similar way, still greater crowds.

From Decapolis — Decapolis signifies the Ten Cities. These ten cities, including their rural territories, lay mostly on the east side of the Jordan, near Lake Gennesaret. Their names are differently given, and their numbers really appear to have varied at different times, amounting at one time to fourteen. They are commonly reckoned to be, 1. Damascus, 2. Philadelphia, 3. Raphana, 4. Scythopolis, 5. Gadara, 6. Hippos, 7. Dion, 8. Pella, 9. Galas, 10. Canatha. But one of these, namely, Scythopolis, was situated in Galilee.

From beyond Jordan — From the Greek word peran, peran, signifying beyond, the country beyond Jordan was called Perea. This name in its largest sense was applied to the whole strip of territory lying east of the Jordan, and bounded on the east by mountains, which divided it from Arabia Deserta. In its narrower sense, it designated the territory east of the Jordan, toward the south. According to Josephus, its northern limit was at Pella, its southern at Macheron, its east at Philadelphia, its west the Jordan. This paragraph of the evangelist, beginning at verse 12, gives a general view of our Lord’s ministry during its period in Galilee. It properly succeeds the account of the temptation by which our Lord was proved and perfected for the work. It also well prepares the way for the great summary of his moral doctrines contained in the Sermon on the Mount, which he now sets before us.

It is well remarked by Mr. Stanley, that the scene of the main events of the first three Gospels was in Galilee, while that of the fourth was mainly in Jerusalem. These three, then, he calls the Galilean Gospels.

Verse 25. And there followed him great multitudes, &c. — So widely, did his fame spread, and so powerful an impression was made, that the news of the actions and discourses of this great prophet was spread from one part to another, until great multitudes followed him from Galilee, both Upper and Lower and from Decapolis, a part of Syria, lying on the east of the sea of Galilee, and so named from its ten cities; and from Jerusalem; whither his fame had also spread, though as yet he had not visited it since the commencement of his public ministry; and from Judea, that is, Judea properly so called; and from beyond Jordan, which was a distinct country, named otherwise Peræa. (See the maps of Palestine.)