f-j8ox.la, good-pleasure, are employed when one is pleased either by what one has, or does ones's self, or by that which another has or does. Both parts of this notion agree with the present pas sage concerning the good-pleasure of the Father in the Son ; for there is an eternal aropyq (natural affection) towards the only- begotten, a perpetual graciousness towards the Mediator, and in Him towards us, the sons of reconciliation. In ch. xvii. 5, are added the words, " AuroD axovzn" " Hear Him ;" for then He was about to speak of His passion : now they are not added ; for, at the commencement of His ministry, He only taught that which the Father spake, " This is My Son"
1. Tors, then) sc. on His baptism. — avriyfiri, He was led up] sc. towards Jerusalem, by an inward impulse. — tig H" tpwov, into the wilderness) a wilder part than that mentioned in ch. iii. 1. — U-TO Tou IIv£u,aaro£, by the Spirit) sc. the Holy Spirit; see ch. iii. 16. — vupai&rivcii, to be tempted) This temptation is a sample of our Lord's whole state of humiliation (exinanitionis), and an epitome of all the temptations (not only moral, but still more especially spiritual), which the devil has contrived from the beginning. — Ivb rou A/ajSo'Xou, by the Devil) The LXX. generally render the Hebrew }BE>, Satan or Adversary, by A/a/3oXos, Devil or Accuser ; only in 1 Kings xi., and there twice or thrice, they translate it Saraf, Satan.
2. NTjffrs-iffac, when He had fasted) no doubt by virtue of His baptism. Fasting implies also abstinence from drink. — rip'spas, days) In these days, during this retirement, matters of the greatest importance passed between God and the Mediator. — nffffapdxovra, forty) A celebrated measure of time, also, in the lives of Moses and Elijah. But the condition of Moses, when without food, was one of glory ; that of Christ (which is more to be wondered at), one of humiliation. An angel brought food to Elijah before his fast commenced ; many angels ministered to Christ after His fast ended. Jesus passed forty days before He