The Pulpit Commentary — Mark — Volume 1 — Section 65

In framing hie temptati,m for the second Adam. Accordin"lY, he tries him first by the lust of the flesh, tempting him to change stones into bread: and so movin" him to the indulgence of appetite. Next be tries him hy the pride of life, temptinu him to throw himaelf down from the temple's pinnacle, and so, in sight of the inhabita~ts of the holy city, to prove his deity nnd show forth bis glory, employing the upbearing protection of glorious angelic hosts. 'l'hus Satan does bis beat to move the Saviour to the sin of pride. Once more ho tries him by the lust of the eyes, exhibiting to his vision a panoramic view of all the kingdoms of the world, or showing them to him stretched out before bis eyes in widespread perspective. He offers him all these and all their glory, and so he endeavours to move him to covetousneRs, We have here followed the order in which the temptations occur in St. Matthew's narrative. 2. Dissimi"larity of sequel. All Satan's temptations were in vain as regarded our Lord. The first Adam foll in Eden, a garden the fairest and loveliest ever planted on earth; the second Adam overcame triumphantly on the bleak and dreary wild. A paradise of earthly glory was lost by the first ; the paradise of God was secured for us by the second. 3. Special adaptations. But not only did these temptations of our Lord correspond to the three forms of temptation which brought death into our world and all our woe; they correspond to the three portions of man's composite nature, that is to say, body, soul, and spirit. The body needs bread to satisfy its natural cravings, and the temptation is to procure it inde- pendently of Providence. The soul is also appetitive, though in a different direction, and in its outlook contemplates a wide sweep and vast dominion; the temptation is to secure all this at a single bound, overleaping the wearisome way of sufferin;; and self- sacrifice. The middle place between the purely carnal and the purely spiritual is this visual illusion. The spirit rules in man over body and soul, and so liability to pride opens the way to temptation ; and here the temptation is to put to the test his eternal Sonship, and to prove by one splendid miracle the truth of his Messianic claims. Thus the appeal was to appetite, to avarice or aggrandizement, and to ambition ; in other words, to poverty, power, and pride ;-following, as we do here, the order of St. Luke's Gospel. 4. Reason of this difference of arrangement. But why is this difference of arrangement between St. Luke and St. Matthew, the former reversing the relative position of the second and the third temptations as recorded by the latter? Why change the order ? Mill's solution is, perhaps, the right one; at all events, it is very piausible and very probable. It is to the effect that while the flesh is the first avenue of assault in all men, the tempter varies his tactics in the case of the other two, and in accordance with the difference of temperament, leading some by the way of pride to ambition, but others, in reverse order, along the road of ambition to pride. IV. THE FEATURES THAT DISTINGUISH EACH TEMPTATION IN PARTICULAR, 1. Indi- 1Jidual traits of the first temptation. The exact gist of the first temptation is, "If thou art the Son of God, exercise thy lordship ; if the Son of God, prove thy possession ef that power; if the Son of God, what profit is there in this Sonship? What good will this birthright do you?" Now, a compliance with the suggestions of the tempter would have been practical denial of that very Sonship and virtual distrust of the Divine Father- hood. While we do not and cannot dispense with bread, we must depend on God as Israel of old waited for the word that brought them food. This is in strict accord with the training of the Saviour's childhood as shadowed forth in that portion of Deuteronomy, namely, vi. 4-9, that formed the frontlet already mentioned, and in entire harmony with his own teaching in the sermon on the mount, where he says, " For your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things." The evil one-at once Satan the adversary, and Diabolos the accuser-now puts forth all his power. The temptation had doubtless continued all those forty days of fasting (,mpa(&µevos, present participle implying such continuance), but now it culminated. (1) The scene s11,itablefor Satan's purpose. 'l'he scene of this first temptation is placed by some at Quarantana, but by others it is transferred to Sinai. 'l'he former is much the more probable. And so the scene was a district of country that lay eastward of Jerusalem, overlooking the valla I' of the Jordan, and not far from the place where Jesus had been baptiaed by John in' the waters of that river. It was very wild and very dreary and very desolate. '!'his much might be inferred from the name of" wilderness" by which it was designated, but especially from the additional circumstance supplied by St. Mark, that he was there " with the wild beasts," which laired, no doubt, in the  THE GOSPEL AOCOHDING TO ST. MARK. [en, 1. 1-45.