The Pulpit Commentary — Matthew — Volume 1 — Section 117

thern&elvee and their oanse together to (cf. Gen. xxiii. 7; 1 Sam. xx. 41; 2 Se.m. f. shame, dishononr, and defeat; with all those 2; ix. 6). Tl1e exprcBBion does not mean who presnmptuously draw drafts on the "worship me as God" (for this surely we.a faithfulness of God, whioh they have no far too coarse a temptation to overcome any scriptural we.mmt to justify them in believ- even ordinnrily pious !ere.elite; cf. Weiss), ing that He will honour" (Trench,• Studies,' but "acknowledge my rights as over-lord." p. 43). It is not a question of apostney (l Kings Ver. 8.-Into an e1:ceedinghigh mountain xviii. 21 ; cf. Josh. xxiv. 15), but of eub- ( ,1, l',pos {,,/,1171.hv 71.lav; cf. Ezek. xl. 2; Rev. miBBion to the methods inculcated by So.to.n, :n:i. 10). Not in Lnke. While no mnterie.1 which placed the immediate and the visible mountain would he.ve enabled our Lord to above the future and the unseen (Gen. iii. see all the ldngdoms, eto., with his bodily 5 ; Exod. xxxii. 4). eyes, it is probable that the physical eleva- Ver. 10.-Get thee henoe, Bate.n. "Avo.unt, tion and distance of landscape would Satan" (Rheims). Christ does not o.ddrese psychologically help such a vision. The him directly till this climo.x. The two Quarantana, which "commands a noble pro- previous temptations were, comp11re.tively spect" (Socin's • Bmdeker,' p. 263), may have speaking, ordinary and limited. Thie temp- been the spot. In the case of Ezekiel it is tation calls out a passionate utterance of e. expressly eaid that his being "brought into personality stirred, because touched, in its the la.nd of Israel, and set upon a very high depths. Only once ugain do we fiml onr mountain," was only" in the visions of God." Lord so moved, in eh. xvi. 23 (the" Western" All the kingdoms of the world ( .-oii ,corrµ,,v; and "Syrinn" addition hereof o,r(,r., µov from but Luke, .-ij, p11t:ovµ•V1J•, i.e. of the whole that passage emph11sizes the feeling common world as occupied by man, cf. Bishop West- to the two cases), when a similar repre- cott on Heb. ii 5). Cyrus says (Ezra i. 2), sentation ie made to him thnt he ought to " All the kingdoms of the earth bath the escape the troubles which hie Messie.nio Lord, the God of heaven, given me." And position, in fe.ct, brought upon him. For it the glory of them'.; "i.e. their resources, is written (Dent. vi. 13); from the LXX., wealth, the magnificence and greatness of which differs from the Hebrew by (1) trans- their cities, their fertile lands, their throng- lating Ni•n, "fear," by ,rpocr,cv11f/<TE1S (but B ing population" (Thnyer); cf. eh. vi. 29; has tf>o{J71Bf,rrr,); and (2) the pe.raphraetic in- P.ev. xxi. 24, 26. The kingdoms themselves sertion of "only." Thon she.It worship the and their ontward show. Contrast the words Lord thy God, and him only ehalt thou serve. of the seraphim, "The whole earLh is full of Worship; ,rporr,cvvlo,, as in ver. 9. Serve; biB glory" (Isa. vL 3). In Luke this ex- 71.a.-pd,.,, "in perfect subjection to a sovereign pression does not occur at this point, but power" (Bil!hop Westcott on Heh. viii. 2, Add. in the tempter's words. As it there comes Note). Onr Lord's reply cute up the devil's more abruptly, that is perhaps the more eolicite.tion by the root. "I do not enter," original position. St. Luke adds, "In e. he mea.ne, "into the question of thy authority moment of time." over these things, and of thy power con- Ver. 9.-All these things will I give thee cerning them. I acknowledge thee not. ( .-aii-.&. rro, ,rcf.v.-a o/l,,rr,, ). The devil puts The command which I willingly obey " these things" e.nd "thee" in the sharpest excludes all homage a.nd service to e.ny contract. In Luke the devil says, "To other over-lord than God alone. I accept thee will I give all this authority, and the not thy orders and thy methods. I take my glory of them: for it [i.e. the authority] commands direct from God." Observe that Lath been delivered unto me; and to whom- our Lord does not say how be is to gain the soever I will I give it;" i.e. there the devil kingdoms for hie own; this would be the speaks of giving, not actual possession of the co.re of him whose command he follows. things tbemselves (Matthew), but the e.utho- But before ascending, the Lord proclo.imed ri ty tbe.t this implied, "and the glory of (eh. xxviii. 18) that he he.d received (i.e. them." According to St. Luke, he does not gained through suffering, Heb. ii. 10 ; attempt to conceal the fe.ct that he has not Pliil. ii. 9) more t!Jau (note "in heaven") absolute possession, but he claims authority what the devil would have given him as a as delegated to Lim, and as capable of beiug reword of obedience to false principles. delegated by him to another. Hie claim Ver. 11.-The devil lee.veth him; Luke, was false ne absolutely stated, but is true "departed from him for a season." For relatively in eo fe.r that even bis usurpation though there e.re crises of temptation, the or power must he.ve been permitted (cf. devil never finally gives np his attack while our Lord's term for him, "The prince of the object of it is still on eo.rth. Mo.y not this world"). Il thou wilt fall down a.nd even direct assaults be included in the worehip me j i.e. prostrate thyself in obei- remarkable epitome of Meseie.nio life found saucc before me-the Eastern method of in Luke xxii. 28 ? And, behold, angela e.cknowkdging the euperiority of a person oame a.nd :miniltered unto him. Kept b&ek  cu. 1v. 1-25.) 'l'HE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. MATTHEW. 107