The Pulpit Commentary — Matthew — Volume 1 — Section 144

Vera. 1-11_.-The tempta~wn. T?is appears to have extended t~rough the forty days of the soJourn of Jesus in the wilderness. Mark says, "He w.as in the wilderness forty days, tempted of Satan" (i. 13). The text describes only the acme at the close of the forty days. It is given as a specimen of the wiles of Satan, and forms an epitome of all the temptations he has ever contrived. From it we learn- I. THAT SATAN 1s ARMED WITH FORMIDABLE POWERS. 1. Probably he appeared in an assumed shape. (1) For he appeared to the manhood of Christ. He is intro- duced as "the tempter," but not named. Jesus did not give him his name until the tempter had fully discovered himself as the god of this world (ver. 10). (2) This was not the only instance in which Sat.au assumed a disguise, He tempted Eve under the form of a serpent. After the fall he enshrined himself in men. Demoniacs. Some suppose that Satan appeared to Jesus in the character of a scribe, as he appealed to the Scriptures. He "fashioneth himself into an angel of light" (cf. Zech. iii. 1; 2 Cor. xi. 14). (3) Beware of the devil in disguises. In men: "One of you hath a devil." In good men: Peter (eh. xvi. 23). 2. Probably he literally transported the body of JeSUB. (1) Jesus was in "the wilderness." Certainly not a rural wilderness in the vicinity of Betha.hara; for he was in solitude, and" with the wild beasts" (Mark i.13). The presumption, then, is that it was" the wilderness of the people;" for what other could be distinguished as "the wilderness"? Analogy also suggests the desert of Sinai, for there Moses and Elijah also had" fasted forty days" (cf. Exod. xxxiv. 28; 1 Kings xix. 8). (2) Thus, then, the "prince of the powers of the air" would have hurried the body of Jesus, as in an elemental'chariot, over an interval of two hundred and fifty British statute miles, in order to "se·t him on the pinnacle of the temple." Philip was carried by the Spirit of God from the desert of Gaza to Azotus (Acts viii. 39 ; see al.so 1 Kings xviii. 12 ; 2 Kings ii 16 ; Ezek. iii. 11-15). (3) From the holy city Satan then carried Jesus away to the summit of "an exceeding high mountain." Could this have been that "high mountain" upon-which the Transflguration afterwards took place? It is noteworthy that, in the Transfiguration, with Jesus appeared in glory Moses and Elias, who, like him, had fasted (eh. xvii. 1-3). If Hermon was that mountain, then about a hundred miles would have been traversed. If Nebo, whence Moses viewed the promised land, then about twenty-five miles. (4) With such an adversary it is obviously our wisdom never to contenrl single-banded. We have the promised help of God. With all our armour we should be armed with "all prayer" (Eph. vi 13-18). 3. He wrought wonde-tfuUy upon the imagination of Jesus. (1) 'l'his must have been so, if, as some suppose, Jesus had been simply carried by Satan mentally from the wilderness to the holy city, and from thence to Hermon or some other eminence. (2) But from the mountain summit he certainly wrought wonderfully upc,n the imagination of Jesus when he "showed him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them." Luke adds, "in a moment of time." Such a view· of the tetrarchies of Palestine as could be obtained from Nebo or any other mountain summit scarcely comes up to the description, "all the kingdoms of the world,u or •• all the kingdoms of the inhabited earth" (see Luke iv. 5, Greek). The panoramio effect wrought by Sati,n upon the phantasy of Jesus was wonderful. (3) Herein we are warned never to cherish an evil imagination. If we yield ourselvfs to the power OH, 1v. 1-26.] 'rl:IE GOSPEL .ACCORDING TO ST. MATTHEW. 135