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5 Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth 6 him on a pinnacle of the temple; and saith unto him: If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down; for it is written: " He shall give his angels charge concerning thee; and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy 7 foot against a stone." Jesus said unto him: It is written

Jesus could change water into wine for others, to promote the innocent hilarity of a wedding, but he would not change stones into bread for himself, though it were to quell hunger, and relieve faintness. He performed no miracle specially for himself. He did not resist in the Garden, though a cloud of angels were ready to come at his bidding. He did not descend from the Cross of shame and agony, though his enemies scornfully challenged him to do it. Glorious being ! His heart beat with a Love superior to every selfish consideration.

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5. Then the devil taketh him. There was no transportation except in his own thoughts. His tempting imagination flew with him to Jerusalem, and seated him on the top of the temple. It is thus our thoughts and imaginations tempt us, carrying us hither and thither, to and fro, on the earth, to the cities of pleasure and the mountains of power and pride. Holy city. Jerusalem was so called because the temple of God was situated there. The inscription on coins was "Jerusalem the Holy." Pinnacle of the temple. A wing, turret, or battlement of that edifice. The top of the porch is perhaps here meant, called the King's Portico, which towered perpendicularly 750 feet above the bottom of a deep valley at its side. Josephus refers to it.

"This cloister deserves to be mentioned better than any other under the sun; for while the valley was very deep, this farther vastly higher elevation of the cloister stood upon that height,

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tually wrought. The temptation was that of vanity. The language of the Psalmist seemed to encourage such an act. Ps. xci. 11, 12. The passage, however, expresses the protection of Divine Providence over the righteous, not the presump- Angels mean any kind of messengers or instruments employed to effect the purposes of God. They shall bear thee up. remarks that this metaphor is taken from parents, who, in travelling over rough ways, lift up and carry their children over the stones in their path, lest they should trip and stumble upon them.- -Dash thy foot against a stone. A proverbial expression, in both Greek and Hebrew, to denote any danger or misfortune.

7. The pure, discriminating eye of Jesus saw that the idea was not to be entertained. And as Scripture language occurred to his mind in its justification, so a passage did also in its condemnation. It is

again: "Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God." Again, 8 the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and showeth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them, and saith unto him: All these things will I give thee, if 9 thou wilt fall down and worship me. Then saith Jesus unto 10

written, Deut. vi. 16, again. This adverb, according to Campbell, ought to qualify said, and not written, and the sentence read thus: Jesus again said unto him: It is written: Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. Tempt here signifies to try, to assay, to put to the proof. It is not used in the sense in which it is in verse 2 of this chapter, of alluring to evil, but of making trial whether God would support one who should thus presumptuously cast himself upon his Providence. If we expose ourselves to needless dangers, we cannot reasonably expect to be saved. A wanton and voluntary periling of life or health cannot be right. We cannot promise ourselves the protection of Heaven, if we rashly presume upon it, and rush into difficulties without cause. The manner in which he resisted this temptation was a type of his conduct through his ministry. He tempted not God, put his power to no proof, by rashly exposing himself to danger and death; but exercised the greatest prudence, avoiding peril, when he could consistently with his duty, and never exercising that miraculous energy in his own behalf, which he so often and generously employed for the relief of others.

8. The third temptation is that of Ambition. Three great classes of enticements from duty are grouped together in this history of Jesus' temptations; those of Appetite, or the sensual nature; those of Vanity, or the gratification of Self-consequence; and those of Ambition, the love of fame and dominion,

which Milton calls "the last infirmity of noble minds." It has been observed that this order is the natural order in the spiritual development of human nature. The first step is to subdue and keep the body under, the last to conquer the mind itself, and bring thought, hope, and the nobler powers all into captivity to Christ, which is true Freedom.

Taketh him. See ver. 5. — All the kingdoms. The world with its crowns and sceptres passed before his mind. Mighty cities with all their magnificence stood present to his eye. Earth and her inhabitants, her riches, and honors, and pleasures, lay at his feet. Going forth as the Messiah, would not his path lead directly to universal dominion? Were not the Jews ready to take him and make him King? How seductive was the blandishment thus spread before his mental vision !

9. If thou wilt fall down and worship me. Obeisance, and also religious worship, in the east, were performed partly by prostrating the body upon the ground. This was the base condition, on which Jesus might become the master of the world, and mightier than the Alexanders and Caesars who had fought for its sovereignty. He must himself become the slave of Ambition. He must ignobly surrender up the birthright of the free, illimitable spirit, for the sake of this external rule over men. The great heroes of the earth, so reputed, have always been really as much in servitude, as the meanest follower in their retinue. Their spirits have been in "chains, slavery, and death."

him: Get thee hence, Satan; for it is written :

"Thou shalt

worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve." 11 Then the devil leaveth him; and, behold, angels came and ministered unto him.

Their passions have ruled them with a cruel sway. They have "worshipped and served the creature." "Sin has reigned in their mortal bodies," and over their immortal spirits, and they have" obeyed the lusts thereof." Slaves they have been, indeed, to the lowest point of degradation. Jesus saw the dazzling picture of worldly ambition, "the kingdoms, and their glory," and their bravery, but he saw also what he must fall down to worship, in order that the glittering prize might be secured. He knew that he came to be the Spiritual King of mankind, not the servant of his own appetites and passions. The glorious vision that had dazzled the imagination faded. The words of divine truth came to his memory. Ambition was foiled, and the Satan fled.

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10. Get thee hence, Satan. Or, get thee behind me. An expression of rebuke and condemnation. Far from me be such wickedness. Matt. xvi. 23. Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God. Deut. vi. 13. God is the supreme object of worship and service. All other things must be subsidiary to the soul's devotion to him. The Saviour felt this in entering upon his mission. He renounced himself, suppressed Appetite, Vanity, and Ambition, put to flight every seductive tempter that came into his mind, and surrendered himself up to the purposes of God without qualification or reservation; a living, spotless sacrifice," he offered up himself" upon the altar of God for the sake of the world. Our admiration of this wonderful being will be more increased, the longer

we dwell upon the perfect self-denial and self-sacrifice he exercised against the temptations which beset him at this period of his life.

11. Then the devil leaveth him. Luke, iv. 13, says that "he departed from him for a season," which implies that he returned again at some future period. Here is one circumstance which goes to corroborate the interpretations above presented. The devil leaves Jesus for a season, and returns again. But returns in what manner? in a bodily form? No; it is not so said, but in the same manner in which it comes to all spiritual beings; in desires, fears, imaginings. In the garden of Gethsemane, the evening before the crucifixion, the tempter came. It is not described as a person. It came in the shape of fear and reluctance at the terrible fate before him. The flesh was weak, though the spirit was willing. But the tempter was again met and put to flight, and Jesus submitted to do and suffer all his Father's holy will. The impersonality of the tempter in the last case, taken in connexion with Luke's language, chap. iv. 13, furnishes a considerable presumption in favor of the theory advanced in this chapter, that the devil here spoken of is a personification of evil, not a conscious being. Angels came and ministered unto him. Either divine messengers appeared, and satisfied his wants, or the cheering thoughts and happy feelings which sprang up in his own bosom at having resisted temptation successfully, and held fast his integrity, ministered as it were to him, satisfying his wants. Upon another occasion, when weary and

Now when Jesus had heard that John was cast into prison, 12 he departed into Galilee. And leaving Nazareth, he came 13 and dwelt in Capernaum, which is upon the sea-coast, in the borders of Zabulon and Nephthalim; that it might be fulfilled 14

thirsty, he stopped for refreshment at Jacob's well in Samaria. He was so spiritually exhilarated in his interview with the woman there, that hunger and thirst vanished, and when his disciples returned and pressed him to eat, he replied: "I have meat to eat that ye know not of. My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work." "When the great struggle was over, and the tempter had fled, and the bosom of Jesus, no longer darkened by evil shadows, was filled with the serene triumph of moral victory, and endowed with new force wrought out by the recent strife, then the ineffable light of God, beaming within, irradiated every thing around him, and the desert smiled, and the sun grew brighter in the heavens, and grace and beauty invested the meanest things, until they overflowed with a divine presence and spirit, and seemed to be living, speaking min isters of God. In this divine frame he quitted the desert, and returned in the power of the spirit to Galilee." Luke iv. 14. The temptation of Jesus proves that he was not God, for "God cannot be tempted with evil." James i. 13.

12-25. For the parallel passages, see Mark i. 14-20; Luke iv. 14, v. 1-11. An interval of several weeks, or months, elapsed between the Temptation and the events related in verse 12. Many important incidents of Christ's ministry, occurring at this time, are related in the first nine chapters of John, excepting the sixth.

12. John was cast into prison. For an account of John's imprisonment, and its causes and results,

see Matt. xiv. 312; Mark vi. 17 -29; Luke iii. 19, 20. This event was a reason why Jesus should leave the country of Judea and withdraw into Galilee, then under the jurisdiction of Philip, where he could pursue his work with less molestation from the Scribes and Pharisees, who had become highly excited against him, and gather around him a band of disciples, who should be the preachers of his religion to the world. The ministry of his Forerunner was completed, and he now pursues his own with more activity, and makes preparation to perpetuate it after his death, through the instrumentality of the Apostles.

13. Leaving Nazareth, dwelt in Capernaum. Though Jesus had lived there many years with his parents, yet the unbelief of the people, and their abusive treatment of him personally, probably induced him to remove and fix his abode at Capernaum. Matt. xiii. 58; Luke iv. 16-30.-Dwelt, that is, made it his principal abode; yet he was absent much. Perhaps his mother and family moved thither. It was afterwards called his city. Nazareth lay near the middle of Lower Galilee. Capernaum was situated on the northwestern shore of the Sea of Galilee. Its precise situation cannot now be determined. Which is upon the sea-coast, i. e. the shore of the Sea of Galilee. In the borders of Zabulon and Nephthalim. In the Hebrew language, these tribes of Israel are called Zebulun and Naphtali. Gen. xlix. 13, 21. The portion of country assigned to them was located west and northwest of the Sea of Gali

15 which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying: "The land of Zabulon, and the land of Nephthalim, by the way of the 16 sea, beyond Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles, the people which sat in darkness saw great light; and to them which sat in the 17 region and shadow of death light is sprung up.". - From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say: Repent; for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

lee, according to the division made by Joshua. Joshua xix. 10-16, 32-39. The word borders here means boundaries.

by Phoenicians, Egyptians, and Arabians.

16. Darkness, light. These terms are frequently used in Scripture for ignorance and knowledge of true religion, respectively. As the people were heathen who dwelt in this part of the country, they were involved in that moral darkness, which might without exaggeration be call

i. e. the darkest shadow. This was a vivid figure to describe the desperate moral condition of the land.

14. Fulfilled. Verified. - Esaias the prophet, i. e. Isaiah. See Is. ix. 1, 2. The prophet wrote during the irruption of the king of Assyria, and a short time before the ten tribes were carried away captive to Babylon. Looking beyond the darked the region and shadow of death, present, he predicts the golden age of the Jews, when the oppressed and benighted would be enlightened and redeemed by the Messiah. Matthew quotes the passage probably by way of accommodation, rather than of literal accomplishment. The quotation is not exact, and seems to have been made from memory, but the sense is mainly preserved.

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15. By the way of the sea. Lying along the sea-coast. Beyond Jordan. This signifies in the vicinity of Jordan, on or along that river; not the country on the east side, as the words usually mean. Galilee of the Gentiles. This province was divided into two parts, Upper and Lower. Upper Galilee was inhabited in a considerable measure by the Gentiles, or other people than the Jews, and hence was called Galilee of the Gentiles. This mixture of a foreign population was occasioned by Solomon giving to Hiram, in consideration of services done by him, twenty cities in the land of Galilee. 1 Kings ix. 11-13. These towns were in the neighborhood of Tyre and Sidon, and were peopled

A shadow is caused by an object coming between us and the sun. So the Hebrews imagined death as standing between these regions and the sun, and casting a long, dark, and baleful shadow abroad on the face of the nation, denoting their great ignorance, sin, and woe. It denotes a dismal, gloomy, and dreadful shade, where death and sin reign, like the chills, damps, and horrors, of the dwelling-place of the dead." Job x. 21; Psalms xxiii. 4; Jer. ii. 6.

17. Jesus began to preach. He had already for a considerable time been laboring in Judea, but he now began to preach in Galilee. John, being imprisoned, was now unable to carry forward the reformation of the people, and prepare them for the kingdom of the Messiah. Jesus takes up the great subject where he left it, and thus points out to the people that he was acting in conjunction with John, and was the person whom the Baptist had predicted. Jesus did not immediately declare himself as the Messiah

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