Matthew 4:8

Mat_4:8

Again, the devil.

The third temptation

I. The preparation for this temptation. Satan suits the external circumstances to the temptation, and draws his snare from them. All the senses may be sources of temptation, but chief amongst them is the eye. It is more closely allied to the imagination than the other senses, and feeds it with objects.

II. The offer.

1. The altered form of the temptation. He did not preface his assault with the confession of doubt or flattery, If Thou be the Son of God. Perhaps he felt the incongruity of such a form of address when the condition he proposed was an act of adoration to himself; or he no longer explored Christs Divinity.

2. The passion appealed to-the most powerful-the inordinate love of possessing. Satan offered to resign his power in this world and the next.

III. The condition.

IV. This is a real temptation to Christ.

1. A warning against worldliness.

2. That such an act should be suggested to Christ may prevent those who are troubled with horrid thoughts from despair. (W. H. Hatchings, M. A.)

The persistency of Satan

As an enemy that besiegeth a city will go about it, and espy where the wall is weakest, and most fit for his entrance, and there will be sure to give his strongest onset; and as a man that Would strike fire with a flint will turn it about in his hand, to see what part is fittest, even so the devil: he goes about a man, and, as it were, turns him to and fro to spy out his weakness, and to what sins he is most inclined; and there he will be sure to try him often, and to assault him with the greatest violence. Example: If a man be impatient of poverty, he will seek to carry him to picking and stealing; if a man be prone to covetousness, he will provoke him to fraud and oppression; if he be inclined to ambition, Satan will puff him up with pride and vainglory. (W. Perkins.)

Successive temptations

Like the wave that falls over upon the sea shore, only to be followed by others, perhaps of more encroaching violence. (E. Scobell, M. A.)

The subtlety of Satan

Satan, by the subtlety of his nature and long experience, knoweth our estate, our temper, our hunger, our chief desires; and, accordingly, setteth on us. For though he know not the heart directly, yet he knows our corruption in general, as we are men. Further, by our outward behaviour and gesture he can gather our especial corruptions, as a physician, by outward signs in the pulses and the like, can judge of the particular disease within. Besides, his experience giveth him much light into our weakness, so as like a cunning angler, he can bait his hook, so as he hath experience the fish will take; and though he see not the fish in the water, yet by his gule and cork he can tell when he is taken. So Satan hath for sundry men sundry baits, and can tell by the eye, hand, speech, gesture, whether the man be or will be taken. (T. Taylor, D. D.)

Defeat made subservient to victory by Satan

It is said of the Duke of Wellington, that he knew how to extract from defeat the means of victory. The prince of darkness is well skilled in this art. (L. H. Wiseman.)

Kingdoms of the world.

His aim was to induce Jesus to seek universal dominion in an easier way than the prophets had foretold, and which the Father had marked out. (L. H. Wiseman.)

Satans delusive offer of the world

Satan cannot offer us similar greatness; but he tempts by ruling ambition; as in the case of Alexander, Caesar, and Napoleon. And how the poor fools ,were betrayed! Alexander dies of drunkenness; Caesar was stabbed in the Senatehouse by a friend; and Napoleon died in exile at St. Helena. He tempts also by mere ordinary worldly blessings. (R. Watson.)

He concealed their vanity.

Reflections on the third temptation

1. The danger attending worldly prosperity.

2. It is a constant device of Satan to present to us a partial and false view of the world.

3. In the example of Jesus we have a perfect instance of deadness to the world.

4. The example of our Lord rebukes covetous and worldly ambition.

5. That Satan is after all a hard master; under the guise of liberality he solicits severe conditions.

6. Our Lord reveals to us the true riches.

7. The Church is destined for universal dominion. (L. H. Wiseman.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Mat 4:8-9. Again the devil taketh him up — In what way is not said; into an exceeding high mountain — Probably one of the mountains in the wilderness, and from that eminence, partly by the advantage of the place, from which he might behold many magnificent buildings, rich fields, pleasant meadows, hills covered with wood and cattle, rivers rolling through the fertile valleys, and washing the cities as they passed along; and partly by an artful visionary representation, showeth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them — Whatsoever was gay, splendid, or glorious, either in respect of the honours, riches, or pleasures of the world; their great and opulent cities, sumptuous edifices, costly attire, equipage, pomp, and splendour; displaying to his view one of the finest prospects that the most pleasurable and triumphant scenes could furnish out; and all this, not one after another, but in a moment of time, that so they might amaze and affect him the more with their splendour, and on a sudden prevail upon him, which otherwise they would not have been so likely to do. And saith unto him — With the most egregious impudence, falsehood, and pride; All these things will I give thee — All this glory and power, and all these possessions, if thou wilt fall down and worship me — The devil now showed clearly who he was, and therefore Christ, in answering this suggestion, calls him by his proper name, Satan, which, though he undoubtedly knew him, he had not done before. We may learn from hence not to conclude we are utterly abandoned of God when we are assaulted with horrible temptations; Christ himself, we see, was tempted even to worship the devil: but in such cases let us, like Jesus, resolutely repel the temptation, rather than parley with it. Dr. Doddridge observes, that, if we suppose Satan, in these two last temptations, to have worn the form of an angel of light, it will make them both appear more plausible; “for thus he might pretend, in the former, to take charge of Christ in his fall, as one of his celestial guards; and in this latter to resign to him a province which God had committed to his administration and care.” And this, he thinks, may not be inconsistent “with supposing that he first appeared as a man, (it may be as a hungry traveller, who pretended to ask the miracle of turning stones into loaves for his own supply,) for angels, under the Old Testament, had often worn a human form.”

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

THE THIRD TEMPTATION, Mat_4:8-11.

8. Again — Satan is twice defeated. He could not persuade Jesus to distrust his Sonship, nor presumptuously to assume it. He will make a third effort. He will offer Jesus a Messiahship and a royalty beyond all possibility of doubt, and beyond all limitation. He will first authenticate his power by miracle; he will then show the splendor of the prize; he will then declare on how easy terms, and under what allegiance, Jesus can be a Satan’s Messiah, lord of the world under “the god of this world.” An exceeding high mountain — Arriving like a thought at his destination, Satan lays no hand upon him; all is done, as we may suppose, by the power and with the quickness of a volition. And as the Saviour’s bodily eye took in the limits of the prospect, his perceptive faculty, out-reaching its material organ, acquiring the sweep of Satan’s own vision, beheld all the kingdoms of the earth and around the globe, with the glory thereof, in an instant of time.

Yet, after all, it is not said that our Lord really beheld the world’s kingdoms. It only says that Satan showed, that is, pointed them out, for the word asserts nothing more. Yonder, eastward, lies Persia; down southward is old Egypt; and, lo! far to the west, beyond the Mediterranean, is imperial Rome, where Tiberius now rules the world. Thou shalt possess his throne and more. And Satan points with his hand, and paints with his tongue, and offers him a warranty of all that goodly parcel of land. Why should he prefer a doubtful Messiahship to a certain universal monarchy?

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

4:8-9 Satan, called the ruler of this world (John 12:31), offered to hand over all the kingdoms of the world and their glory to Jesus to keep him from accomplishing the will of his Father. • Glory refers to political power and dominion (e.g., Matt 6:29). Satan’s strategy was to get Jesus to abuse his sonship, thus diverting him from the path of suffering and obedience that climaxed at the cross.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Mat 4:8. Πάλιν, again) This was the third and last conflict, as is evident from the expression “Depart,” Mat 4:10.—ὄρος, a mountain) A new theatre of temptation.—δείκνυσιν, shows) To His eyes those things which the horizon enclosed: the rest, perhaps, by enumeration and indication. Satan is a subtle spirit.

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Mat_4:8 f. Πάσας … κόσμου] כָּל־מַמְּלְכוֹת הָאָרֶץ, Ezr_1:2. Not a hyperbolical expression: amplissimum terrarum tractum, but actually all the kingdoms of the world, Luk_4:5. The devil could indeed regard only all heathen lands as his disposable possession (Luk_4:6; Lightfoot, p. 1088; Eisenmenger, entd. Judenth. II. p. 820 ff.); but even unto those remote heathen lands, and beyond, and far beyond the small country of Palestine, has the marvellous height of the mountain enabled the eye to look; the Holy Land, with the temple and the peculiar people of God, certainly belonged besides to the Son of God as a matter of course; therefore to explain it away as omnes Palaestinae regiones (Krebs, Loesner, Fischer, Gratz) is quite away from the point.

ἐὰν πες … μοι] If Thou wilt have cast Thyself down before me as Thy master, and thereby have manifested Thy homage (Mat_2:2) to me. By the fulfilment of this demand the devil would have made Jesus unfaithful to Himself, and would have secured his own world-rule over Him. Where the mountain in question is to be sought for (according to Michaelis, it was Nebo; according to others, the Mount of Olives, Tabor, Moriah, Horeb) is, considering the miraculous nature of the scene (Luk_4:5 : ἐν στιγμῇ χρόνου), not even to be asked; just as little is δείκνυσιν to be rationalized as if it denoted not merely the actual pointing, but also the verbis demonstrare (Kuinoel, Glöckler); the δόξα αὐτῶν, moreover, is the external splendour of the kingdoms that lay before His eye.

Meyer — Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament — English translation by Peter Christie, edited by Frederick Crombie (T&T Clark, 1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Mat 4:8-10 . Third temptation . εἰς ὄρος ὑψηλὸν λίαν : a mountain high enough for the purpose. There is no such mountain in the world, not even in the highest ranges, “not to be sought for in terrestrial geography,” says De Wette. The vision of all the kingdoms and their glory was not physical. τοῦ κόσμου . What world? Palestine merely, or all the world, Palestine excepted? or all the world, Palestine included? All these alternatives have been supported. The last is the most likely. The second harmonises with the ideas of contemporary Jews, who regarded the heathen world as distinct from the Holy Land, as belonging to the devil. The tempter points in the direction of a universal Messianic empire, and claims power to give effect to the dazzling prospect.

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Again, the devil taketh him up--"conducteth him," as before.

into--or "unto"

an exceeding high mountain, and showeth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them--Luke (Luk 4:5) adds the important clause, "in a moment of time"; a clause which seems to furnish a key to the true meaning. That a scene was presented to our Lord's natural eye seems plainly expressed. But to limit this to the most extensive scene which the natural eye could take in, is to give a sense to the expression, "all the kingdoms of the world," quite violent. It remains, then, to gather from the expression, "in a moment of time"-- which manifestly is intended to intimate some supernatural operation--that it was permitted to the tempter to extend preternaturally for a moment our Lord's range of vision, and throw a "glory" or glitter over the scene of vision: a thing not inconsistent with the analogy of other scriptural statements regarding the permitted operations of the wicked one. In this case, the "exceeding height" of the "mountain" from which this sight was beheld would favor the effect to be produced.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 8. An exceeding high mountain, and showeth him] If the words, all the kingdoms of the world, be taken in a literal sense, then this must have been a visionary representation, as the highest mountain on the face of the globe could not suffice to make evident even one hemisphere of the earth, and the other must of necessity be in darkness.

But if we take the world to mean only the land of Judea, and some of the surrounding nations, as it appears sometimes to signify, (see on Lu 2:1), then the mountain described by the Abbe Mariti (Travels through Cyprus, c.) could have afforded the prospect in question. Speaking of it, he says, "Here we enjoyed the most beautiful prospect imaginable. This part of the mountain overlooks the mountains of Arabia, the country of Gilead, the country of the Amorites, the plains of Moab, the plains of Jericho, the river Jordan, and the whole extent of the Dead Sea. It was here that the devil said to the Son of God, All these kingdoms will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me." Probably St. Matthew, in the Hebrew original, wrote הארץ haarets, which signifies the world, the earth, and often the land of Judea only. What renders this more probable is, that at this time Judea was divided into several kingdoms, or governments under the three sons of Herod the Great, viz. Archelaus, Antipas, and Philip which are not only called ethnarchs and tetrarchs in the Gospels, but also βασιλεις, kings, and are said βασιλευειν, to reign, as Rosenmuller has properly remarked. See Mt 2:22; Mt 14:9.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(8) An exceeding high mountain.—Here, if proof were wanted, we have evidence that all that passed in the Temptation was in the region of which the spirit, and not the senses, takes cognisance. No “specular mount” (I use Milton’s phrase) in the whole earth commands a survey of “all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them.” St. Luke’s addition “in a moment of time,” in one of those flashes of intuition which concentrate into a single act of consciousness the work of years, adds, if anything could add, to the certainty of this view. Milton’s well-known expansion of this part of the Temptation (Paradise Regained, Book III.), though too obviously the work of a scholar exulting in his scholarship, is yet worth studying as the first serious attempt to realise in part, at least, what must thus have been presented to our Lord’s mind.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

8. an exceeding high mountain] It is idle to ask what this mountain was, or in what sense Jesus saw the kingdoms of the world. It is enough that the thought and the temptation of earthly despotism and glory were present to the mind of Jesus.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And saith unto him, all these things will I give thee.... This is more fully and strongly expressed by the Evangelist Luke. Luk 4:6.

And the devil said unto him, All this power will I give thee, and the glory of them: for that is delivered unto me, and to whomsoever I will, I give it--all shall be thine. In which words he sets up himself to be the God of this world, and the sovereign disposer of it: he pretends it was delivered to him by the true God, who had left it to his arbitrary disposal; and that he could invest Christ with the power and government of it, and put him in possession of all its glory, and make good and support his title to it, and interest in it. Never was such monstrous arrogance expressed as this; when this poor, proud, wretched creature, has not the disposal, at his pleasure, of anyone single thing; no not the least in the whole universe. He could not touch, neither Job's person, nor any of his substance, without divine permission; nor enter into an herd of swine without Christ's leave; and yet had the front to make an offer of the whole world, as if he had a despotic power over it; and that upon this horrid and blasphemous condition,

if thou wilt fall down and worship me. This was the highest degree of effrontery and impudence. The devil is not content to be worshipped by men, but seeks for adoration from the Son of God: this opens at once his proud, ambitious, and aspiring views, to be as God himself; for with nothing less can he be satisfied.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

8 Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them;

Ver. 8. Again the devil taketh him] This master fly Beelzebub, though beaten away once and again, yet returns to the same place. See how shameless he is in renewing his temptations after a flat repulse. He solicits and sets upon our Saviour again (as Potiphar’s wife did upon Joseph, for all his many denials), and is not only importunate, but impudent. Stand we therefore still upon our guard, and look for no ease here. The Roman captains, when they had once triumphed, took their ease ever after. No so with Cato, and is therefore highly commended. So may not we if ever we will be approved as good soldiers of Jesus Christ, 2Ti 2:3. Our whole life is a continual warfare, and we must look for the continual hail shot, hell shot of satanical assaults and suggestions. ( Hannibal victor vel victus nunquam quiescebat. Ita nec diabolus.) When Xerxes fought against the Greeks, "the sea was full of ships," saith the orator, "the earth of soldiers, the air of arrows," πληρης ην η μεν θαλασσα νεων, η δε γη πεζων, ο δε αηρ βελων. So fares it with the saints under Satan’s batteries: no truce, but continual conflict. Ever since these two strong men fought, there is no more peace. St Paul sounds the alarm, "Arm, arm! take the whole armour of God and be ever in your harness," πανοπλιαν, Eph 6:11. And St Peter gives the reason, "Because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh, and watcheth, night and day, seeking whom he may devour." This he doth out of his contrariety to God who careth for us, 1Pe 5:7-8. For our encouragement, as the devil is Leo ωρυομενος, a roaring lion, so is Christ Leo de tribu Iuda, ο ρυομενος, the lion of the tribe of Judah, that delivereth us, and maketh us more than conquerors; holding the crown of glory over our heads (as we are fighting), with this inscription, Vincenti dabo, " To him that overcometh will I give," &c. ( Christus est αγωνοθετης, idem et antagonista, qui immittit et dirigit tentationes nostras. Pareus.) Fight therefore and faint not, your reward is sure, your armour is of proof. Get on both those pieces of defence (as the girdle of truth, breastplate of righteousness, shoes of peace and patience, shield of faith, helmet of hope) and those also of offence, as the sword of the Spirit and darts of prayer. And then resolve with that aged citizen of Exeter in King Edward VI’s time, who when the town was besieged, said, "That he would feed on the one arm and fight with the other, before he would consent to yield the city to the seditions." (Hayward’s Life of Edward VI) it is said of Sceva at the siege of Dyrrachium, that he so long resisted Pompey’s army that he had 220 darts sticking in his shield and lost one of his eyes, and yet gave not over till Caesar came to his rescue ( Densamque ferebat pectore sylvam Lucan); and of Sir Thomas Challoner (who died A.D. 1566), that he served in his younger time under Charles V in the expedition of Algiers, where being shipwrecked, after he had swum till his strength and his arms failed him, at length catching hold of a cable with his teeth, he escaped, not without the loss of some of his teeth. The like (and somewhat more) is reported of Cynegirus the Athenian in the Persian wars. These did thus for a corruptible crown or temporary honour; what should not we do for an eternal? 1Co 9:25. Hold out, and hold fast that which thou hast, that no man take thy crown from thee, Rev 3:11. Be of Queen Elizabeth’s disposition, who provided for war even when she had most perfect peace with all men. God’s Spirit sets up a standard in the saints, Isa 59:19; "And stronger is he that is in you than he that is in the world." That old serpent hath his head so bruised and crushed by Christ that he cannot now so easily thrust in his mortal sting, though he assay it never so often, unless we dally with him and lay ourselves open, unless we tempt Satan to tempt us by inconsideration, security, or venturing on the occasion. Vitanda est glacies, si nolis cadere. He that tastes of the broth will have a mind to the meat. The Nazarites might not only not drink wine, but forbear to eat of the grape whether moist or dried, Num 6:3.

Into an exceeding high mountain] Whether mountains were made at first or cast up by the flood, there are those who dispute. I think, made at first, Psa 90:2. Yet is the earth round (as an apple is, notwithstanding some knots and bunches in it). And that being round, and so naturally apt for motion (as the heavens are), it stands firm and unmoveable, Ecc 1:3: this is admirable. God hath hanged it upon nothing, saith Job, {Job 26:7} in the midst of the heaven; like Archimedes’ pigeon, equally poised with its own weight. But why took he our Saviour into so high a mountain? That he might thence have the fairer prospect. And perhaps in imitation of God taking up Moses into the mount. The devil delights to be God’s ape, that he may by counterfeiting the like to God, bring his holy ordinances into disgrace. Thus the heathens had their sacrifices, washings, tithes, oracles, &c. Vitruvius and others tell us that the temple of Diana at Ephesus and her image therein were made of cedar. So for Christ bruising the serpent’s head, Satan hath set up Hercules killing the Lernaean Hydra. Which fable who seeth not plainly to have been hatched in hell, and suggested to the poets, in an apish imitation of God, merely to elude his oracle? The like may be said of the fable of Orpheus his wife, suddenly snatched from him, for looking back upon her: which was made out of the story of Lot’s wife. So their Hercules with his ten labours was the Scripture Samson. And their Sethon, king of Egypt, and priest of Vulcan (who was helped from heaven by his god against Sennacherib, king of Assyria, that invaded him), who could it be else but Hezekiah, king of Judah? Ita diabolus (operum Dei Momus) per Egyptios hoc egit, ut divinum Miraculum in Iudaea editum vilesceret, fidem et authoritatem amitteret, et tanti operis gloria ad turpissima idola rediret. (Bucholcer.) Thus the devil attempted by his Egyptians to transfer the glory of a divine miracle upon himself.

And showeth him all the kingdoms of the earth] In their beauty and bravery. A bewitching sight, doubtless, and would have moved much with a carnal heart. (This world at the last day shall be burnt for a witch.) But here the devil’s fire fell upon wet tinder, and therefore took not. Gain and glory! rule and riches! Quis nisi mentis inops, &c. Who but the weak minded. Set but a wedge of gold in sight, and Joshua (that could stay the course of the sun) cannot stay Achan from lusting and laying hold on it. Balaam’s ass never gallops fast enough after preferment. And Zimri will have his Cozbi, though he die for it. These three enchantresses, "the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life," 1Jn 2:15-16, -pleasure, profit, and preferment (the worldly man’s Trinity)-whom have they not bewitched, befooled, bebeasted? St John showeth that a man may be very mortified, a father, yet wondrous subject to dote on the world. Of the which, nevertheless, we may say (as Aaron of the people) it is wholly set upon wickedness, Exo 32:22; or, as another sometimes said of a historian, "Both the words and shows of it are full of fraud." (Δολερα μεν τα σχηματα, δολερα δε τα ρηματα Plutarch de Herodot.) It promiseth (as the devil here) great matters, but payeth, pro thesauro carbones, instead of mines, coal pits. Captain Frobisher, in his voyage to discover the Straits, being tossed up and down with foul weather, snows, and inconstant winds, returned home, having gathered a great quantity of stones, which he thought to be minerals: from which, when there could be drawn neither gold nor silver, nor any other metal, we have seen them cast forth (saith Mr Camden) to mend the highways. How often do the devil and the world give men stones and serpents instead of fish and bread, even the bread of deceit, Pro 20:17, that proves gravel in the teeth! How often are they disappointed that hunt after lying vanities, and so forsake their own mercies! as Jonah freely acknowledged, {Jon 2:8} for it had like to have cost him a choking. What got Balaam by running after his wages of wickedness, but a sword in his ribs? Num 31:8. Achan by his wedge, but the stones about his ears? Judas by his thirty pieces, but the halter about his neck? Cranmer by his subscription, but such a wretched condition, as that there were left him neither hope of better nor place of worse, as Cole could say in a sermon at his recantation? Adeo ut neque spem meliori, nec locum peiori fortunae reliquerit. Ut iam nec honeste mori, nec vivere inhoneste liceret. (Melch. Adam.) Many of the Romish renagades, that run thither for preferment, what little respect have they oftentimes, and as little content in their change! Rossensis had a cardinal’s hat sent him, but his head was cut off before it came. Allin had a cardinal’s hat, but with so thin lining (means, I mean, to support his state) that he was commonly called "the starving Cardinal." Stapleton was made professor of a petty university, scarcely so good as one of our free schools in England. Saunders was starved. William Rainolds was nominated to a poor vicarage under value. On Harding his Holiness bestowed a prebend {a} of Gaunt, or, to speak more properly, a gaunt prebend. Many others get not anything, so that they wish themselves at home again; and sometimes return in the same discontent in which they went.

And the glory thereof] Wherewith he hoped to dazzle our Saviour’s eyes (those windows of the soul), and so to imprison his affections. But he mistook himself. This heavenly eagle had oculum irretortum: eyes that see backwards, nothing moved with these tempting objects. But how many are there, alas, that have died of the wound of the eye! that have fallen by the hand of this vile strumpet, the world; who by laying forth her two fair breasts of profit and pleasure, hath cast down many wounded, as Solomon’s harlot, Pro 7:26; and by the glittering of her pomp and preferment hath misled millions; as the going fire leads men into hedges and ditches, or as the serpent Scytale, which when she cannot overtake the fleeing passengers, doth with her beautiful colours astonish and amaze them, so that they have no power to pass away till she have stung them to death. (Pliny.)

{a} The portion of the revenues of a cathedral or collegiate church granted to a canon or member of the chapter as his stipend. ŒD

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

An exceeding high mountain - It is not known what mountain this was. It was probably some elevated place in the vicinity of Jerusalem, from the top of which could be seen no small part of the land of Palestine. The Abbe Mariti speaks of a mountain on which he was, which answers to the description here. “This part of the mountain,” says he, “overlooks the mountains of Arabia, the country of Gilead, the country of the Amorites, the plains of Moab, the plains of Jericho, the River Jordan, and the whole extent of the Dead Sea.” So Moses, before he died, went up into Mount Nebo, and from it God showed him “all the land of Gilead unto Dan, and all Naphtali, and the land of Ephraim and Manasseh, and all the land of Judah, unto the utmost sea, and the south, and the plain of the valley of Jericho, and the city of palm-trees, unto Zoar,” Deu 34:1-3. This shows that there were mountains from which no small part of the land of Canaan could be seen; and we need not suppose that there was any miracle when they were shown to the Saviour.

All the kingdoms of the world - It is not probable that anything more is intended here than the kingdoms of Palestine, or of the land of Canaan, and those in the immediate vicinity. Judea was divided into three parts, and those parts were called kingdoms; and the sons of Herod, who presided over them, were called kings. The term “world” is often used in this limited sense to denote a part or a large part of the world, particularly the land of Canaan. See Rom 4:13, where it means the land of Judah; also Luk 2:1, and the note on the place.

The glory of them - The riches, splendor, towns, cities, mountains, etc., of this beautiful land,

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Shewed him all the kingdoms of the world, and their glory; and as St. Luke says, in a moment of time. We cannot comprehend how this could be done from any mountain, or seen with human eyes. Therefore many think it was by some kind of representation; or that the devil shewing a part, by words set forth the rest. (Witham) --- He shewed him the different climates in which each country was situated. (St. John Chrysostom)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

This is the third temptation by which the tempter solicits our Saviour to sin, and of all other the most impudent. For what can be more impudent than for the creature to expect a homage to him from him who was his Creator. What mountain this was, and how our Saviour was taken up into it, are things not revealed, and of very little concern for us to know. The text tells us it was exceeding high, yet not high enough from whence one kingdom could be seen in the extent of it. It is therefore most probable that Dr. Lightfoot judgeth most truly, that

"the devil, being the prince of the power of the air, formed an airy horizon before the eyes of Christ, carrying such pompous and glorious appearance of kingdoms, states, and royalties in the face of it, as if he had seen those very kingdoms and states indeed."

Such things the devil can do, and doth do, by condensing the air first, then shaping and figuring, and lastly so colouring it, that it may represent what he intends. All these things he promised to give our Saviour, if he would fall down and worship him. The same eminent person well observes, that

"what Luke calls worshipping before the devil, Matthew calls worshipping the devil";

and concludes solidly,

"that if to worship before the devil be to worship the devil, worshipping before an image (as the papists do) must be worshipping the image."

The devil here arrogates to himself what was God’s alone to give, and such ordinarily are the devil’s promises of things, as to which he hath no power to fulfil what he promiseth.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Into an exceeding high mountain. (eiv orov uqhloan ; cf. Eze_40:2 Rev_21:10) Not in Luke. While no material mountain would have enabled our Lord to see all the kingdoms, etc., with his bodily eyes, it is probable that the physical elevation and distance of landscape would psychologically help such a vision. The Quarantana, which "commands a noble prospect" (Soein"s "Baedeker," p. 263), may have been the spot. In the case of Ezekiel it is expressly said that his being "brought into the land of Israel, and set upon a very high mountain," was only "in the visions of God." All the kingdoms of the world (tou kosmou ; but Luke, thv rikoumenhv , i.e. of the whole world as occupied by man, cf. Bishop Westcott on Heb_2:5). Cyrus says, (Ezr_1:2) "All the kingdoms of the earth hath the Lord, the God of heaven, given me." And the glory of them; i.e. their resources, wealth, the magnificence and greatness of their cities, their fertile lands, their thronging population" (Thayer); cf. Mat_6:29 Rev_21:24, Rev_21:26. The kingdoms themselves and their outward show. Contrast the words of the seraphim, "The whole earth is full of his glory". (Isa_6:3) In Luke, this expression does not occur at this point, but in the tempter"s words. As it there comes more abruptly, that is perhaps the more original position. St. Luke adds, "In a moment of time.

Vers. 8-10. The third ordeal-temptation of Jesus.

The first temptation was aimed at Jesus in the matter of the appetite of the body. The second in that of the audacious ambition of a daring mind, whose pride of self and of thought would court every presumption whatsoever. The third is an immediate assault on the properly spiritual nature of man, which involves first of all conception of duty, of religion, and of its grandest presentation in commandment the first, for ever and ever the first ! It "goes without saying" that no description more brief, comprehensive, true, addresses itself to the fixing of what it is that is amiss with man than this that he forgets that he is estranged from his being"s first glory, the worship of its Creator, Father, sovereign Owner, God. And when this is well remembered, that one type of temptation should be recorded in this direction is what we should entirely expect. It may be held probable that the eighth verse goes a long way to give a satisfactory clue as to how far the details of the scenery of these temptations are to be read literally. It is plain that here they cannot be read so absolutely. None the less, in our opinion, is the groundwork in this case itself most real; in other words, we believe the scene was the summit of a high mountain, although even the narrowest exegesis of the expression "all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them," may be too wide for literal construing. Notice in the description of this temptation that

I IT BEGS THE VANTAGE-GROUND, THE ENHANCING CIRCUMSTANCES OF THE IMPRESSION, LENT BY ACTUAL SIGHT. That this kind of consideration may legitimately be set to the credit of Christ"s combined nature is sufficiently shown by the numerous occasions in which we find such things as these that his "tears," his "deep anger," his immeasurable "grief," reached their climax respectively when his eye actually "beheld" (the city), saw" (her weeping, and the Jews also weeping which came with her), looked round about" (upon them, being grieved, etc.). For those even who believe that the temptations of Jesus were conducted only in vision, the words "actual sight" may still have their meaning.

II IT WENT DIRECT TO THE SUBSTANCE OF THE WORK WHICH BROUGHT CHRIST TO EARTH, THE SECURING OF THE KINGDOMS OF THIS WORLD. To give what facility may be possible to any conception of the feasibility of Satan"s fulfilling the offer of his tempting, we might imagine that he meant he would "give all the kingdoms," etc., in the sense of utterly retreating himself from the conflict; and from the endeavour, at present too successful, to win the world for his own. On the other hand, we know by what very different method, of the Passion and blood of Christ, the victory was to be won, and Satan to be dispossessed of his hold.

III IT ASSERTS, (Luk_4:6) WHAT CHRIST AT ALL EVENTS DOES NOT DENY OR CHALLENGE, A CERTAIN ABSOLUTE HOLD ON THE WORLD ON THE PART OF SATAN, AND BY SOME SORT OF RIGHT. It is a thing supremely worthy of note that, in so small a compass as the description of the facts of the temptation, a place should thus be found for the recognition of a phenomenon so inscrutable, and so undeniably embedded in the facts of the world, in the statements of Scripture, and in the very grain of universal theology.

IV IT PRESENTS ITSELF IN TEMPTATION"S ABSOLUTE, ESSENTIAL, FORM. The essential crucial question in all temptation of moral matter is this Will a man bow down from himself, from his God, to worship untruth, to do the thing called sin, to honour the thing called evil, to act the thing called a lie, to worship Satan? These things, all mystery apart, arc to" worship." Satan, and not to "worship the Lord God.

V IT GETS ITSELF ITS ANSWER, POSITIVE AND SWIFT. This twofold answer is revealed.

1. The instinctive resentment of the nature: "Get thee behind me, Satan!

2. The unqualified confession of the philosophy of that resentment: "It is written," i.e. written in reason, in conscience, in the Word: "Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. B.

Vers. 8, 9. Temptation through the consciousness of power.

Bushnell observes that the report of the temptation can only have come from Christ himself. "And he simply meant, I have no doubt, in the three temptations recited, to report what appeared to him visionally speaking, or how they stood before his fevered brain. To believe that he was taken up into a mountain so exceedingly high that he could see all the kingdoms of the round world from the top, is fairly impossible. All temptations are but seemings. The devils bait their hook never with truths, always with illusions." Before the mind of Christ a great procession of all the world-kingdoms seems to pass kingdoms of nations, of learning, of pleasure, of wealth; and the evil suggestion seems to say," That power you are conscious of possessing includes and involves the command of all these world-forces. Use them, then. Be the temporal Messiah that you are expected to be, and that you can be, and then, when your position is gained, you can use it for higher spiritual ends." It is the most subtle form that temptation takes for man. Get a position, anyhow. Get power, anyhow. And then you can use the position and the power for noble ends. It is always Satanic temptation; for if a man gets position and power unworthily, he is damaged and deteriorated in the getting, and so made unfit for the using when he has got. Christ would neither win his power nor use his power otherwise than as God"s will should arrange.

I WHAT THE LORD JESUS COULD DO. Seeley says, "The mental struggle is still caused by the question how to use the supernatural power. Nothing more natural than that it should occur to Christ that his power was expressly given to him for the purpose of establishing, in defiance of all resistance, his everlasting kingdom." Clearly see that Christ"s miraculous power placed all the world-forces at his command. He might have used them to found his Messianic kingdom. He would have used them if that had been God"s will. It was not God"s will, so for him to have used them would have been to serve the devil. This temptation comes to all who are born with genius, who are conscious of power in any direction Is that genius to be self-ordered or divinely ordered?

II WHAT THE LORD JESUS WOULD DO. Worshipping the Lord God is no mere act of homage; it is the life of obedience to the Divine will; the ordering of conduct by the Divine rule. The powers Christ had could only be used for God"s purposes, in God"s way. R.T.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Showeth him all the kingdoms of the world - In a kind of visionary representation.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

world

The Greek word kosmos means "order," "arrangement," and so, with the Greeks, "beauty"; for order and arrangement in the sense of system are at the bottom of the Greek conception of beauty.

When used in the N.T. of humanity, the "world" of men, it is organized humanity-- humanity in families, tribes, nations--which is meant. The word for chaotic, unorganized humanity--the mere mass of man is thalassa, the "sea" of men (e.g.) Rev 13:1 (See Scofield "Rev 13:8"). For "world" (kosmos) in the bad ethical sense, "world system" Joh 7:7.

The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And still the devil is not overcome:

v. 8. Again, the devil taketh Him up into an exceeding high mountain, and showeth Him all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them.

Once more the tempter attacks; there is no ceasing in his efforts to destroy God’s work, 1Pe 5:8. And he has great power, he controls, to some extent, the forces and the wealth of the earth, as a prince of the power of the air, Eph 2:2. See Joh 12:31; Joh 14:30; Joh 16:11; Eph 6:12. A stratagem of magic the devil here employed, to conjure up the wealth and the glories of all earth’s kingdoms in an alluring, almost irresistibly appealing picture, all in a moment of time, Luk 4:5. The location of the exceeding high mountain here referred to is immaterial, also the question whether the picture was a physical demonstration or a mental suggestion. The main fact in Matthew’s narrative is the refined subtlety, but also the extreme denseness of the tempter:

v. 9. And saith unto Him, All these things will I give Thee if Thou wilt fall down and worship me.

For an ordinary human being no proposition, in itself, could have been more attractive. What a dazzling picture of absolute sway over the world and possession of its glory was here offered to the lowly and rejected descendant of David! But what folly to presume upon the unlimited disposition of the wealth and grandeur of the world in the presence of Him who of right holds all the nations of the earth as His inheritance and the utmost ends of the world as His possession! The condition of Satan demanding homage to him as the superior was therefore almost naively awkward. But he staked all on this last powerful appeal to worldly ambition, involving the willful yielding to the most heinous form of idolatry.

Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The next sin, which Satan tempts our Saviour to, is the sin of idolatry, even to worship the devil himself. O thou impudent and foul spirit! To desire thy Creator to adore thee, an apostate creature! Surely there can be no sin so black and foul, so gross and monstrous, but that the christian may be tempted to it, when Christ himself was tempted to worship the tempter.

St. Matthew reads the words, If thou wilt fall down and worship me: St. Luke, If thou wilt worship before me.

Whence we may gather, says Dr. Lightfoot, That if to worship before the devil be to worship the devil, then to worship before an image is to worship the image.

Observe, 2. The bait which Satan makes use of to allure our Saviour to the sin of idolatry; and that was, in representing to his eye and view all the glories of the world in the most inviting manner, and that in a moment of time; to the intent it might affect him the more and prevail the sooner.

Learn thence, That the pomp and greatness, the glory and grandeur, of this world, is made use of by Satan, as a dangerous snare to draw men to a compliance with him, in his temptations unto sin. When Satan sets thee upon a pinnacle, look to thyself.

William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

8. Taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain. From some lofty center he spreads before Jesus a panorama of the kingdoms of this world with all their glory. We are not to suppose that all the kingdoms were literally visible, but they are portrayed in such a way as to be present to the mental eyes.

B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.

8. εἰς ὄρος ὑψηλὸν λίαν. It is idle to ask what this mountain was, or in what sense Jesus saw the kingdoms of the world. It is enough that the thought and the temptation of earthly despotism and glory were present to the mind of Jesus. The Galilæans put the same temptation to Jesus when they wished to make Him a king (Joh 6:15), and even the disciples shared the hope of an earthly Messianic kingdom. The picture of the expected Deliverer was drawn by the popular imagination from the memory of the Maccabees or from the actual power of Cæsar, and this was the thought which the tempter presented to Christ.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

8. ὄρος ὑψ. λί.] The enquiry where and what this mountain was, is entirely nugatory, no data being furnished by the text.

δείκνυσιν αὐτ. π. τ. β.] The additional words in Luke, ἐν στιγμῇ χρόνου, are valuable as pointing out to us clearly the supernatural character of this vision. If it be objected, that in that case there was no need for the ascent of the mountain,—I answer, that such natural accessories are made use of frequently in supernatural revelations: see especially Rev 21:10. The attempts to restrict τοῦ κόσμου to Palestine, (which was, besides, God’s peculiar portion and vineyard, as distinguished from the Gentile world,) or the Roman empire, are mere subterfuges: as is also the giving to δείκνυσιν the sense of ‘points out the direction of.’ The very passage of Polybius cited to support this view, completely refutes it, when taken entire. Hannibal, from the Alps, is directing the attention of his soldiers to the view of Italy; ἐνδεικνύμενος αὐτοῖς τὰ περὶ τὸν Πάδον πεδία (in sight) … ἅμα δὲ καὶ τὸν τῆς Ῥώμης αὐτοῖς τόπον ὑποδεικνύων, where we may observe the distinction between the two compounds ἐν- and ὑπο-δείκνυμι: and further, that it is not τὴν Ῥ. but τὸν τῆς Ῥ. τόπον that he pointed out to them. Euthymius, however, interprets our verse thus, … λέγων· ἐν τούτῳ μὲν τῷ μέρει κεῖται ἡ βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, ἐν τούτῳ δὲ ἡ τῶν Περσῶν, ἐν ἐκείνῳ δὲ ἡ τῶν Ἀσσυρίων, καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς ὁμοίως· καὶ ὅτι ἡ μὲν ἔχει δόξαν ἐπὶ τοῖσδε τοῖς εἴδεσιν, ἡ δὲ ἐπὶ τοῖσδε, καὶ ἄλλη ἐπʼ ἄλλοις, καὶ ἁπλῶς πάντα καταλέγει: and even Maldonatus approves it.

In this last temptation the enemy reveals himself openly, as the ἄρχων τοῦ κόσμου τούτου, and as the father of lies; for though power is given him over this world and its sons, his assertion here is most untrue.

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

8. Again the devil taketh Him unto an exceeding high mountain, and showeth Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory.] Lk. has: “And taking Him up, he showed Him all the kingdoms of the inhabited world in a moment of time.” Lk.’s ἀναγαγών is ambiguous, “into the air”? For Mt.’s mountain, cf. the mountain of the Sermon, 5:1; the mountain of Transfiguration, 17:1; and the mountain of Ascension, 28:16.

(X)

8. τοῦ κόσμου] S1 “of this world.”

καὶ τὴν δόξαν αὐτῶν] Omit S1.

International Critical Commentary — older volumes (1896–1929), various authors — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.