Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Matthew 4:5

Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple,

5. taketh him up ] The situation of Jerusalem is remarkably high. It was probably the loftiest capital in the ancient world.

the holy city ] Jerusalem is so designated by St Matthew alone.

a pinnacle ] strictly the pinnacle pinnacle, lit. ‘a little wing,’ an architectural term for a wing-like projection. The particular pinnacle was probably on the roof of one of the Temple Porches overlooking the deep valley of the Kedron or of Hinnom. Josephus speaking of the “Royal Porch” says “if anyone looked down from the top of the battlements he would be giddy, while his sight could not reach to such an immense depth.” Antiq. xv. 11. 5.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

Then the devil taketh him up – This does not mean that he bore him through the air; or that he compelled him to go against his will, or that he performed a miracle in any way to place him there. There is no evidence that Satan had power to do any of these things, and the word translated taketh him Up does not imply any such thing. It means to conduct one; to lead one; to attend or accompany one; or to induce one to go. It is used in the following places in the same sense: Num 23:14; And he (Balak) brought him (Balaam) into the field of Zophim, etc. That is, he led him, or induced him to go there. Mat 17:1; and after six days Jesus taketh Peter, James, etc.; that is, led or conducted them – not by any means implying that he bore them by force. Mat 20:17; Jesus, going to Jerusalem, took the twelve disciples apart, etc. See also Mat 26:37; Mat 27:27; Mar 5:40. From these passages, and many more, it appears that all that is meant here is, that Satan conducted Jesus, or accompanied him; but not that this was done against the will of Jesus.

The holy city – Jerusalem, called holy because the temple was there, and because it was the place of religious solemnities.

Setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple – It is not perfectly certain to what part of the temple the sacred writer here refers. It has been supposed by some that he means the roof. But Josephus says that the roof was covered by spikes of gold, to prevent its being polluted by birds; and such a place would have been very inconvenient to stand upon. Others suppose that it was the top of the porch or entrance to the temple. But it is more than probable that the porch leading to the temple was not as high as the main building. It is more probable that he refers to that part of the sacred edifice which was called Solomons Porch. The temple was built on the top of Mount Moriah. The temple itself, together with the courts and porches, occupied a large space of ground. See the notes at Mat 21:12. To secure a level spot sufficiently large, it was necessary to put up a high wall on the east. The temple was surrounded with porches or piazzas 50 feet broad and 75 feet high. The porch on the south side was, however, 67 feet broad and 150 high. From the top of this to the bottom of the valley below was more than 700 feet, and Josephus says that one could scarcely look down without dizziness. The word pinnacle does not quite express the force of the original. It is a word given usually to birds, and denotes wings, or anything in the form of wings, and was given to the roof of this porch because it resembled a bird dropping its wings. It was on this place, doubtless, that Christ was placed.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Mat 4:5

Pinnacle of the temple.

-Tempted to self-destruction. (Dr. O. Winslow.)

The seceded temptation

I. Satans doubt. If Thou be the Son of God, etc.

II. His purpose. He urged on Christ an act of self-destruction. He was from the beginning the cause of death in all forms.

III. The argument with which he supported it. A quotation from Scripture.

IV. The passion to which he appealed. The pride of the human heart, to display.

V. It was a real temptation; it contanned desire, collision between desire and law, suggestion, and free will. (W. H. Hutchings, M. A.)

Temptations on the pinnacle

I. View the temptation itself.

1. The place of this temptation. It was high; it was holy.

2. The first effort of the devil was to sap the foundations of the Saviours strength with a doubt-If Thou be the Son of God. The point of attack was our Lords Sonship.

3. The cunning tempter has paved the way for the Satanic suggestion, Cast Thyself down.

4. The suggestion was backed up by a text of Scripture. He misquotes the text and omits in all thy ways. God does not promise to keep us in ways of our own choosing.

5. The answer which the Saviour gave.

II. A few considerations deduced from the whole.

1. Jesus was tempted as I am.

2. Jesus was tempted, but Jesus never sinned.

3. Jesus not only did not fall, but He triumphed gloriously. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

The devil may suggest: compel he cannot. (St. Chrysostom.)

It appeals to the trust which had been triumphant over temptation a moment before. Not even trust in God can expect God to save it from the consequences of presumption and disobedience; it must conform to the laws of God.

Subordinate lessons

The apparent teaching of any isolated text of Scripture always needs to be interpreted and limited by the whole of Scripture.

2. There is often the exaggeration and distortion of virtue. Trust becomes presumption. Strike any one note of human goodness and you will be sure to hear its accompanying discord. (G. S. Barrett, B. A.)

Practical reflections

1. No place is so sacred as to be free from the devils intrusion.

2. The difference between Gods miracles and Satans prodigies.

3. How different is the guidance of our Saviour from the guidance of our adversary; He casts down and then lifts up.

4. Ye who dwell in lofty places remark that Satan is ever near to take advantage of your unwatchfulness and give you a shameful fall.

5. The limitation of his power. (L. H. Wiseman.)

Elevation in order to destruction

On the rocky shore of Cornwall you may see the black cormorant seizing its prey, a shell-fish, flying up with it in the air, and then letting it fall upon some rock, that the shell may be broken in pieces. The great destroyer sometimes deals with those who serve him in a similar way. (L. H. Wiseman.)

Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell

Verse 5. Pinnacle of the temple] It is very likely that this was what was called the , the king’s gallery; which, as Josephus says, “deserves to be mentioned among the most magnificent things under the sun: for upon a stupendous depth of a valley, scarcely to be fathomed by the eye of him that stands above, Herod erected a gallery of a vast height, from the top of which if any looked down, he would grow dizzy, his eyes not being able to reach so vast a depth.” – Ant. l. xv. c. 14. See Dr. Lightfoot on this place.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

By the holy city is meant Jerusalem, once a holy city, Dan 9:24; now, though a most impure and filthy city upon many accounts, yet, upon other accounts still a holy city, being the only city in the world which had then in it the true worship of the true God, and in which God doubtless, who in Ahabs time had seven thousand in Israel, had many holy people. How the devil took Christ into the holy city is variously argued and judged; the words used in the Greek are such as would incline us to think he was not carried by force, but followed the tempter willingly, and set upon a place on the top of the temple, higher than the other parts of it. The end of his being set there the next verse tells us.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

5. Then the devil taketh himuprather, “conducteth Him.”

into the holy citysocalled (as in Isa 48:2; Neh 11:1)from its being “the city of the Great King,” the seat ofthe temple, the metropolis of all Jewish worship.

and setteth him on a pinnacleof the templerather, “the pinnacle”a certainwell-known projection. Whether this refers to the highest summit ofthe temple, which bristled with golden spikes [JOSEPHUS,Antiquities, 5.5,6]; or whether it refers to another peak, onHerod’s royal portico, overhanging the ravine of Kedron, at thevalley of Hinnoman immense tower built on the very edge of thisprecipice, from the top of which dizzy height JOSEPHUSsays one could not look to the bottom [Antiquities,15.11,5]is not certain; but the latter is probably meant.

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

Then the devil taketh him up,…. This was done, not in a visionary way, but really and truly: Satan, by divine permission, and with the consent of Christ, which shows his great humiliation and condescension, had power over his body, to move it from place to place; in some such like manner as the Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip, Ac 8:39 he took him up, raised him above ground, and carried him through the air, “into, the holy city”: this was Jerusalem; for Luke expressly says,

he brought him to Jerusalem, Lu 4:9 called so, because of the presence, worship, and service of God, which had been in it, though then in a great measure gone; and according to the common notions of the Jews, who say b Jerusalem was more holy than any other cities in the land, and that because of the Shekinah. The inscription on one side of their shekels was , “Jerusalem, the holy city” c. Satan frequents all sorts of places; men are no where free from his temptations; Christ himself was not in the holy city, no nor in the holy temple; hither also he had him,

and setteth him upon a pinnacle, or “wing of the temple”. In this place d the Jews set James, the brother of Christ, and from it cast him down headlong: this was the “the summit”, or “top” of it; and intends either the roof encompassed with battlements, to keep persons from falling off; or the top of the porch before the temple, which was 120 cubits high; or the top of the royal gallery, built by Herod, which was of such an height, that if a man looked down from it, he soon became dizzy e. The view Satan had in setting him here appears in the next verse.

b Bemidbar Rabba, fol. 183. 4. & Maimon. Hilch. Beth. Habechirah, c. 7. sect. 14. & 6. 16. c Waserus de Antiq. Numm. Heb. l. 2. c. 5. d Euseb. Eccl. Hist. l. 2. c. 23. e Joseph. Antiq. Jud. l. 15. c. 14.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

Then the devil taketh him ( ). Matthew is very fond of this temporal adverb (). See already Matt 2:7; Matt 3:13; Matt 4:1; Matt 4:5. Note historic present with vivid picturesqueness. Luke puts this temptation third, the geographical order. But was the person of Christ allowed to be at the disposal of the devil during these temptations? Alford so holds.

On the pinnacle of the temple ( ). Literally “wing:” the English word “pinnacle” is from the Latin pinnaculum, a diminutive of pinna (wing). “The temple” ( ) here includes the whole temple area, not just the sanctuary ( ), the Holy Place and Most Holy Place. It is not clear what place is meant by “wing.” It may refer to Herod’s royal portico which overhung the Kedron Valley and looked down some four hundred and fifty feet, a dizzy height (Josephus, Ant. XV. xi. 5). This was on the south of the temple court. Hegesippus says that James the Lord’s brother was later placed on the wing of the temple and thrown down therefrom.

Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament

Taketh [] . The preposition para (with, by the side of), implies taketh along with himself, or conducteth. It is the same word which all three evangelists use of Lord ‘s taking his chosen apostles to the Mount of Transfiguration (Mt 17:1; Mr 9:2; Luk 9:28).

The holy city. Matthew alone calls Jerusalem by this name, in accordance with the general intent of his gospel to connect the old economy with the new.

Pinnacle of the temple [ ] . Pinnacle, from the Latin pinnaculum, a diminutive of pinna or penna (a wing), is a literal translation of pterugion, which is also a diminutive (a little wing or winglet). Nothing in the word compels us to infer that Christ was placed on the top of a tower or spire, which is the popular meaning of pinnacle. The word may be used in the familiar English sense of the wing of a building. Herod ‘s temple had two wings, the northern and southern, of which the southern was the higher and grander; that being the direction in which the chief enlargement of the temple area made by Herod was practicable. That enlargement, according to Josephus, was effected by building up walls of solid masonry from the valley below. At the extremity of the southern side of the area, was erected the “royal portico,” a magnificent colonnade, consisting of a nave and two aisles, running across the entire space from the eastern to the western wall. Josephus further says, that “while the valley of itself was very deep, and its bottom could scarcely be seen when one looked down from above, the additional vastly high elevation of the portico was placed on that height, insomuch that, if any one looked down from the summit of the roof, combining the two altitudes in one stretch of vision, he would be giddy, while his sight could not reach to such an immense depth.” This, in comparison with the northern wing, was so emphatically the wing of the temple as to explain the use of the article here, as a well – known locality. The scene of the temptation may have been (for the whole matter is mainly one of conjecture) the roof of his portico, at the southeastern angle, where it joined Solomon ‘s Porch, and from which the view into the Kedron valley beneath was to the depth of four hundred and fifty feet.

The word temple (iJeron, lit., sacred place) signifies the whole compass of the sacred inclosure, with its porticos, courts, and other subordinate buildings; and should be carefully distinguished from the other word, naov, also rendered temple, which means the temple itself – the “Holy Place” and the “Holy of Holies.” When we read, for instance, of Christ teaching in the temple [] we must refer it to one of the temple – porches. So it is from the iJeron, the court of the Gentiles, that Christ expels the money – changers and cattle – merchants. In Mt 27:51, it is the veil of the naov which is rent; the veil separating the holy place from the holy of holies. In the account of Zacharias entering into the temple of the Lord to burn incense (Luk 1:9), the word is naov, the holy place in which the altar of incense stood. The people were “without,” in the fore – courts. In Joh 2:21, the temple of his body, iJeronwould be obviously inappropriate.

Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament

1) “Then the devil taketh him,” (tote paralambanei auton ho diabolos) “At that point of time the devil took him, conducted him (Jesus),” of His own permissive will and choice. Luke lists this as the third temptation as recounted in actual order, Luk 1:1-3; Luk 4:3; Luk 4:5; Luk 4:9.

2) “Up into the holy city,” (eis ten hagian polin) “Into the holy city,” the city of Jerusalem, where the Holy Jewish Temple was, Neh 11:1. As the Lord permitted Satan to lead Him to Calvary for the redemption of the world, so He permitted Satan to lead Him to this pinnacle, to demonstrate that Satan’s temptations may be endured through the “Word of His Power,” 1Co 10:13; Heb 4:12.

3) “And setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple,” (kai estesen auton epi to pterugion tou hierou) “And stood him, or caused him to stand upon the wing (pinnacle) projection of the temple,” near the southeast of the city, overlooking the Kedron ravine and valley of Hinnom, where the city refuse was dumped and burned. It was a scenic view from a worldly standpoint.

Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary

Mat 4:5

. Then the devil taketh him. It is not of great importance, that Luke’s narrative makes that temptation to be the second, which Matthew places as the third: for it was not the intention of the Evangelists to arrange the history in such a manner, as to preserve on all occasions, the exact order of time, but to draw up an abridged narrative of the events, so as to present, as in a mirror or picture, those things which are most necessary to be known concerning Christ. Let it suffice for us to know that Christ was tempted in three ways. The question, which of these contests was the second, and which was the third, need not give us much trouble or uneasiness. In the exposition, I shall follow the text of Matthew.

Christ is said to have been placed on the pinnacle of the temple. It is asked, was he actually carried to this elevated spot, or was it done in vision? There are many, who obstinately assert, that the body was really and actually conveyed: for they consider it to be unworthy of Christ, that he should be supposed to be liable to the delusions of Satan. But it is easy to dispose of that objection. There is no absurdity in supposing, that this took place by the permission of God and the voluntary subjection of Christ; provided we hold that within, — that is, in his mind and souls, — he suffered no delusion. What is next added, that all the kingdoms of the world were placed in the view of Christ, — as well as what Luke relates, that he was carried to a great distance in one moment, — agrees better with the idea of a vision, than with any other supposition. In a matter that is doubtful, and where ignorance brings no risk, I choose rather to suspend my judgment, than to furnish contentious people with an occasion of debate. It is also possible, that the second temptation did not follow the first, nor the third the second, in immediate succession, but that some interval of time elapsed. This is even more probable, though the words of Luke might lead to the conclusion, that there was no long interval: for he says, that Christ obtained repose for a time.

But the main question for our consideration is, what was Satan’s object in this kind of temptation? That will be best determined, as I have lately hinted, by our Lord’s reply to Satan. To meet the stratagem of the enemy, and to repel his attack, Christ interposes, as a shield, these words: Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. Hence it is evident, that the stratagems of the enemy were intended to induce Christ to exalt himself unduly, and to rise, in a daring manner, against God. Satan had formerly attempted to drive Christ to despair, because he was destitute of food, and of the ordinary means of life. Now, he exhorts him to indulge a foolish and vain confidences, — to neglect the means which are in his powers, — to throw himself, without necessity, into manifest danger, — and, as we might say, to overleap all bounds. As it is not proper for us to be discouraged, when we are pressed by “the want of all things,” (Deu 28:57,) but to rely with confidence on God, neither are we at liberty to raise our crests, or ascend higher than God permits us. The design of Satan, we have now ascertained, was to induce Christ to make trial of his divinity, and to rise up, in foolish and wicked rashness, against God.

Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary

(5) The order of the last two temptations is different in St. Luke, and the variation is instructive. Either St. Lukes informant was less accurate than St. Matthews, or the impressions left on the minds of those to whom the mystery had been communicated were slightly different. Especially was this likely to be the case, if the trial had been (as the narratives of St. Mark and St. Luke show) protracted, and the temptations therefore recurring. St. Matthews order seems, on the whole, the truest, and the Get thee behind me, Satan, fits in better with the close of the conflict.

Taketh him up into the holy city.The use of this term to describe Jerusalem (Luk. 4:9) is peculiar to St. Matthew among the Evangelists, and is used again by him in Mat. 27:53. St. John uses it in Rev. 11:2 of the literal, in Rev. 21:2 of the heavenly, Jerusalem. The analogy of Eze. 37:1; Eze. 40:2, where the prophet is carried from place to place in the vision of God, leads us to think of this taking as outside the conditions of local motion. As St. Paul said of like spiritual experiences of his own (2Co. 12:2), so we must say of this, Whether it was in the body, or out of the body, we know not, God knoweth.

A pinnacle of the temple.Better, the pinnacle. The Greek has the article. The Greek word, like pinnacle is the diminutive of wing, and seems to have been applied to any pointed roof or gable. In this case, looking to the position and structure of the Temple, we may think of the point or parapet of the portico of Herod overlooking the Valley of Jehoshaphat, rising to a dizzy height of 400 cubits above it (Jos. Ant. xv. 11, 5). Our Lords earlier visits to Jerusalem must have made the scene familiar to Him. In past years He may have looked down from that portico on the dark gorge beneath. Now a new thought is brought before Him. Shall He test the attestation that He was the beloved Son by throwing himself headlong down? Was there not a seeming warrant for such a trial, the crucial experiment of Sonship? Had not the Psalmist declared of the chosen One of God that His angels should bear Him up? This seems a far truer view than that the point of the temptation lay in the suggestion that He should work a sign or wonder by throwing Himself, in the presence of the people, from the parapet that overlooked the court of the worshippers, and so obtain power and popularity. The answer to the Tempter shows that the suggestion tended, not to vain glory, but to distrust simulating reliance. It is a somewhat curious coincidence that James the Just, the brother of the Lord, is said to have been thrown down from the pinnacle of the Temple into one of its courts (Euseb. H. E. ii. 23).

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

THE SECOND TEMPTATION, Mat 4:5-7.

5. Taketh him Many commentators interpret this as merely meaning that Satan induced the Saviour to go with him to the temple. But these same commentators do not maintain that in Mat 4:8 our Lord walked up the exceeding high mountain. And yet the words implying Satan’s control of his person are the stronger in this verse. The devil not only taketh him, but setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple. To suppose that our Lord voluntarily walked from the wilderness, breaks the continuity of the scene, and the unity of place.

Holy city So called, in spite of many a wickedness, as being the seat of the theocracy. “They call themselves of the holy city, but not in truth, nor in righteousness.” Isa 48:1-2. Pinnacle or little wing, as the word means. It was doubtless the summit of the royal gallery built by Herod over the brink of the valley of Kedron, with a dizzy height from summit to bottom of seven hundred feet, down which as any one looked, according to Josephus, “he would become dizzy, his eyes being unable to reach so vast a depth.”

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

‘Then the devil takes him into the holy city; and he set him on the pinnacle of the temple,’

But now His thoughts were turned again towards the question of success in His mission. How was He to gain the support of the Temple, and the Temple authorities. How was He to obtain the attention of the Teachers and the people? One possible way was a spectacular demonstration of His powers, for no one loved signs more than the Jews. They were renowned for it (1Co 1:22). Indeed He knew that they would demand them. They believed in a God Who had constantly given signs to His people. Why not give them a great sign that they would never forget? And to aid Him in this the Devil took Him into the holy city and set Him on the small wing of the Temple. We are not told whether it was in His mind, or in reality. Note the mention of ‘the holy city’. In Isa 52:1 it describes what we might call the Messianic city, the city from which all uncleanness has been removed. It may hint at the fact that the Devil was seeking to surround what he was doing with an aura of holiness. In the holy city such a presentation of His Messiahship must surely be holy? In mind here as well may have been Ezekiel’s similar visit to the Temple, which also took place by extraordinary means, in Eze 8:1-3; Eze 11:24.

‘The pinnacle of the temple.’ Literally ‘the small wing’. We cannot certainly identify it but it was possibly a projection on the part of the Temple that towered over the Kidron valley far below. It would have made a spectacular fall.

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

Repulsed, but not routed, the devil seeks a new line of attack:

v. 5. Then the devil taketh Him up into the Holy City, and setteth Him on a pinnacle of the Temple,

v. 6a. and saith unto Him, If Thou be the Son of God, cast Thyself down.

His attempt to produce distrust in God’s ability to sustain life under unusual conditions having failed, Satan tries to plant the seed of self-glorification and presumption in the heart of Jesus. He shows greater boldness, taking the Lord to himself as his companion, practically seizing hold of Him, and carrying Him along to Jerusalem, called by the evangelist, as with affection, the Holy City. Here he set Him on the pinnacle of the Temple. This refers either to the southwest corner of the Temple court, where Herod had erected a gallery of great height, from whose dizzy top the depth of the Kidron Valley below was intensified to the eye, in which case the dangerousness of a leap would have given added force to the devil’s urging; or Matthew has in mind the high roof of the Most Holy Place, the highest elevation of the Temple proper. A daring jump, an ostentatious miracle it would have been if Jesus, in the presence of the assembled multitude, had cast Himself down from this prominent point and reached the ground unharmed. By yielding to the devil at this suggestion, He might in an hour have gained more followers than the entire number of disciples amounted to whom He gathered by the laborious method of teaching.

Having been rendered cautious by his first experience, the enemy determined to ward off a second quotation from Scriptures by quoting a passage in his own favor:

v. 6.. 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 foot against a stone.

The devil truly can quote Scriptures to his purpose, in the manner peculiar to him, with the omission of an essential part. For in the text referred to, Psa 91:11-12, the words, “To keep Thee in all Thy ways,” are indispensable for a correct interpretation. It is not in the ways of a man’s own choosing that the protecting hand of God is assured him, but in the ways which agree with the rational order and the laws of the universe.

Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann

Mat 4:5. Then the devil taketh him, &c. The original word , signifies no more than to lead, to take along with one; as in the LXX. Num 22:41; Num 23:27-28. See Mat 17:1. That it has no other sense in this place, and also in the eighth verse, is plain from Luk 4:5; Luk 4:9. By the holy city is meant Jerusalem, which is frequently so called. Instead of pinnacle, Dr. Doddridge very properly reads battlement; observing, that though pinnacle agrees very well with the etymology of the Greek word : yet, according to its use among us, it leads the English reader to imagine, that he stood on the point of a spire. The truth is, that the roof of the temple was flat, and had a ballustrade round it, which in some parts was so exceeding high, that one could hardly bear to look down from it. See Deu 22:8 and Joseph. Antiq. l. 15. c. 11. Somewhere on the edge of this battlement, we may suppose, was the scene of this temptation. We must not imagine, that the devil took the Lord Jesus Christ, and disposed of him as he would; but only that our blessed Saviour, who yielded to be placed in the temptation, was pleased so far to do what the devil required of him. It is a common thing to say a person does a thing, when he orders or causes it to be done.

Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

Mat 4:5 . ] he takes Him with him , 1Ma 3:37 ; Mal 4:1Mal 4:1 , and frequently in Greek writers.

] , Isa 48:2 ; Isa 52:1 ; Neh 11:1 . Jerusalem, the city of God, on account of the national temple, Mat 5:35 , Mat 27:53 ; Luk 4:9 ; Sir 36:13 ; Sir 49:6 ; Josephus, Antt. iv. 4. 4; Lightfoot, Hor. p. 43; Ottii Spicileg. p. 9. Even at the present day it is called by the Arabs: the place of the Sanctuary, or the Holy City [El Kuds]. Hamelsveld, biol. Geogr. I. p. 204 ff.; Rosenmller, Morgenl. in loc. The designation has something solemn in contrast to the devil.

] not “auctor erat, ut Christus (with him) illuc se conferret” (Kuinoel, Fritzsche), but: he places Him, which implies the involuntary nature of the act on the part of Jesus, and the power on the part of the devil. Comp. Euseb. H. E. ii. 23 : . A more precise determination of what is certainly a miraculous occurrence (conceived of by Jerome as a carrying away through the air) is not given in the text, which, however, does not permit us to think of it as something internal taking. place in the condition of a trance (Olshausen). Comp. Act 8:38 .

] the little wing of the temple [389] is sought for by many on the temple building itself, so that it is either its battlement (Luther, Beza, Grotius), that is, the parapet surrounding the roof, or the ridge (Fritzsche, Winer), or the gable, pediment (Vulgate: pinnaculum; Paulus, Bleek), the two latter from their wing shape ( ), or roof generally (Keim, and older expositors. See especially Krebs on the passage), that is indicated. But, apart from this, that the roofing of the temple house, according to Josephus, Antt . v. 5. 6, vi. 5. 1, was furnished on the top with pointed stakes as a protection against birds, and, moreover, on account of the extreme sacredness of the place, would hardly he selected by tradition as the spot where the devil stationed himself, the is opposed to it, which does not, like , designate the main building of the temple, properly speaking, but the whole area of the temple with its buildings. See Tittmann, Synon . p. 178 f. The view, therefore, of those is to be preferred who, with Euth. Zigabenus, Olearins, Reland, Valckenaer, seek the in an outbuilding of the temple area; where, however, it is again doubtful whether Solomon’s portico or the , the former (Josephus, Antt . xx. 9. 7) on the east side, the latter (Josephus, Antt . xv. 11. 5) on the south, both standing on an abrupt precipice, is intended. Wetstein and Michaelis prefer the former; Kuinoel, Bretschneider, B. Crusius, Arnoldi, the latter. In favour of the latter is the description of the giddy look down from this portico given in Josephus: , , . In Hegesippus, quoted by Eus. ii. 23 (where James preaches downwards from the , and the scribes then go up and throw him down), it is not the gable, but the pinnacle , the balustrade of the temple building, which formed a projection ( ), that we are to think of. Comp. Hesychius: . The article denotes that the locality where the occurrence took place was well known .

[389] Amongst the Greeks (Strabo, Plutarch, the Scholiasts), , wing, is specially used in an architectural sense. See the Lexica , also Mller, Archol . 220. 3. On in this sense, comp. Poll. vii. 121; on , Joseph. Antt . xv. 11. 5; on , Vitruv. iii. 3. 9.

REMARK.

The second temptation in Matthew is the third in Luke. The transposition was made with a view to the order in which the localities succeeded each other. But in a climactic point of view, how inappropriate is the order in which it occurs in Luke, and how appropriate is that in Matthew, [390] whose greater originality must here also be maintained against Schnecken burger and Krafft. The variation itself, however, is not removed by the circumstance that Matthew only continues the narrative with and (Ebrard), but it remains and is unessential.

[390] Luther: At the first temptation, the devil appeared as a black one; at the second, where he puts forth a word of Scripture, a light, white one; at the third, “quite as a divinely majestic devil, who comes out straightway, indeed, as if he were God Himself.”

Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary

5 Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple,

Ver. 5. Then the devil taketh him ] Not in vision only or imagination, but really and indeed, as he was afterwards apprehended, bound, and crucified by that cursed crew. Spiritual assaults may be beaten back by the shield of faith; bodily admit no such repulse. A daughter of Abraham may be bound by Satan,Luk 13:16Luk 13:16 , a Mary Magdalene possessed, a Job vexed, a Paul boxed, &c. , 2Co 12:7 As for the souls of the saints, they are set safe out of Satan’s scrape; shake his chain at them he may, muster his forces, Rev 12:7 , which may band themselves and bend their strength against Michael and his angels, Christ and his members; but they are bounded by God, who hath set his own on a rock that is higher than they,Psa 61:2Psa 61:2 . So that the floods of temptation (that the serpent casts out of his mouth after them) cannot come so much as to their feet, Psa 32:6 . Or if it touch their heel, Gen 3:15 , yet it can come no higher. There is no sorcery against Jacob, because God was a unicorn, Num 23:22-23 , to take away the venom (saith Balaam the sorcerer); as waters, when the unicorn’s horn hath been in them, are no longer poisonous, but healthful.

Into the holy city ] Things are called holy either by nature, as God, who is truly, alway, and only of himself holy; or by separation, or being set apart to a holy use or end; which Origen calleth (Homil. xi., Num.) sancta sanctificata, by accession of external holiness from without: so Jerusalem is here called holy, because the city of God, where he was daily worshipped. And for the same cause was the ground whereon Moses and Joshua trod, called holy ground, and Tabor, the holy Mount, 2Pe 1:18 . And when we stand in our churches, saith Chrysostom, we stand in a place of angels and archangels, in the kingdom of God and heaven itself ( , Homil. xxxvi., 1Co 11:10 ), which they that profane, may justly fear to be whipped like dogs out of the heavenly temple, and city too. And surely it were to be wished that such profane Esaus today, as dare prate, or sleep, or laugh, and play the parts of jesters, or do anything else unbeseeming the service of God, would keep themselves from God’s sanctuary, or that we had such porters to keep them out as they had under the law, 2Ch 23:19 .

And setteth him upon a pinnacle of the temple ] Height of place giveth opportunity of temptation. The longest robe contracts the greatest soil: neither are any in so great danger as those that walk on the tops of pinnacles. Even height itself makes men’s brains to swim: as in Diocletian, who not content to be emperor, would needs be adored as a god; and Caligula, of whom it was said that there was never any better servant than he nor worse lord. Vespasian is reported to have been the only man that ever became better by the empire conferred upon him. Accepto imperio melior factus est. It is both hard and happy not to be made worse by advancement. signifies both honour and loss; chabad, heaviness and honour; honoro and onero show that honour goeth not without a burden. Fructus honos oneris, fructus honoris onus. (Cornel. a Lapide in Num 11:11 ) Pope Plus Quintus said thus of himself, Cum essem religiosus, sperabam bene de salute animae meae; Cardinalis factus extimui; Pontifex creatus, pene despero. When I was first in orders, without any further ecclesiastical dignity, I had some good hopes of my salvation; when I became a cardinal, I had less; since I was made Pope, least of all. The same thoughts of himself had Clement VIII, his immediate successor, saith the same author. ( Non insulse Autor ocul. moral. cap. 12.) Praepositioni quot accident? Unum. Quid? Casus tantum. Quot casus? Duo. Qui? Accusativus, et ablativus. Haec enim Praelatum oportet timere, accusari a crimine, et auferri a regimine, et sic ignominiose cadere.

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

5. . ] Power being most probably given to the tempter over the person of our Lord. In St. Luke, this temptation stands third . The real order is evidently that in the text; for otherwise our Lord’s final answer, Mat 4:10 , would not be in its place. It may be observed, that St. Luke makes no assertion as to succession, only introducing each temptation with : whereas and here seem to mark succession. Bishop Ellicott, for psychological reasons, which must be most untrustworthy when opposed to the express assertion of the sacred text ( ), follows the order in St. Luke. For . . see reff. by the same power by which he brought Him.

] Abundant instances have been produced to shew that was applied to a pointed roof or gable . Now the LXX use and as synonymous with ; why may not the same be done in the N.T.? The general opinion, that our Lord was placed on Herod’s royal portico , described in Jos. Antt. xv. 11. 5, is probably right; and the is in no way inconsistent with it. That portico overhung the ravine of Kedron from a dizzy height, , , , , , . The argument that it was probably on the other side, next the court , is grounded on the perfectly gratuitous assumption, that an exhibition to the people was intended. There is no authority for this in the text; the temptation being one not of ambition, but of presumption . The inference from Eusebius, who, quoting Hegesippus, (Hist. ii. 23,) describes James the Just as set on and thrown from , among the people, is not decisive: for this term might embrace either side, as ‘the cornice,’ or ‘the parapet’ would.

Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament

Mat 4:5-7 . Second temptation . . : has the force of “next,” and implies a closer order of sequence than Luke’s (Mat 4:5 ). , historical present with dramatic effect; seizes hold of Him and carries Him to. : Jerusalem so named as if with affection ( vide Mat 5:35 and especially Mat 27:53 , where the designation recurs). : some part of the temple bearing the name of “the winglet,” and overhanging a precipice. Commentators busy themselves discussing what precisely and where it was.

Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson

NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Mat 4:5-7

5Then the devil took Him into the holy city and had Him stand on the pinnacle of the temple, 6and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down; for it is written,

‘He will command His angels concerning You’; and

‘On their hands they will bear You up,

So that You will not strike Your foot against a stone.'”

7Jesus said to him, “On the other hand, it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.'”

Mat 4:5 “the devil” The Greek word, Diabolos, is used in the NT 37 times, while Satanas is used 36 times; both refer to one who accuses, which was his OT task. Matthew and Luke use diabolos for the temptation experience, while Mark uses Satanos. Why the change is uncertain. See SPECIAL TOPIC: PERSONAL EVIL following.

SPECIAL TOPIC: PERSONAL EVIL

“took Him into the holy city” This phrase “the holy city” is unique to Matthew and was a special designation for Jerusalem (cf. Mat 27:53; Dan 9:24; Neh 11:1; Neh 11:18; Rev 11:2). Matthew knew the Jews would understand this immediately as an allusion from the OT (cf. Isa 48:2; Isa 52:10; Isa 64:10). The order of the temptation events in Matthew and Luke are different. The reason for this is uncertain. Possibly Matthew’s account is chronological (” then”), while Luke’s account restructures the order for climactic effect (” again”).

NASB, NKJV,

NRSV”had Him stand on the pinnacle of the temple”

TEV”set him on the highest point of the temple”

NJB”set him on the parapet of the Temple”

” Parapet” or “pinnacle” may be literally translated “wing.” This term could have meant (1) the outermost part of the Temple’s southeast corner of the outer wall, which overlooked the Kidron Valley or (2) the part of Herod’s Temple which overlooked the inner court. Because of the Jewish tradition that the Messiah was to appear suddenly in the Temple (cf. Mal 3:1), this tradition became one of Satan’s temptations of how to win people’s allegiance by performing a miracle of jumping off and floating into the Temple area, possibly during a feast day.

Mat 4:6 “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down” This is another first class conditional sentence which is assumed to be true from the author’s perspective or for his purposes (cf. Mat 4:3). Satan quotes Psa 91:11-12. Some have asserted that Satan misquoted this verse. Although he left out “in all your ways,” this quotation is in line with the Apostles’use of the OT Scripture. The problem was not that Satan was misquoting the verse, but was misapplying it.

Mat 4:7 “Jesus said to him” Mat 4:7 is a quote from Deu 6:16, which referred to Israel’s testing God at Massah during the Wilderness Wandering Period (cf. Exo 17:1-7). Israel, at this point, did not trust God to provide her basic needs, but demanded a miracle. The pronoun “you” in the quote relates to Israel, not Satan (cf. Mat 4:10).

“You shall not put the Lord your God to the test” The issue is the motive for the “test” (cf. 1Co 10:9 [Numbers 21]; Act 5:9; Act 15:10). Believers are called on to actively trust God’s promises (i.e., Jos. 1:56; Isa 7:10-13; Mal 3:10).

Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley

Then. The fifth temptation. See App-116.

taketh. Greek. paralambano. Compare ago, of Luk 4:9. See the usage of paralambano, Mat 17:1, implying authority and constraint This is the third temptation in Luke (Luk 4:9), and the difference of the order is explained in App-116. Both Gospels are correct and true.

the holy city. So called in Mat 27:53. Rev 11:2. Neh 11:1. Isa 48:2; Isa 52:1. Dan 9:44. The Arabs still call it El Kuds = the holy place. It was so called on account of the Sanctuary.

holy. See note on Exo 3:5.

a pinnacle = the wing. Greek. to pterugion, used of that part of the Temple (or Holy Place) where “the abomination of desolation” is to stand, according to Theodotion (a fourth reviser of the Sept about the middle of cent. 2). See note on Dan 9:27; and compare Luk 4:9 and Mat 24:15.

temple = the temple buildings; not naoa, the house itself or Sanctuary. See note on Mat 23:16.

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

5. .] Power being most probably given to the tempter over the person of our Lord. In St. Luke, this temptation stands third. The real order is evidently that in the text; for otherwise our Lords final answer, Mat 4:10, would not be in its place. It may be observed, that St. Luke makes no assertion as to succession, only introducing each temptation with : whereas and here seem to mark succession. Bishop Ellicott, for psychological reasons, which must be most untrustworthy when opposed to the express assertion of the sacred text ( ), follows the order in St. Luke. For . . see reff. -by the same power by which he brought Him.

] Abundant instances have been produced to shew that was applied to a pointed roof or gable. Now the LXX use and as synonymous with ; why may not the same be done in the N.T.? The general opinion, that our Lord was placed on Herods royal portico, described in Jos. Antt. xv. 11. 5, is probably right; and the is in no way inconsistent with it. That portico overhung the ravine of Kedron from a dizzy height, , , , , , . The argument that it was probably on the other side, next the court, is grounded on the perfectly gratuitous assumption, that an exhibition to the people was intended. There is no authority for this in the text; the temptation being one not of ambition, but of presumption. The inference from Eusebius, who, quoting Hegesippus, (Hist. ii. 23,) describes James the Just as set on and thrown from , among the people, is not decisive: for this term might embrace either side, as the cornice, or the parapet would.

Fuente: The Greek Testament

Mat 4:5. , then) St Matthew describes the attempts of Satan in the order of time in which they were made; see Gnomon on Mat 4:8; Mat 4:10 : St Luke observes a gradation in the places, and mentions successively (Luk 4:1; Luk 4:5; Luk 4:9) the desert, the mountain, the temple; which change of order, not only harmless but beneficial, is a proof that the one evangelist did not copy from the other. Perhaps, also, the tempter assailed our Lord with something of the third temptation before the second, and appeared in various disguises.-, taketh along with him[138]) An abbreviated mode of expression[139] for he takes and leads. The same word is used with the same force, in Luk 4:8. St Luke, Luk 4:9; Luk 4:5, uses the words , led [Him],-, leading [Him] up. A marvellous power was granted to the tempter, until our Lord says to him, in Mat 4:10, Depart. It is not to be wondered at, says Gregory, that Christ should permit Himself to be led about by the Devil, since He permitted Himself to be crucified by the Devils members. Satan tempts everywhere.-Cf. on the change of place, Num 23:13; Num 23:27. Christ was tempted everywhere, in all places where afterwards He was to exercise His office.- , into the holy city) where an angelic guard might have seemed especially to be expected.- upon) Our Lord was as truly on the pinnacle, and on the mountain, as He was in the desert.-, pinnacle) to which the ascent was far more easy than the descent from it. What this pinnacle was, antiquarians doubt.[140] Christ was tempted by height and depth.

[138] See Blomfield in loc.-(I. B.)

[139] See Appendix on Concisa Oratio.-Ed.

[140] . The article indicates something single of its kind; and, therefore, cannot mean a porticus or corridor; nor would there be any special eminence in so understood. It rather signifies the apex of the fastigium, , or tympanum of the Temple. Cf. the use of the word ( ), also , by Hegesippus (in Euseb. ii. 23, and Routh, R. S. i. 210, 339), in his account of the martyrdom of St James. There, also, it is evidently a pointed eminence; and it would seem that a person there standing, would be visible and audible to a large concourse of people, such as we may suppose collected in the court of the Israelites.-Wordsworth in loc. The general opinion, that our Lord was placed on Herods royal portico, described Jos. Ant. xv. 11, 5, is probably right. That portico overhung the ravine of Kedron from a dizzy height.-Alford in loc. Various other suppositions have been speciously supported and illustrated.-(I. B.)

Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament

Mat 4:5-11

4. Temptation of Jesus

Mat 4:5-11

5 Then the devil taketh him into the holy city.-Luke puts this temptation last, without saying that it occurred last. “Taketh him” need not be understood that the devil transported Jesus through the air; literally means “takes him with him,” or “along with him.” We have no means of knowing the manner of going; we are left to suppose that Jesus went as men usually go, and that the devil did likewise. It is a question of no practical value as to how Jesus went from the wilderness to the “holy city,” which refers to Jerusalem. Jerusalem is regarded as the holy city because the seat of the temple and its worship were located there.

And he set him on the pinnacle of the temple.-This was probably Herod’s royal portico. Jesus did not belong to the Levitical priesthood, and never entered the temple proper; he only entered the court and porches of the temple. There were the long porticoes which were covered and some of these were built up above the wall to a great height; the outer battlement of such a roof, rising above the outer wall, is probably what is here called “the pinnacle of the temple.” “The pinnacle” was some very high point of the temple building. The word translated pinnacle means literally a “little wing.” The high point was such that a fall from it would be fatal, and especially if one “cast” himself from it.

6 And saith unto him, If thou art the Son of God, cast thyself down.-This temptation also seems to have a twofold meaning, appealing to the natural feeling and to the Messianic aspiration; since Jesus is the Son of God and is now upon the high pinnacle of the temple and can do nothing up there for the salvation of man, he is commanded to cast himself down. The temptation is for him to cast himself down in faith and prove that he was God’s Son. Jesus would have full proof of his divine Sonship and others would have the proof of his Messiahship if he would but just spectacularly cast himself from the pinnacle of the temple. Again this was not God’s way; although some good might result from this act as it would show how completely he trusted in God and might convince some Jews that he was under special divine protection, yet to leap from the pinnacle would not establish faith in God unless God had commanded it.

For it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee.-This time the devil imitates Jesus and quotes scripture; he quotes Psa 91:11. He quoted verbatim from the Septuagint, but perverted the meaning of the scripture. This was written to encourage faith, but not to encourage presumption. The devil plainly makes the inference that this was a promise made to all pious men, and it must apply all the more forcibly to Jesus if he is the Son of God; this application of the promise was false. There is a general watch care of God over his people; but he has not promised to protect them from danger while they are violating his will; neither does this mean that God will put forth any extraordinary means for the protection of those who trust him. It means that man must comply with the will of God and trust in the ordinary means that God has provided for his well-being.

7 Jesus said unto him, Again it is written, Thou shalt not make trial of the Lord thy God.-Jesus did not, as some have, accuse the devil of misquoting the scriptures; neither did he deny the promise referred to in the scripture quoted; he simply replied by giving another quotation. The quotation that Jesus gave did not contradict the quotation the devil gave; all scriptures harmonize. He who quotes scripture must understand that it harmonizes with all other statements of God; and if one quotes scripture as the authority of God, one must obey all scripture, as it represents the authority of God. Jesus quoted “Thou shalt not make trial of the Lord thy God.” This was found in Deu 6:16; the devil was violating this scripture. It is not pleasing to God to quote one scripture while trying to pervert the meaning of another scripture. A figurative expression must not be construed to mean that which it was not intended to mean neither should a promise or statement be given an unlimited application, unless the context so justifies. The quotation that Jesus here used qualifies and interprets the one quoted by the devil, but does not refute that quotation of the devil. Jesus meant to say that the quotation of the devil was a scriptural quotation and applicable to himself and would be fulfilled in due time, but to throw oneself into unnecessary danger in order to “tempt” or test God would be a sin, and especially when it was done at the command of the devil.

8 Again, the devil taketh him unto an exceeding high mountain.-Again we have the expression “the devil taketh him”; we must understand that Jesus was not forced, but that he submitted to this tempation as it was in God’s plan a better or literal meaning is that he “takes him along with him,” or led him up or directed him to this mountain. We do not know what this “high mountain” was it is impossible for us to determine; some have thought that this was an allegorical expression or at least not a literal mountain there is nothing in the context to show that it was not literal, neither is there anything to be gained by assuming that it was figurative.

And showeth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them.-Some think that the devil showed him all the districts of Palestine; there is no authority for rendering “world” to mean the districts of Palestine. The devil may have had supernatural power and presented to Jesus a mental vision of “all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them”; again these could have been presented to Jesus by a vivid description of the kingdoms of the world; we cannot tell from the context whether Jesus saw literally the territory of the kingdom of the world or the power, authority, and glory of them;this would have to be done through a vivid imagination. It is very likely that Satan described before Jesus the kingdoms of the world and all of their glory, and in this way tempted him. Luke adds that he showed him all of these “in a moment of time” (Luk 4:5), which strengthens the idea that the vision that Jesus got was that of a supernatural conception of the kingdoms of this world.

9 All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.-Luke adds, “For it bath been delivered unto me; and to whomsoever I will I give it.” (Luk 4:6.) Some have argued that the “kingdoms of the world” did not belong to the devil, and that he could not give them to Jesus. Wherein then is the temptation? Surely Jesus knew as much about these as did the devil. This promise of the devil implied that Jesus must unite his own efforts with those of the devil; the devil promises here to relinquish his hold on them, provided Jesus would now “fall down and worship” him. The devil is asking Jesus to transfer his allegiance from God to the devil; Jesus must acknowledge the supremacy and sovereignty of the devil. To do this would be to acknowledge a falsehood; the devil was not supreme, neither was he a sovereign; he had only such power as had been granted to him by God. His temptation is for Jesus to make the devil a god. Reward for this is that Jesus will be second or subordinate only to the devil. The real temptation to Jesus is that he can become a king over the kingdoms of the world by falling down and worshiping the devil, whereas, if he carries out God’s plan, he must be crucified upon the cross; the way of the cross is the way to the crown with God. Will Jesus accept the proposition? Is there enough in “all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them” to entice Jesus to worship the devil? Or will the vision of the cross with its humiliation and suffering with intense agony be sufficient to turn him from God’s way to that of the devil?

10 Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan.-Jesus at once repelled Satan; in righteous indignation he denounces Satan with abhorrence as the archenemy of the Father The devil had now thrown off the mask and appeared to Jesus in his real character, so Jesus treated him accordingly. Hitherto Jesus had dealt with him according to his assumed character, although Jesus had understood the motives of the devil. The original for “get thee hence” means “begone, get out of my sight”; “Get thee hence, Satan,” is the first exclamation of which we have a record of Jesus uttering.

For it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.-This quotation is from Deu 6:13; the dismissal of Satan the tempter is made with the scripture, “it is written.” Jesus puts the emphasis on “only” when he said “and him only shalt thou serve”; Satan had asked Jesus to “fall down and worship” him, and Jesus promptly and emphatically repelled Satan by telling him that there is only one God to be worshiped, and he quotes the scriptures that prove this point. The devil is designated as “Satan” because in this temptation he displayed his real character as the enemy of God; he would take the worship and service of God’s Son and appropriate them to his own diabolical ends; in revealing himself as the enemy of God, he also reveals himself as the adversary of Jesus.

11 Then the devil leaveth him.-Luke adds “he departed from him for a season.” (Luk 4:13.) Jesus had triumphed; later he taught through James “resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” (Jas 4:7.) It is probable that the temptations were frequently renewed during the ministry of Jesus, and especially when it was about to close. (Joh 14:30.) The temptations mentioned here are samples of the whole life of Jesus during his personal ministry; he was subject to temptations as we are during his entire earthly life; “for we have not a high priest that cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but one that bath been in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.” (Heb 4:15.)

And behold, angels came and ministered unto him.-Some think that angels brought him food; we have no evidence as to the exact nature of their ministration. Elijah was fed by angels and afterward fasted forty days. (1Ki 19:5.) The original from which we get “ministered” means “were ministering”; it signifies to attend as a servant, wait on; angels waited on him as human friends might have waited on one whom they found hungry, weary, lonely. Jesus had refused to relieve his hunger by turning stones into bread; he had refused to cast himself down from the pinnacle of the temple with the promise that angels would help him; so with the baffled tempter expelled from his presence, angels ministered to him; he fought the battle with Satan alone.

We can see in these temptations a progressive attack on Jesus by the devil; the tempter appealed to his bodily appetite, to his feeling of security, and to his ambition; these belong entirely to the mind. Next, he proposed a useful miracle, turning stones into bread, and then a useless miracle, that of casting himself down from the pinnacle, and last a gross sin in Jesus’ worshiping and serving him. He sought to excite distrust in God, a presumptuous reliance on God, and finally an abandonment of God.

Someone has affirmed that “the devil is a liar and the truth is not in him; that he did not and does not own a foot of soil”; therefore he did not tell the truth when he stated to Jesus that all the kingdoms of the world belonged to him. The devil is a liar and the father of lies, but he should be accredited with the truth when he speaks the truth, and especially when corroborated by one so truthful as the Son of God. Does the Son of God corroborate the statement that the kingdoms of the world belong to the devil? Matthew says that he was “tempted.” Paul says, “For in that he himself bath suffered being tempted, he is able to succor them that are tempted.” (Heb 2:18.) Now in order to its being a temptation, it must have been a veritable offer of something to the Son of God, which he very intently desired, yet could not take upon the terms offered; it must have been an offer of an object or possession ardently desired, by one having the right or power to bestow it. Jesus knew the possessor of these kingdoms. It could be no temptation to an individual for me to offer him a title to a tract of land which he knew that I did not have the shadow of a right to do, or the power to obtain that right. In order for the offer to be a temptation to the Son of God, he must have thought the devil had the power to give what he proposed to bestow. Then if the Son of God was tempted by the devil, all the kingdoms of this world were the devil’s kingdoms. The object of the mission of the Son of God into this world was to rescue this world from the dominion of the devil and bring it back to a primeval allegiance to his Father. If the kingdoms of this world were not under the dominion of the devil, they could not be rescued from his power. Whatever rule or authority was exercised over the earth was exercised through these kingdoms.

There are but two sources of power in the universe, God and his great enemy, the devil. Every kingdom not originating from God must receive its power and authority from the wicked one. These earthly kingdoms originated in the rebellion of the human family against God, live today by virtue of that rebellion, and must die when that rebellion ceases. Jesus came into this world to strive and wrestle with the devil for the dominion of this world, to rescue and redeem it from the power of the devil. He came as the “sent” of his Father. He came to conquer this world, destroy all dominion and principality, he came to put down “all rule and all authority and power.” When this is accomplished he will deliver up the kingdom to the Father and himself be subject unto the Father. (1Co 15:24; 1Co 15:28.) He knew that the conquest would cost him suffering, sorrow, maltreatment, indignities, excruciating torments, the very anticipation of which made him draw back with the entreaty, “let this cup pass from me,” and brought great drops of blood from his soul of anguish; he knew the strife for the conquest of the world must bring him down to the humiliation of death, the degradation of the grave. The devil, with his subtlety, proposed at the very threshold of his mission, “You are to be a subordinate in this kingdom unto your Father, after all your sorrows and sufferings. Now worship me, or recognize me as head instead of God, and I will deliver them all into your hand with all their glory, without a struggle, a sorrow, a pang upon your part.” There was the point of the temptation, to let him rule the earth through the devil’s kingdoms, without suffering, without death, without the grave, instead of through God’s will, with all of these.

How came the kingdom or dominion of the earth the devil’s? “They were delivered into my hand,” says the wicked one. What says the divine record? God made man ruler over the whole undercreation; he was its head; he had the power and authority from God to use and control it as he desired. God having once delegated authority to man never resumed it to himself. Man in refusing to obey God, but rather in following the dictates of the serpent, rebelled against God, and transferred his allegiance to the devil. Man, as the God appointed head and rightful ruler of the world, and the founder of the kingdoms of the world, transferred, with his allegiance, the rule of the world from God to God’s greatest enemy, the devil. Jesus came into this world to rescue the world from the dominion of the wicked one, and bring it back to its allegiance to his Father. How will he effect this? He will destroy the kingdoms of the wicked one in the establishing and maintaining in their stead a kingdom of his own. Man has no power to rule himself; all power and rule must come from God or the devil. Every institution on earth, intended to control man, not founded of God, must look back through man, the agent of the wicked one, the prince of the world, as the source from which it sprang. Every institution that exercises authority, rule or power over man is a rival of Christ who claims sole authority over man and all these must be put down. (Dan 2:44; 1Co 15:24-25.)

Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary

holy city

In the N.T. one Greek word, hagios, in its various forms, is rendered, “holy,” “holiness,” “sanctify,” “sanctified,” “sanctification.” Like the heb. qodesh, it signifies “set apart for God.” The important references follow Mat 4:5, marg.

(See Scofield “Mat 4:5”)

Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes

taketh: Luk 4:9, Joh 19:11

the holy: Mat 27:53, Neh 11:1, Isa 48:2, Isa 52:1, Dan 9:16, Rev 11:2

on: 2Ch 3:4

Reciprocal: 1Ki 6:3 – General Isa 26:10 – in the Mat 4:8 – the devil Rev 12:9 – the Devil

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

SIN AS A VOLUNTARY ACT

Then the devil taketh Him up into the holy city Cast Thyself down: for it is written Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.

Mat 4:5-7

It is evident that the tempter had no power to throw Christ down from the Temple, or to force Him to take the flight; but he plies his argument, and then says, Cast Thyself down.

I. Sin is voluntary.There is no sin which is not voluntary. The circumstances, which connect themselves with the sin, will often seem, afterwards, to have necessitated you to do it. You will like to think it was so. But there was a point in that sin somewhere, when that sin hung in the balance, and your free-will held the scales. Those pointswhere the power to do, or the power to forbear, still livesare sometimes very small. But they are the crises of every mans moral history; and if you fell, there was a point where you did precipitate yourself!

II. Sin is presumptuous.Every sin is presumptuous. If it be not against light, it is not sin; and if that sin be done against light, it is presumptuous. Nevertheless, though all sins are presumptuous, there are some which are, distinctively and characteristically, sins of presumption. And of these this second temptation of our Lord was intended to be the type. Directly, it was to do that to which He had no proper call; indirectly, it was to expect a Divine interposition in His behalf, at a time, and in a way, in which He had no warrant to look for it.

III. Modern pinnacles.Let me instance one or two cases as beacons. A young Christian stood on a very pinnacle of holy joy. An inward call led him to some particular undertaking, which he thought a mission. He left his present position, to go forth into that wider enterprise. That emotion of the heart may not have been of God. There is need for accepting caution, lest that higher flight be only a suggestion of the tempter, jealous of his joy, and anxious to destroy it. Take another, and rather different example. A Christian at the beginning of his career, thinks that his principles are now exceedingly strong. He can walk to the edge of the precipice, and not fall ever it. But I marvel if some very humbling experience does not soon teach him, that our Lords words are still truethat the way to heaven is a narrow way, and the gate is very strait!

IV. Follow Gods teachings.It is a dangerous tempting of the Most High, when we ever press too far any wish of our own. We then go into regions of which we know not the nature, and of which we cannot estimate the result; yet we venture there! Far better is it to follow the plain leadings of Gods will, than, going before, and perhaps contrary to His mind, to expose ourselves to the tremendous risk of praying to our own idol, and choosing our own altar.

The Rev. James Vaughan.

Illustration

Two persons marry. The one is a child of God, and the other is unconverted. The pious one makes the marriage, in the full hope and feeling that the worldly one will soon be brought to God. There are already kindliness and openness in the natural heart; and surely, under such influences,as will now be brought to bear,it must become religious! The one, perhaps, almost holds marriage as a mission to convert the other; and beguiles itself into the thought that it is a righteous work to marry that person. But, see the true character of that act in Gods sight,its folly, its hopelessness, and its sin! It is an assumption, that you can command the infinitely sovereign operations of the Spirit of God. Nay, it is more. It is doing a thing,in itself confessedly forbidden,on the unwarrantable conclusion that God will bless you in a dubious road, and give you the highest dignity of reward,when you deserve punishment,in bestowing the Holy Ghost, the only Author of real conversion, in answer to your wishes and prayers. Therefore, it is not one in ten thousand of such marriages which ever proves a happy one! When the husband and wife are both unconverted,and one becomes a Christian,it often, very often happens, by Gods blessing, that the grace extends itself to the other. But you who marry out of the Lord,and yet expect the Lord in your marriage,you have cast yourself down; and you must take the consequences! You have tempted the Lord your God; and the grieved Spirit, so far from acting on your partners heart, will be diminished, and strained,if not destroyed, and lost,in your own bosom!

(SECOND OUTLINE)

I WILL KEEP THEE

It was a master-piece of Satan to take Christ to that temple. There was the spot which God loved best on the whole earth. At that very moment, the sacred light of Divine Presence was shining in its inner sanctuary.

I. Temptation in the unlikeliest place.If there be a temptation which, to you, seems of all the unlikeliest,if there be a place so very sacred, or a person so very good,that you feel, Here, at least, I am quite safe!if there be a contingency of evil which appears to you so remote, that it amounts to an impossibility,there let the foot be steady, and the eye wary, and the heart braced for the conflict, with all its armour on; for never was the enemy so near, as when every circumstantial thing would tell you he was furthest!

II. The argument from Scripture.Of all arguments, if it be not the best, a Scriptural one is always the worst. It is the bounden duty of every one, when he refers to Gods Word, to do it, not hastily, but cautiously; not lightly, but very measuredly and discriminatingly. Nothing is easier, nothing is more deceiving, nothing has done more evil in the world, than a plausible application of Divine words, and a misapprehension of the intention of the reasoning of the mind of God. In all your reference to Scripture, follow certain rules. Be slow to use the Bible in ordinary conversation; and never, unless your mind is in a reverent frame,remembering that it is a very solemn thing to quote God. When you do refer to it, take care that your mind includes, not the text only, but also the context. Do not let a scriptural reason ever range as one amongst others; but give it its true dignity and ultimate position. And be sure that you repeat the verse accurately, and in its complete integrity.

III. Gods keeping.God has undertaken to keep us,both in our bodies and in our souls. And without that keeping, what safety or what peace could there be in the world? But He adds,in all thy ways. Observe that thy, and that all. It must be thy way; thine own proper, appointed way of usefulness and holiness. And then, in all:that is, in every way of duty,however many, however difficult, however dangerous, and however too much for you. The great question, therefore, to ask, at the entrance of everything, is,Is this my way? If it be not, do not deceive yourself with any general and vague idea of Gods goodness. The promises are only to thy way. But if it be thy way, go down it,whatever it may be,without a fear; feeling sure, and singing as you go,The Lord is my keeper; I will trust, and not be afraid. He is my defence upon my right-hand.

The Rev. James Vaughan.

Illustrations

(1) Jesus stands on the lofty pinnacle of the tower, or of the Temple-porch, presumably that on which every day a priest was stationed to watch, as the pale morning light passed over the hills of Juda, far off to Hebron, to announce it as the signal for offering the morning sacrifice. If we might indulge our imagination, it would be just as the priest had quitted that station. The first direct temptation had been in the grey of breaking light, when to the faint and weary looker the stones of the wilderness seemed to take fantastic shapes, like the bread for which the faint body hungered. In the next temptation Jesus stands on the watch-post which the white-robed priest has just quitted. Fast the rosy morning light, deepening into crimson and edged with gold, is spreading over the land. In the priests court below Him the morning sacrifice had been offered. The massive Temple gates are slowly opening, and the blast of the priests silver trumpet is summoning Israel to begin a new day by appearing before the Lord. Now then let Him descend, heaven-borne, into the midst of the priests and people. What shouts of acclamation would greet His appearance! The goal can at once be reached, and that at the head of believing Israel. Unseen by those below, Jesus surveys the scene. By His side the Tempter, watching the features that mask the working of the spirit within. And now he has whispered it.

(2) To a pinnacle, or, as it might be translated, to a point in the roof, or gable,of the temple, the great adversary now took up our Lord. On which side of the temple the pinnacle stood, it is not very easy to ascertain. On the east side was Herods portico,looking down perpendicularly, at a dizzy height, into the vale of Kedron. Here, according to tradition, Simon Magus is said, in aftertime, to have cast himself down. The south side of the temple overhung one of the courts of the sacred edifice; and here, again, was the spot from which, Josephus relates, James the Just was thrown down. A fall from the eastern side, would be far the deepest; on the western, the more open to public gaze.

Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary

4:5

Thayer’s definition for the original of taketh is, “1. to take to, to take with one’s self, to join to one’s self.” The word does not mean that Jesus was carried against his will to the place, but that He accompanied the devil as a further step in the procedure of the test to which he was being put. The word pinnacle is a subject of some uncertainty in the several works of reference that I have consulted as to what part of the temple is meant. It is evident that a specific place is meant for the Greek definite article is used in the original text, making it read “the pinnacle” instead of “a pinnacle.” But regardless of all these considerations the point is that it was a place high enough to have caused death to one who would fall from it.

Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary

Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple.

[Upon the pinnacle of the Temple.] Whether he placed him upon the Temple itself, or upon some building within the holy circuit, it is in vain to seek, because it cannot be found. If it were upon the Temple itself, I should reflect upon the top of the porch of the Temple; if upon some other building, I should reflect upon the royal gallery. The priests were wont sometimes to go up to the top of the Temple, stairs being made for this purpose, and described in the Talmudic book entitled Middoth; and they are said to have ascended hither, “When fire was first put to the Temple, and to have thrown up the keys of the chambers of the Temple towards heaven, with these words; ‘O thou eternal Lord, because we are not worthy to keep these keys, to thee they are delivered.’ And there came, as it were, the form of a hand out of heaven, and took them from them: and they leaped down, and fell into the fire.”

Above all other parts of the Temple the porch of the Temple; yea, the whole space before it; may not unfitly be called the wing of the Temple; because, like wings; it extended itself in breadth on each side, far beyond the breadth of the Temple: which we take notice of elsewhere.

If, therefore, the devil had placed Christ in the very precipice of this part of the Temple, he may well be said to have placed him upon the wing of the Temple; both because this part was like a wing to the Temple itself, and that that precipice was the wing of this part.

But if you suppose him placed upon the royal gallery; look upon it thus painted out by Josephus: “On the south part [of the court of the Gentiles] was the king’s gallery; that deserves to be mentioned among the most magnificent things under the sun: for upon a huge depth of a valley, scarcely to be fathomed by the eye of him that stands above, Herod erected a gallery of a vast height; from the top of which if any looked down, he would grow dizzy, his eyes not being able to reach to so vast a depth.”

Fuente: Lightfoot Commentary Gospels

Mat 4:5. Then. Probably immediately afterwards

Taketh him, as a companion. Force is not necessarily implied, though Satan may have had for the time being some power over his weakened body. The greater humiliation of being tempted by Satan included the less, that of being conducted by him.

Into the holy city. Undoubtedly Jerusalem. Some suppose Jesus of his own accord went to Jerusalem for a day, and was there met by the tempter, i.e., by some one who had authority in the temple. The Evangelists, who write so simply, could easily have told us this, had they so understood it.

And setteth him. The conducting and setting were of a similar character.

On the pinnacle of the temple, i.e., the whole enclosure. The word pinnacle means either a wing, or a pointed roof or a gable. The roof of the temple itself was covered with spikes to prevent birds from defiling it. A portico of the temple is meant, probably that called the Royal Porch, which overlooked the valley of Hinnom at a dizzy height. There is nothing to indicate that the tempter desired Jesus to work a miracle in the sight of the people in the court of the temple. Lange supposes that He was placed somewhere in the temple itself, the temptation presented being the suggestion that He should, by a miraculous display, elevate Himself to become the priest-king of that temple. But the next verse does not favor this theory.

Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament

That is, Satan, by God’s permission, took up his body and carried it in the air, and set it upon one of the battlements of the temple.

Learn hence, 1. What a mighty power evil spirits have over our bodies, if God permits them to excute and exercise their power upon them.

2. That it is owing to the gracious care, and watchful providence of God over us, that we are not hurried away bodily by Satan.

Thanks be to God, though the devil’s malice be infinite, yet his power is limited and bounded: and as he cannot do all the mischief he would to the bodies and souls of men, so he shall not do all he can. Question But why is the holy city and holy temple chosen by Satan to be the scene of this temptation?

Answer I cannot tell, unless he apprehended (as he might) that the holiness of the place would aggravate the sin. No place so sacred, no duty so holy, as to protect us from Satan’s assaults. This enemy pursues us even to the horns of the altar.

Lord! How ought we at all times and in all places, to be upon our watch and guard, especially in thy presence, because then and there Satan is most active and busy, and most desirous to draw us into sin.

Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament

Mat 4:5-7. Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city That is, the city Jerusalem, frequently called the holy city in Scripture, see Neh 11:1; Isa 52:1; Dan 9:24; and that with great propriety, as being for ages the place of the special residence of Jehovah. It has been supposed by many, that Satan transported our Lord through the air, but whether he did or not cannot be determined from this passage, the original word, , signifying no more than that he took him along with him. And setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple That is, one of the battlements, for it is not to be supposed that our Lord stood on the point of a spire. The roof of the temple, like that of their houses, was flat, and had a kind of balustrade round it, to prevent people falling off, and somewhere on the edge of this we may suppose that Satan placed Christ, in his attacking him with this temptation. This, in some parts of it, and particularly over the porch, was so exceedingly high that one could hardly bear to look down from it. And saith, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down Thereby to show to all the people about the temple, that thou art indeed the Son of God; which they will fully believe when they shall see thee fly without falling, or fall without being hurt. As in the former assault, Satan tempted Christ to distrust the care of divine providence, so he now tries to persuade him to presume upon it, and to expose himself to danger unnecessarily; nay, in effect, to take the direct course to destroy himself, and try whether God would preserve him as his Son. For it is written, &c. In the former temptation the devil did not quote Scripture, but having been repelled in that assault by the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, he here takes up the same weapon. He shall give his angels charge concerning thee As if he had said, Since thou trustest so much in providence as to expect to be sustained by it, even without food, now throw thyself down, to give more undoubted evidence of thy dependance upon it: and, as the miracle will be a full proof that thou art the Son of God, and will undeniably convince the people of it, so thou canst have no room to doubt of thy safety, the Scripture having declared that his angels shall take care of thee. Jerome, and many after him, have well observed here, that though Satan quotes Scripture, he does it falsely. He artfully leaves out the words, In all thy ways. To throw himself down, and fly through the air, was none of our Lords ways. He had no call, no warrant, from God, to decline the stairs by which he might go down from the top of the temple, and precipitate himself from the battlements thereof. God had never granted, nor even promised to any, the protection of angels in sinful and forbidden ways; nor adjudged that his special providence should watch over and preserve them, who should voluntarily throw themselves into dangers which they might lawfully avoid. Add to this, that Satan seems to mock our Saviours true use of Scripture by this abuse of applying it, not to instruct but to deceive, separating the protection of Gods providence from mans duty, and extending the promise of the former to those who neglected the latter; and putting God upon working a miracle, to declare that which he had already made sufficiently evident. We learn from our Lords example here, that it is never right to expose ourselves to unnecessary danger in expectation of an extraordinary deliverance. And we learn, too, that it is not only necessary that we should take the sword of the Spirit, the word of God, and make ourselves familiarly acquainted with it, that we may be furnished for the combat with the prince of darkness, but that we should enter into the design and meaning of it, in order that, if Satan attempt to draw his artillery from thence, we may be able to guard against that most dangerous stratagem, and to answer perverted passages of Holy Writ by others more justly applicable. Jesus said, It is written again Viz., Deu 6:16, to prevent the ungrateful abuse of such promises as these, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God By demanding further evidence of what is already made sufficiently plain, as my being the Son of God is, by the miraculous and glorious testimony he has so lately given me. I shall not, therefore, require any more signs to prove it, nor express any doubt of Gods power or goodness toward me; nor shall I act as the Israelites did, when they said, Exo 17:7, Is the Lord among us or not? when he had given them ample proof that he was present with them, and had taken, and would take care of them, and provide for them. It is to be observed that the above precept, respecting tempting God, does not forbid too much, but too little confidence in God, and the calling in question his presence with, and care over his people. But in the general, to make an undue and unwarrantable trial of God, is to tempt him, whether the trial respect his power or goodness. See Num 14:22; Psa 78:18; Isa 7:12; Mat 16:1.

Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Verse 5

The holy city. Jerusalem was called the holy city, because the temple was there, and it was the scene of all the great religious solemnities of the nation.

Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament

4:5 Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him on a {b} pinnacle of the temple,

(b) The battlement which encompassed the flat roof of the Temple so that no man might fall down: as was appointed by the law; De 22:8 .

Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes

The setting for the second temptation was Jerusalem, perhaps in a vision that Satan gave Jesus. Matthew referred to Jerusalem with a favorite Jewish term, "the holy city" (cf. Neh 11:1; Isa 48:2; Dan 9:24; Mat 4:5; Mat 27:53). This suggests that the temptation would have national rather than solely individual implications. Satan took Him to a high point of the temple complex (Gr. hieron), not necessarily the topmost peak of the sanctuary. The Greek word is pterygion, which can be translated "little wing" or "high corner." The temple complex towered over the Kidron Valley far below. [Note: Josephus, Antiquities of. . ., 15:11:5.] Some of the Jewish rabbis taught that when Messiah came to deliver Israel He would appear on the temple roof (cf. Mal 3:1; Joh 6:30). [Note: Edersheim, 1:293.]

"Jerusalem was considered the ’center of the nations, with lands around her,’ the ’center of the world,’ whose inhabitants ’dwell at the center of the earth’ (Eze 5:5; Eze 38:12; . . .). Thus when Jesus stood on the pinnacle of the temple, He was, theologically speaking, at the center of the world. From that vantage point the Messiah most naturally could claim the nations as His own and rule them with a rod of iron . . ." [Note: Garlington, p. 299. Cf. Davies and Allison, 1:365; and T. L. Donaldson, Jesus on the Mountain: A Study in Matthean Theology, pp. 59-61.]

Again the devil granted that Jesus was the Son of God. Satan’s words replicate the Septuagint version of Psa 91:11-12, appealing to the authority that Jesus used, namely, God’s Word (Mat 4:4). He omitted the words "to guard you in all your ways." Many expositors have assumed that Satan wanted to trick Jesus with this omission, but his free method of quoting was very common. Many New Testament writers quoted the Old Testament in the same loose way.

Probably Satan wanted Jesus to demonstrate His trust in God in a spectacular way to challenge God’s faithfulness. He misapplied the Scripture he quoted. The Psalms passage refers to anyone who trusts in God. That certainly applied to Jesus. The verses promise that the angels will uphold such a person as a nurse does a baby (cf. Num 11:12; Deu 1:31; Isa 49:22; Heb 1:14). God had revealed Himself most particularly at the temple throughout Israel’s history. Therefore what better place could there have been to demonstrate the Son of God’s confidence in His Father’s promise?

Jesus refused Satan’s suggestion (Mat 4:7) because the Scriptures forbade putting God to a test, not because He questioned God’s faithfulness to His promise. Satan tempted Jesus to test God. Satan was tempting Jesus to act as if God was there to serve Him, rather than the other way around. Israel had faced the same test and had failed (Exo 17:2-7; cf. Num 20:1-13). It is wrong to demand that God prove Himself faithful to His promises by giving us what He has promised on our terms. The proper procedure is simply to trust and obey God (Deu 6:16-17).

"Testing is not trusting." [Note: J. W. Shepard, The Christ of the Gospels, p. 78.]

Jesus refused to allow Satan to apply a valid promise so it contradicted another teaching in God’s Word. "On the other hand" or "also" (Gr. palin) has the sense of "not contradicting but qualifying." [Note: Bruce, 1:90.] Jesus as a man, voluntarily under the authority of God’s Word, proved to be faithful to its spirit as well as to its letter.

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)