Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Matthew 4:11
Then the devil leaveth him, and, behold, angels came and ministered unto him.
Then the devil leaveth him – He left him for a time, Luk 4:13. He intended to return again to the temptation, and, if possible, to seduce him yet from God. Compare Joh 14:30; Luk 22:53. See the notes at Heb 12:4.
The angels came and ministered – See the notes at Mat 1:20. They came and supplied his wants and comforted him. From this narrative we may learn:
(a) That no one is so holy as to be free from temptation, for even the Son of God was sorely tempted.
(b) That when God permits a temptation or trial to come upon us, he will, if we look to him, give us grace to resist and overcome it, 1Co 10:13.
(c) We see the art of the tempter. His temptations are adapted to times and circumstances. They are plausible. What could have been mere plausible than his suggestions to Christ? They were applicable to his circumstances. They had the appearance of much piety. They were backed by passages of Scripture misapplied, but still most artfully presented. Satan never comes boldly and tempts people to sin, telling them that they are committing sin. Such a mode would defeat his design. It would put people on their guard. He commences, therefore, artfully and plausibly, and the real purpose does not appear until he has prepared the mind for it. This is the way with all temptation. No wicked person would at once tempt another to be profane, to be drunk, to be an infidel, or to commit adultery. The principles are first corrupted. The confidence is secured. The affections are won. And then the allurement is little by little presented, until the victim falls. How everyone should be on his guard at the very first appearance of evil, at the first suggestion that may possibly lead to sin!
(d) One of the best ways of meeting temptation is by applying Scripture. So our Saviour did, and they will always best succeed who best wield the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, Eph 6:17.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Mat 4:11
The devil leaveth him.
The end of the temptation
I. Satans departure on the side of Christ. Christ had repelled Satan in the third temptation in quite a different way from that in the previous contests (Luk 4:8). A coercive and indignant dismissal.
II. Satan also withdrew willingly. He had exhausted his temptations. All the varied forms of temptation are reduceable to three-pride, avarice, and sensuality. Three root-passions (1Jn 2:16). So Christ tempted in all points as we are. Had Satan remained he had no more weapons to try. At the fitting moment Christ revealed His hatred of sin. This overthrow was a new experience.
III. How far this withdrawal was temporary. Satan returned in the Passion, but indirectly through others. He entered into Judas. (W. H. Hutchings, M. A.)
Primarily temptations few.
They are like languages which, though many, are divided into groups or families, and are traceable to a few primitive sources. (W. H. Hutchings, M. A.)
Temptation productive of good
Thus it may prove with us as with the oyster, which stops with a precious pearl the hole in its shell which was originally a disease; as with the broken limb, which having been set, may be stronger than if it never had been broken. It may fare with us as islanders of the Southern Ocean fancy that it fares with them; counting, as they do, that the strength and valour of the warrior whom they have slain in battle passes into themselves as their rightful inheritance. The strength which lay in the temptation has shifted its seat, and passed over into the man who has overcome the temptation. (R. C. Trench.)
Christ the Captain of the tempted
In the old Roman times, there was a great Roman general to whom one of his soldiers said: Oh! the enemy are so many. We are not half so many as the enemy! The enemy is twice as many as we are. The general said to him, How many do you count me for? Do you understand? There are more with us than there are against us. Jesus is with us. How many do you count Him for? (J. Vaughan, M. A.)
The victory
1.It was complete.
2. It was not final.
3. It was the precursor of ether victories, even that of the cross.
4. He has not endured one temptation more than was necessary.
5. The propriety of the prayer, Lead us not into temptation.
6. It was obtained through self-sacrifice.
7. It supplies an antidote to doubt and despair.
8. It was watched in heaven. (L. H. Wiseman.)
Angels came.–
Ministering angels
1. Thoughts.
2. Friends.
3. Children.
4. Books.
5. Flowers.
Angels came
1. To congratulate Christ after His victory.
2. From a disinterested love of us.
3. Because of their love for Christ.
4. To honour God.
5. To teach us the dignity of human nature when faithful in temptation.
6. Christ by this victory had formed a fresh link with the angels-they had passed through trial.
7. Human nature stands between heavenly and Satanic influences. (W. H. Hatchings, M. A.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 11. Behold, angels came and ministered unto him.] That is, brought that food which was necessary to support nature.
The name given to Satan in the third verse is very emphatic, , the tempter, or trier, from , to pierce through. To this import of the name there seems to be an allusion, Eph 6:16: The fiery DARTS of the wicked one. This is the precise idea of the word in De 8:2. To humble thee, and to prove thee, TO KNOW WHAT WAS IN THY HEART: linesteca, , LXX. that he might bore thee through. The quality and goodness of many things are proved by piercing or boring through; for this shows what is in the heart. Perhaps nothing tends so much to discover what we are, as trials either from men or devils.
Shalt thou serve, or pay religious veneration, . This is Mr. Wakefield’s translation, and I think cannot be mended. comes from , very much, and , I tremble. When a sinner approaches the presence of God, conscious of HIS infinite holiness and justice, and of his own vileness, he will then fully comprehend what this word means. See this religious reverence exemplified in the case of Moses, when in the presence of God; I exceedingly fear, said he, and tremble, Heb 12:21. And yet this fear of God is the beginning of wisdom. See the observations at the end of the chapter.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Resist the devil, saith James, Jam 4:7, and he shall flee from you. Thus he did from the Head, thus he shall do from the members: but as he did not flee from Christ till commanded away, so neither till commanded off by God doth he leave the people of God; but upon our resistance God will command him off, that we may not be tempted above our strength. The evil angels leaving him, the good
angels came and ministered unto him, whether by bringing him food, or bringing him off the mount, or otherwise executing his commands, is not expressed, and it is too much curiosity to inquire. God by this teacheth us, that our lives are to have their vicissitudes of temptations and consolations, and that our temptations shall have a happy issue, and that when ordinary means fail we may expect extraordinary influences and assistances. Luke saith, he departed from him for a season, to let us know, that though there was an end of his more eminent temptations, yet he was not afterward without Satans assaults.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
11. Then the devil leaveth himLukesays, “And when the devil had exhausted”or “quiteended,” as in Lu 4:2“every (mode of) temptation, he departed from him till aseason.” The definite “season” here indicated isexpressly referred to by our Lord in Joh 14:30;Luk 22:52; Luk 22:53.
and, behold, angels came andministered unto himor supplied Him with food, as the sameexpression means in Mar 1:31;Luk 8:3. Thus did angels toElijah (1Ki 19:5-8).Excellent critics think that they ministered, not food only, butsupernatural support and cheer also. But this would be the naturaleffect rather than the direct object of the visit,which was plainly what we have expressed. And after having refused toclaim the illegitimate ministration of angels in His behalf,oh, with what deep joy would He accept their services when sent,unasked, at the close of all this temptation, direct from Him whom Hehad so gloriously honored! What “angels’ food” would thisrepast be to Him! and as He partook of it, might not a Voice fromheaven be heard again, by any who could read the Father’s mind, “SaidI not well, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased?”
Mt4:12-25. CHRIST BEGINSHIS GALILEANMINISTRYCALLINGOF PETER ANDANDREW, JAMESAND JOHNHISFIRST GALILEANCIRCUIT. ( = Mar 1:14-20;Mar 1:35-39; Luk 4:14;Luk 4:15).
There is here a notable gap inthe history, which but for the fourth Gospel we should never havediscovered. From the former Gospels we should have been apt to drawthree inferences, which from the fourth one we know to be erroneous:First, that our Lord awaited the close of John’s ministry, by hisarrest and imprisonment, before beginning His own; next, that therewas but a brief interval between the baptism of our Lord and theimprisonment of John; and further, that our Lord not only opened Hiswork in Galilee, but never ministered out of it, and never visitedJerusalem at all nor kept a passover till He went thither to become”our Passover, sacrificed for us.” The fourth Gospel alonegives the true succession of events; not only recording thoseimportant openings of our Lord’s public work which preceded theBaptist’s imprisonmentextending to the end of the thirdchapterbut so specifying the passover which occurred during ourLord’s ministry as to enable us to line off, with a large measure ofcertainty, the events of the first three Gospels according to thesuccessive passovers which they embraced. EUSEBIUS,the ecclesiastical historian, who, early in the fourth century, gavemuch attention to this subject, in noticing these features of theEvangelical Records, says [Ecclesiastical History, 3.24] thatJohn wrote his Gospel at the entreaty of those who knew the importantmaterials he possessed, and filled up what is wanting in the firstthree Gospels. Why it was reserved for the fourth Gospel, publishedat so late a period, to supply such important particulars in the lifeof Christ, it is not easy to conjecture with any probability. It maybe, that though not unacquainted with the general facts, they werenot furnished with reliable details. But one thing may be affirmedwith tolerable certainty, that as our Lord’s teaching at Jerusalemwas of a depth and grandeur scarcely so well adapted to theprevailing character of the first three Gospels, but altogethercongenial to the fourth; and as the bare mention of the successivepassovers, without any account of the transactions and discoursesthey gave rise to, would have served little purpose in the firstthree Gospels, there may have been no way of preserving the unity andconsistency of each Gospel, so as to furnish by means of them all theprecious information we get from them, save by the plan on which theyare actually constructed.
Entry into Galilee (Mt4:12-17).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Then the devil leaveth him,…. In Lu 4:13 it says,
when the devil had ended all the temptation, he departed from him for a season, or until a season. That is, having tempted him with all sorts of temptations, and tried him every way to no purpose; having gone through, and finished the whole scheme and course of temptations he had devised, without success; and having orders from Christ to depart, which he was obliged to obey, leaves him for a while, till another opportunity of tempting him in some other way should offer; or till the time came, when he should be so far able to get the advantage of him, as to bruise his heel, or bring him to the dust of death; see Joh 14:30 and when he was gone, better company came in his room;
behold, angels came and ministered to him. They came to him in a visible, human form, as they were used to do under the Old Testament dispensation, and that after the temptation was over; after Satan was foiled, and was gone; that it might appear that Christ alone had got the victory over him, without any help or assistance from them. When they were come, they “ministered to him”; that is, they brought him food of their own preparing and dressing, as they formerly did to Elijah, 1Ki 19:5 to satisfy his hunger, and refresh his animal spirits; which had underwent a very great fatigue during this length of time, in which he fasted, and was tempted by Satan. Thus, as the angels are ministring spirits to the heirs of salvation, both in a temporal and in a spiritual sense, Heb 1:14 so they were to Christ. Nothing is more frequent with the Jews than to call the angels “ministring angels”: it would be needless and endless to refer to particular places.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Then the devil leaveth him ( ). Note the use of “then” () again and the historical present. The movement is swift. “And behold” ( ) as so often in Matthew carries on the life-like picture. “
Angels came (aorist tense punctiliar action)
and were ministering (, picturesque imperfect, linear action)
unto him .” The victory was won in spite of the fast of forty days and the repeated onsets of the devil who had tried every avenue of approach. The angels could cheer him in the inevitable nervous and spiritual reaction from the strain of conflict, and probably also with food as in the case of Elijah (1Ki 19:6f.). The issues at stake were of vast import as the champions of light and darkness grappled for the mastery of men. Lu 4:13 adds, that the devil left Jesus only “until a good opportunity” ( ).
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
1) “Then the devil leaveth him,” (tote aphiesin auton ho diabolos) “At that moment the devil left him, departed or went away from him,” for a season, because of the Lord’s resistance to him, for a season, Luk 4:13; Jas 4:7. The “for a season”, alludes to an eventual return to Him, as recounted, Joh 14:30; Luk 22:52-53.
2) “And, behold, angels came,” (kai idou angeloi proselthon) “And behold angels approached,” or came to Him of their own accord, good angels of heaven’s host, to supply His hunger, His need for food and water. Jesus here experienced His charge and pledge to the disciples, Mat 6:33; Heb 1:14.
3) “And ministered unto him.” (kai diekonoun auto) “And provided his physical needs,” did services for Him to meet His human needs, as they did to Elijah, 1Ki 19:5-8. Was it manna? None knows, but at least it was “angels’ food,” such as sustained Elijah for forty days to his destination at Mt. Horeb; and Daniel, Dan 10:18-21; and as they ministered to Jesus in Gethsemane, Luk 22:43.
HIS DEPARTURE FROM JUDEA TO GALILEE
V. 12-17
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
11. Then the devil leaveth him. Luke expresses more: when all the temptation had been finished. This means, that no truce or relaxation was granted to Christ, till he had been fully tried by every species of contest. He adds, that Christ was left for a season only. This is intended to inform us, that the rest of his life was not entirely free from temptations, but that God restrained the power of Satan, so that Christ was not unseasonably disturbed by him. In like manner, God usually acts towards all his people: for, after permitting them to be sharply tried, he abates, in some measure, the violence of the strife, that they may take breath for a little, and gather courage. What immediately follows, the angels waited on him, I understand as referring to comfort, that Christ might feel, that God the Father took care of him, and fortified him, by his powerful assistance, against Satan. For the very solitude might aggravate the dreariness of his condition, when he was deprived of the kind offices of men, and was with the wild beasts, — a circumstance which is expressly mentioned by Mark. And yet we must not suppose, that Christ was ever forsaken by the angels: but, in order to allow an opportunity for temptation, the grace of God, though it was present, was sometimes hidden from him, so far as respects the feeling of the flesh.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(11) Angels came and ministered unto him.The tenses of the two verbs differ, the latter implying continued or repeated ministrations. Here also we are in the region of the spiritual life, and must be content to leave the nature of the ministration undefined, instead of sensualising it as poets and artists have done. What is instructive is, that the help of their service, the contrast between the calm and beauty of their presence and that of the wild beasts and of the Tempter, comes as the reward of the abnegation which refused to make their ministry the subject of an experimental test. In this case, also, we find strange coincidences. The fact recorded by St. Matthew explains the words recorded by St. John (Joh. 1:51) as uttered but a few days later, and which speak of the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man. The words with which St. Luke ends his record of the Temptation may well be noticed here: And having finished every temptation, the devil departed from him for a season (literally, till a season). The conflict was not yet ended, and was from time to time renewednow in the passionate prayer of the disciple (Mat. 16:22), now in the open enmity of the prince of this world (Joh. 12:31; Joh. 14:30).
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
11. Devil leaveth him Victory, glorious victory, is now won by the Prince of Light. The prince of hell is defeated and overcome. This defeat is the prelude to the hour when the Messiah will cast him into the lake of fire. The second Adam did not, like the first, fall before the power of the tempter; and the victory which he won was won for us, that he might restore the lost Paradise to our race. Angels came and ministered unto him As soon as the angel of darkness departed the angels of light appeared upon the scene. It is a change from deep night to glorious morning. The Messiah is faint with the terrible combat; and to indicate that he is truly master, angels become the providers of his food and the waiters at his table. And so all his followers, who in his strength win the victory, will find angels to become their ministering servants, and will partake, at the table of their Lord, of the feast of victory.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘Then the devil leaves him, and behold, angels came and were ministering to him.’
And then in obedience to Jesus’ dismissal Satan left him (for a while) and angels came and ministered to Him. How they ministered we are not told. Perhaps the imperfect tense ‘were ministering’ informs us that their ministry had been withdrawn for a while so that Jesus had had to face Satan alone (something we never have to do), but that now they had returned again to provide their continual assistance. But they clearly now provided what was necessary for Him to recover from His ordeal. Ironically this fulfilled the promises in Psa 91:11. The promises did apply for those who were faithful to God. However, not as something to be tested out facetiously. We are reminded here also of how Elijah was similarly sustained by God in the wilderness (1Ki 19:5-8). Whether this time in the case of Jesus it was also with food we are not told. But whatever it was His Father met Him at the point of His need, as He always does.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
This last demonstration of almighty authority decided the day:
v. 11. Then the devil leaveth Him; and, behold, angels came and ministered unto Him. The enemy’s rout was complete, the glorious supremacy of the Lord, not only over man, but also over the spiritual world, had been established. For a season, at least, the devil departed from Him, Luk 4:13. And angels came and acted as His servants, not primarily in bringing Him food, but in giving Him the assurance of the sympathetic understanding and the heavenly support which He now enjoyed on the part of all good spirits, thus ministering to Him with a comfort destined to sustain Him in the days to come. All Christians should take note: “This, however, is written for our consolation, that we know many angels serve us, whereas only one devil tempts us; if we but fight gallantly and stand, God will not let us suffer want. Rather must the angels come from heaven and become our bakers, waiters, and cooks, and serve us in every necessity. It is not written for the sake of Christ, who is not in need of it. If the angels have ministered unto Him, let them also serve us. We should therefore be well equipped with God’s Word, in order that we may defend and sustain ourselves with it. Our dear Lord Jesus Christ, who Himself conquered these temptations for our sakes, give us strength that through Him we may overcome and be saved.”
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
Mat 4:11. Ministered unto him The Greek word signifies to serve or wait upon in general, and so to wait at table. See chap. Mat 8:15. Luk 17:8; Luk 17:37. As one celestial spirit might have been abundantly sufficient for the relief of our Lord’s necessities, it is reasonable to suppose, that the appearance of a number of them upon this occasion was to do him the more illustrious honour, after this horrible combat with Satan, to which, for wise and good reasons, he was pleased to condescend. See Doddridge, and the Inferences.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Mat 4:11 . ] Angels , without the article.
] ministered to Him. The remark of Bengel is correct: “sine dubio pro eo, ac tum opus erat, sc. allato cibo .” So Luther, Piscator, Jansen, Wolf, Hammond, Michaelis, Paulus, Fritzsche, Strauss, de Wette, Ewald, Bleek, Nebe, Keim. Concerning the use of in this sense, see Wetstein, and Matthiae, ad Soph. Phil . 284; and how pragmatically does this appearance of angels, after a series of temptations that have been victoriously withstood, correspond to the appearance of Satan in Mat 4:3 ! Comp. 1Ki 19:5 . Others , not referring it to food, say that extraordinary divine support (Joh 1:51 ) is intended (Calvin, Maldonatus, Kuinoel, Olshausen, Kuhn, Ammon, Ebrard), on which view the angels themselves are partly left out, partly effaced from the narrative; whilst Chrysostom (who compares the carrying of Lazarus by angels into Abraham’s bosom), Theophylact, Euth. Zigabenus, Grotius, do not enter into any more minute exposition of the . But considering the appropriateness of the above definite explanation, it is not right to be satisfied with one that is indefinite and wavering.
REMARK.
According to the representation of the evangelists, the temptation of Jesus by the devil appears in the connection of the history as a real external marvellous occurrence . See Ch. F. Fritzsche in Fritzschior. Opusc . p. 122 ff. To abide by this view (Michaelis, Storr, Ebrard, P. Ewald, Graul, Knemann, Arnoldi, Schegg, Delitzsch, Nebe, Engelhardt, Hofmann, Riggenbach, Baumgarten) is a necessary consequence of the denial of any legendary elements in the canonical Gospels, and is equally justifiable with this denial in general. The evangelists were aware that they were relating a real external history in time and space (in answer to Kuhn, Lichtenstein), and the choice only remains between adopting either this view or assuming that of an ideal history in the garb of legend, gradually brought into shape by the power of the idea. All attempts at explaining away the devil and his external appearance are arbitrary contradictions or critical carpings, opposed to the design and representations of the evangelists, more or less of a rationalistic character. This holds good, not merely of the absurd, and, in relation to the third act, even monstrous view of those who, instead of the devil, introduce one or even various individuals , perhaps a member of the Sanhedrim or high priest, who wished to examine Jesus and to win Him over, or destroy Him (Herm. v. d. Hardt, Exegesis he. difficilior. quat. ev . p. 470 ff.; Basedow, Venturini, Mller, neue Ansichten , p. 20 ff.; Rosenmller, Kuinoel, Feilmoser in the Tb. Quartalschr . 1828, 1, 2), but also of the view which regards the event as a vision , whether this was brought about by the devil (Origen? Pseudo-Cyprian, Theodore of Mopsuestia), or by God (Farmer, Inquiry into the Nature and Design of Christ’s Temptation , London, 1761; comp. also Calvin on Mat 4:5 ), or by natural means (Balth. Becker, Scultetus, Clericus, Wetstein, Bolten, Bertholdt, Jahn, Gabler, Paulus, Gratz, Pfieiderer), or of those who view it as a significant morning dream (Meyer in the Stud. u. Kritik . 1831, p. 319 ff.), which interpretations, moreover, are in contradiction with the clear repose and moral definiteness of the divine-human consciousness of Jesus, in virtue of which there never occurs in His life any condition of ecstasy, or a trace of any special manifestations in dreams. Akin to this, but equally offensive to the gospel history, and besides by no means leaving unaffected the moral character of the development of Jesus Himself, if we look to Heb 2:18 ; Heb 4:15 , is the view which transforms the occurrence into an internal history, which took place in the thoughts and fancy of Jesus (Dderlein, Eichhorn, allg. Bibl . III. p. 283 ff.; Thaddaeus d. i. Dereser, d. Versuch. Christi , Bonn 1794; Hezel, Augusti, Bretschneider, Weisse, Kritik d. ev. Gesch . II. p. 12; Hocheisen in the Tb. Zeitschr . 1833, 2; Kohlschtter, Pfeiffer, Rink, Ammon, Laufs, Schenkel, Held). On this view the devil has again been recently brought forward, on grounds exegetically justifiable, as the operating principle (Krabbe, Hoffmann, Schmid, bibl. Theol. I. p. 65; and very indirectly also by Ullmann); while, in a more arbitrary manner, it has been attributed to the disciples that they apprehended in an objective form the inner fact related to them by Jesus, that He had rejected the false idea of the Messiah; whilst Neander, L. J. p. 120 ff., substantially giving up the reality of the history of the temptation (“a fragmentary symbolical setting forth of the facts of His inner life,” where the manner of the devil’s co-operation is left undetermined), holds hesitatingly by its truth; and Kuhn, moreover, is divided between the historical and unhistorical view of the manner of its occurrence. To those who transfer the history into the inner life of Jesus’ spirit, belong also Hase and Olshausen, the former of whom recognises in it the whole history of His mental growth, probably externalized by Himself, with reference to Exo 16 , Deu 8:2 , Psa 91:11 f, into an individual fact, but in the tradition assumed to be actual history, and who volatilizes the devil into the spirit of the world; while Olshausen, notwithstanding the in Mat 4:1 , finds the reality of the. occurrence in this, that the soul of Jesus was exposed to the full operations of the kingdom of darkness; while Lange regards the internal temptation of Jesus as caused by the devil, but brought about by human means that is, as an assault of the sympathetic in working of the national and world spirit upon His soul, and as the tentative representatives of this spirit, drags in, by an invention that is his own, the deputation of the Sanhedrim, which had been despatched to John (Joh 1:19 ), as they were on their way back to Jerusalem. With more caution and with profounder historical insight, Keim (comp. Weizscker, p. 239 ff.) regards the history of the temptation in the light of the victorious beginning of the struggle with Satan, Mat 12:25 ff., where the historical kernel is the heavy weight of questions and doubts which were imposed on the soul of Jesus whilst He was calmly meditating upon the obligation and the manner of His vocation to the Messiahship, and on His decision to enter upon it, which had so powerfully taken hold of Him on the banks of the Jordan; on this initial victory Jesus could not have left His disciples without some information. But however we may apprehend the narrative as an historical occurrence in the mind of Jesus, the monstrous nature of the external formation of the history remains the more inexplicable the more directly its origin is brought into connection with Jesus Himself and His circle of disciples, especially as the threefold details of the temptation were still unknown to Mark. To view the event as a parable , is in contradiction to the narrative, arbitrary in itself, and alien to the style of parabolic address employed by Jesus elsewhere. So, after older writers, who, however, endanger the sinless character of Jesus, it has been viewed as a symbolical address of Jesus or of one of His disciples directed against false Messianic hopes. See Schleiermacher, Schr. d. Lukas , 54f., and L. J. p. 157 ff.; B. Crusius, bibl. Theol. p. 303, and on Matthew , p. 82; Usteri in the Stud. u. Krit . 1829, p. 455 ff., who at a later time recanted this opinion, and regarded the narrative as a myth (1832, p. 768); Richter, formam narrat . Mat 4:1-11 , parabolicam ex Judaeor. opinione de duplici Adamo esse repetend. , Viteb. 1824; Schweizer, Bleek; coinp. Theile, z. Biogr. J . p. 49: “a warning directed by some adherent or another in support of the spiritually moral view, in opposition to the chief elements of the earthly Messianic hope.” Against the parabolic character, see Hasert in the Stud. u. Krit . 1830, p. 74 f.; Strauss, L. J. I. p. 444 f.; Schmid, bibl. Theol. I. p. 60; Engelhardt, Nebe.
As now, however, the history of the temptation in the first and third evangelists, viewed as an actual external occurrence, contains not merely a legendary magical scenery which is still foreign to the oldest Gospel, but also absolute impossibilities and contradictions with the moral character of Jesus as filled with the Spirit, who does not at once get rid of Satan, but allows him to proceed to the utmost extreme; as, moreover, this occurrence on the other side stands in contradiction with the devil’s cunning and craftiness (Paulus, exeget. Handb . I. p. 376), whose assaults as proceeding from the devil against the Son of man would be planned with as much clumsiness as pointlessness, there thus remains nothing else than to explain the narrative which in Mark still exhibits its first undeveloped beginnings, the first crystallisations of its ideal contents, the subject of which the narrators deemed to be true history, and repeated as such, as a legend, the contents of which, regarded as thought , possessed historical truth, and which arose among Jewish Christians, [391] being derived from the idea of the Messiah as opposed to the devil, and the necessity and complete realization of which was exhibited in the whole life and work of Christ, placed, like a compendious programme, an “ epitome omnium tentationum ” (Bengel), at the beginning of the Messianic career, which commenced at the baptism. Not as if there had not been on the part of Jesus after His baptism, and before His entrance on His work, the most serious preparation and most intense concentration of thought in still retirement, in which the whole opposition of the devil, as well as the manner of His own struggles and conquests which had been peculiarly determined by God, must have presented themselves vividly before His eyes; although this alone could not have given rise to the history of the temptation. For that purpose it was necessary that His holy life, that actual victory over Satan, should first be completed. That narrative might now first have arisen in the living history-moulding power of the ideas which prevails generally throughout the preliminary history, first of all in the form in which it appears in Mark, but soon after gradually expanded into detail, yet again silently excluded by John, considering the impossibility of assigning a place to it in connection with his history. Its expanded form, however, as it lies before us in Matthew and Luke, corresponds with the highest internal truth to the main relations of the opposition directed by the power of the devil against the second Adam and His kingdom, an opposition which is decidedly to be recognised from the very beginning onwards to the end, and victory over which was the condition of His whole work. In this way the contents of the narrative, the psychological factors of which are quite as much the temptability as the sinlessness of the Lord, certainly belong to the history, but not as a concrete occurrence with its three individual acts, but as a summary reflection of the work of Jesus in His vocation in relation to the demoniacal kingdom, without, however, our being obliged to assume as an historical foundation any internal temptation taking place in thought, and any originally symbolic representation of the same, which was transformed into actual history in the course of tradition (de Wette). This foundation is rather the complete victory of our Lord over the craft and power of the devil, as the whole course of His Messianic life is a series of temptations by the devil, with the result of the latter being conquered both in detail and in the main (Heb 2:18 ; Heb 4:15 ); comp. Joh 14:30 . With profound meaning and truth (for from the very beginning must Jesus make experience of the enemy of His kingdom, begin the struggle with him, and become certain of the right victory) has the synoptic tradition unanimously assigned to the narrative the early place which it occupies; and the attempt cannot be successful to maintain a later special situation as the historical seat of its origin, as Pfleiderer does, who transposes the vision which he assumes into the time of ch. 15 16, making use, moreover, of Joh 6:26 for the first act of the temptation. That the history of the temptation in Matthew is even a later insertion derived from oral tradition (Kstlin), is a very arbitrary inference, from the circumstance that Mat 4:12 does not make any reference to the history of the temptations; Matthew follows Mark, and quotes his short notice from a special source.
The existence of Satan, as well as his personality , is attested throughout the whole of the New Testament, and is altogether independent of the view which may be taken of this individual narrative; see in answer to Hofmann, Schriftbew. , Philippi, Dogm . III. p. 332 ff. Exo 2 .
[391] Various conceptions from the legendary or mythical point of view, see in Theiss, Lffler, kl. Schr . II. p. 185 ff.; Fritzscho, Usteri in the Stud. . Krit . 1832, p. 768 ff.; Strauss, I. p. 479 f.; de Wette, Gfrrer, Gesch. d. Urchr . I. 1, p. 379 ff.; Ewald. The locality of the temptation, the wilderness , was at once suggested as the idea gradually assumed bodily form from the sojourn of Jesus with the Baptist, and from the popular belief that demons had their dwellings in the wilderness; the forty days , however, found their venerable point of connection in the types of Moses and Elias (hardly of the forty years ’ duration of the wanderings of the people in the wilderness, which Delitzsch, Baumgarten, and others drag in here as a type). They are also not excluded by the statement of Justin, c. Tr . 103, that, according to the . . , the devil came to Jesus ; but this statement agrees with Mar 1:12 f. As regards the individual temptations, the first was thus connected with the forty days’ fast of Moses , Deu 9:9 ; Deu 9:18 ; the second, with the necessity which existed in the case of the Messiah of His being accredited by miracles; the third , with the certainty of the Messiah’s rule over the world , by means of which the government of the devil must come to an end.
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
11 Then the devil leaveth him, and, behold, angels came and ministered unto him.
Ver. 11. Then the devil left him ] If Christ command him away, there is no abiding for him. Here he was foiled and queried, and, as it were, cast down and killed, by Christ our champion. (Stuchius de sacrific. Gentilium. ) He came into the field like another Goliah, cracking and calling craven, but ere he went thence, was made to hop headless, as he first a terror, afterwards a scorn, as it was anciently said of those chariots armed with scythes and hooks. Charles VIII, in his expedition against Naples, came into the field like thunder and lightning, but went out like a snuff: more than a man at first, less than a woman at last. Henceforth, therefore, though we are ever to expect temptations till such time as we have gotten that great gulf between the devil and us, Luk 16:26 , yet “fear none of those things that ye shall suffer,” Nulla maior tentatio quam nulla tentatione pulsari. Behold, the devil shall (by his imps and instruments) cast some of you (not all) into prison (not into hell), that ye may be tried (not destroyed), and ye shall have tribulation ten days (so long, and no longer). “Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life,”Rev 2:10Rev 2:10 . Satan can look for no crown, he is in perdition already. His aim and endeavour is, to draw us into the same condemnation. This we escape, if we resist, steadfast in the faith: for then he perceives Christ, “the chief Captain of our salvation,” to be there; and therefore flees his presence, ever since he felt his prowess. Chrysostom saith, that by the sacrament of the Lord’s supper we are so armed against Satan’s temptations, that he fleeth from us no otherwise than if we were so many leones ignem expuentes, lions that spit fire. It is not silly people’s defying the devil and spitting at his name, that avails anything: for they spit not low enough; they spit him not out of their hearts: yea, they admit him thereinto by yielding to his suggestions; and are miserably foolish, as if men should startle at the name of fire, and yet not fear to be scorched with the flame thereof. Our safest way is to run to Ithiel and Ucal, as Agur did, Pro 30:1-2 , to Christ “the author and finisher of our faith,” Heb 12:2 ; who here gave the devil such an inglorious foil, trampled him in the mire, triumphed over him, and hath promised to “tread him under our feet shortly,”Rom 16:20Rom 16:20 .
And, lo, the angels came and ministered unto him ] Perhaps food to his body, as once to Elias, 1Ki 19:5-6 , but certainly comfort to his soul, as to Jacob, Hagar, Daniel, Zacharias, Joseph, Cornelius, Paul, &c. Dan 9:21 ; Luk 1:11 ; Act 10:4 ; Act 27:23 . Socrates and Theodoret tell us of one Theodorus, a martyr, put to extreme torments by Julian the apostate, and dismissed again by him, when he saw him unconquerable. Ruffinus tells us that he met with this martyr, a long time after this trial, and asked him, “whether the pain he felt were not insufferable?” He answered, “that at first it was somewhat grievous; but after a while, there seemed to stand by him a young man in white, who with a soft and comfortable handkerchief wiped off the sweat of his body (which through extreme pain and anguish was little less than blood) and bade him be of good cheer. Insomuch as that it was rather a punishment than a pleasure to him to be taken off the rack, since, when the tormentors had done, the angel was gone. And how many unspeakable comforts ministered the good angels to the modern martyrs in their prisons, at the stake, and in the fire! Christ indeed was not comforted by them till the temptation was over; but to us they minister, many times, in the hour of temptation. They have power over the devils to restrain them; and (though invisibly and insensibly) are as ready to help and comfort us as the evil angels to tempt and trouble us: else were not our protection equal to our danger, and we could neither stand nor rise. An angel stood at Zacharias’ right hand, Luk 1:11 ; (as the devil did at Joshua’s, Zec 3:1 ), to show how ready and handy they are to defend and support the saints. It was as he was burning incense. The angels are busiest about us when we are in God’s work: which to set forth, the hangings of the tabernacle of old were full of cherubims within and without. He said unto him, “Fear not, Zacharias.” The blessed spirits (though they do not often vocally express it) do pity our human frailties, and secretly suggest comfort to us, when we perceive it not. Alway they stand looking on the face of God to receive commandments, for the accomplishment of all designs for our good; which they have no sooner received than they readily despatch, even with weariness of flight, as Dan 9:21 , with so much swiftness, as if they had wearied themselves with flying. I read of a friar that undertook to show to the people a feather of the wing of the angel Gabriel. A plume of whose feathers it might better have become the pope to send to Tyrone the Irish rebel, than that plume of phoenix feathers he sent to honour and encourage him: had his Holiness such command over angels, as they say he hath, or did he not rather collude in one thing, as that friar did in another (Carleton’s Thankful Rem. of God’s Mercies.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
11. ] but only for a season , see [29] Luke. The conflict, however often renewed in secret (of which we cannot speak), was certainly again waged in Gethsemane , . (Luk 22:53 , compare Joh 14:30 .) The expression in Luk 10:18 , , must be otherwise understood: see note there.
[29] When, in the Gospels, and in the Evangelic statement, 1Co 11:23-25 , the sign () occurs in a reference, it is signified that the word occurs in the parallel place in the other Gospels, which will always be found indicated at the head of the note on the paragraph. When the sign () is qualified , thus, ‘ Mk.,’ or ‘ Mt. Mk.,’ &c., it is signified that the word occurs in the parallel place in that Gospel or Gospels, but not in the other or others .
] viz. with food , as in the case of Elias, 1Ki 19:6-7 .
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Mat 4:11 . : then , when the peremptory had been spoken. Nothing was to be made of one who would not do evil that good might come. . The angels were ministering to Him, with food, presumably, in the view of the evangelist. It might be taken in a wider sense, as signifying that angels ministered constantly to one who had decidedly chosen the path of obedience in preference to that of self-pleasing.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
behold. Figure of speech Asterismos (App-6), for emphasis.
angels came, &c. Thus closing the whole of the Temptations. No such ministration at the end of the third temptation in Luk 4:13.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
11. ] but only for a season, see [29] Luke. The conflict, however often renewed in secret (of which we cannot speak), was certainly again waged in Gethsemane- , . (Luk 22:53, compare Joh 14:30.) The expression in Luk 10:18, , must be otherwise understood: see note there.
[29] When, in the Gospels, and in the Evangelic statement, 1Co 11:23-25, the sign () occurs in a reference, it is signified that the word occurs in the parallel place in the other Gospels, which will always be found indicated at the head of the note on the paragraph. When the sign () is qualified, thus, Mk., or Mt. Mk., &c., it is signified that the word occurs in the parallel place in that Gospel or Gospels, but not in the other or others.
] viz. with food, as in the case of Elias, 1Ki 19:6-7.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Mat 4:11. , angels) Who had probably witnessed the contest. Cf. 1Co 4:9; 1Ti 3:16.-, ministered) Undoubtedly, by doing that which was then necessary, sc. bringing Him food.-Cf. 1Ki 19:5-6.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
angels (See Scofield “Heb 1:4”)
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
the devil: Luk 4:13, Luk 22:53, Joh 14:30
behold: Mat 4:6, Mat 26:53, Mat 28:2-5, Mar 1:13, Luk 22:43, 1Ti 3:16, Heb 1:6, Heb 1:14, Rev 5:11, Rev 5:12
Reciprocal: 1Ki 17:4 – I have commanded 1Ki 19:6 – cake Joh 1:51 – and the Joh 21:9 – they saw Eph 6:17 – which 1Pe 5:8 – the devil Rev 12:6 – that
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
A LIFELONG CAMPAIGN
Then the devil leaveth Him, and, behold, angels came and ministered unto Him.
Mat 4:11
The long trial in the wilderness was over. Our Lord had met and had resisted the threefold temptation, and lo! now, the devil leaveth Him, and angels came and ministered unto Him. We have all known some such high moments as these. It is a high experience, and it is full of blessing; yet may there not be a danger even here, a danger of thinking that now, at least, there is a time for rest, for unbuckling the armour, which we had assumed?
I. Ceaseless activity of evil.Though the devil departs, he departs only for a season (St. Luk 4:13), and it reminds us of the ceaseless activity of these powers of evil. No victory over evil or over sin is ever final or complete. It is a truth which is evidenced very much in the history of communities or in the history of individuals.
II. In the history of communities.Take the history of communities. Think of the attempts made from time to time to get rid of social evils. What is the history, for instance, of all social reform? Is one victory ever final? Earnest men gradually learn that it is not by one great stand or striking victory, but by constant work, by pounding away day by day and year by year, that any permanent improvement can be effected and maintained, and though the devil may indeed depart, it is only for a season.
III. In individual life.What is true of corporate or public life is true also of the individual. It is also true to say that the forces of evil, though they may sometimes be quiet or quiescent, are never inactive.
(a) Revival of old sins. There is the strange revival of old sins which had seemed to be finally subdued. A man finds, by a terrible personal experience and personal failure, that his sin is not dead, but sleeping.
(b) Different stages of evil. Or there is the fact that Satan appears so to vary his attacks that the temptations of one stage of life disappear only that they may make room for a different kind of temptations in another stage of life. The sins of youth perhaps disappear, but only that they may make room for the sins of middle age. The flesh is, perhaps, less troublesome than it used to be; but the world becomes more insistent. The forms of evil change everywhere. A cynical French writer once remarked that in the life of a Frenchwoman there were three stages: first coquette, then atheist, and then devotee; and who shall say in which of those three stages Satan may have found his best opportunities?
IV. Falls and failures.We can discern the perpetual activity of this kingdom of darkness in the constant fall and failure of those who, perhaps, till comparative late periods, have led what seemed, at least, to be a spotless life.
V. A lifelong campaign.These falls are surely a warning to us to take life seriously, and to be prepared for a lifelong campaign. There is never a place or a time for laying down our arms, for victory can only be a starting-point for fresh endeavours.
The Rev. H. R. Gamble.
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
4:11
Luk 4:13 adds the words “for a season” to the statement here that “the devil leaveth him.” This is significant and adds force to the statements in Heb 2:17-18; Heb 4:15 which indicate that Jesus was subject to temptation all through his life on earth. These temptations came whenever the devil or his servants had an occasion to try their hand. For the present the devil has gone the limit of his resources, for 1Jn 2:16 says that “all that is in the world” is the “lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes and pride of life.” He used these three with Eve and won over her. He used them in the temptation of Christ in the wilderness and was defeated. The item of bread was an appeal to the lust of the flesh; the display of the kingdoms of the world appealed to the lust of the eyes, and the idea of casting himself from the pinnacle appealed to the pride of life in that it would only be pride that would prompt a person to perform some sensational exploit. Having been defeated in this encounter with Jesus, the devil quit the scene to await another opportunity.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Mat 4:11. Leaveth him. Luke (Luk 4:13), for a season. He was tempted again and again; at last in Gethsemane and on the cross.
Angels. Spiritual beings, probably in visible form on this occasion. Alone in the contest, He had these companions after his victory.
Ministered. Most naturally means, supplied him with food, as in the case of Elijah; 1Ki 19:5. Others think, gave him spiritual companionship, to support Him and prove that man doth not live by bread alone. The view that the angels brought Him food, accords better with the events just narrated. He who would not turn stones into bread was now fed; He who would not call upon angels to uphold Him in rash confidence, was now sustained by them; He who demanded worship for God alone, received homage from these servants of God.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Observe here, 1. The issue of this combat; Satan is conquered, and quits the field! Then the devil leaveth him: teaching us, That nothing like a vigorous resistance of temptation causes the tempter to flee from us; Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
Observe, 2. Our Lord’s triumph over his enemy: Behold, Angels came and ministered unto him; food to his hungry body, and comfort to his tempted soul. They came no sooner, lest it should be thought he needed their assistance; they came now, because he was now pleased to make use of their assistance.
Learn hence, That those who in the hour of temptation do hold out in resisting Satan shall find the power and faithfulness of God will not be wanting to them, to send in succour and relief in the end.
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
Mat 4:11. Then the devil Being so baffled and confounded as not to be able to present any other temptation which seemed more likely to prevail, leaveth him Namely, for a season, as Luke observes meditating no doubt some future assault, and especially designing, by and by, to use all stratagems to take away his life. And, behold, angels came and ministered unto him Not only furnishing him with proper supplies for his hunger, but also congratulating him on so illustrious a victory over the prince of darkness; and doing him honour by the appearance of a number of them, (for one of them would nave sufficed to bring him food,) after this horrible combat with Satan, to which, for wise and gracious reasons, he was pleased to condescend. And it may encourage us in all our temptations to remember, that if our conflict be thus maintained, the struggle will, ere long, be over; and angels, who are now spectators of the combat, will at length congratulate our victory. God teaches us, by all this, that our lives are to have their vicissitudes of temptation and consolation, and that our temptation shall have a happy issue, and that when ordinary means fail we may expect extraordinary helps.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Verse 11
Angels came; either in visible form, or by presenting, invisibly, consolation and support.
Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament
Having resisted Satan’s attacks successfully, the enemy departed temporarily (cf. Jas 4:7). God sent messengers to assist His faithful Son (cf. 1Ki 19:4-8). The Father rewarded the Son with divine assistance and further opportunity for service because Jesus had remained faithful to Him. This is God’s normal method.
Many have observed that Satan followed the same pattern of temptation with Jesus that he had used with Eve (Genesis 3). First, he appealed to the lust of the flesh, the desire to do something apart from God’s will. Second, he appealed to the lust of the eyes, the desire to have something apart from God’s will. Third, he appealed to the pride of life, the desire to be something apart from God’s will (cf. 1Jn 2:16).
"Approaching Jesus three times in Matthew’s story, Satan urges him to place concern for self above allegiance to God." [Note: Kingsbury, p. 55.]
"Each temptation challenges Jesus’ faithfulness. Will he provide for himself independently of God’s direction and draw on his power in self-interest (bread)? Will he insist that God protect him by putting God to the test of his protection of the Son (temple)? Will the Son defect from the Father and worship someone else for his own gain (kingdoms)? In each text [sic] Jesus stresses his loyalty to the Father as he cites Deuteronomy." [Note: Bock, Jesus according . . ., p. 90.]
"All three of the tests are variations of the one great temptation to remove His Messianic vocation from the guidance of His Father and make it simply a political calling." [Note: S. Lewis Johnson Jr., "The Temptation of Christ," Bibliotheca Sacra 123:492 (October-December 1996):345.]
Each of Jesus’ three temptations related to His messiahship: the first to Him personally, the second to the Jews, and the third to all the nations (cf. Mat 1:1). The twin themes of Jesus’ royal kingship and His suffering servanthood, which combined in the name Immanuel, "God with us" (Mat 1:23), were in tension in the temptation. They remained in tension and created conflict in Jesus’ ministry as it unfolded.
"In the first temptation Jesus does not deny that He is hungry and able to make bread; in the second, He does not deny that He is the Son of God, and under special protection; and in the third, He does not deny the Kingdom or dominion which is to be given to Him, but only rejects the mode by which it is to be obtained. As observed, if such a Kingdom is not covenanted, predicted, and intended, the temptation would not have any force." [Note: Peters, 1:700.]
"In this pericope [Mat 4:1-11] we encounter a theme that is vital in the theology of the Gospels. The goal of obedience to the Father is accomplished, not by triumphant self-assertion, not by the exercise of power and authority, but paradoxically by the way of humility, service, and suffering. Therein lies true greatness (cf. Mat 20:26-28). In fulfilling his commission by obedience to the will of the Father, Jesus demonstrates the rightness of the great commandment (Deu 6:5) as well as his own submission to it." [Note: Hagner, p. 70.]
"Just as the first Adam met Satan, so the Last Adam met the enemy (1Co 15:45). Adam met Satan in a beautiful Garden, but Jesus met him in a terrible wilderness. Adam had everything he needed, but Jesus was hungry after forty days of fasting. Adam lost the battle and plunged humanity into sin and death. But Jesus won the battle and went on to defeat Satan in more battles, culminating in His final victory on the cross (Joh 12:31; Col 2:15)." [Note: Wiersbe, 1:18.]
Since Jesus was both God and man, was it possible for him to sin? Most evangelical theologians have concluded that He could not since God cannot sin. They believe He was impeccable (incapable of sinning). If so, was His temptation genuine? Most have responded yes. [Note: See Joseph G. Sahl, "The Impeccability of Jesus Christ," Bibliotheca Sacra 140:557 (January-March 1983):11-20; and the major theologies.]
Henri Nouwen helpfully discussed Jesus’ three temptations in relation to leadership in ministry. He saw them as temptations to relevance, popularity, and power, and he suggested prayer, ministry, and being led as antidotes. [Note: Henri J. M. Nouwen, In the Name of Jesus: Reflections on Christian Leadership.]
In the first major section of his Gospel, Matthew showed that Jesus had all the qualifications to be Israel’s Messiah-legally, scripturally, and morally. He was now ready to relate Jesus’ presentation of Himself to Israel as her King.