John Bengel Commentary - Matthew 4:3 - 4:3

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John Bengel Commentary - Matthew 4:3 - 4:3


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Mat 4:3. προδελθών Αὐτῷ, having come to Him) sc. in a visible form. The Tempter watched his time.[134]-ὁ πειράζων, the tempter) who did not wish it to be known that he was Satan: yet Christ at the conclusion of the interview, and not till then, calls him, in Mat 4:10, Satan, after that Satan had plainly betrayed his satanity, i.e., pride, his peculiar characteristic. Thus, by Divine skill, He defeated his infernal skill. The tempter seems to have appeared under the form of a γραμματύς, scribe, since our Lord thrice replies to him by the word, γέγραπται, “It is written.”-εἰ, if) Thus also, in Mat 4:6, Satan both doubts himself, and endeavours to produce doubt, to take away that which is true, to teach that which is false. He solicits our Lord, stating that hypothetically, which had been (Mat 3:17) declared categorically from heaven.-εἰπέ, κ.τ.λ., command, etc.) The tempter acknowledges that He who is the Son of God must be Almighty.-οἰ, κ.τ.λ., these, etc.) i.e., that some one of these stones become bread [or a loaf]: see Luk 4:3, [where it is, “Command this stone (sing.) that it be made bread.”]-λίθοι, stones) q. d., “You are in the wilderness, which has hard stones, but no bread.” Nay, on very different grounds shalt thou become convinced, O Tempter, that this is the Son of God. Soon will He commence the work of thy destruction. See Luk 4:34; Luk 4:41.

[134] Our Lord spent that season of the year in the wilderness, in which the nights are longer, the wild beasts more ravenous, the weather more inclement, and when there was no means of obtaining food either from trees or herbs.-See Harm. Evang. 149.