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1: Then - After this glorious evidence of his Father's love,
he was completely armed for the combat. Thus after the clearest
light and the strongest consolation, let us expect the sharpest
temptations. By the Spirit - Probably through a strong inward
impulse. (Mk 1:12,Lu 4:1).
2: Having fasted - Whereby doubtless he received more abundant
spiritual strength from God. Forty days and forty nights - As
did Moses, the giver of the law, and Elijah, the great restorer
of it. He was afterward hungry - And so prepared for the first
temptation.
3: Coming to him - In a visible form; probably in a human shape,
as one that desired to inquire farther into the evidences of
his being the Messiah.
4: It is written - Thus Christ answered, and thus we may answer
all the suggestions of the devil. By every word that proceedeth
out of the mouth of God - That is, by whatever God commands to
sustain him. Therefore it is not needful I should work a miracle
to procure bread, without any intimation of my Father's will.(De 8:3).
5: The holy city - So Jerusalem was commonly called, being the
place God had peculiarly chosen for himself. On the battlement
of the temple - Probably over the king's gallery, which was of such
a prodigious height, that no one could look down from the top of
it without making himself giddy.
6: In their hands - That is, with great care.(Ps 91:11,12).
7: Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God - By requiring farther
evidence of what he hath already made sufficiently plain.(De 6:16).
8: Showeth him all the kingdoms of the world - In a kind of
visionary representation.
9: If thou wilt fall down and worship me - Here Satan clearly
shows who he was. Accordingly Christ answering this suggestion,
calls him by his own name, which he had not done before.
10: Get thee hence, Satan - Not, get thee behind me, that is, into
thy proper place; as he said on a quite different occasion to
Peter, speaking what was not expedient. (De 6:13).
11: Angels came and waited upon him - Both to supply him with
food, and to congratulate his victory.
12: He retired into Galilee - This journey was not immediately
after his temptation. He first went from Judea into Galilee,(Joh 1:43,2:1). Then into Judea again, and celebrated the
passover at Jerusalem, (Joh 2:13). He baptized in Judea
while John was baptizing at Enon, (Joh 3:22,23). All this
time John was at liberty, (Joh 3:24). But the Pharisees being
offended, (Joh 4:1); and John put in prison, he then took
this journey into Galilee. (Mk 1:14).
13: Leaving Nazareth - Namely, when they had wholly rejected his
word, and even attempted to kill him, (Lu 4:29).
15: Galilee of the Gentiles - That part of Galilee which lay beyond
Jordan was so called, because it was in a great measure inhabited
by Gentiles, that is, heathens. (Isa 9:1,2).
16: Here is a beautiful gradation, first, they walked, then they
sat in darkness, and lastly, in the region of the shadow of death.
17: From that time Jesus began to preach - He had preached before,
both to Jews and Samaritans, (Joh 4:41,45). But from this time
begin his solemn stated preaching. Repent, for the kingdom of
heaven is at hand - Although it is the peculiar business of Christ
to establish the kingdom of heaven in the hearts of men, yet it
is observable, he begins his preaching in the same words with
John the Baptist: because the repentance which John taught still
was, and ever will be, the necessary preparation for that inward
kingdom. But that phrase is not only used with regard to
individuals in whom it is to be established, but also with regard
to the Christian Church, the whole body of believers. In the
former sense it is opposed to repentance; in the latter the Mosaic
dispensation.
18: (Mk 1:16,Lu 5:1).
23: The Gospel of the kingdom - The Gospel, that is, the joyous
message, is the proper name of our religion: as will be amply
verified in all who earnestly and perseveringly embrace it.
24: Through all Syria - The whole province, of which the Jewish
country was only a small part. And demoniacs - Men possessed with
devils: and lunatics, and paralytics - Men ill of the palsy, whose
cases were of all others most deplorable and most helpless.
25: Decapolis - A tract of land on the east side of the sea of
Galilee, in which were ten cities near each other.
