FIRST
STAGE:
2. And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights--Luke says
"When they were quite ended"
(Lu 4:2).
he was afterward an hungered--evidently implying that the sensation
of hunger was unfelt during all the forty days; coming on only at their
close. So it was apparently with Moses
(Ex 34:28)
and Elijah
(1Ki 19:8)
for the same period. A supernatural power of endurance was of course
imparted to the body, but this probably operated through a natural
law--the absorption of the Redeemer's Spirit in the dread conflict with
the tempter. (See on
Ac 9:9).
Had we only this Gospel, we should suppose the temptation did not begin
till after this. But it is clear, from Mark's statement, that "He was
in the wilderness forty days tempted of Satan"
(Mr 1:13),
and Luke's, "being forty days tempted of the devil"
(Lu 4:2),
that there was a forty days' temptation before the three
specific temptations afterwards recorded. And this is what we have
called the First Stage. What the precise nature and object of the forty
days' temptation were is not recorded. But two things seem plain
enough. First, the tempter had utterly failed of his object, else it
had not been renewed; and the terms in which he opens his second attack
imply as much. But further, the tempter's whole object during the forty
days evidently was to get Him to distrust the heavenly testimony borne
to Him at His baptism as
THE
SON OF
GOD--to persuade Him to regard it as but a splendid
illusion--and, generally, to dislodge from His breast the consciousness
of His Sonship. With what plausibility the events of His previous
history from the beginning would be urged upon Him in support of this
temptation it is easy to imagine. And it makes much in support of this
view of the forty days' temptation that the particulars of it are not
recorded; for how the details of such a purely internal struggle could
be recorded it is hard to see. If this be correct, how naturally does
the SECOND
STAGE of the temptation open! In Mark's brief notice of the
temptation there is one expressive particular not given either by
Matthew or by Luke--that "He was with the wild beasts"
(Mr 1:12),
no doubt to add terror to solitude, and aggravate the horrors of the
whole scene.
JFB.
Outline
1 The temptation of Jesus
13 Jesus dwells in Capernaum
17 Jesus begins to preach
18 Jesus calls Peter and Andrew, James and John
23 Jesus heals the sick
Drawing of the Temptation of Jesus Christ by Dore
Important Topics for Bible Study
Quick Reference Map
Map of Galilee and northern Israel
(Click to Enlarge)
Painted Illustration of Jesus Calling James and John
Ancient Customs
Geography
Capernaum
Galilee
Matthew Resources
The New Testament