Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

17 And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.

CHAPTER IV.

1 Christ fasteth, and is tempted. 11 The angels minister unto him. 13 He dwelleth in Capernaum, 17 beginneth to preach, 18 calleth Peter, and Andrew, 21 James, and John, 23 and healeth all the diseased.

a

1 Then was Jesus led up of the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.

a Mark i. 12; Luke iv. 1.

whether this view be taken, or, which is at least equally probable, that the effulgence which broke from the heavens, had the similitude of a dove, the conclusion is the same; for, whether by the shape or the peculiarity of the motion, the idea of a dove was strongly and INTENTIONALLY excited in the mind of John; the reason of which is justly and beautifully conceived by Archbishop Leighton : "The Holy Ghost descended upon the apostles in the shape of fire; there was something to be purged in them; but on Christ as a dove, because there was no need of cleansing or purging anything. That, therefore, was a symbol of the spotless purity of his nature."

Verse 17. And lo a voice from heaven, &c. Some absurdly render own, thunder, as though thunder ever uttered articulate sounds. It was a voice uttering the words which follow, the voice of the eternal Father, accrediting to his high offices his eternal Son, now incarnate: This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Here the articles are most emphatic, Ουτος εστιν ο υιος μου ο αγαπητος, This is that Son of mine, that beloved Son, e 4 evdoknσa, in whom I am well pleased. The aorist, too, is here emphatic also, and is used, after the manner of Greek writers, as including the past, present, and future time; that beloved Son, in whom I have been, am, and shall be well pleased; or, in brief, in whom I am ALWAYS well pleased. Here is the strongest testimony from the highest and most glorious authority. This voice of God repeated on this occasion what it had before solemnly proclaimed by

the spirit of prophecy: "Behold my servant, whom I have chosen; MY BELOVED, in whom I am well pleased. I will put my Spirit upon him." This was Christ's solemn inauguration into his prophetic office.

CHAPTER IV. Verse 1. Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness. -Tore appears here to have the sense of afterwards; for in John i. 35, 48, ii. 1, there is an account of the transactions of three days immediately following the baptism of Christ; on one of which he attended the marriage in Cana of Galilee. On the completion of these he was led UP of the Spirit, that is, he was led up from the plain to the mountainous parts of the desert. This mode of speaking plainly shows that the transaction was not in vision. He was impelled by a strong influence of the Spirit, from one place to another. Any place would have been equally suitable for the purpose of producing an impression upon the imagina. tion during sleep, or in a trance; but here a solitary, wild, and secluded region is chosen, that during his forty days' trial he should be subject to no intrusion, and that he might have no relief from food at that distance from the habitations of men. The Spirit here mentioned is the Holy Spirit, which had just descended upon him; and as that Spirit exerted an extraordinary power upon the animal frame of some of the prophets, impelling them to various places, and signally sustaining them under great exertions and fasts, so this was a sensible proof that the

66

same mighty prophetic Spirit, though in him "without measure," had been received by him. St. Mark uses the strong phrase, το Πνευμα αυτον εκβαλλει, the Spirit driveth him into the wilderness." The place is generally supposed to be the wilderness of Judea, a sterile, rocky, and desolate region, " of savage aspect," says Maundrell; and which a more modern traveller describes as having" the rudest appearance; not a blade of verdure is to be seen over all the surface, and not the sound of a living creature is to be heard over all the extent." It is, however, debated whether this wilderness, which ran southward along the Dead Sea, or some part of the mountainous region near the lake of Tiberias, and which in many places is equally wild and solitary, was the scene of the temptation. A third opinion places the transaction in the desert of Quarantonia, which extends from Jericho, by the mountain of Bethel, two miles and a half from Jerusalem, which also was desert and uncultivated. This is maintained by Wetstein, Rosenmuller, and Koinoel. It had its modern name from the forty days during which the temptation continued.

To be tempted of the devil.-The word answers to the Hebrew Satan," an adversary." Wickliffe, in his translation, has rendered it, the feende, a word derived from the German feind, which also signifies an enemy. This temptation was part of our Lord's humiliation. His holy soul was to be subject, through this long period of forty days and forty nights, to the foul suggestions of evil; it was also appointed that he should be made, in this respect, as in all others, like unto his brethren, "for that he himself both suffered, being tempted, he is able to succour them that are tempted;" of which ability his victory is the indubitable proof. By this, too, he was to show forth his power over Satan, by whose guile the first Adam had been seduced; and to begin to justify his title to be that seed of the woman, whose office it was to bruise the serpent's head. Our modern rationalists, as they would be esteemed, but who have a much better title to be considered as the Sadducees of the Christian church, deny the existence

of the devil, and resolve therefore the whole of this account of our Lord's conflict partly into vision and partly into personification. It may, however, be affirmed, that on philosophic grounds the existence of such malignant spirits as are employed in the work of tempting men involves no absurdity, and accords with analogies among men which cannot be denied, because they are obvious facts. If man, a rational being, is often seen to hate all good, and delighting only in evil, superior intelligences may possess the same characters. If we see in many men a maturity of vice which expels all the better feelings, and an anxiety in such depraved persons to corrupt others, and to glory in the miseries they thus inflict, what have we in these cases but visible portraits of what Satan himself is, and exemplifications of the work in which he is employed? And, finally, if it enters into our state of probation to be tempted to cvil; that such temptations should not arise as well from the influence of evil spirits as from the effect produced upon the imaginations, passions, and appetites by visible external things, no good reason can be given. There is nothing in this case which is contrary to any principle clearly laid down in the word of God, who maintains our free-agency, in these circumstances of our state of trial, by the succours of his grace. On the other hand, the denial of the doctrine of temptation from the influence of invisible beings upon the soul of man must force us either to reject the scriptures altogether, or to adopt those modes of violent interpretation which are wholly inconsistent with the simplicity of their historical narratives, and which would render their meaning in all cases so uncertain, as to destroy their character as a revelation of truth from God. Nor less objectionable is the principle advocated by the neological critics of Germany, and applied to this and other cases, namely, that our Lord and his apostles often adopted the erroneous theological opinions and modes of speaking current among the Jews, just as they employed the philosophic language and allu. sions of the age in which they lived, with

2 And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungred.

out intending to give their sanction to any system of human science. For it remains to be proved, that either our Lord or his apostles in any case do ever speak according to an erroneous philosophy of the day; and, if they do, it is only allusively in cases where the current notions of the day would serve the moral purpose they intended just as well as the more correct mode of speaking now used, if, indeed, we are nearer to philosophic truth on such subjects than the ancients. But an error in what may be called pneumatological divinity stands on a very different ground. If there be no Satan, there is no Holy Ghost; for each may be resolved into personification: if there be no spiritual evil influence, we have no reason to conclude from the same scriptures that there is any supernatural good influence. Further if there were no true demoniacal possessions, then were the persons reputed to be so po sessed mere lunatics and epileptics; and the casting them out was a deceptive assumption of pretended power, fatal to the character of our Lord, and the honesty of his disciples: and if there be no disembodied spirits, then were the disciples deceived, and that by our Lord himself; and the hope of conscious existence immediately after the death of the body, so cheering to them and to all good men since, is without any foundation in truth. Finally, not to push these consequences any further, it follows, in direct opposition to our Saviour's own words, that, although Jehovah is called the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, he is the God of the DEAD, and not of the LIVING. All these consequences may, indeed, be hazarded by bold men, who treat the scriptures with little deference; but their crime is not lessened by their temerity; for they profanely represent the inspired writers as teaching popularly what is not true, on some of the most serious subjects which can influence human feelings and human conduct. They change, too, the whole economy of Christianity, which presents us with a grand view of

the connexion of man, and the events and history of our world, with invisible worlds and beings, and thus isolate our earth as the theatre on which these great displays of the wisdom, power, and mercy of God take place, from those innumerable other beings which take an interest in them, and for whose instruction and advantage, or discomfiture and punishment, they are also permitted. A large portion of the grandeur of the great scheme of human redemption is thus at once annihilated by these petty and minifying systems. As to the notion, that the temptation of our Lord was transacted in vision, it is contradicted by the simple narrative form which is used by the evangelists. It is in the same style that they record this event, and those which the objectors themselves acknowledged to be real; and with quite as much reason might the history of the crucifixion be resolved into the phantasms of a dream as the account before us. Thus viewed, too, the temptation could no longer be one of the circumstances of our Lord's humiliation; and the great moral use which St. Paul draws from it, as affording an assurance to the followers of Christ, that in all temptations they might rely upon his sympathy as having been" in all points tempted like unto us, yet without sin," is lost; seeing that we are tempted to evil, not in vision, but in reality. Finally: it is sufficient to settle this whole question entirely, to remark that if the temptation of our Lord were a dream or visionary representation, the usual exercise of the reason and the senses being suspended, it was no temptation at all; for there could have been no sin, if in a dream or a vision, in which all free-agency would be suspended, our Lord had either commanded the stones to be made bread, or had cast himself down from the pinnacle of the temple, or had even done homage to Satan himself.

Verse 2. Fasted forty days and forty nights. Thus Moses and Elijah fasted, being like our Lord sustained by "the

3 And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.

4 But he answered and said, It is written, "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.

b Deut. viii. 3.

Preserver of men." The nights are mentioned as well as the days, because the Jews used to eat in the night during their common fasts; and, indeed, according to Maimonides, they might eat and drink after sunset during all the fasts, except the month of Abib. Throughout the whole of this period, however, our Saviour felt no hunger; for it is added, "AFTERWARDS he hungered."

this is one of those respects in which "no man knoweth the Son, but the Father." Being therefore in necessary ignorance of the mode and degree in which the human nature of our Lord was sustained by the divine, he could not ascertain how far our Lord AS A MAN was capable of sinning. He might therefore hope to prevail against the inferior nature, and, by defiling that, to render, at least, that incarnation of a Redeemer void.

And said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread. -The temptation here is suitable to the circumstances: evil and good each derive force from their seasonableness; a point which a tempter so long practised and subtle as Satan well understands; and hence, our Lord being oppressed with hunger, he suggests to him to command the stones near them to be made bread, to answer the double purpose of supplying his own wants, and giving to a pretended inquirer as to the truth of his mission, which was the character he appears to have assumed, a miraculous proof of his dignity and office. Satan evidently alludes to the baptism of Christ, in which he had been declared to be the Son of God. This very allusion shows that the absence of the article before vios does not lower its sense. This is true also where the article is wanting both before vios and bcov, as is proved by Matt. xxvii. 43.

Verse 3. And when the tempter came to him. This probably was the first visible appearance of Satan during the temptation; though, as it was the sole object of our Lord's being led up into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil, we must conclude, that a series of temptations, arising from that secret, invisible influence which the tempter was permitted to exercise upon his thoughts had troubled his spirit through the whole of that painful season; and so, indeed, it is stated by the other evangelists. Now, however, Satan appears in a human form, as it would seem, for no other is intimated. It has been asked whether it is likely that Satan knew the dignity of our Lord's person; and, if so, what hope of success could he have in tempting him? The question is more curious than useful; and perhaps is not capable of an answer entirely satisfactory. We may, however, remark, that Satan could not be ignorant that the Messiah was promised and expected, nor of the high and divine character assigned to him in the writings of the Jewish prophets; and as perhaps he was a better interpreter of scripture than the Jews, he would not be thrown into any doubts as to the Messiahship of Jesus by the humility of his advent, and his then apparent indigent circumstances. But of" written;" but he thus teaches us the the mystery of the personal union of the divine and human natures in Christ he could have no adequate conception; for

Verse 4. But he answered and said, It is written, &c.-Our Lord puts honour upon the writen word of God, by making use of it in repelling every temptation. He in whom were treasured up the riches of wisdom and knowledge, could have given such answers as had not previously been

sufficiency of God's revelations for every condition of man; and that we are to rely upon the wisdom of God, as revealed in

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

his word, with which we ought to have our memory richly furnished, rather than upon our own. Another important lesson is, that whatever is settled by the word of God admits of no appeal; and therefore, that we are not to dispute, but promptly, and without hesitation, to act upon it. He who lives in this habit soonest escapes from the entanglements of temptation. "He keepeth himself, and that wicked one toucheth him not." Our Lord's quotation is from Deut. viii. 3. "God suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord doth man live." The Israelites, when they hungered, were not sustained by bread, but by manna, a new substance created and "rained from heaven" by "the word" of the Lord. It is that WORD which gives efficacy to the ordinary food of man; or it can provide him with new and extraordinary means of subsistence; or it can sustain him by its own almighty power, without the intervention of means at all, as it had done Christ, and Moses, and Elijah in their fasts. It is therefore never necessary to do wrong in order to supply our wants. Our only concern is to please God, who has a thousand means of relieving the wants of those who need his interposition, and put their trust in him. But what evil would there have been in our Lord commanding the stones to be made bread? The answer is, that it would have betrayed impatience under the suffering of hunger, which he was to sustain until God sent him supplies, which was therefore done at the best time by the ministry of angels. Our Lord would not shorten the assigned duration of his trial by taking his cause out of the hands of God. Beside this, our Lord knew who the tempter was, though under the guise of a man inquiring after the truth; and thus taught us that we are not to do the devil's bidding to relieve ourselves from inconvenience or calamity Even had the pretended

inquirer been a real man, it is not allowed to man to prescribe on what signs or evidences he will consent to admit a message or revelation from God. Yet how many ask for different or stronger evidences of the truth of Christianity, or its separate doctrines? Let such persons stand reproved by this history. "It is an evil and adulterous generation which seeketh after a sign;" such signs as they think fitting, and neglect those with which divine wisdom has been pleased to stamp his own authority upon his own truth.

Verse 5. Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, &c.—The holy city was the name by which Jerusalem was always called by the Jews; and the inscription on their shekel was, "Jerusalem the Holy." That our Lord was taken up by Satan, and transported through the air, as the Holy Spirit carried away Philip to Azotus, Acts viii. 39, is a mere conjecture; nor is it indicated in the word used, which signifies to take along with one as a companion is taken. And if Satan appeared, as is likely, in the form of a man, personating, as stated above, an inquirer after truth, it is not probable that he would, by such an act of supernatural power, reveal at once his real character. This was reserved to the last temptation, when other means had failed. We may conclude, therefore, that he proposed it to our Lord to accompany him to Jerusalem, and that he yielded, as well knowing his character and purpose, yet meekly submitting to the whole process of the trial appointed by God.

And setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple.-Grotius takes Trepʊylov to have been a battlement on the temple; but the courts, and all the buildings connected with the temple, may be included, and the battlement of the royal portico, built by Herod, which was at the outer court, was probably the place; especially as this was raised upon the verge of a precipice so deep, that, according to Josephus, it made persons dizzy to look down from it. To the roof of this portico there was easy

« AnteriorContinuar »