Word Pictures in the New Testament - David Cox

Word Pictures in the NT [Matthew: Chapter 4].
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4:1 {To be tempted of the devil} (\peirasth•nai hupo tou
diabolou\). Matthew locates the temptation at a definite time,
"then" (\tote\) and place, "into the wilderness" (\eis t•n
er•mon\), the same general region where John was preaching. It is
not surprising that Jesus was tempted by the devil immediately
after his baptism which signified the formal entrance upon the
Messianic work. That is a common experience with ministers who
step out into the open for Christ. The difficulty here is that
Matthew says that "Jesus was led up into the wilderness by the
Spirit to be tempted by the devil." Mark (Mr 1:12) puts it more
strongly that the Spirit "drives" (\ekballei\) Christ into the
wilderness. It was a strong impulsion by the Holy Spirit that led
Jesus into the wilderness to think through the full significance
of the great step that he had now taken. That step opened the
door for the devil and involved inevitable conflict with the
slanderer (\tou diabolou\). Judas has this term applied to him
(Joh 6:70) as it is to men (2Ti 3:3; Tit 2:3) and women (she
devils, 1Ti 3:11) who do the work of the arch slanderer. There
are those today who do not believe that a personal devil exists,
but they do not offer an adequate explanation of the existence
and presence of sin in the world. Certainly Jesus did not
discount or deny the reality of the devil's presence. The word
"tempt" here (\peiraz•\) and in 4:3 means originally to test,
to try. That is its usual meaning in the ancient Greek and in the
Septuagint. Bad sense of \ekpeiraz•\ in 4:7 as in De 6:16.
Here it comes to mean, as often in the New Testament, to solicit
to sin. The evil sense comes from its use for an evil purpose.
4:2 {Had fasted} (\n•steusas\). No perfunctory ceremonial fast,
but of communion with the Father in complete abstention from food
as in the case of Moses during forty days and forty nights (Ex
34:28). "The period of the fast, as in the case of Moses was
spent in a spiritual ecstasy, during which the wants of the
natural body were suspended" (Alford). "He afterward hungered"
and so at the close of the period of forty days.
4:3 {If thou art the Son of God} (\ei huios ei tou theou\). More
exactly, "If thou art Son of God," for there is no article with
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Word Pictures in the New Testament
(Matthew: Chapter 4)