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CHAPTER IV.

Christ's temptation, 1-13. He preaches at Nazareth, 14-27. His danger at Nazareth, 28-30. A demoniac healed

livered unto me; and to whomsoever I will I give it.

7 If thou therefore wilt 5 wor

at Capernaum, 31-37. Simon's wife's ship me, all shall be thine.

mother healed, and other miracles, 38-44.

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ND Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost returned from Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness,

2 Being forty days tempted of the devil. 2 And in those days he did eat nothing: and when they were ended, he afterward hungered.

3 And the devil said unto him, If thou be the Son of God, command this stone that it be made bread.

4 And Jesus answered him, saying, It is written, That man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.

5 And the devil, taking him up into a high mountain, shewed unto him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time.

6 And the devil said unto him, All this power will I give thee, and the glory of them for that is de

I Ver. 14. Matt. iv. 1-11. Mark. i. 12, 13. Exod. xxxiv. 28. 1 Kin. xix. 8. 3 Deut. Till. 3. 4 John xii. 31; xiv. 30. Eph. ii. 2. Rev. xiii. 2, 7.

CHAPTER IV. 1-14. On the temptation of Jesus, see Notes, Matt. iv. 1–11.

2. Being forty days tempted. That is, through forty days he was tried in various ways by the devil. The temptations, however, which are recorded by Matthew and Luke did not take place until the forty days were finished. See Matt. iv. 2, 3. He did eat nothing. He was sustained by the power of God during this season of extraordinary fasting.

13. Departed for a season. For a time. From this it appears that our Saviour was afterwards subjected to temptations by

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8 And Jesus answered and said unto him, Get thee behind me, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.

9 And he brought him to Jerusalem, and set him on a pinnacle of the temple, and said unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down from hence:

10 For it is written, He 7 shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee:

11 And in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone.

12 And Jesus answering said unto him, It is said, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.

13 And when the devil had ended all the 9 temptation, he departed from him for a season.

14¶ And Jesus 10 returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee : and there went out a fame of him through all the region round about.

5 Or, fall down before me. 6 Deut. vi. 13; x. 20. 7 Psa. xci. 11. s Deut. vi. 16. 9 Heb. ii. 17, 18; iv. 15. 10 John iv. 43.

x. 37.

Acts

Satan. But no particular temptations are recorded after this. From John xiv. 30, it seems that the devil tried him about the time of his agony in Gethsemane, but in what particular way we are not told.

It is more than probable also, that Satan did much to excite the Pharisees and Sadducees to endeavour to entangle him, and the priests and rulers to oppose him. Yet, out of all his temptations, God delivered him; and so he will make a way to escape for all that are tempted, and will not suffer them to be tempted above that which they are able to bear. 1 Cor. x. 13.

14. In the power of the Spirit. By the

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15 And he taught in their syna- | unto him the book of the prophet gogues, being glorified of all. Esaias. And when he had opened 16 And he came to Nazareth, the book, he found the place where where he had been brought up: it was written, and, as his custom was, he 2 went

3 18 The Spirit of the Lord is

into the synagogue on the sabbath-upon me, because he hath anointed day, and stood up for to read.

17 And there was delivered

1 Matt. ii. 23. 9 Matt. xiii. 54. John xviii. 20. Acts xiii. 14; xvii. 2.

influence or direction of the Spirit. fame. A report. See Matt. iv. 24.

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15. Glorified of all. Praised by all; or, all were pleased with his instructions and admired his wisdom.

16. And, as his custom was, he went, &c. From this it appears that the Saviour regularly attended the service of the synagogue. In that service the scriptures of the Old Testament were read, prayers were offered, and the word of God was explained. See Note, Matt. iv. 23. There was great corruption in doctrine and practice at that time, but Christ did not, on that account, keep away from the place of public worship. From this we may learn: 1. That it is our duty regularly to attend public worship. 2. That it is better to attend a place which is not entirely pure, or where just such doctrines are not delivered as we would wish, than not attend at all. It is of vast importance that the public worship of God should be maintained; and it is our duty to assist in maintaining it, to show by our example that we love it, and to win others also to love it. See Heb. x. 25. At the same time, this remark should not be construed as enjoining it as our duty to attend a place where the true God is not worshipped, or where he is worshipped by pagan rites and pagan prayers. If, therefore, the Unitarian does not worship the true God, and if the Roman Catholic worships God in a manner forbidden, and offers homage to the creatures of God also, thus being guilty of idolatry, it cannot be the duty of a man to attend on such a place of worship. The synagogue. See Matt. iv. 23. ¶ Stood up for to read. The books of Moses were so divided that they could be read through in the synagogues once in a year. To these were added portions out of the prophets, so that no small part of them was read

me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the broken

3 Isa. lxi. 1.

also once a year. It is not known whether our Saviour read the lesson which was the regular one for that day, though it may seem probable he would not depart from the usual custom. Yet, as the eyes of all were fixed on him, as he deliberately looked out a place; and as the people were evidently surprised at what he did, it seems to be intimated that he selected a lesson which was not the regular one for that day.

17. There was delivered unto him. By the minister of the synagogue, or the keeper of the sacred books. They were kept in an ark or chest, not far from the pulpit, and the minister gave them to whomsoever he chose, to read them publicly.¶The book. The volume containing the prophecy of Isaiah. It would seem, from this, that the books were kept separate, and not united into one as with us. When he had opened the book, Literally, when he had unrolled the book. Books, among the ancients, were written on parchments, or vellum, i. e., skins beasts, and were rolled together on twɔ rollers, beginning at each end; so that while reading they rolled off from one to the other. Different forms of books were indeed used, but this was the most com mon. When used, the reader unrolled the MS. as far as the place which he wished to find, and kept before him just so much as he would read. When the roller was done with, it was carefulș deposited in a case. There were other forms of the scroll; there were also căr lections of sheets in the shape of a modem book, secured with rings and rods. place where it is written. Isa. lxi. 1, 2.

The

18, 19. The Spirit of the Lord is upon me. Or, I speak by divine appointment. I am divinely inspired to speak. There can be no doubt that the passage in Isaiah had a principal reference to the

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Messiah. Our Saviour directly applies it to himself, and it is not easily applicable to any other prophet. Its first application might have been to the restoration of the Jews from Babylon; but the language of prophecy is often applicable to two similar events, and the secondary event is often the more important. In this case the prophet uses most striking poetic images to depict the return from Babylon, but the same images also describe the appropriate work of the Son of God. Hath anointed me. Anciently kings and prophets, and the high priest, were set apart to their work by anointing with oil. Exod. xxix. 7. 1 Sam. ix. 16; x. 1. 1 Kin. xix. 15, 16. This oil or ointment was made of various substances, and it was forbidden to imitate it. Exod. xxx. 34-38. Hence those who were set apart to the work of God as king, or prophet, or priest, were called the Lord's anointed. 1 Sam. xvi. 6. Psa. lxxxiv. 9. Isa. xlv. 1. Hence the Son of God is called the Messiah, a Hebrew word, signifying the Anointed; or the Christ, a Greek word signifying the same thing. And by his being anointed is not meant that he was literally anointed, for he was never set apart in that manner; but that God had set him apart for this work, that he had constituted or appointed him to be the prophet, priest, and king of his people. To preach the gospel to the poor. The gospel means good news, the good news of salvation. By the poor are meant all those who are destitute of the comforts of this life, and who, therefore, may be more readily disposed to seek treasures in heaven; all those who are sensible of their sins, or are poor iu spirit, Matt. v. 3; and all the miserable and the afflicted. Isa. lviii. 7. Our Saviour gave it as one proof that he was the Messiah, or was from God, that he preached to the poor. Matt. xi. 5. The Pharisees and Sadducees despised the poor. Ancient philosophers neglected them. But the gospel seeks to bless them; to give comfort where it is felt to be needed, and where it will be received with gratitude. Riches fill the mind with pride, with self

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complacency, and with a feeling that the gospel is not needed. The poor feel their need of some sources of comfort that the world cannot give, and accordingly our Saviour met with his greatest success among the poor; and there also, since, the gospel has shed its richest blessings and its surest joys. This is one proof that the gospel is true. If it had been of men, it would have sought the rich and mighty. But it pours contempt on all human greatness, and seeks, like God, to do good to those whom the world overlooks or despises. To heal the broken-hearted. To console those who are deeply afflicted, or whose hearts are broken by external calamities, or by a deep sense of their sinfulness. ¶ Deliverance to the captives. This is a figure originally applicable to those in captivity in Babylon. They were miserable. To grant deliverance to them, and restore them to their country; to grant deliverance to those who are in prison, and restore them to their family; to give liberty to the slave, and restore him to freedom, were to confer the highest benefit, and impart the richest favour. So the gospel imparts favour. It does not literally open the doors of prisons, but it releases the mind, captive under sin; it gives comfort to the prisoner, and it will finally open all prison doors, and break off all the chains of slavery, and by preventing crime, prevent also the sufferings that are the consequence of crime. ¶ Sight to the blind. This was often literally fulfilled. Matt. ix. 30; xi. 5. John ix. 11, &c. To set at liberty them that are bruised. The word bruised, here, evidently has the same general signification as broken-hearted or the contrite. means those who are pressed down by great calamity, or whose hearts are pressed or bruised by affliction or sin. To set them at liberty is the same as to free them from this pressure, or to give them consolation. The acceptable year of the Lord. The time when God is willing to accept of men, or to receive sinners coming to him. The gospel assures us that the guilty may return, and that God will graciously receive them. There is,

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19 To preach the acceptable! year of the Lord.

20 And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened 3 on him.

21 And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.

1 Ch. xix. 41, 42. Lev. xxv. 8-13, 50-54. Isa. lxi. 2; lxiii. 4. 2 Cor. vi. 2. 2 Matt. v. 3 Ch. xix.

1. 2. 48.

Acts xiii. 14-16; xvi. 13. Acts iii. 12.

perhaps, here, an allusion to the year of Jubilee, the fiftieth year, when the trumpet was blown, and through the whole land proclamation was made of the liberty of Hebrew slaves, of the remission of debts, and of the restoration of possessions to their original families. Lev. xxv. 8-13. The acceptable year. The grateful, or pleasant, or agreeable time, appointed by God.

20. Were fastened on him. Were intently fixed on him, waiting to see what explanation he would give of the words.

21. This scripture. This writing, or this part of the scriptures. Fulfilled. It is coming to pass; the thing originally intended by it is about to be accomplished. In your ears. In your hear ing, or, you hear, in my preaching, the fulfilment of this prophecy. It is probable that he said much more than is here recorded, but Luke has presented only the substance of his discourse. This was the amount or sum of his sermon, or his explanation of the passage, that it was now receiving its accomplishment.

22. All bare him witness. All were witnesses of the power and truth of what he said. Their reason and conscience approved of it, and they were constrained to admit the force and propriety of it, and on this account they wondered. They wondered. They were struck with the truth and force of his words, and especially when they remembered that he was a native of their own place, and that they had been long acquainted with him, and that he should now claim to be the Messiah, and give so much evidence that he was the Christ. The gracious words.

22 And all bare him witness, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth. And they said, Is 5 not this Joseph's son?

23 And he said unto them, Ye will surely say unto me this proverb, Physician, heal thyself: whatsoever we have heard done in Capernaum, 6 do also here in thy

country.

4 Ch. ii. 47. Psa. xlv. 2. Isa. 1. 4. Matt. xiii. 54. Mark vi. 2. 5 John vi. 42. Matt iv. 13; xi. 23.

The words of grace or favour; the kind, affectionate, and tender exposition of the words, and explanation of the design of his coming, and the nature of the plan of redemption. It was so different from the harsh and unfeeling mode of the Pharisees; so different from all the expectations respecting the Messiah, who, they expected, would be a prince and a bloody conqueror, that they were filled with astonishment and awe.

23. Physician, heal thyself. This proverb was probably in common use at that time. Suppose a man should attempt to heal another when he was himself diseased in the same manner. It would be natural to ask him first to cure himself, and thus to render it manifest that he was worthy of confidence. The connexion of this proverb, here, is this: You profess to be the Messiah. You have wrought miracles at Capernaum. You profess to be able to deliver us from our maladies, our sins, our afflictions, &c. Show that you have the power, that you are worthy of our confidence, by working miracles here, as you profess to have done at Capernaum. It does not refer, therefore, to any healing of himself, or imply any reflection on him for setting up to teach them. It was only a demand that he would show the proper evidence by miracles why they should trust in him, and he proceeds to show them why he would not give them this evidence.

Whatsoever we have heard done. Whatsoever we have heard that thou hast done. It would seem from this that Christ had before this wrought miracles in Capernaum, though the evangelist has

24 And he said, Verily I say | Elias sent, save unto Sarepta, a unto you, No 1 prophet is accepted city of Sidon, unto a woman that' in his own country. was a widow.

25 But I tell you of a truth, many 2 widows were in Israel in the days of Elias, when the heaven was shut up 3 three years and six months, when great famine was throughout all the land;

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27 And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Eliseus the prophet; and none of them was cleansed, saving Naaman the Syrian. 5

28 And all they in the synagogue, when they heard these 26 But unto none of them was things, were filled with wrath,

1 Matt. xiii. 57. John iv. 44. 21 Kin. xvii. 3 Jas. v. 17.

not recorded them. In Capernaum. Capernaum was on the north-west corner of the sea of Tiberias, and was not far from Nazareth. It is not improbable that some of those who then heard him might have been present, and witnessed some of his miracles at Capernaum. See Note on Matt. iv. 13.

24. No prophet is accepted. Has honour, or is acknowledged as a prophet. See Note, Matt. xiii. 57.

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25. Of a truth. Truly, and, therefore, worthy of your credit. He calls attention to two cases where acknowledged prophets had so little honour in their own nation that they bestowed their favours on foreigners. So, says he, such is the want of faith in my own country, that I shall work no miracles here, but shall give the evidence of my divine mission to others. In Israel. In the land of Israel or Judea. It was, therefore, the more remarkable, since there were many in his own country whom he might have helped, that he should have gone to a heathen city, and aided a poor widow there. The days of Elias. The days of Elijah. See the account of this in 1 Kin. xvii. 8-24. T Three years and six months. From Kin. xviii. 1, 45, it would seem that the rain fell in the third year. That is, at the end of the third year after the rain had ceased to fall at the usual time. There were two seasons of the year when rains fell in Judea, in October and April, called the early and latter rain. Consequently, there was an interval between them of six months. To the three years, therefore, when rain was withheld at the usual times, are to be added the previous six months, when no rain fell as a matter of

4 2 Kin. v. 14. 5 Job xxxiii 13; xxxvi. 23 Dan. iv. 35.

course, and consequently three years and six months elapsed without rain. ¶A great famine. A great want of food from long-continued and distressing drought.

26. Save unto Sarepta. Sarepta was a town between Tyre and Sidon, near the Mediterranean sea. It was not a jewish city, but a Sidonian, and, therefore, a gentile town. The word save, in this verse, does not express the meaning of the original. It would seem to imply that the city was jewish. The meaning of the verse is this. He was sent to none of the widows in Israel. He was not sent except to Sarepta, to a woman that was a Sidonian.

27. Many lepers. For an account of the leprosy, see Note on Matt. viii. 2. ¶ Time of Eliseus. Time of Elisha. The word Eliseus is the Greek way of writing the word Elisha, as Elias is of Elijah.

Saving Naaman the Syrian. The account of his cure is contained in 2 Kin. v. 28. Filled with wrath. They were enraged, probably for the following reasons: I. They saw that the cases applied to themselves, and that they would not receive the miraculous evidences of his mission. 2. That he would direct his attention to others, and not to them. 3. That the Gentiles were objects of compassion with God, and that God often showed more favour to a single Gentile than to multitudes of Jews in the same circumstances. 4. That they might be worse than the Gentiles. And, 5. That it was a part of his design to preach the gospel to the Gentiles, and not confine his labours to them only. On these accounts their favour was soon turned to wrath, and the whole transaction shows us: 1. That popular applause is of little value. 2. That the

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