--- title: "Matthew 4 - Study King James Bible with lightfoots commentary on the gospels" description: "Read Matthew 4 with lightfoots commentary on the gospels commentary. 1 Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. 2 And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterwa" image: "/_app/immutable/assets/missing.C7wGMEZ6.jpg" url: "https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/lightfoots-commentary-on-the-gospels/matthew/4" --- [ Read](/kjv/matthew/4)[ Commentary](/study/matthew/4)[ Interlinear](/interlinear/matthew/4) Audio 1 Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. 2 And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungred. 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. 5 Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple, 6 And saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in *their* hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone. 7 Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. 8 Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; 9 And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me. 10 Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. 11 Then the devil leaveth him, and, behold, angels came and ministered unto him. 12 ¶ Now when Jesus had heard that John was cast into prison, he departed into Galilee; 13 And leaving Nazareth, he came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is upon the sea coast, in the borders of Zabulon and Nephthalim: 14 That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, 15 The land of Zabulon, and the land of Nephthalim, *by* the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles; 16 The people which sat in darkness saw great light; and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death light is sprung up. 17 ¶ From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. 18 ¶ And Jesus, walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers. 19 And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. 20 And they straightway left *their* nets, and followed him. 21 And going on from thence, he saw other two brethren, James *the son* of Zebedee, and John his brother, in a ship with Zebedee their father, mending their nets; and he called them. 22 And they immediately left the ship and their father, and followed him. 23 ¶ And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people. 24 And his fame went throughout all Syria: and they brought unto him all sick people that were taken with divers diseases and torments, and those which were possessed with devils, and those which were lunatick, and those that had the palsy; and he healed them. 25 And there followed him great multitudes of people from Galilee, and *from* Decapolis, and *from* Jerusalem, and *from* Judaea, and *from* beyond Jordan. [Matthew 3](/study/matthew/3) [Matthew 5](/study/matthew/5) ## Commentary To verse 1 Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. [He was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted, *etc.*] the war, proclaimed of old in Eden between the serpent, and the seed of the serpent, and the seed of the woman, [Genesis 3:15](/kjv/genesis/3/15); now takes place; when that promised seed of the woman comes forth into the field (being initiated by baptism, and anointed by the Holy Ghost, unto the public office of his ministry) to fight with that old serpent, and at last to bruise his head. And, since the devil was always a most impudent spirit, now he takes upon him a more hardened boldness than ever, even of waging war with him whom he knew to be the Son of God, because from that ancient proclamation of this war he knew well enough that he should bruise his heel. The first scene or field of the combat was the ’desert of Judea,’ which Luke intimates, when he saith, that "Jesus returned from Jordan, and that he was led by the Spirit into the wilderness"; that is, from the same coast or region of Jordan in which he had been baptized. The *time* of his temptations was from the middle of the month Tisri to the end of forty days; that is, from the beginning of our month of October to the middle of November, or thereabouts: so that he conflicted with cold, as well as want and Satan. The *manner* of his temptations was twofold. First, invisibly, as the devil is wont to tempt sinners; and this for forty days: while the tempter endeavoured with all his industry to throw in his suggestions, if possible, into the mind of Christ, as he does to mortal men. Which when he could not compass, because he found ’nothing in him’ in which such a temptation might fix itself, [John 14:30](/kjv/john/14/30); he attempted another way, namely, by appearing to him in a visible shape, and conversing with him, and that in the form of an angel of light. Let the evangelists be compared. Mark saith, "he was tempted forty days": so also doth Luke: but Matthew, that "the tempter came to him after forty days"; that is, in a visible form. The *matter* of his temptations was very like the temptations of Eve. She fell by the "lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life": which are the heads of all sins, [1 John 2:16](/kjv/1-john/2/16). By "the lust of the eyes": for "she saw the fruit, that it was pleasant to the sight." By "the lust of the flesh": she lusted for it, because "it was desirable to be eaten." By "the pride of life"; not contented with the state of perfection wherein she was created, she affected a higher; and she "took of the fruit, and did eat," that she might become wiser by it. The same tempter set upon our Saviour with the same stratagems. I. As Eve was deceived by mistaking his person, supposing a good angel discoursed with her when it was a bad, so the devil in like manner puts on the good angel here, clothed with light and feigned glory. II. He endeavours to ensnare Christ by "the lust of the flesh"; "Command that these stones be made bread": by "the lust of the eye"; "All these things will I give thee, and the glory of them": by "the pride of life"; "’Throw thyself down,’ and fly in the air, and be held up by angels." ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#website","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com","name":"Real Bible Believers","description":"RBB","publisher":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#/schema/person/e966585dde703268e7f6ae890ea98509"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/search?q={search_term_string}","query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/lightfoots-commentary-on-the-gospels/matthew/4#primaryimage","inLanguage":"en-US","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/_app/immutable/assets/missing.C7wGMEZ6.jpg","contentUrl":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/_app/immutable/assets/missing.C7wGMEZ6.jpg","width":672,"height":448,"caption":"Real Bible Believers"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/lightfoots-commentary-on-the-gospels/matthew/4#webpage","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/lightfoots-commentary-on-the-gospels/matthew/4","name":"Matthew 4 - Study King James Bible with lightfoots commentary on the gospels","isPartOf":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/lightfoots-commentary-on-the-gospels/matthew/4#primaryimage"},"author":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#/schema/person/e966585dde703268e7f6ae890ea98509"},"description":"Read Matthew 4 with lightfoots commentary on the gospels commentary. 1 Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. 2 And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterwa","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/lightfoots-commentary-on-the-gospels/matthew/4#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/lightfoots-commentary-on-the-gospels/matthew/4"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/lightfoots-commentary-on-the-gospels/matthew/4#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/","name":"Home"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study","name":"Study Bible"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/lightfoots-commentary-on-the-gospels","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/lightfoots-commentary-on-the-gospels","name":"lightfoots commentary on the gospels"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":4,"item":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/lightfoots-commentary-on-the-gospels/matthew","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/lightfoots-commentary-on-the-gospels/matthew","name":"Matthew"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":5,"item":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/lightfoots-commentary-on-the-gospels/matthew/4","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/lightfoots-commentary-on-the-gospels/matthew/4","name":"4"}}]},{"@type":["Person","Organization"],"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#/schema/person/e966585dde703268e7f6ae890ea98509","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#personlogo","inLanguage":"en-US","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/android-chrome-512x512.png","contentUrl":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/android-chrome-512x512.png","width":512,"height":512},"logo":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#personlogo"},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/RBiblebeliever","https://www.facebook.com/RBibleBelievers"]}]} ```