Matthew 4:3-4

FIRST TEMPTATION. Matthew 4:3-4. If thou art the Son of God. The emphasis rests on ‘Son.' On any theory the tempter meant by ‘Son,' what our Lord had been declared to be at His baptism. That he would not have dared to tempt Jesus, had he known who He, was, is an unwarranted supposition. The language implies more of taunt than of doubt. Malicious taunting is more like Satan than ignorant doubting.

Command that, lit., ‘speak in order that' these stones may become bread, lit., loaves.' A challenge to the hungering Messiah to display His miraculous power, as if he had said, Can the Son of God hunger? The tempter sought to overcome His trust in God. The demand was for magic, rather than miracle. What Satan suggested resembles not the miracles of the Gospels, but the legends of the Apocryphal Gospels, and many ‘Lives of the saints.'