_And Jesus, being full of the Holy Ghost, &c., was led up of the Spirit into the wilderness_, &c. Supposed by some to have been in Judea; by others to have been the great desert of Horeb, or Sinai, where the children of Israel were tried for forty years, and Moses and Elijah fasted forty days. Here... [ Continue Reading ]
_Being forty days tempted_ According to Luke here, and Mark 1:12, he was tempted of Satan during the whole of these forty days; but we are favoured with no account of the various subtle arts which that evil spirit used in the course of so long a temptation. Only the three assaults which he made at t... [ Continue Reading ]
_The devil said, If thou be the Son of God_, &c. For an explanation of this whole paragraph, see notes on Matthew 4:3. _The devil taketh him up into a high mountain_, &c. This temptation, which stands here as the second, is by Matthew placed the last of the three. To reconcile the evangelists, it ma... [ Continue Reading ]
_When the devil had ended, &c., he departed from him for a season_ This implies that he assaulted him afterward, which, if not before, he certainly did in the garden of Gethsemane, Luke 22:53, where Jesus saith to the Jews, _This is your hour, and the power of darkness._ When the tempter was gone, a... [ Continue Reading ]
_Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee_ Being more abundantly strengthened after his conflict; and prepared to exercise his ministry with success, and to confirm his doctrine by miracles. _And there went out a fame of him through all the region_ Now that he was come, the fame of the... [ Continue Reading ]
_There was delivered to him the book of Esaias_ A paragraph of the law having, according to custom, been read before. See on Acts 13:15. _When he had opened the book_ Αναπτυξας, _having unrolled_ the volume of _the book._ The books of the ancients, as is well known, consisted of one long sheet of pa... [ Continue Reading ]
_And he closed the book, and gave it again to the minister_ Τω υπηρετη, _to the servant_, who had brought it to him. “From the manner in which we apply the word _minister_, in speaking of our churches, the English reader is apt to be led into a mistake by the common version, and to consider the word... [ Continue Reading ]
_And all_ the congregation _bare him witness, and wondered at the gracious words_, &c. By this it appears, that our Lord proved and illustrated his assertion, (that the passage he had read was that day fulfilled,) in a discourse of considerable length, the subject of which only is mentioned by Luke.... [ Continue Reading ]
_And he said, Ye will surely say_ That is, your approbation now outweighs your prejudices. But it will not be so long. You will soon ask, why my love does not begin at home? why I do not work miracles here, rather than at Capernaum? It is because of your unbelief. Nor is it any new thing for a messe... [ Continue Reading ]
_Many widows were in Israel in the days of Elias_, &c. “By putting them thus in mind of Elijah's miracle in behalf of the widow of Sarepta, a heathen inhabitant of a heathen city, in a time of famine, while many widows of Israel were suffered to starve; and of Elisha's miracle on Naaman the Syrian l... [ Continue Reading ]
_And all they in the synagogue were filled with wrath_ The Nazarenes, perceiving the purport of his discourse, namely, that the blessings which they despised would be offered to, and accepted by, the Gentiles, were enraged to such a pitch, that, forgetting the sanctity of the sabbath, they gathered... [ Continue Reading ]
_And came down to Capernaum_ And dwelt there, entirely quitting his abode at Nazareth, in consequence of the rude treatment which he met with from his townsmen. Here let it be observed, that by settling in Capernaum our Lord fulfilled Isaiah's prophecy, Isaiah 9:1, which elegantly describes the effe... [ Continue Reading ]
See this paragraph explained at large in the notes on Mark 1:23. _What have we to do with thee_ Thy present business is with men, not with devils. _I know thee who thou art_ But did he, did even the prince of devils know Jesus, some time before, when he dared to say to him, Luke 4:6, _All this power... [ Continue Reading ]
_He entered into Simon's house_ See notes on Matthew 8:14; and Mark 1:29. _When the sun was setting_ And consequently the sabbath ended, which they considered as continuing from sunset to sunset; _all that had any sick brought them_ Fully persuaded that he could and would heal them; which he accordi... [ Continue Reading ]