Charles Ellicott Commentary Matthew 4:11

"Then the devil leaveth him; and behold, angels came and ministered unto him." — Matthew 4:11 (ASV)

Angels came and ministered to him — The tenses of the two verbs differ, with the latter implying continued or repeated ministry. Here we are in the realm of the spiritual life and must be content to leave the nature of this service undefined, instead of sensualizing it as poets and artists have done.

What is instructive is that the help of their service—the contrast between the calm and beauty of their presence and that of the wild beasts and the Tempter—comes as the reward for the abnegation that refused to make their ministry the subject of an experimental test.

In this, we also find notable parallels. The fact recorded by Saint Matthew explains the words recorded by Saint John only a few days later, which speak of the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man (John 1:51).

The words with which Saint Luke ends his record of the Temptation may also be noted here: And having finished every temptation, the devil departed from him for a season (literally, till a season). The conflict was not yet over and was renewed from time to time—now in the passionate plea of the disciple (Matthew 16:22), now in the open enmity of the prince of this world (John 12:31; John 14:30).