John Gill Commentary Luke 4

And Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost
The Spirit of God having descended on him at his baptism, and afresh anointed, and filled his human nature with his gifts, whereby, as man, he was abundantly furnished for the great work of the public ministry, he was just about to enter upon; yet must first go through a series of temptations, and which, through the fulness of the Holy Spirit in him, he was sufficiently fortified against.

Returned from Jordan ;
where he came, and had been with John, and was baptized by him; which, when over, he went back from the same side of Jordan, to which he came:

and was led by the Spirit ;
the same Spirit, or Holy Ghost he was full of; (See Gill on Matthew 4:1)

into the wilderness ;
of Judea, which lay near Jordan, and where John had been preaching and baptizing, namely, in the habitable: part of it: but this was that part, which was uninhabited by men, and was infested with wild beasts, and where Christ could neither have the comfort and benefit of human society, nor any thing for the sustenance of life, and where he was exposed to the utmost danger; and so in circumstances very opportune and favourable for Satan to ply him with his temptations, for which purpose he was led thither.

Being forty days tempted of the devil
The Vulgate Latin, Syriac, Persic, and Ethiopic versions read the phrase, "forty days", in connection with the latter part of the preceding verse; according to which the sense is, that Jesus was led by the Spirit forty days in the wilderness, before he was tempted by Satan, and in order to it: but our reading is confirmed by (Mark 1:13) who affirms, as here, that he was so long tempted by Satan; as he might be invisibly, and, by internal suggestions, before he appeared visibly, and attacked him openly, with the following temptations. The Ethiopic version adds, "and forty nights": and such were these days in which Christ was in the wilderness, and fasted, and was tempted there: they were such as included nights, as well as days; see (Matthew 4:2)

and in those days he did eat nothing
not any sort of food whatever; he tasted of no kind of eatables or drinkables, during the whole space of forty days; nor in the nights neither, in which the Jews allowed persons to eat in times of fasting; (See Gill on Matthew 4:2). And this entire abstinence, as it shows the power of Christ in the supporting of his human nature, without food, for such a time, and the disadvantages under which, as man, combated with Satan; so, that this fast was never designed as an example to his followers, and to be imitated by them:

and when they were ended ;
the forty days, and forty nights:

he afterward hungered ;
which he did not before; and which shows the truth of his human nature; and is mentioned to observe the occasion of the following temptation, and the advantage on the tempter's side.

And the devil said to him
Who now visibly appeared, and spoke to him with an articulate voice:

if you are the Son of God ;
as has been just now declared by a voice from heaven; or seeing you are in such a relation to God, and so equal to him, and possessed of all divine perfections, and among the rest, of almighty power; wherefore, since you are hungry, and in a wilderness, where no food is to be had,

command this stone that it be made bread ;
say but the word, and this stone, which he held out to him, or pointed at, as lying before them, or any one of the stones, which were in sight, for Matthew speaks of them in the plural number, will immediately be converted into bread, if he was what he was said to be: this he suggests might easily be effected by him, and he had no need to continue hungry.

And Jesus answered him, saying, it is written
In (Deuteronomy 8:3)

that man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God;
suggesting hereby, that when it is the will of God, human nature may be maintained by the influence of divine power, without the use of ordinary means; and that bread itself, without a divine blessing, would not support life; and so not this stone, or stones, if turned into it.

Therefore, it became him, as man, to depend upon God, submit to his will, and wait the issue of providence, who had brought him thither.

And not take any such steps to remove his hunger; and especially at his solicitations, who had no other end, but to have him, if he could, at his beck and will.

By "every word of God", is not meant all Scripture, and every part of it, which is given by inspiration of God, and may be said to proceed out of his mouth; neither the law, and the precepts of it, as the Jews interpret it, by obedience to which the Israelites lived in the land Canaan; nor the Gospel, and the truths of it, which are the wholesome words of Christ, and the words of faith and good doctrine, with which believers are nourished, and are that to the soul, as bread, or any other wholesome food, is to the body; for of spiritual living, and the means of that, the text is not to be understood;

but either of the word of God's power, by which he upholds and sustains all things in being, which he has created; and with which he could, if he would, support the bodies of men without the use of any sort of food; as the bodies of Moses and Elijah, and now the body of Christ, were for many days; and as the bodies of the saints will be after the resurrection, to all eternity: or else the blessing of God, which he commands on bread, and other food, and the virtue and strength which he puts into them, and conveys by them, are meant, without which, no sort of food is nourishing; or rather every thing which God declares and orders to be eaten, even every creature of his which is good, and not to be refused, but received, with thanksgiving, being sanctified by the word of God, and prayer, as well as bread; so manna, which is mentioned in the text in Deuteronomy; and likewise any other food, as pulse and water, he is pleased to direct to.

Some little difference there is between Matthew and Luke, in citing this passage; in the latter it is, "by every word of God"; and in the former it is nearer the Hebrew text in (Deuteronomy 8:3) "by, every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God"; and so some copies read here, as do also the Arabic and Ethiopic versions: but neither of them have the words exactly as in the original text, where it is added, "does man live"; which, doubtless, were not produced by our Lord, as being unnecessary, and therefore not mentioned by any of the evangelists.

And the devil taking him up into an high mountain
Somewhere near Jerusalem, but what mountain is not certain. The Evangelist Luke makes this to be the second temptation, which, with Matthew, is the third and last; and whose order seems to be more proper and natural than this, and to be the true and genuine one, which Luke neglects, though he does not contradict it: he relates matters of fact, without attending to the strict order of them; whereas Matthew strictly regards it, observing, that after the first temptation, "then the devil taketh him" and that being finished, says, "again the devil taketh him" and upon those words, "get thee hence", with what follows, remarks, that then the devil leaveth him: all which show, that his order is the most accurate, and to be followed.

But to go on with the account; the devil having taken him from the pinnacle of the temple, and carried him to some high mountain, as Lebanon, or Pisgah, or some other near Jerusalem, showed unto him all the kingdoms of the world; not of the Roman empire only, though that consisted of many kingdoms, and is called the whole world, (Luke 2:1) where the same word is used, as here; but of the whole universe, every kingdom that was under the heavens; which he represented to Christ, not in a map, since the glory of them could not be described in that way: for

he showed him all the glory of them ,
as Matthew adds; and for this a mountain was no more a proper place, than any other; nor was, it any real object he presented to his bodily sight, or any real prospect he gave him of the kingdoms of the world, which are not to be seen from any one place, no not one of them, not even from the highest mountain in the world, and still less to be seen together at once in a moment: but this was a mere phantasm, a deception of the sight, with which he endeavoured to impose on Christ, but could not; nor did Christ; who is the maker of the world, and the governor among the nations, need any representation of the kingdoms of the world from him, (See Gill on Matthew 4:8) and this he did in a moment of time; in the twinkling of an eye, not by succession, and in process of time, as one kingdom after another, but all at once, and in an instant: what a moment of time is, (See Gill on Matthew 4:8).