Luke 4:1

Luke 4:1-13. The Temptation

1. being full of the Holy Ghost Omit -being." St Luke often calls special attention to the work of the Spirit, Luke 3:22; Luke 4:14; Acts 6:3; Acts 7:55; Acts 11:24. The expression alludes to the outpouring of the Spirit upon Jesus at His baptism, John 3:34. The narrative should be compared with Matthew 4:1-11; Mark 1:12-13. St John, who narrates mainly what he had himself seen, omits the temptation.

returned Rather, went away.

was led A divine impulse led him to face the hour of peril alone. St Mark uses the more intense expression, "immediately the Spirit driveth Him forth." He only devotes two verses (Mark 1:12-13) to the Temptation, but adds the graphic touch that "He was with the wild beasts" (comp. Psalms 91:13), and implies the continuousministration of angels (diekonoun) to Him.

by the Spirit Rather, in the Spirit, comp. Luke 2:27. The phrase emphasizes the "full of the Holy Ghost," and has the same meaning as "in the power of the Spirit," Luke 4:14,

"Thou Spirit, who ledd'st this glorious eremite

Into the desert, his victorious field

Against the spiritual foe, and brought'st Him thence

By proof the undoubted Son of God."

Milton, Par. Reg. i.

into the wilderness Rather, in. He was -in the Spirit" during the whole period. The scene of the temptation is supposed to be the mountain near Jericho, thence called Quarantania. The tradition is not ancient, but the site is very probable, being rocky, bleak, and repellent

"A pathless desert, dusk with horrid shades."

Milton.

Scripture everywhere recognises the need of solitude and meditation on the eve of great work for God (Exo 24:2; 1 Kings 19:4; Galatians 1:17), and this would be necessary to the human nature of our Lord also.