Luke 4:2

2 for 40 days to be tempted by the Devil. He ate nothing during those days, and when they were over,^[a] He was hungry.

Luke 4:2 Meaning and Commentary

Luke 4:2

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.

Luke 4:2 In-Context

1 Then Jesus returned from the Jordan, full of the Holy Spirit, and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness

2 for 40 days to be tempted by the Devil. He ate nothing during those days, and when they were over, He was hungry.

3 The Devil said to Him, "If You are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread."

4 But Jesus answered him, "It is written: Man must not live on bread alone. "

5 So he took Him up and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time.

Footnotes

• [a] Lit were completed