And saith unto him, if thou be the Son of God
He addresses him after the same manner as before; if, or seeing,
thou art the Son of God,
show thyself to be so; give proof of thy sonship before all the
priests which are in and about the temple, and before all the
inhabitants of Jerusalem;
cast thyself down
that is, from the pinnacle of the temple: for since thou art the
Son of God, no hurt will come to thee; thou wilt be in the utmost
safety; and this will at once be a full demonstration to all the
people, that thou art the Son of God: for hither Satan brought
him, hoping to have got an advantage of him publicly; otherwise,
had his view only been to have got him to cast himself down from
any place of eminence, and so to have destroyed himself, he might
have set him upon any other precipice; but he chose to have it
done in the sight of the people, and in the holy city, and holy
place. Let it be observed, that Satan did not offer to cast him
down himself; for this was not in his power, nor within his
permission, which reached only to tempt; and besides, would not
have answered his end; for that would have been his own sin, and
not Christ's: accordingly, we may observe, that when he seeks the
lives of men, he does not attempt to destroy them himself, but
always puts them upon doing it. To proceed, Satan not only argues
from his divine power, as the Son of God, that he would be safe
in casting himself down; but observing the advantageous use
Christ made of the scriptures, transforms himself into an angel
of light, and cites scripture too, to encourage him to this
action; assuring him of the protection of angels. The passage
cited is ( Psalms 91:11
Psalms
91:12 ) which expresses God's tender care and concern for his
people, in charging the angels with the guardianship and
preservation of them, in all their ways, that they might be
secured from sin and danger. It does not appear that Satan was
wrong in the application of this passage to Christ; for since it
respects all the righteous in general, why not Christ as man? the
head, as well as the members? And certain it is, that angels had
the charge of him, did watch over him, and were a guard about
him; the angels of God ascended, and descended on him; they were
employed in preserving him from Herod's malice in his infancy;
they ministered to him here in the wilderness, and attended him
in his agony in the garden: but what Satan failed in, and that
wilfully, and wickedly, was, in omitting that part of it,
to keep thee in all thy ways;
which he saw was contrary to his purpose, and would have spoiled
his design at once; and also in urging this passage, which only
regards godly persons, in the way of their duty, to countenance
actions which are out of the way of a man's calling, or which he
is not called unto; and which are contrary to religion, and a
tempting God. Satan before tempted Christ to distrust the
providence of God, and now he tempts him to presume upon it: in
like manner he deals with men, when he argues from the doctrines
of predestination and providence to the disuse of means, for
their good, either for this life, or that which is to come; and
if he tempted the Son of God to destroy himself, it is no wonder
that the saints should be sometimes harassed with this
temptation.