ST LUKE
CHAPTER 4
Jesus fasts forty days and is tempted of the devil—He announces his divine sonship in Nazareth and is rejected—He casts out a devil in Capernaum, heals Peter’s mother-in-law, and preaches and heals throughout Galilee.
[ v1-13 Luke's account here differs from the account found in Matthew slightly in the order the temptations are presented. some discussion has gone on in scholarly circles about which is the chronologically correct version. I believe that Matthew's account order indicates the adversary attacking Jesus' faith in his own sonship first, and then changing tactics with the third temptation when the first two fail. As the fast followed the exaltation of the son in the flesh, that was the main thing on his mind, and the primary target of the adversary. It better fits the context that the adversary's primary attacks be on his sonship. Luke splits the two sonship questions, with the world dominion offer in between. This doesn't fit the context, as only after the adversary realizes that Jesus is confidant of his sonship would he abandon that tactic and make such an offer as an escape route from the rigors of the Atonement. One could also conclude that since Matthew was an apostle he would be better acquainted with Jesus' early ministry than was Luke, as Luke apparently became a disciple late in Jesus ministry, perhaps after the Crucifixion. ]
1 AND Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost [ Which is what should happen after we are baptized. ] returned from Jordan, and was led by the Spirit [ Matthew says, avhcqh, he was brought up. Mark says, the Spirit driveth him ekballei-putteth him forth. But each of the evangelists attributes this to the Holy Ghost, not to Satan. It was the spirit of God that drew him to the wilderness, to be further purified and prepared. ] into the wilderness,
[ A place where he is alone,a place to cut off all distraction from the world. A place for him where it would be just him and the angels of God. ]
2 Being forty days [ In Hebrew numerology means “the amount of time needed to accomplish what needs to be accomplished.” It may be an actual forty days and forty nights, but it is not meant to be taken literally. Examples: It rains for forty days and forty nights; Moses is upon the Mount for forty days and forty nights; Jesus is in the wilderness communing with God for forty days and forty nights; Jonah has to teach the people of Nineveh for forty days and forty nights—each signifying the length of time needed to accomplish what needed to be accomplished. ] tempted of the devil. And in those days he did eat nothing: and when they were ended, he afterward hungered.
3 And the devil said unto him, If thou be the son of God, [ The adversary suggests that doing so would allow you to eat, since you are hungry, and two it would show your great power, if you have it. Answering it would have meant that the Savior exercised his priesthood power in a selfish act, one that would benefit himself only as he was the only on ethat was hungry. In addition; proving to Satan that he did have the power would have meant that he had stepped down to Satans level, that he felt that he needed to prove to Satan anything, verses just knowing for himself was good enough for he and God. ] command this stone that it be made bread.
4 And Jesus answered him, saying, It is written, That man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.
5 And the devil, taking him up into an high mountain, shewed unto him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time.
[ So is this like what God showed to Moses when he saw the entire life span of the world in a few seconds of time he saw everything that would happen. Or was this Satan showing Jesus his kingdoms and the reason for it only being a moment was because that was as long as they would last? ]
6 And the devil said unto him, All this power will I give thee, and the glory of them: [ This is the very definition of who he is, is this not what he was after all along? Power and glory for himself alone? ] for that is delivered unto me; [ Who or where was it delivered unto Satan? ] and to whomsoever I will I give it. [ Is he not called the tempter? So don't fall for everything that he says. CAn you picture Jesus who understands everything saying with a big smile. Well they are not yours to give in the first place, and in the end they will be mine anyway. ]
7 If thou therefore wilt worship me, all shall be thine.[ This temptation is the last in order, as related by Matthew; and it is not reasonable to suppose that any other succeeded to it. Luke has here told the particulars, but not in the order in which they took place. See Matthew 4 for more info. ].
8 And Jesus answered and said unto him, Get thee behind me, Satan: [ What we fail to often recognize is that this is quoted aprocryphal messaging. It is associated with Satan and the Savior in the very beginning. In some of the apocrypha Satan was born first, he wanted it all for himself, he did not want to follow God, and there was no way he was going to be after Jesus as he was the older one. Almost as if he(the Savior) is remembering "this is what started it all in the beginning". Don't try to go there - who is the best, who is first, who's the eldest, who is the primary apostle. Jesus is trying to emphasize "not my will but thine", this is the kind of person that God is looking for. (see also Mark 8:33; Matt 16:23) ] for it is written, [ This is a clue for us here. Jesus is referencing something that is written, so we must ask ourselves where is this written? Well is that written in the old testament? It's not that I know of but it is written in stories of the apocrypha. ] Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.
9 And he brought him to Jerusalem, and set him on a pinnacle of the temple, and said unto him, If thou be the son of God, cast thyself down from hence:
13 And when the devil had ended all the temptation, he [ Satan. ] departed from him [ Jesus. ] for a season.
[ Not forever, but for a short period of time. ]
14 ¶ And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit [ In part because he had overcome the temptations of the Devil. Now he is returning home to begin his mortal ministry. ] into Galilee: and there went out a fame of him through all the region round about.
16 ¶ And he came to Nazareth, [ Jesus goes to the place where he had been raised. ] where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, [ This gives us some idea of what the Lord did on the sabbath for the past 18 years since he was in the synagogue the last tim ein this record - we get an idea of what he was used to doing on the sabbath day. He went to the synagogue and he read and studied the Law. ] and stood up for to read.[ The Jews, in general, sat while they taught or commented on the Sacred Writings, or the traditions of the elders; but when they read either the law or the prophets they invariably stood up: it was not lawful for them even to lean against any thing while employed in reading. ].
17 And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias. [ Isaiah. ] And when he [ Jesus. ] had opened the book,[ "anaptuzav" or When he had unrolled it. in all the Jewish synagogues, are written on skins of basil, parchment, or vellum, sewed end to end, and rolled on two rollers, beginning at each end; so that, in reading from right to left, they roll off with the left, while they roll on with the right. ], he found the place where it was written, [ So Jesus stands to read the asks for the Isaiah scroll amd starts skimming the scroll until he has turned to Isaiah 61:1-2 which reads: 1 THE Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound;
2 To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn; What are the differences between what is said in Isaiah and what is said here? First he omits "the day of vengeance of our God" saving that for verses 23-27 instead he is trying to present the more positive light of his purpose, the good news of the gospel and the mercy that is brought about by the gospel. ]
2 To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn; What are the differences between what is said in Isaiah and what is said here? First he omits "the day of vengeance of our God" saving that for verses 23-27 instead he is trying to present the more positive light of his purpose, the good news of the gospel and the mercy that is brought about by the gospel. ]
18 The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, [ Christ - this verse is being quoted here from Isa 61:1. When he says me here he means me. ] because he, [ Elohim or God the Father. ] hath anointed [ Deals with his calling or mission, he alone was anointed and called for this purpose. What was he anointed to do? Jesus begins here to declared some of his mission: We already learned in John 1 that his first mission was to create the earth. Here he is suggesting that in addition he has missions of 2) Teach the plan of salvation and set an example in all things 3) Work out the Atonement 4) Commence work for the dead Later we will learn that his last and probably his hardest 5) mission will be The Father has committed him to be our Judge John 5:22 ] me [ Christ. ] to preach the gospel to the poor;[ Isa 61:1 says "preach good tidings unto the meek" so we we talk about meek and poor to him would he be referring? the meek are those that are submissive and humble. ] he hath sent me to heal [ If we continue to read from Isa 61:1 it says "he hath sent me to bind" so what do the words heal and bind teach us about the mission of the Savior? heal those that accept the gospel covenants are bound up and healed. Bound to what? Healed from what? ] the brokenhearted, [ The repentant and contrite this was accomplished by the atonement ], to preach deliverance to the captives, [ Who are the captives to which he speaks? If we continue with Isa 61:1 "to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound;" What is the deliverance that he is addressing here, deliverance from what? In Isaiah this verse reads proclaim liberty. Well for starters they have to understand what the gospel message is before they can accept it. ] and recovering of sight to the blind,.
[ Both physically and spiritually. In this context it is most notable that this is one of his missions to teach the truth to those who are searching. ], to set at liberty them that are bruised, [ Reference to the fact that Satan shall have power to bruise his heal, he will be able to bruise all of us, but we have the agency through repentance to over come and be freed through the atonement. Isa 61:1 "opening of the prison to them that are bound;" see D&C 138:12- ]
19 To preach the acceptable year of the Lord [ Or the time that the Lord has deemed as the time when mercy claim her reward and a time when
justice shall claim her reward. "vindication", It is not just a day for the destruction of the wicked, it is also a day for the blessing of the just. Isa 61:2"and the day of vengeance ([)"and the day of vengeance" or "vindication", the setting of things aright. The KJV rendering "vengeance" does not accurately present the intended meaning. It is not just a day for the destruction of the wicked, it is also a day for the blessing of the just.) ].
20 And he closed the book, [ Wound the scroll back up, tjos would have taken a few minutes to do. Notice how Luke is painting a picture of time, capturing every thing that Jesus does. Most likely because every eye was fixed on every move that Christ made they were all burnt into his mind. ] and he gave it again to the minister, [ A purposeful action. ] and sat down. [ He was done, he rested, he made the point. They typically stood to read and then sit down to discuss. ] And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him. [ "atenizontev autw" or Were attentively fixed on him ]
21 And he began to say unto them, [ Can you feel the atmosphere in the room here? Jesus only starts to speak and the little discussions are going on everywhere. ] This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.
[ Wait, What did he just say, they would have all been in awe. Did he just say that he was the Messiah? How bold? Is it true? Our local boy is the Messiah. What? ]
22 And all bare him witness, and wondered [ Greek - marveled. ] at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth. And they said, Is not this Joseph’s son?
[ This is just the son of Joseph the stone mason, carpenter. ]
23 And he said unto them, Ye will surely say unto me this proverb, Physician, heal thyself: whatsoever we have heard done in Capernaum, do also here in thy country.
[ In other words confirm the rumors, let us see you do what we have been hearing about. We want to see all of it. Prove it. ]
24 And he said, Verily I say unto you, No prophet is accepted in his own country. [ And how does he answer? No. He has in a sense called them out. ]
25 But I tell you of a truth, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elias, [ 1 Kings 17:1-9, compared with 1 Kings 18:1-45. It's it's telling you that the Elias is Elijah because it's using the history of Elijah and making that connection to to Elias. Elijah is with a with a spirit if you will of Elias or as an Elias And I think that's what that's the way I interpret there can be the actual man named Elias and/or someone acting as an Elias. This was evidently a miraculous interference, as no rain fell for three years and six months, even in the rainy seasons. There were two of these in Judea, called the first and the latter rains; the first fell in October, the latter in April: the first prepared the ground for the seed, the latter ripened the harvest. As both these rains were withheld, consequently there was a great famine throughout all the land. ] when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, when great famine was throughout all the land;
26 But unto none of them was Elias sent, save unto Sarepta, [ Zarephath. ] a city of Sidon, unto a woman that was a widow. [ So he went outside of the kingdom. And in case you don't know where I am going with this Christ then will provide a second example. Reference tp the story What is the story of Elijah and the widow of Zarephath. ]
27 And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Eliseus [ Greek for Elisah. ] the prophet; and none of them was cleansed, saving Naaman the Syrian. [ In this and the previous example neither of them were members. These blessings were extended to Gentiles instead of Jews. ]
28 And all they in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with wrath,
[ This is what made the people mad. Jesus has in a way just called them out. He has suggested that those who were not Jews, those who were not of the so called chosen race were blessed and acknowledged above the Jews. How dare he say such things. ]
29 And rose up, and thrust him out of the city, [ This was done with force. Why were they so angry? Because he said that ge was the Messiah? No they were in awe of that statement. nut in verse 23- 28 they wanted him to prove it and he flat out said no. That is when the became really upset.] and led him unto the brow of the hill whereon their city was built, that they might cast him down headlong.
30 But he passing through the midst of them [ Either Jesus shut their eyes so that they could not see him; or his power overwhelmed the group in such a way as to leave them no strength to perform their murderous purpose. ] went his way,
[ How did he simply escape? It was not his time and so he just left. ]
31 And came down to Capernaum, [ Or this is where he began to establish his residence. ], a city of Galilee, and taught them on the sabbath days.
32 And they were astonished at his doctrine: for his word was with power.[ "en exousia" or with authority. ].
33 ¶ And in the synagogue there was a man, which had a spirit of an unclean devil, and cried out with a loud voice,
34 Saying, Let us alone; what have we to do with thee, thou Jesus of Nazareth? art thou come to destroy us? I know thee who thou art; [ These unclean spirits know exactly who he is but the do not want to act upon that knowledge. They have perfect knowledge who he is, he is the one that cast them out of pre-mortality; but they lack any faith in him. ] the Holy One of God.
35 And Jesus rebuked him, saying, Hold thy peace, and come out of him. And when the devil had thrown him in the midst, he came out of him, and hurt him not.
36 And they were all amazed, and spake among themselves, saying, What a word is this! [ What power and authority he has. ] for with authority and power he commandeth the unclean spirits, and they come out.
37 And the fame [ "hcov" or the sound. ] of him went out into every place of the country round about.
38 ¶ And he arose out of the synagogue, and entered into Simon’s house. And Simon’s wife’s mother was taken with a great fever; and they besought him for her.
[ Lukes account is a little different in the Christ heals Simon's mother in law before Simon is called as a disciple. Mark and Matthew have Simon called as a disciple first. Who is right? We don't know for sure but this does put a twist on the story. ]
39 And he stood over her, and rebuked the fever; and it left her: and immediately she arose and ministered unto them.
40 ¶ Now when the sun was setting,[ And consequently the Sabbath ended, for before this it would have been unlawful to have brought their sick to be healed. ], all they that had any sick with divers diseases brought them unto him; and he laid his hands on every one of them, and healed them.
41 And devils also came out of many, crying out, and saying, Thou art Christ the son of God. And he rebuking them suffered them not to speak: for they knew that he was Christ.
42 And when it was day, he departed and went into a desert place: and the people sought him, [ "epezhtoun" earnestly sought ], and came unto him, and stayed him,[ "kateicon auton" they caught hold of him, tried to detain him; .], that he should not depart from them.