Tested in the wilderness, light in Galilee: the temptation and the first disciples

Matthew 4 holds three scenes that mark the start of Jesus' public work: the temptation, the move to Galilee and the call of the first disciples. Matthew wrote for readers who knew the Old Testament well and who were likely Jewish Christians (see the class on Matthew 1 for the debates over author, date and sources). The temptation is told in all the first three Gospels but at very different lengths. Mark has only two verses (Mark 1:12-13). Matthew and Luke give the three temptations in detail, with the same content but a different order: Matthew puts the temple before the kingdoms, Luke puts the kingdoms before the temple (Luke 4:1-13). Most scholars explain the shared material by a common source of sayings, usually called Q, though others explain it without Q. Why the order differs is not known. Luke, whose Gospel centers on Jerusalem, may have placed the temple scene last for that reason, while Matthew's order may follow a rising pattern ending on a mountain, a place of revelation in his Gospel.

The call of the first disciples is also told elsewhere. Mark's version is close to Matthew's (Mark 1:16-20). Luke tells of a miraculous catch of fish (Luke 5:1-11). John records an earlier meeting in which Andrew, who had been a disciple of John the Baptist, was first drawn to Jesus (John 1:35-42). Those who accept all as history take Matthew and Mark as a summary of a call that came after earlier meetings.

The setting is Galilee, the northern region of Palestine ruled by Herod Antipas. The Sea of Galilee, a freshwater lake about thirteen miles long, was ringed by towns, and fishing was an important local trade. Capernaum was a lakeside town on a main road, which carried traffic and news. 'Galilee of the Gentiles' reminds the reader that the region had a mixed population and that the Decapolis, a league of Greek-style cities, lay across the lake. Jesus had left Nazareth after John's arrest and made Capernaum his base.

Matthew 4 is narrative in which the most important lines are the quotations. In the temptation, Jesus does not argue or explain. He quotes. Each answer comes from the book of Deuteronomy, from the section in which Moses reminds Israel of the forty years in the wilderness (Deuteronomy 6-8). The point is the match between Israel and Jesus. Israel was God's 'son' (Exodus 4:22-23), was led into the wilderness for forty years to be tested and failed. Jesus is led by the Spirit into the wilderness for forty days, is tested and does not fail. A reader who hears the quotations hears the echo.

Two principles follow.

• First, the temptations are about what kind of Son and king Jesus will be. The devil's repeated 'If You are the Son of God' comes straight after the Father's declaration at the baptism, 'This is My beloved Son' (3:17). The Greek construction does not express doubt; it assumes the sonship and asks how he will use it.
• Second, read the devil's own use of Scripture carefully. In the second temptation the devil quotes Psalm 91:11-12, which is real Scripture, and Jesus answers by quoting another text. The lesson is that a verse cannot be pulled out of its context to serve a purpose that the whole Bible contradicts.

The chapter's second half is shaped by a fulfillment quotation (Isaiah 9:1-2) and a summary (4:23-25). Summaries like this one tell the reader what Jesus regularly did, as the background for the individual stories that follow.

Verses 1–2

'Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.' The Spirit who has just descended on him now leads him, so the testing is part of God's plan and not an accident. 'Tempted' translates peirazo, which can mean 'test' or 'tempt' depending on who does it; God tests to prove and the devil tempts to destroy, and here both are present. Forty days and nights recall Moses on Sinai (Exodus 34:28) and Elijah on the way to Horeb (1 Kings 19:8). They also recall Israel's forty years.

Verses 3–4

The tempter says, 'If You are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.' Jesus is hungry, and using his power to feed himself would not be sinful on its face. The temptation is to act as Son apart from the Father's will. Jesus answers with Deuteronomy 8:3: 'Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.' In Deuteronomy Moses said that God let Israel go hungry and then fed them with manna to teach them this. Israel grumbled; Jesus does not.

Verses 5–7

The devil takes him to 'the pinnacle of the temple'. The exact place is uncertain, but it was a high point of the temple complex above a drop to the valley. The devil quotes Psalm 91:11-12 about angels bearing up the righteous. Jesus replies, 'Do not put the Lord your God to the test' (Deuteronomy 6:16). In Deuteronomy the reference is to Massah, where Israel demanded proof that God was among them (Exodus 17:1-7). To jump and expect rescue would be to demand that proof. Trusting God does not require him to prove himself on request.

Verses 8–11

The devil shows him 'all the kingdoms of the world and their glory' from a high mountain and offers them for worship. The offer is real in the sense that the devil is called the ruler of this world elsewhere (John 12:31), but the price is the allegiance that belongs to God alone. Jesus says, 'Away from Me, Satan!' and quotes Deuteronomy 6:13: 'Worship the Lord your God and serve Him only.' The same kingdoms are later given to Jesus by the Father, without the devil's price (Matthew 28:18). The devil leaves, and angels minister to Jesus.

Verses 12–17

After John's arrest, Jesus withdraws to Galilee and moves from Nazareth to Capernaum 'in the region of Zebulun and Naphtali'. Matthew quotes Isaiah 9:1-2. In Isaiah's day, Naphtali is named among the first territories to fall to Assyria (2 Kings 15:29), so the oracle promises that the region that first suffered would see light. 'Galilee of the Gentiles' recalls its mixed population. Matthew says the light has dawned. 'From that time on Jesus began to preach, Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.' The words are those of John (3:2), now spoken by the one who brings the kingdom.

Verses 18–22

Jesus sees Simon called Peter and Andrew casting a net, and James and John with their father Zebedee mending nets. His call is short: 'Come, follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.' The call is not an invitation to study under a teacher. Later Jewish sources suggest that students normally chose their teacher; here the teacher chooses. The response is immediate: they leave nets, boat and, for James and John, their father. The urgency shows the claim Jesus makes on a person's life.

Verses 23–25

Matthew summarises his work with three verbs: teaching in synagogues, 'preaching the gospel of the kingdom' and healing. The healings include disease, pain, demon possession, seizures and paralysis. Crowds come from Galilee, the Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea and across the Jordan, which means from Jewish and Gentile lands alike. The summary prepares for the Sermon on the Mount (chapters 5-7), which is teaching, and the miracles of chapters 8-9, which are healing.

The temptation teaches that the Son of God is also truly human, tested as humans are. Hebrews 2:18 and 4:15 draw this out: because he was tempted, he is able to help those who are tempted, and he was tempted in every way yet without sin. The church has confessed that Christ is fully God and fully man, and the temptation shows what that means in practice. He is hungry, he is offered shortcuts and he refuses them by trusting his Father's word.

The chapter also teaches the place of Scripture in resisting evil. Jesus answers each time with the written word, and each answer comes from the book that addresses Israel's own failure. The doctrine of Scripture's authority is not argued here; it is assumed, and it is used. The Bible also shows the devil as a real adversary who knows Scripture and misuses it.

Finally, the chapter points to the kingdom. Jesus preaches that the kingdom is near, and the rest of the chapter shows what that looks like: darkness yields to light, fishermen are called to follow, the sick are healed. The kingdom is God's rule arriving in the person of the King. The Bible treats this rule as present in Jesus and yet still to come in fullness, a tension that runs through the Gospels.

Matthew 4 presents Jesus as the true Israel and the faithful Son. The match with Deuteronomy is deliberate. Israel was tested for forty years and failed at each point the devil now uses: hunger (Exodus 16), testing God at Massah (Exodus 17) and idolatry with the golden calf (Exodus 32). Jesus meets the same tests and holds. This is typology, the pattern in which Israel's story prepares for a greater one. The Gospel's earlier chapters have already used it: 'Out of Egypt I called My Son' (2:15) and the waters of baptism (chapter 3).

The chapter also presents him as King, because the devil's third offer is of the world's kingdoms without the cross. Jesus refuses a throne without suffering, and Matthew shows at the end that all authority in heaven and on earth is given to him (28:18). As Light, he fulfils Isaiah 9:1-2. In the next verses of Isaiah the same light comes in the form of a child on David's throne (Isaiah 9:6-7), and John's Gospel calls Jesus the light of the world (John 8:12).

He is also the one who calls. 'Follow Me' is a claim that no prophet makes of himself. In the Old Testament, Elijah called Elisha (1 Kings 19:19-21), but here the call is to follow Jesus himself, and the promise, 'I will make you fishers of men', is that he will give them a share in his work. That is a claim about his authority that Matthew leaves unexplained for now.