Lucas 4

Lucas 4

Hughes comments that "By urging (Ed: commanding) Jesus to jump, Satan was trying to take advantage of Jesus’ twice-voiced determination to trust and obey God’s Word—“You are committed to obeying God’s Word, so obey this!”"....There may even have been a messianic overtone in Satan’s challenge because a later Rabbinic saying read: “Our teachers have taught, when the King, the Messiah, reveals himself, he will come and stand on the roof of the Temple” (Pesiqta rabbati, 36). Add to this the tendency of the godly to be attracted by the challenge to “step out in faith” and you can feel the tug of the temptation. In fact, refusal or even hesitancy in such situations could appear to be a lack of faith. It was a powerful, beguiling temptation. Satan was saying, in effect, “In the first temptations you have shown your trust in God’s Word. You are a faithful man—Psalm 91 is you! This is what the people are looking for in a Messiah. You are a man of faith, aren’t you? Just jump, and the whole world will see who you really are!” Really? Jesus thought otherwise. He knew that he had no word from the Father directing him to leap off the temple. He again recognized that as God’s Son he must never do anything in his own power, for that would be putting God to the test. (See Luke: That You May Know the Truth) Pinnacle (4419)(pterugion = diminutive of ptérux) means literally a little wing and figuratively as in the only NT uses (Lk 4:9, Mt 4:5) refers to anything like a wing, and hence signifies the pointed extremity of anything (tip, edge, apex, summit). It is the outermost or farthest point either vertically or horizontally. Pterugion is anything shaped like a wing and thus which come to a point as does a fin on a fish (Lxx for fin = pterugion in Lev. 11:9, 10, 12); the corner or skirt of a garment (Nu 15:38; 1 Sa 24:5). Thayer on pterugion - some understand this of the top or apex of the sanctuary (tou naou), others of the top of Solomon's porch, and others of the top of the Royal Portico; this last Josephus (Antiquities 15, 11, 5) says was of such great height Pterugion - 13 verses in the Septuagint - Ex. 39:19; Lev. 11:9; Lev. 11:10; Lev. 11:12; Nu 15:38; Dt. 14:9; Dt. 14:10; Ru 3:9; 1 Sam. 15:27; 1 Sa 24:4-5, 11 (edge of Saul's robe); 1 Ki. 6:24 Ruth 3:9+ He (Boaz) said, “Who are you?” And she answered, “I am Ruth your maid. So spread your covering (Hebrew = kanaph = wing, figuratively = garment, covering; Lxx = pterugion) over your maid, for you are a close relative.” See excellent schematic diagram of Temple Mount at the Time of Jesus - "the pinnacle of the temple is probably the southeast corner of the temple area [Ed: It would be the corner pointing toward you as you view the diagram], the top of which was some 300 feet (91 m) above the floor of the Kidron Valley." (ESV Note) See also Justin Taylor's article with pictures of the Temple in Jesus' day. Josephus, Jewish Antiquities 15 writes "but the fourth front of the temple, which was southward, had indeed itself gates in its middle, as also it had the royal cloisters, with three walks, which reached in length from the east valley unto that on the west, for it was impossible it should reach any farther: 412 and this cloister deserves to be mentioned better than any other under the sun; for while the valley was very deep, and its bottom could not be seen, if you looked from above into the depth, this further vastly high elevation of the cloister stood upon that height, insomuch that if any one looked down from the top of the battlements, or down both those altitudes, he would be giddy, while his sight could not reach to such an immense depth. (Bolding added) Vincent's comment on pinnacle of the Temple - Pinnacle, from the Latin Pinnaculum, a diminutive of pinna or penna (a wing), is a literal translation of pterugion, which is also a diminutive (a little wing or winglet). Nothing in the word compels us to infer that Christ was placed on the top of a tower or spire, which is the popular meaning of pinnacle. The word may be used in the familiar English sense of the wing of a building. Herod’s temple had two wings, the northern and southern, of which the southern was the higher and grander; that being the direction in which the chief enlargement of the temple area made by Herod was practicable. That enlargement, according to Josephus, was effected by building up walls of solid masonry from the valley below. At the extremity of the southern side of the area, was erected the “royal portico,” a magnificent colonnade, consisting of a nave and two aisles, running across the entire space from the eastern to the western wall. Josephus further says, that “while the valley of itself was very deep, and its bottom could scarcely be seen when one looked down from above, the additional vastly high elevation of the portico was placed on that height, insomuch that, if any one looked down from the summit of the roof, combining the two altitudes in one stretch of vision, he would be giddy, while his sight could not reach to such an immense depth.” This, in comparison with the northern wing, was so emphatically the wing of the temple as to explain the use of the article here, as a well-known locality. The scene of the temptation may have been (for the whole matter is mainly one of conjecture) the roof of this portico, at the southeastern angle, where it joined Solomon’s Porch, and from which the view into the Kidron valley beneath was to the depth of four hundred and fifty feet. The word temple (hieron, lit., sacred place) signifies the whole compass of the sacred enclosure, with its porticos, courts, and other subordinate buildings; and should be carefully distinguished from the other word, naos, also rendered temple, which means the temple itself—the “Holy Place” and the “Holy of Holies.” When we read, for instance, of Christ teaching in the temple (hieron) we must refer it to one of the temple-porches. So it is from the ἱερόν, the court of the Gentiles, that Christ expels the money-changers and cattle-merchants. In Matt. 27:51, it is the veil of the naos which is rent; the veil separating the holy place from the holy of holies. In the account of Zacharias entering into the temple of the Lord to burn incense (Luke 1:9), the word is naos, the holy place in which the altar of incense stood. The people were “without,” in the fore-courts. In John 2:21, the temple of his body, ἱερόν would be obviously inappropriate. Luke 4:10 for it is written, 'HE WILL COMMAND HIS ANGELS CONCERNING YOU TO GUARD YOU, Amplified (classic) For it is written, He will give His angels charge over you to guard and watch over you closely and carefully; Amplified (2015) for it is written and forever remains written, ‘He will command His angels concerning You to guard and protect You,’ Wuest for it has been written and at present is on record, To His angels He shall give a charge concerning you, to carefully guard you, it (KJV): Lu 4:3,8 2Co 11:14 He (KJV): Ps 91:11,12 Heb 1:14 John