And when the tempter came to him, he said, If you be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.
the tempter.
Job 1:9-12 Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, Doth Job fear God for nought? …
Job 2:4-7 And Satan answered the LORD, and said, Skin for skin, yea, all that a man hath will he give for his life…
Luke 22:31,32 And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat: …
if.
Matthew 3:17 And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.
Luke 4:3,9 And the devil said unto him, If thou be the Son of God, command this stone that it be made bread…
command.
Genesis 3:1-5 Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? …
Genesis 25:29-34 And Jacob sod pottage: and Esau came from the field, and he was faint: …
Exodus 16:3 And the children of Israel said unto them, Would to God we had died by the hand of the LORD in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the flesh pots, and when we did eat bread to the full; for ye have brought us forth into this wilderness, to kill this whole assembly with hunger.
and said,
The act of speaking signifies the beginning of a direct confrontation. In biblical narratives, dialogue often serves as a means of revealing character intentions and testing faith. This moment marks the first of three temptations, each designed to challenge Jesus' identity and mission. The dialogue format is reminiscent of the serpent's conversation with Eve in Genesis, where questioning and deceit are used to lead astray.
“If You are the Son of God,
This phrase challenges Jesus' divine identity, echoing the declaration made at His baptism, "This is My beloved Son" (Matthew 3:17). The conditional "if" is a tactic to sow doubt and provoke Jesus to prove His divine sonship through miraculous means. This challenge is not just about identity but also about trust in God's provision and timing. The title "Son of God" is significant, as it affirms Jesus' unique relationship with the Father, fulfilling Old Testament prophecies about the Messiah (e.g., Psalm 2:7).
tell these stones to become bread.”
The temptation to turn stones into bread targets Jesus' physical hunger after fasting for 40 days. It also symbolizes a deeper temptation to use divine power for personal gain rather than relying on God's provision. This mirrors Israel's temptation to doubt God's provision in the wilderness when they longed for the bread of Egypt (Exodus 16). Jesus' refusal to perform this miracle underscores His commitment to His mission and His reliance on God's word, as He later responds by quoting Deuteronomy 8:3, emphasizing spiritual sustenance over physical needs.
• Scripture identifies a real, personal enemy: “the great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world” (Revelation 12:9).
• From Eden forward he has specialized in questioning God’s word and undermining faith (Genesis 3:1).
• Paul warns believers of his ongoing work: “I sent to learn about your faith, fearing that the tempter had tempted you” (1 Thessalonians 3:5).
• Knowing the tempter is active prepares us to resist him as Jesus did.
• The devil approached Jesus after forty days of fasting (see Mark 1:13), targeting a moment of physical weakness.
• Scripture shows that Satan is bold enough to present himself before God (Job 1:6) and persistent enough to come after believers (1 Peter 5:8).
• Hebrews 4:15 reminds us that Jesus “was tempted in every way, just as we are,” assuring us He fully understands human vulnerability.
• Yet Satan’s approach served God’s purpose: to showcase the sinless obedience of the Son and provide us a perfect example.
• The enemy’s chief weapon is deceptive speech: “He is a liar and the father of lies” (John 8:44).
• As in the garden, he opens dialogue to plant doubt (Genesis 3:1).
• Paul fears that “your minds may be led astray” by the same crafty words (2 Corinthians 11:3).
• Jesus’ readiness to answer with Scripture demonstrates how truth silences lies.
• Only days earlier the Father had announced, “This is My beloved Son” (Matthew 3:17). Satan attacks that declaration, aiming to spark doubt or provoke pride.
• The same taunt reappears at the cross: “If You are the Son of God, come down” (Matthew 27:40). Hell’s strategy is consistent—question identity to derail mission.
• Yet Psalm 2:7 and John 20:31 affirm Christ’s sonship as unshakable and eternal. Jesus does not debate it; He rests in the Father’s word.
• The request seems harmless—after all, Jesus was hungry. But it invites Him to meet a legitimate need in an illegitimate way: acting independently of the Father.
• Israel faced a parallel test in the wilderness when God provided manna, teaching that “man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD” (Deuteronomy 8:3).
• Jesus will later feed multitudes (John 6:35) and teach us not to worry about daily bread (Matthew 6:31). He refuses to use divine power for self-gratification.
• By standing firm, He becomes the true bread from heaven who satisfies eternally (John 6:35).
Matthew 4:3 reveals the enemy’s method—challenge God’s word, target vulnerability, and suggest self-reliance. Jesus counters by trusting the Father, modeling obedience for every believer. Knowing who tempts, why he tempts, and how the Savior prevails equips us to stand firm in the same victory.
(3) When the tempter came.--Nothing in the narrative suggests the idea of a bodily presence visible to the eye of sense, and all attempts so to realise it, whether as Milton has done in Paradise Regained, or as by rationalistic commentators, who held that the Tempter was, or assumed the shape of, a scribe or priest, are unauthorised, and diminish our sense of the reality and mystery of the Temptation. The narrative is not the less real and true because it lies altogether in the spiritual region of man's life.If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.--"These stones," as if in union with glance and gesture, pointing to the loaf-like flints of the Jordan desert. The nature of the temptation, so far as we can gauge its mysterious depth, was probably complex. Something there may have been, suggested from without, like that which uttered itself in Esau's cry, "What profit shall this birthright do to me?" (Genesis 25:32). Hungry, exhausted, as if life were ebbing away in the terrible loneliness of the desert, the "wild beasts" around him, as if waiting for their victim, what would it avail to have been marked out as the Son of God, the long-expected Christ? With this another thought was blended. If He were the Son of God, did not that name involve a lordship over nature? Could He not satisfy His hunger and sustain His life? Would He not in so exercising the power of which now, for the first time it may be, He was the conscious possessor, be establishing his status as the Christ in the eyes of others? That thought presented itself to His mind, but it was rejected as coming from the Enemy. It would have been an act of self-assertion and distrust, and therefore would have involved not the affirmation, but the denial of the Sonship which had so recently been attested.
Verse 3. - The tempter (1 Thessalonians 3:5 only; cf. 2 Corinthians 11:3). Came; came up to him (προσελθών). The word expresses local nearness, and suggests, though we cannot affirm it as certain, that he appeared visibly. The thought of physical nearness is continued in "taketh him" (vers. 5, 8), and "the devil leaveth him" and "angels came near" (ver. 11; cf. ver. 5, note). On the other hand, such expressions may be parabolic, and intended to express the closeness of the spiritual combat. To him; not after "came," but after "said" (Revised Version, with manuscripts). If thou be; art (Revised Version) (εἰ... εϊ) - the "if" of assumption (cf. Colossians 3:1). The devil does not attempt to throw doubt on the truth of the utterance in Matthew 3:17. His words rather mean, "Thou knowest what was said, thou bast been gradually realizing that assurance of Sonship; use, then, that privilege which thou undoubtedly hast" (comp. Matthew 27:40, where, in mockery, the same truth is assumed). Wetstein, following Origen and pseudo-Ignatius,' Philipp.,' § 9, says that the tempter did not know, or at least doubted, whether Jesus was really God, for otherwise he would never have tempted him. This is, surely, to miss the meaning of the temptation for our Lord himself; for he was tempted as Man. Satan might well haw known that he was God incarnate, and yet not have known whether as Man he might not yield. Weiss ('Life,' 1:343) mistakenly thinks that the object of this first temptation was to insinuate doubt in the mind of Jesus as to his Messiahship. "Command that these stones become bread, and if thou canst not do so, then thou art not the Son of God." Command that; εἰπὸν (cf. Westcott and Hort, 2. App., p. 164) ἵνα (cf. Matthew 20:21, and Winer,§ 44:8). These stones, ie. lying about. Farrar (on Luke 4:3; and especially in 'Life of Christ,' illustrated edit., pp. 99, 100) suggests that there is a special reference to the "loaf-shaped fossils," septaria, which are found in Palestine - as, indeed, in most other countries. But though these "flattened nodules of calcareous clay, ironstone, or other matter" (Page, ' Handbook of Geolog. Terms,' etc., 1859, p. 327) often assume fantastic shapes, perhaps even distantly resembling either an English loaf or a fiat Jewish cake (vide infra) , it seems quite unnecessary to see any allusion to them here. (For the comparison of bread and a stone, cf. Matthew 7:9.) Be made; Revised Version, become; rightly, because there is no thought of the process of manufacture in γένωνται, Bread; Revised Version margin, "Greek, loaves" (ἄρτοι). "The Israelites made bread in the form of an oblong or round cake, as thick as one's thumb, and as large as a plate or Platter; hence it was not cut, but [e.g. Matthew 14:19] broken" (Thayer). In Luke the devil points to one stone only, and tempts him to bid it become a loaf.