Matthew 4:9 - Exposition

All these things will I give thee ( ταῦτά σοι πάντα δώσω ). The devil puts "these things" and "thee" in the sharpest contrast. In Luke the devil says, "To thee will I give all this authority, and the glory of them: for it [ i.e. the authority] hath been delivered unto me; and to whomsoever I will I give it;" i.e. there the devil speaks of giving, not actual possession of the things themselves (Matthew), but the authority that this implied, "and the glory of them." According to St. Luke, he does not attempt to conceal the fact that he has not absolute possession, but he claims authority as delegated to him, and as capable of being delegated by him to another. His claim was false as absolutely stated, but is true relatively in so far that even his usurpation of power must have been permitted (of. our Lord's term for him, "The prince of this world"). If thou wilt fall down and worship me; i.e. prostrate thyself in obeisance before me—the Eastern method of acknowledging the superiority of a person (cf. Genesis 23:7 ; 1 Samuel 20:41 ; 2 Samuel 1:2 ; 2 Samuel 9:6 ). The expression does not mean "worship me as God" (for this surely was far too coarse a temptation to overcome any even ordinarily pious Israelite; cf. Weiss), but "acknowledge my rights as over-lord." It is not a question of apostasy ( 1 Kings 18:21 ; cf. Joshua 24:15 ), but of submission to the methods inculcated by Satan, which placed the immediate and the visible above the future and the unseen ( Genesis 3:5 ; Exodus 32:4 ).