From Bishop Hilary of Poitiers (Gaul), ancient Church
D.H. Williams translation for FC vol. 125
St. Hilary of Poitiers: Commentary on Matthew,
chapter 3, #4
After this, the devil took Jesus up
to the top of the Temple:
If you are the Son of God, throw
yourself down. . .
He sought to draw the Lord by
temptation from the heights down
to the depths by placing him on the
top of the Temple, that is, by placing
him high above the Law and the
prophets in order to confine among
the lowest. For the devil knew the
ministrations of angels were ready to
serve the Son of God and that the
latter could not fall against an
offensive stone [ see Psalms 91: 12-13 ].
On the contrary, the Lord was going to
tread upon the asp and cobra and
trample on the lion and the serpent
[ Psalm 91: 14 ]. The devil was
silent concerning these things that were
said, but as he recalled what happened earlier,
he wanted to elicit the Lord's obedience
by whatever kind of temptation in order
to derive glory (for himself) from this.
It was necessary only that the Lord of
majesty surrender his trust to him. But
no opportunity for such a deception came
to pass for the devil, as the Lord testified
at a later point, The ruler [Latin archon]
of this age is coming and has found
nothing in me [Gospel of John 14:30].
An appropriate response from the Lord is
thereby given to this impudence:
You shall not tempt your God and Lord
[Deuteronomy 6:16]. After foiling the efforts
and attempts of the devil, he affirms that he
is both God and Lord, teaching us that
arrogance (like the devil's) has no place
among the faithful. Although all things
are possible for God, we still should not
provoke temptation such as this
[Latin nihil tamen in temptationen eius
addendum sit ]
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