Matthew 4:5

“Then the devil taketh him up, etc.] This was done, not in a visionary way, but really and truly: Satan, by divine permission, and with the consent of Christ, which shows his great humiliation and condescension, had power over his body, to move it from place to place; in some such like manner as the Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip, (<440839>Acts 8:39) he took him up, raised him above ground, and carried him through the air, “into, the holy city”: this was Jerusalem; for Luke expressly says, he brought him to Jerusalem, (<420409>Luke 4:9) called so, because of the presence, worship, and service of God, which had been in it, though then in a great measure gone; and according to the common…”

“Then the devil taketh him up--rather, "conducteth Him." into the holy city--so called (as in Isa 48:2; Neh 11:1) from its being "the city of the Great King," the seat of the temple, the metropolis of all Jewish worship. and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple--rather, "the pinnacle"--a certain well-known projection. Whether this refers to the highest summit of the temple, which bristled with golden spikes [JOSEPHUS, Antiquities, 5.5,6]; or whether it refers to another peak, on Herod's royal portico, overhanging the ravine of Kedron, at the valley of Hinnom--an immense tower built on the very edge of this precipice, from the top of which dizzy height JOSEPHUS says one could not look to…”

“Then the devil taketh him up - This does not mean that he bore him through the air; or that he compelled him to go against his will, or that he performed a miracle in any way to place him there. There is no evidence that Satan had power to do any of these things, and the word translated taketh him Up does not imply any such thing. It means to conduct one; to lead one; to attend or accompany one; or to induce one to go. It is used in the following places in the same sense: Numbers 23:14; “And he (Balak) brought him (Balaam) into the field of Zophim,” etc. That is, he led him, or induced him to go there. Matthew 17:1; “and after six days Jesus taketh Peter, James,” etc.; that is, led or…”

“The holy city - So Jerusalem was commonly called, being the place God had peculiarly chosen for himself. On the battlement of the temple - Probably over the king's gallery, which was of such a prodigious height, that no one could look down from the top of it without making himself giddy. Matthew 4:6”

“4:5-7 Jesus refused to test God by presuming upon God’s protection.”

“taketh: Luk 4:9; Joh 19:11 the holy: Mat 27:53; Neh 11:1; Isa 48:2, Isa 52:1; Dan 9:16; Rev 11:2 on: Ch2 3:4 Matthew 4:6”