Matthew 4:11

11 Then the devil left Him, and behold, angels came and ministered to Him.

Matthew 4:11 Meaning and Commentary

Matthew 4:11

Then the devil leaveth him
In ( Luke 4:13 ) it says,

when the devil had ended all the temptation, he departed from him
for a season, or until a season.
That is, having tempted him with all sorts of temptations, and tried him every way to no purpose; having gone through, and finished the whole scheme and course of temptations he had devised, without success; and having orders from Christ to depart, which he was obliged to obey, leaves him for a while, till another opportunity of tempting him in some other way should offer; or till the time came, when he should be so far able to get the advantage of him, as to bruise his heel, or bring him to the dust of death; see ( John 14:30 ) ( Luke 22:53 ) and when he was gone, better company came in his room;

behold, angels came and ministered to him.
They came to him in a visible, human form, as they were used to do under the Old Testament dispensation, and that after the temptation was over; after Satan was foiled, and was gone; that it might appear that Christ alone had got the victory over him, without any help or assistance from them. When they were come, they "ministered to him"; that is, they brought him food of their own preparing and dressing, as they formerly did to Elijah, ( 1 Kings 19:5 1 Kings 19:6 1 Kings 19:7 1 Kings 19:8 ) to satisfy his hunger, and refresh his animal spirits; which had underwent a very great fatigue during this length of time, in which he fasted, and was tempted by Satan. Thus, as the angels are ministring spirits to the heirs of salvation, both in a temporal and in a spiritual sense, ( Hebrews 1:14 ) so they were to Christ. Nothing is more frequent with the Jews than to call the angels (trvh ykalm) "ministring angels": it would be needless and endless to refer to particular places.

Matthew 4:11 In-Context

9 And he said to Him, "All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me."
10 Then Jesus said to him, "Away with you, Satan! For it is written, 'You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve.' "
11 Then the devil left Him, and behold, angels came and ministered to Him.
12 Now when Jesus heard that John had been put in prison, He departed to Galilee.
13 And leaving Nazareth, He came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is by the sea, in the regions of Zebulun and Naphtali,
Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.