Verse Matthew 4:8. An exceeding high mountain, and showeth him —
If the words, all the kingdoms of the
world, be taken in a literal sense, then this must have been a visionary
representation, as the highest mountain on the face of the globe could not
suffice to make evident even one hemisphere of the earth, and the other must of
necessity be in darkness.
But if we take the world to mean only the land of Judea,
and some of the surrounding nations, as it appears sometimes to signify, (see
on Luke 2:1), then the mountain described by
the Abbe Mariti (Travels
through Cyprus, c.) could have afforded the prospect in question. Speaking of
it, he says, "Here we enjoyed the most beautiful prospect imaginable. This
part of the mountain overlooks the mountains
of Arabia, the country of Gilead,
the country of the Amorites, the plains of Moab, the plains of Jericho,
the river Jordan, and the whole extent of the Dead Sea. It was here
that the devil said to the Son of God, All
these kingdoms will I give thee, if
thou wilt fall down and worship me." Probably St. Matthew, in the
Hebrew original, wrote הארץ haarets, which signifies the world, the earth,
and often the land of Judea only.
What renders this more probable is, that at this time Judea was divided into
several kingdoms, or governments under the three sons of Herod the Great, viz.
Archelaus, Antipas, and Philip which are not only called ethnarchs and
tetrarchs in the Gospels, but also βασιλεις, kings, and are said βασιλευειν, to reign, as Rosenmuller has properly remarked.
See Matthew 2:22; Matthew 14:9. (source)
