for forty days, being tempted by the devil. He ate nothing in those days. Afterward, when they were completed, he was hungry.

 We must not think that the three temptations came and went like scenes in a play. We must rather think of Jesus deliberately retiring to this lonely place and for forty days wrestling with the problem of how he could win men. It was a long battle which never ceased until the cross and the story ends by saying that the tempter left Jesus--for a season. 