Craig Keener's Thoughts for Matthew 4:8-10 (Pages 86-7)

For the third temptation, the devil took Jesus “to a very high mountain” (v. 8). Again, this is visionary, so we should not expect to be able to identify a specific mountain in or near Israel. Nevertheless, “high” mountains do figure significantly in Jewish traditions (see Isa 40:9; Ezek 17:23; 20:40; 40:2; Bar 5:7). Two passages from intertestamental writings could be especially pertinent. The patriarch Levi describes a dream: “And I beheld a high mountain, and I was upon it” (T. Levi 2:5). A vision is explained to Enoch: “This high mountain which you have seen, whose summit is like the throne of God, is his throne, where the Holy Great One, the Lord of Glory, the Eternal King, will sit, when he shall come down to visit the earth with goodness” (1 Enoch 25:3).
The devil showed Jesus “all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor” (v. 8). Taking Jesus up to a high mountain, that he may see “all the kingdoms of the world,” may allude to Deut 34:1–4, where God showed Moses the length and breadth of the Promised Land. But the parallel is inexact, for the devil shows Jesus the kingdoms of the world, not the land of Israel, and offers to give them to him, not withhold them. We should understand these kingdoms as Gentile kingdoms, some of which have oppressed Israel and some, like the Roman Empire, that still do. The devil promises to give “all these” to Jesus. This is a dream offer for a would-be messianic leader of Israel itching to throw off the Gentile yoke. The language of the devil’s offer, “all these I will give you,” parallels the Testament of Job, in which the devil gains authority over all that Job owns (T. Job 8:1–3; 16:2).