Jesus commands the devil to leave when Satan’s temptation directly contradicts God’s command, and so Jesus commands him to leave, calling him out as Satan, God’s opponent, as we may do when relying on God’s direct command to counter the devil’s lies—something Adam and Eve failed to do.
After the final temptation, Jesus precedes his reference to the command of the Lord with his own command to the devil: Be gone, Satan.
In this final case the devil’s temptation directly contradicted the command of God. Jesus here identifies the devil (slanderer) in accordance with his intentions (as Satan, opponent of God). Instead of bending the knee submissively, Jesus rejects the devil completely.1
Jesus speaks this command in faith and it is based on the divine commandment. While it is clear that Jesus here commands the devil as the greater of the two, he does not actually cast out Satan with his power as the Son of God per se, but rather bases himself in God’s commandment. His word therefore contains a command that every believing Israelite may utter when openly confronted with this enemy of God. It is the word that Adam and Eve needed but lacked.2
10 Then Jesus said to him, “Be gone, Satan! For it is written, “‘You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.’”