Luke 3:1-38
1 Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judaea, and Herod being tetrarcha of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of Ituraea and of the region of Trachonitis, and Lysanias the tetrarch of Abilene,
2 Annas and Caiaphas being the high priests, the word of God came unto John the son of Zacharias in the wilderness.
3 And he came into all the country about Jordan, preaching the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins;
4 As it is written in the book of the words of Esaias the prophet, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.
5 Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be brought low; and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways shall be made smooth;
6 And all flesh shall see the salvation of God.
7 Then said he to the multitude that came forth to be baptized of him, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come?
8 Bring forth therefore fruits worthy of repentance, and begin not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you, That God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham.
9 And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees: every tree therefore which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.
10 And the people asked him, saying, What shall we do then?
11 He answereth and saith unto them, He that hath two coats, let him impart to him that hath none; and he that hath meat, let him do likewise.
12 Then came also publicans to be baptized, and said unto him, Master, what shall we do?
13 And he said unto them, Exact no more than that which is appointed you.
14 And the soldiers likewise demanded of him, saying, And what shall we do? And he said unto them, Do violenceb to no man, neither accuse any falsely; and be content with your wages.
15 And as the people were in expectation,c and all men mused in their hearts of John, whether he were the Christ, or not;
16 John answered, saying unto them all, I indeed baptize you with water; but one mightier than I cometh, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to unloose: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire:
17 Whose fan is in his hand, and he will throughly purge his floor, and will gather the wheat into his garner; but the chaff he will burn with fire unquenchable.
18 And many other things in his exhortation preached he unto the people.
19 But Herod the tetrarch, being reproved by him for Herodias his brother Philip's wife, and for all the evils which Herod had done,
20 Added yet this above all, that he shut up John in prison.
21 Now when all the people were baptized, it came to pass, that Jesus also being baptized, and praying, the heaven was opened,
22 And the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon him, and a voice came from heaven, which said, Thou art my beloved Son; in thee I am well pleased.
23 And Jesus himself began to be about thirty years of age, being (as was supposed) the son of Joseph, which was the son of Heli,
24 Which was the son of Matthat, which was the son of Levi, which was the son of Melchi, which was the son of Janna, which was the son of Joseph,
25 Which was the son of Mattathias, which was the son of Amos, which was the son of Naum, which was the son of Esli, which was the son of Nagge,
26 Which was the son of Maath, which was the son of Mattathias, which was the son of Semei, which was the son of Joseph, which was the son of Juda,
27 Which was the son of Joanna, which was the son of Rhesa, which was the son of Zorobabel, which was the son of Salathiel, which was the son of Neri,
28 Which was the son of Melchi, which was the son of Addi, which was the son of Cosam, which was the son of Elmodam, which was the son of Er,
29 Which was the son of Jose, which was the son of Eliezer, which was the son of Jorim, which was the son of Matthat, which was the son of Levi,
30 Which was the son of Simeon, which was the son of Juda, which was the son of Joseph, which was the son of Jonan, which was the son of Eliakim,
31 Which was the son of Melea, which was the son of Menan, which was the son of Mattatha, which was the son of Nathan, which was the son of David,
32 Which was the son of Jesse, which was the son of Obed, which was the son of Booz, which was the son of Salmon, which was the son of Naasson,
33 Which was the son of Aminadab, which was the son of Aram, which was the son of Esrom, which was the son of Phares, which was the son of Juda,
34 Which was the son of Jacob, which was the son of Isaac, which was the son of Abraham, which was the son of Thara, which was the son of Nachor,
35 Which was the son of Saruch, which was the son of Ragau, which was the son of Phalec, which was the son of Heber, which was the son of Sala,
36 Which was the son of Cainan, which was the son of Arphaxad, which was the son of Sem, which was the son of Noe, which was the son of Lamech,
37 Which was the son of Mathusala, which was the son of Enoch, which was the son of Jared, which was the son of Maleleel, which was the son of Cainan,
38 Which was the son of Enos, which was the son of Seth, which was the son of Adam, which was the son of God.
Luke 3:1. In the fifteenth year of Tiberius Cæsar. St. Luke begins this chapter in a scientific manner; he speaks as a man of letters, and gives posterity a chronological record. Pontius Pilate had been governor, or as some call him only procurator of Judea, but one or two years, when the word of the Lord came to John.
Herod the great, tetrarch of Galilee. From this title it would seem that he held four provinces under his government.
Philip, tetrarch of Iturea and Trachonitis; that is, from the sea of Galilee, to the foot of mount Lebanon, comprising Galilee of the gentiles, and the region beyond JorDaniel Lysanias the tetrarch of Abilene, a considerable country of Cœlo-Syria, between Lebanon and little Lebanon. Abila, now Bellinas, was its capital. The river Chrysorrhoas flowed through the centre of the country. Coins have been found with the name Abila. The Greeks, from the adjacent white rocks, called it Leucadia. Those four governments comprised the Roman dominions in all Syria.
Luke 3:2. Caiaphas being the sagon, or acting highpriest, for Annas was then alive. The word of God came to John, a manifestation of mercy worthy of the exactest record. The next seven verses are much the same as in Matthew 3.
Luke 3:11. He that hath two coats, let him impart to him that hath none. Sinners should begin to ask mercy by first showing mercy. From many traits of ancient history we gather, that the poor in primitive society were half naked. Hence the law of not keeping a pledge over night, it being the only covering of a poor labourer. Deuteronomy 24:12.
Luke 3:12. Then came the publicans, and said unto him, Master, what shall we do? And he said, exact no more than that which is appointed. The officers of the revenue in those times, added as much to the tax as the tax itself, for the expense and trouble of collecting. A French traveller in Egypt mentions the case of a woman whose gleanings and winter food in a sack of wheat being carried off for taxes, who in sore anguish dashed her infant out of her arms on the stones, and killed it dead on the spot.
Luke 3:14. The soldiers likewise and John said, do violence to no man. The Romans governed chiefly by military force; intimidation was the principal argument. Military men should be protectors, not oppressors of their country. Thus John exalted the vallies, and levelled the moral mountains that stood in the way.
Luke 3:21. When all the people were baptized Jesus being also baptized, prayed. Matthew 3:15. He came to fulfil all righteousness; he came with a final blessing above all the expectations of John, and of his people, and manifested forth his glory.
Luke 3:36. The son of Cainan. The name of this progenitor is in the LXX, but not in the Hebrew text. Eusebius however retains it in his chronological canon, and St. Luke must have found it in the early gospels to which he had access. The LXX read, “Arphaxad lived one hundred and thirty five years, and begat Cainan: and Cainan lived one hundred and thirty and five years, and begat Salah.” Genesis 11:12. From the exact number of a hundred and thirty five years in both those patriarchs, before the reigning prince was born, it is contended that Cainan is but a surname of the same person. Be that as it may, learned men very much adhere to the chronology of the LXX, notwithstanding the derangement it makes in the Hebrew chronology. Unless the years which the LXX give to Cainan be admitted, the time allowed from the deluge of Noah to the inundation of Ogyges can never be explained.
Luke 3:38. Adam, which was the son of God. He was justly so called, because though a creature, he had neither father nor mother, but was the immediate production of the great Creator. Being thus the son of God, he was heir and lord of all the earth. All living beings were put under his power, and were caused to revere a presence superior to all their affinities.
REFLECTIONS.
How indulgent is divine providence, to give us by sacred history a glance into ages past. We see the origin of man, while the poor Indian knows little beyond his grandfather. All other events he confounds in one dense cloud of obscurity. They happened, he supposes, ten thousand moons ago. Our Saxon chiefs, in attempting to go back like the Trojans to the Dardanian race, can name only four generations, and then declare that their great grandfather was the son of Odin. No doubt, we are nobly descended, our first father being the son of God. But the Hebrew chronology does more. It shows us the reign of grace, the covenant care of heaven over the church; that Messiah was the son of David, according to the flesh, but declared the Son of God with power when he raised him from the dead. It shows us the opening of the divine good-pleasure, in sending a herald to presede the Saviour in the spirit and power of Elijah. All those disclosures of the divine counsel were the developement of the mystery hid in ages past.