IN THOSE DAYS] i.e. 26 a.d. THE WILDERNESS OF JUDAEA] a desert tract about 10 m. wide to the W. of the Dead Sea, including also the W. bank of the Jordan near its mouth. The chief towns in it were Engedi and Tekoa.... [ Continue Reading ]
APPEARANCE OF THE BAPTIST. BAPTISM OF JESUS 1-12. John the Baptist's ministry. The circumstances of John's birth are detailed in Luke 1 (see notes there). He was sanctified from birth to be the forerunner of the Messiah (Luke 1:13; Luke 1:76.), and received a special revelation to enable him to reco... [ Continue Reading ]
REPENT YE] Repentance is not mere sorrow for sin, but a real change of life. It includes, (1) contrition, i.e. sorrow for sin, regarded as an offence against God; (2) confession of sin, always to God, and, where man has been injured, also to man; (3) amendment of life. THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN] St. Mat... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR THIS IS HE, etc.] words of the evangelist, not of the Baptist. Isaiah 40:3 is quoted according to LXX. In Isaiah the words are a summons to make level the roads before Jehovah, who is leading home His people from the Babylonian captivity. St. Matthew typically applies them to the entry of Israel... [ Continue Reading ]
CAMEL'S HAIR] i.e. either a camel's skin, or cloth woven from camel's hair. John's dress was a protest against the luxurious robes of soft wool, which were fashionable at the time. LOCUSTS] They are still eaten in the East, especially by the poor. After being thrown into boiling water their wings an... [ Continue Reading ]
WERE BAPTIZED] The Baptism of John was specifically a baptism of repentance, of which public confession was the pledge and evidence. Its significance can be best described in the words of Isaiah: 'Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil; lea... [ Continue Reading ]
PHARISEES AND SADDUCEES] The Pharisees were the strictest, the most active, and the most influential of the Jewish parties or sects. They were zealously attached to the Law, and still more to 'the traditions of the elders.' By the length of their prayers, the frequency of their fasts, and their devo... [ Continue Reading ]
FRUITS MEET FOR REPENTANCE] RV 'fruit worthy of repentance.' Fruit is a frequent metaphor for works, and a very suitable one. Fruit is not loosely attached to a tree, but is part of it. It derives its character from the tree on which it grows. So a man's works, i.e. his words and actions, are part o... [ Continue Reading ]
WE HAVE ABRAHAM TO (for) _our_ FATHER] cp. John 8:33; John 8:39; John 8:53. This insolent spirit is best illustrated by a quotation from the rabbis: 'The fire of hell (Gehenna) has no power to consume even the sinners of Israel, but they go down only to be frightened and slightly singed for their ba... [ Continue Reading ]
AX] a frequent and expressive type of imminent judgment (Matthew 7:19; Luke 13:7 : cp. Romans 11:17). THE TREES] i.e. individual Jews, not the nation, though, as a matter of fact, judgment overtook the nation also for its rejection of Christ: cp. John 7:19. THE FIRE] see on Matthew 3:12. 11, 12. Her... [ Continue Reading ]
WHOSE SHOES, etc.] the office of the meanest slave. 'A slave unlooses his master's shoe, and carries it after him; does what he needs for the bath, undresses, washes, anoints, rubs, redresses him, and puts on his shoes.' WITH THE HOLY GHOST, AND _with_ FIRE] St. Mark omits 'and with fire.' John say... [ Continue Reading ]
BAPTISM OF JESUS (Mark 1:9; Luke 3:21; John 1:32). The Baptism of Jesus has more than one aspect and significance. To John it was with its miraculous accompaniments a sign that Jesus was the promised Messiah and the Son of God (John 1:32). To Israel it was 'the showing to the people' of the promised... [ Continue Reading ]
I HAVE NEED] not inconsistent with John 1:33 ('I knew him not'). As Jesus approaches, a prophetic presentiment passes through the mind of John that this is the Messiah. The descent of the Spirit makes it a certainty. It is possible, even likely, that as John and Jesus were cousins, they were already... [ Continue Reading ]
TO FULFIL ALL RIGHTEOUSNESS] i.e. to fulfil, all the ordinances of the old covenant among which our Lord reckoned John's baptism.... [ Continue Reading ]
17. One of the leading Trinitarian passages in the NT. The voice of the Father is heard proclaiming the essential divinity of the Son, and upon the Son, as He rises from the baptismal waters, the Holy Ghost, the living bond of love and unity in the Godhead, descends. The appearance of the Holy Ghost... [ Continue Reading ]
THIS IS] This represents the form in which the Baptist heard the words. 'Thou art' (Mk, Lk) represent the form in which Jesus heard them. MY BELOVED SON] cp. Matthew 17:5. The highest sense is to be given to these words. The Father bears witness, not only to Christ's Messiahship, butto His eternal a... [ Continue Reading ]