Matthew 3

Chap. III. Ver.1—17. John’s preaching and baptism: Christ baptized by him.—The last of the Old Testament prophets (Malachi) concludes with the promise of another Prophet, under the name of Elijah, i. e. one endowed with the spirit and power of Elijah. Such an one we now behold upon its banks of Jordan. A man of the simplest manners and appearance; his food and dress upon a level with the poorest inhabitant of the desert; nor does he make any attempt to elevate his own character; but he is the pioneer, the forerunner of one whom it is his great delight to honour. He is a “voice,” and a voice only; but he proclaims, with all the powers of his voice, One who was to come after him, but who existed and who ranked before him.

His extraordinary appearance, and the energy of his language, collects many around him. They spread the news in all the surrounding towns and villages, till all the population of the country is alarmed, and gathers round him. He announces the approach of Messiah’s Kingdom: and calls upon them to repent. At last the higher classes are alarmed. Even the Pharisees and the Sadducees come to see this phenomenon of the desert. And John no sooner sees them approaching, whom he might easily know by their dress and appearance, than he turns the artillery of his rustic eloquence full upon them. Before, however, we examine his address, it may be necessary, in a few words, to sketch their respective characters: for characters, they were very different and even opposite to each other, though we shall find them, as we proceed, constantly uniting to oppose the kingdom of our Lord.

The Pharisees, it is well known, pretended great zeal for Moses and the prophets, and reverenced all the traditions of the elders; while the Sadducees, though they attended the temple worship, were no better than sceptics, denying, not only the resurrection of the body, but a future state, and consequently a future judgment altogether. ((Acts 22:8).) The one believed too much, and the others too little; but they united to reject the doctrines of the Gospel. Seeing members of both these sects come, though probably as they afterwards attended John’s Master, hypocritically, and as spies only, he addresses them, as Jesus himself afterwards did, ((Matthew 23:33),) as the brood of the old serpent, equally insidious and mischievous, whose object it was to deceive and to destroy.

‘Who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come? If you are indeed penitent, as you would appear to be, then bring forth fruits meet for repentance.’ The Devil—Greek, Diabolos, which means a calumniator, and answers to Satan in the Old Testament, which means an adversary. He is described as the chief of the fallen angels; the prince of the power of the air, under whom those demons are arranged, which are active in introducing every evil among mankind. The tempter—That is, the devil, just before named.—Be made bread.—Campbell and Doddridge, ‘Be made loaves (of bread).’ Ver. 4. By every word—(That is, as Dr. Campbell renders, “by every thing which God is pleased to appoint:” for rhema, which generally signifies a word.) Ver. 5. Taketh him—That is, “Along with him,” says Doddridge. An intelligent child being asked, “How did the devil take Christ to the temple?” replied, “As you (father) would take me to St. Paul’s.”—The holy city—namely, Jerusalem.—On a pinnacle—Gr. “The wing,” which Eusebius explains of the battlement round the top of the wall. See Hammond here, and on (Matthew 10:27). This was probably at the time of evening service, which might from this part be visible; and some think that Satan meant to intimate that by such a miracle, the priests and people would be at once aware of his mission.

Notes on the verses

Chap. III. Ver. 1. In those days—That is, while Jesus resided with his parents in Nazareth.—John the Baptist—or the Baptizer.—Preaching—That is, acting as a herald, or public crier.—The wilderness of Judea—mentioned Ju. i. 16, and in the title of (Psalms 63)It lay east from Jerusalem, along the Jordan and the Dead sea. Not a region uninhabited, but woody, mountainous, and thinly inhabited. The name seems to be of much the same import with our word Highlands.—Campbell. Ver. 3. The voice of one crying, Prepare, &c.—See (Isaiah 40:3). Diodorus Siculus says of Semiramis, that “in her march to Ecbatane she came to the Zarcean Mountain, which, extending many furlongs, and being full of craggy precipices and deep hollows, could not be passed without making a great compass about.

Being, therefore, desirous of leaving an everlasting memorial of herself, as well as of shortening the way, she ordered the precipices to be digged down, and the hollows to be filled up; and, at a great expense, she made a shorter and more expeditious road, which to this day is called the road of Semiramis.” She did the same afterwards in Persia, and other countries. Ver. 4. His raiment of camel’s hair.—Not of the fine hair of that animal, as Campbell is; “but of the long and shaggy hair of camels, which in the East is manufactured into a coarse stuff, anciently worn by monks and anchorites.”—Campbell. Locusts—which were allowed food by the Mosaic law, and are eaten by the poorer Arabs to this day.

See (Leviticus 11:22).—And wild honey—which is deposited by the wild bees in the woods of Judea in great abundance. See (1 Samuel 14:25), &c. (Proverbs 25:16). (Isaiah 7:16). Ver. 5, All the region round about Jordan—That is, in the vicinity of Jordan, on both sides the river. And must be taken here, as in some other places, as a feminine ste particle. Ver. 6. Jordan.—This river rises in Anti-libanus, Gennesareth, and runs into the Dead sea. Passes through the Lake of Galilee. See (John 8:40, 44). Ver. 8. Fruits meet for repentance—i. e. Manifest your corresponding course of life. See Ver. 11. Whose shoes (or “sandals”) I am unworthy, &c.—Rosenmuller quotes a Rabbinical saying, that whatever services a servant does for his master, a disciple may do for his teacher, only not to unloose the latchet of his shoes.

Compare (Malachi 1:8).—He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire—i. e. He shall impart to his followers a searching and purifying influence, that shall lead them to understand and embrace the doctrines of the Gospel. Ver. 12. Whose fan.—The original word is agreed to signify “a winnowing instrument,” probably “a shovel,” as Campbell renders it, by which the corn being thrown upward against the wind, the chaff was separated from it thereby.—Unquenchable fire.—Inextinguishable fire, and by implication, eternal fire. Ver. 15. It becometh us to fulfil all righteousness—i. e. We should submit to every precept, or institution. Ver. 16. And Jesus, when (Dodd. “after”) he was baptized, went up straightway.—Campbell applies the term straightway, or “immediately,” not to Jesus coming out of the water, but to the Spirit’s descending “immediately after.”

Doddridge renders it, “And after Jesus was baptized, as soon as he ascended out of the water, the heavens were opened,” &c. Campbell’s translation is to the same effect. Descending like a dove—That is, in a slow, hovering motion; but St. Luke adds, “in a bodily shape, like a dove,” that is, probably, in a white, lucid flame, parted like the wings of a dove. So when the Holy Spirit descended on the Apostles, it was in a parted flame, like “cloven tongues.” (Acts 2:3). The rite of baptism was in use among the Jews before the time of Christ, in the admission of proselytes to the Jewish community. Robinson’s Wahl. In the opinion of many, the Saviour, when baptized by John, was inducted into the priest’s office.

When Aaron was consecrated to the office of priest, Moses washed him with water, and poured the anointing oil upon his head. (Leviticus 8:6, 12). But Jesus, when consecrated, was baptized and anointed with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven. Does not the Saviour ((Matthew 21:25).) by directing the chief priests and elders to the baptism of John, really, among other things, answer their question, “by what authority doest thou these [things]?”