Matthew 3

Matthew 3:1

AND immediately after his baptism, and before he entered on his prophetic office, that Christ might give an evidence of his piety, and trust in God, and of his constancy, it was thought fit that some trial should be made of him. And to that end, by incitation or impulsion of the Spirit of God, (of which he was full, Luke iv. 1.) he went up from Jordan farther in the desert, not voluntarily putting himself upon temptation, but doing it according to God’s appointment.

[a] the Baptist] That we may understand the meaning of the title Baptist, we must first know what was meant by the washings among the Jews. Their frequent every-day washings I now speak not of, but refer them to their proper place, Mark vii. 3. Those which we now speak of were those of the whole body; of which sort were first the washings of the priests, when they went into the temple to minister or officiate, for that they never did after the building of the temple, but they first washed their whole body. At the going into the tabernacle, washing the hands and feet was sufficient, Exodus xxx. 20, but not so after the building of the temple: see Cod. Joma, cap. 3. They bring the priest to the “house of washing,” לְבֵית הַשְּׁבִילָה, “which was without the temple over the water gate.” There (as it follows, §. 3.) “the priest washes;” and though he be under no legal uncleanness, yet he never enters, but he

Matthew 3:2

Not giving them any new precepts of life, but charging them with their breaches against the rule or law which they had already, and accordingly saying to all that people, Reform, and mend your lives, for the kingdom of the Messias, so long looked for, is now approaching, and so the time that God shall come to execute most visible judgments on this land, (even to an utter destruction, if ye repent not at this preaching of John and Christ,) and withal bestow most eminent and remarkable preservations upon all penitent believers.

And being there, he was enabled by the miraculous power of God to continue forty days and nights without eating or drinking any thing, as Moses and Elias, the two great prophets, had done, and after that, that he might be the fitter for the ensuing trial of his trust in God, made on him by Satan, he was as sharply assaulted with hunger as any man at any time is for want of meat.

as it were.

[b] Repent ye] This μετάνοια is not only sorrow for sin, or wishing it undone, but a change of mind; μετάθεσις τοῦ νοῦ, conversion, Mal. iv. 6, and reformation; μετάνοια ἀπὸ πονηρῶν Ἰργων, Heb. vi. 1; repentance not only for, but from dead or sinful works. Both very necessary.

[c] kingdom of heaven] The phrase βασιλεία τῶν οὐρανῶν, or τοῦ Θεοῦ, the kingdom of heaven, and of God, signifies in the New Testament the kingdom of the Messias, or that state or condition which is a most lively image of that which we believe to be in heaven, and therefore called by that name. For as God’s regal power exercised in heaven consists in assisting, defending, and rewarding all his faithful subjects, and in warning, punishing, and destroying his obdurate enemies, so this kingdom of the Messias is an exact image or resemblance of it; and being, as it is elsewhere affirmed, not of this world, a secular kingdom, but consisting especially in subduing the world to his dominion, that is done, first, by the descent of the Spirit, and preaching the gospel; by his word powerfully working in some, and bringing them unto the faith; and then by his iron rod executing vengeance on others, viz. the contumacious and obdurate, (to this purpose that parable delivered by Christ, Luke xix. 12, on occasion of their thinking that the kingdom of God should presently appear, ver. 11, is very considerable: see the place,) and particularly those of the nation of the Jews after the crucifixion of Christ. And accordingly this kingdom of God will generally signify these two together, not only the first alone, but in conjunction with it that other more tragical part of it also. That it is used so here may be discerned, first, by that which is said in Malachi, by way of prophecy, of John’s preaching, ch. iv. 5, that he should come before the great and terrible day of the Lord, (see note [a] ch. xvii.) i. e. before the fatal destruction of this people; and also in Isaiah, that when he cried in the wilderness this was part of his crying, Prepare ye the way

Matthew 3:3

And this according to that which Isaiah, ch. xl., saith, He shall preach in the wilderness of Judæa, and the sum of his preaching shall be, the approach of the Lord’s coming to receive his kingdom; and upon his being rejected, coming with his hosts against the obdurate and rebellious, to destroy them that would not let him reign over them. See note [c].

Matthew 3:4

[d] of camel’s hair] This garment, ἀπὸ τριχῶν καμήλου, of camel’s hair, used by John the Baptist, seems to be no more than a garment of haircloth, made of hair rude and raw, not of hair softened and dressed, or spun into a thread. The difference betwixt these two is the same that betwixt flax rude or unprepared, and the same dressed or spun, one having much more of coarseness and asperity than the other; or between that which we now call haircloth, which is made of rude undressed hair, and camlet or grogram, that is made of it when it is softened and spun and prepared. That the former is that which is here mentioned may appear, 1. by the design of it, used by John, as here set down by the evangelist, to signify the austerity of his habit, as well as that which follows is of his diet: (and so interpreted by all the an-

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[e] wild honey] The μέλι ἄγριον, or field honey, is a kind of extemporary diet, (as water out of the spring,) such as was to be found in woods, running out of trees where bees were; so 1 Sam. xiv. 25. there is δρυμὸς μελισσῶνος κατὰ πράσωπον τοῦ ἀγροῦ, where our English, out of the Hebrew, reads, they came to a wood, and there was honey upon the ground; and ver. 26, εἰσῆλθεν ὁ λαὸς εἰς τὸν μελισσῶνα, καὶ, ἰδοὺ, διεπορεύετο μέλι, when they came into the wood, behold the honey dropped; and ver. 27, Jonathan dipped his rod, εἰς τὸ κηρίον τοῦ μέλιτος, in a comb of honey. In which place, that which is δρυμὸς μελισσῶνος, a wood of honey,

Matthew 3:8

See that your reformation be sincere, producing fruits worthy of the stock from which you glory to spring, (i. e. of Abraham, ver. 9, who is your father indeed, but from whom you are so far degenerated, that you are become broods of vipers, ver. 7;) or absolutely (as Acts xxvi. 20,) meet, fit, seasonable fruits, such as may avert or prevent those judgments.

Matthew 3:9

And say not, or do not please and satisfy yourselves in saying or thinking, that you have the privilege of being children of Abraham, which will be able to secure you; for God hath not such need of children of Abraham, that he may not destroy them; he can, without breach of promise to him, destroy them all, and then out of the obdurate Gentile world (or, if he please, out of the stones in the streets) produce and raise up a people to himself, followers of the faith of Abraham, and so as precious to God, and to whom the promises made to Abraham as truly belong, as to the proudest Jew among you.

[f] think] The phrase μὴ δόξητε λέγειν is no more than μὴ λέγητε, say not; or, as St. Luke reads, ch. iii. 8, μὴ ἄρξητε λέγειν, begin not to say, for so δοκεῖ and videtur is oft an expletive. So 1 Cor. x. 12, ὁ δοκῶν ἱστάναι, he that truly stands, (not only seems or thinks himself to stand,) for none else are capable of falling. So 1 Cor. xi. 16, If any man δοκεῖ φιλόνεικος εἶναι (not seem to be, but really) be contentious; and ch. xii. 22, where δοκοῦντα μέλη ἀσθενέστερα ὑπάρχειν, the members which seem to be more weak, are all one with ὑπάρχοντα, those that are the weaker. So Heb. iv. 1, Let us fear, μὴ δοκῇ τις ὑστερηκίνοι, lest any man (not seemingly, but really) come short. So Luke viii. 18, the ὁ δοκεῖ ἔχειν, that which he seems to have, being compared with Matt. xiii. 12, καὶ ὁ ἔχει, even what he hath, and Matt. xxv. 29, and Mark iv. 25, appears to signify, that which really he hath, (though he make not the right use of it,) otherwise it could not be taken from him. So Mark x. 42, οἱ δοκοῦντες ἄρχειν, they that think or seem to rule, is rendered by St. Matthew, ch. xx. 25, οἱ ἄρχοντες, the rulers. So in the story of Susanna, ver. 5, οἱ

c 2

Matthew 3:10

But now are God’s judgments come home to this people, and ready to seize upon the whole nation, and shall actually fall upon every unreformed sinner among you. See note [c] on Acts xv. (In this how every sort of people is concerned, see Luke iii. 10, &c.)

Matthew 3:11

But this is not all I have to say to you; be-

¹ worthy or most fruits of repentance, suprels liens rits perversion. ² seem not.

³ But the ax is even already, Gen bi xol h liens.

[g] baptize you with water] John’s baptism by water previous and preparatory to Christ’s baptism by the Holy Ghost and fire, seems to be imitated by the devil and his worshippers, the Indians in a Philostratus, who had, saith he, “a well, whose water they esteemed sacred, and endued with secret virtue,” ὄρκιον δὲ νομίζοιτο τῇ περὶξ Ἰνδικῇ πάσῃ, “which was counted sacramental to all the Indians,” nigh unto which, saith he, there was a vessel of fire, in which the Indians were purged from their involuntary sins, whereupon their wise men call the well, the well of conviction, or reproof; and the fire, the fire of pardon, or expiation. And so the Brachmans, before they sacrificed b, used to anoint themselves, ἠλεκτρώδει φαρμάκῳ, “which so heated their bodies,” that they sent out fume and sweat “in great abundance c, as if they had,” saith he, “d been washed with fire.”

[h] to bear] That which is here βαστάσαι, is not, as in other places, βαστάζειν βάρος, the bearing of a burden, or weight, (the labourer’s or porter’s office,) but as a ministerial office, either, 1. to remove things that are not of present use out of the way, (the same that in other places is expressed by αἴρειν, as αἴρειν κράββατον, to take away, or put aside the bed, as being no longer useful,) and by this means it will here be all one with λῦσαι τὸν ἱμάντα τοῦ ὑποδήματος, to loose the latchet of the shoe, Mark i. 7, and John i. 27, that loosing being in order to taking it off; or else, 2dly, as Luke x. 4, βαστάζειν ὑποδήματα, to carry shoes was ordinary in journeys, so might it fitly be the disciple’s office to do so; and so either way the meaning of the Baptist’s speech is, that he was unworthy to be Christ’s disciple, for the disciples of any prophet among the Jews were to serve him as his ministers, to perform to him his ordinary, necessary services; so Joshua was unto Moses, Exod. xxiv. 13, and in Josephus, l. 1. So Elisha ministered unto Elias, 2 Kings iii. 11, and poured water on Elias’s hands, (this being set down as the disciple’s office among their constitutions;) and so when Christ saith he was among them as he that ministers, Luke xxii. 27, that of ministering refers to the office of a disciple. And so when they are called the sons of the prophets, it is in the Hebrew notion, wherein παῖδες and ὑπηρέται, sons and servants, or ministers, are all one.

Matthew 3:12

He comes like an husbandman to thresh and winnow, with such instruments in his hands which will sever the wheat from the chaff, the good from the bad; the good he will preserve, but the refuse he will deliver up to the wind and fire, to be utterly destroyed.

[i] fan] Πτῦον signifies a winnowing instrument, ξύλον ἐν ᾧ διαχωρίζουσι τὸν σίτον ἀπὸ τοῦ ἀχυρῷ, a piece of “wood, by which they separate the wheat from the chaff,” saith Hesychius. The Hebrew reads מורה, ventilabrum, from ורה, dispersit, ventilavit, referring in general to winnowing or holding up to the wind, but not peculiarly to the manner of doing it.

a De Vit. Apollon. l. 3. c. 3. b P. 118. d. c C. 5. p. 123. d Πυρὶ λουφμένα.

Matthew 3:13

While John was thus a preaching and baptizing, and had gathered good store of disciples, Jesus cometh from Galilee—

Matthew 3:14

And John besought him it might be otherwise, saying— ⁶ remove, or carry. ⁶ winnowing instrument.

Matthew 3:16

For Jesus, as soon as he was baptised, went out of the water before John, and as soon as ever he came out of the water, he fell down on his knees in prayer to his Father, (Luke iii. 61,) and whilst he was praying, behold the heavens, (see Acts vii. 50,) either really, or after some remarkable manner of appearance, parted asunder visibly before Christ, and the Spirit of God descended upon him as a dove descends upon any thing, visibly hovering, and lighting upon him, (see Mark i. 10.) and John Baptist saw and discerned what was done, John i. 38:

[k] like a dove] That the Spirit came upon Christ in the body or shape of a dove, cannot, I think, be concluded from this place, nor from the parallel, Mark i. 10, but only that the Spirit descended, and came, or lighted on him, as a dove uses to do on any thing, first hovering, and overshadowing it. And whereas it is added by St. Luke, σωματικῷ εἴδει, that will he best rendered in, or, with a bodily appearance, and joined with καταβῆναι, i. e. the Spirit descended so, as might be (and was really) seen, (εἴδε in Matthew, and Mark, he saw him descend,) ὡσεὶ περιστῆραι, as it were a dove, i. e. as a dove visibly descends, and lights on any thing, or, in a manner somewhat resembling a dove, (so ὡσεὶ signifies, as Acts ii. 3, the divided tongues, ὡσεὶ πυρὸς, as it were of fire,) doth not denote them to be of fire, at least to have the effects of fire, burning, &c., but either in the colour or form like that of fire,) not defining any shape wherein the Holy Ghost appeared. That the Holy Ghost

Matthew 3:17

And as the heavens parted asunder, a thunder came out, and (joined with it) a voice, delivering these words, This is &c., i. e. This is my Son whom I have sent on purpose to reveal my will by him, and whatsoever he teaches comes from me, and is perfectly my will or law.

CHAP. IV.

THEN was Jesus led up of the Spirit unto the wilderness to be tempted of the [a] devil.