Matthew 3 commentary

MATTHEW 3 COMME TARY
EDITED BY GLE PEASE
John the Baptist Prepares the Way
1 In those days John the Baptist came, preaching
in the wilderness of Judea
BAR ES, "In those days - The days here referred to cannot be those mentioned in
the preceding chapter, for John was but six months older than Christ. Perhaps Matthew
intended to embrace in his narrative the whole time that Jesus lived at Nazareth; and the
meaning is, “in those days while Jesus still dwelt at Nazareth,” John began to preach. It
is not probable that John began to baptize or preach long before the Saviour entered on
his ministry; and, consequently, from the time that is mentioned in the close of the
second chapter to that mentioned in the beginning of the third, an interval of twenty-five
years or more elapsed.
John the Baptist - Or John the baptizer - so called from his principal office, that of
baptizing. Baptism, or the application of water, was a rite well known to the Jews, and
practiced when they admitted proselytes to their religion from paganism. - Lightfoot.
Preaching - The word rendered “preach” means to proclaim in the manner of a
public crier; to make proclamation. The discourses recorded in the New Testament are
mostly brief, sometimes consisting only of a single sentence. They were public
proclamations of some great truth. Such appear to have been the discourses of John,
calling people to repentance.
In the wilderness of Judea - This country was situated along the Jordan and the
Dead Sea, to the east of Jerusalem. The word translated “wilderness” does not denote, as
with us, a place of boundless forests, entirely destitute of inhabitants; but a
mountainous, rough, and thinly settled country, covered to some considerable extent
with forests and rocks, and better suited for pasture than for tilling. There were
inhabitants in those places, and even villages, but they were the comparatively unsettled
portions of the country, 1Sa_25:1-2. In the time of Joshua there were six cities in what
was then called a wilderness, Jos_15:61-62.
CLARKE, "John the Baptist - John, surnamed The Baptist, because he required
those to be baptized who professed to be contrite because of their sins, was the son of a
priest named Zacharias, and his wife Elisabeth, and was born about A. M. 3999, and
about six months before our blessed Lord. Of his almost miraculous conception and
birth, we have a circumstantial account in the Gospel of Luke, chap. 1: to which, and the
notes there, the reader is requested to refer. For his fidelity in reproving Herod for his
incest with his brother Philip’s wife, he was cast into prison, no doubt at the suggestion

of Herodias, the profligate woman in question. He was at last beheaded at her
instigation, and his head given as a present to Salome, her daughter, who, by her elegant
dancing, had highly gratified Herod, the paramour of her incestuous mother. His
ministry was short; for he appears to have been put to death in the 27th or 28th year of
the Christian era.
Came - preaching - Κηρυσσων, proclaiming, as a herald, a matter of great and
solemn importance to men; the subject not his own, nor of himself, but from that God
from whom alone he had received his commission. See on the nature and importance of
the herald’s office, at the end of this chapter. Κηρυσσειν, says Rosenmuller, de iis dicitur,
qui in Plateis, in Campis, in Aere aperto, ut a multis audiantur, vocem tollunt, etc. “The
verb κηρυσσειν is applied to those who, in the streets, fields, and open air, lift up their
voice, that they may be heard by many, and proclaim what has been committed to them
by regal or public authority; as the Kerukes among the Greeks, and the Precones among
the Romans.”
The wilderness of Judea - That is, the country parts, as distinguished from the
city; for in this sense the word wilderness, ‫מדבר‬ midbar or ‫מדבריות‬ midbarioth, is used
among the rabbins. John’s manner of life gives no countenance to the eremite or
hermit’s life, so strongly recommended and applauded by the Roman Church.
GILL, "In those days came John the Baptist,.... The Evangelist having given an
account of the genealogy and birth of Christ; of the coming of the wise men from the east
to him; of his preservation from Herod's bloody design against him, when all the infants
at Bethlehem were slain; of the flight of Joseph with Mary and Jesus into Egypt, and of
their return from thence, and settlement in Nazareth, where Christ continued till near
the time of his baptism, and entrance on his public ministry; proceeds to give a brief
relation of John, the harbinger and forerunner of Christ, and the administrator of
baptism to him: and he describes him by his name John, in Hebrew ‫,יוחנן‬ "Jochanan",
which signifies "gracious", or "the grace of the Lord", or "the Lord has given grace";
which agrees with him, both as a good man, on whom the Lord had bestowed much
grace, and as a preacher, whose business it was to publish the grace of God in Christ,
Luk_16:16. This name was given him by an angel before his conception, and by his
parents at his birth, contrary to the mind of their relations and neighbours, Luk_1:13.
He is called by some of the Jewish writers (m), John the "high priest"; his father
Zacharias was a priest of the course of Abia, and he might succeed him therein, and be
the head of that course, and for that reason be called a "high" or "chief priest"; as we find
such were called, who were the principal among the priests, as were those who were
chosen into the sanhedrim, or were the heads of these courses; and therefore we read of
many chief priests, Mat_2:4. From his being the first administrator of the ordinance of
baptism, he is called John the Baptist; and this was a well known title and character of
him. Josephus (n) calls him "John", who is surnamed ο βαπτιστης, "the Baptist"; and Ben
Gorion having spoken of him, says (o), this is that John who ‫טבילה‬ ‫,עשה‬ "made",
instituted, or practised "baptism"; and which, by the way, shows that this was not in use
among the Jews before, but that John was the first practiser this way. He is described by
his work and office as a preacher, he "came" or "was preaching" the doctrines of
repentance and baptism; he published and declared that the kingdom of the Messiah

was at hand, that he would quickly be revealed; and exhorted the people to believe on
him, which should come after him. The place where he preached is mentioned,
in the wilderness of Judea; not that he preached to trees and to the wild beasts of
the desert; for the wilderness of Judea was an habitable place, and had in it many cities,
towns, and villages, in which we must suppose John came preaching, at least to persons
which came out from thence. There were in Joshua's time six cities in this wilderness,
namely Betharabah, Middin, and Secacah, and Nibshan, and the city of Salt, and Engedi,
Jos_15:61. Mention is made in the Talmud (p) of this wilderness of Judea, as distinct
from the land of Israel, when the doctors say, that
"they do not bring up small cattle in the land of Israel, but they bring them up ‫במדבר‬
‫,שביהודה‬ "in the wilderness which is in Judea".''
The Jews have an observation (q) of many things coming from the wilderness;
"the law, they say, came from the wilderness; the tabernacle from the wilderness; the
sanhedrim from the wilderness; the priesthood from the wilderness; the office of the
Levites from the wilderness; the kingdom from the wilderness; and all the good gifts
which God gave to Israel were from the wilderness.''
So John came preaching here, and Christ was tempted here. The time of his appearance
and preaching was in those days: not when Christ was newly born; or when the wise men
paid their adoration to him; or when Herod slew the infants; or when he was just dead,
and Archelaus reigned in his room; or when Christ first went to Nazareth; though it was
whilst he dwelt there as a private person; but when John was about thirty years of age,
and Christ was near unto it, Luk_3:23 an age in which ecclesiastical persons entered into
service, Num_4:3. It was indeed, as Luke says, Luk_3:1 in the "fifteenth" year of the
reign of Tiberius Caesar; Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea; and Herod being
tetrarch of Galilee; and his brother Philip tetrarch of Iturea; and of the region of
Trachonitis; and Lysanias, the tetrarch of Abilene; Annas and Caiaphas being the high
priests.
HE RY, "We have here an account of the preaching and baptism of John, which
were the dawning of the gospel-day. Observe,
I. The time when he appeared. In those days (Mat_3:1), or, after those days, long after
what was recorded in the foregoing chapter, which left the child Jesus in his infancy. In
those days, in the time appointed of the Father for the beginning of the gospel, when the
fulness of time was come, which was often thus spoken of in the Old Testament, In those
days. Now the last of Daniel's weeks began, or rather, the latter half of the week, when
the Messiah was to confirm the covenant with many, Dan_9:27. Christ's appearances
are all in their season. Glorious things were spoken both of John and Jesus, at and
before their births, which would have given occasion to expect some extraordinary
appearances of a divine presence and power with them when they were very young; but
it is quite otherwise. Except Christ's disputing with the doctors at twelve years old,
nothing appears remarkable concerning either of them, till they were about thirty years
old. Nothing is recorded of their childhood and youth, but the greatest part of their life is
tempus, adēlon - wrapt up in darkness and obscurity: these children differ little in

outward appearance from other children, as the heir, while he is under age, differs
nothing from a servant, though he be lord of all. And this was to show, 1. That even
when God is acting as the God of Israel, the Saviour, yet verily he is a God that hideth
himself (Isa_45:15). The Lord is in this place and I knew it not, Gen_28:16. Our beloved
stands behind the wall long before he looks forth at the windows, Son_2:9. 2. That our
faith must principally have an eye to Christ in his office and undertaking, for there is the
display of his power; but in his person is the hiding of his power. All this while, Christ
was god-man; yet we are not told what he said or did, till he appeared as a prophet; and
then, Hear ye him. 3. That young men, though well qualified, should not be forward to
put forth themselves in public service, but be humble, and modest, and self-diffident,
swift to hear, and slow to speak.
Matthew says nothing of the conception and birth of John the Baptist, which is largely
related by St. Luke, but finds him at full age, as if dropt from the clouds to preach in the
wilderness. For above three hundred years the church had been without prophets; those
lights had been long put out, that he might be the more desired, who was to be the great
prophet. After Malachi there was no prophet, nor any pretender to prophecy, till John
the Baptist, to whom therefore the prophet Malachi points more directly than any of the
Old Testament prophets had done (Mal_3:1); I send my messenger.
II. The place where he appeared first. In the wilderness of Judea. It was not an
uninhabited desert, but a part of the country not so thickly peopled, nor so much
enclosed into fields and vineyards, as other parts were; it was such a wilderness as had
six cities and their villages in it, which are named, Jos_15:61, Jos_15:62. In these cities
and villages John preached, for thereabouts he had hitherto lived, being born hard by, in
Hebron; the scenes of his action began there, where he had long spent his time in
contemplation; and even when he showed himself to Israel, he showed how well he loved
retirement, as far as would consist with his business. The word of the Lord found John
here in a wilderness. Note, No place is so remote as to shut us out from the visits of
divine grace; nay, commonly the sweetest intercourse the saints have with Heaven, is
when they are withdrawn furthest from the noise of this world. It was in this wilderness
of Judah that David penned the 63rd Psalm, which speaks so much of the sweet
communion he then had with God, Hos_2:14. In a wilderness the law was given; and as
the Old Testament, so the New Testament Israel was first found in the desert land, and
there God led him about and instructed him, Deu_32:10. John Baptist was a priest of
the order of Aaron, yet we find him preaching in a wilderness, and never officiating in
the temple; but Christ, who was not a son of Aaron, is yet often found in the temple, and
sitting there as one having authority; so it was foretold, Mal_3:1. The Lord whom ye
seek shall suddenly come to his temple; not the messenger that was to prepare his way.
This intimated that the priesthood of Christ was to thrust out that of Aaron, and drive it
into a wilderness.
The beginning of the gospel in a wilderness, speaks comfort to the deserts of the Gentile
world. Now must the prophecies be fulfilled, I will plant in the wilderness the cedar,
Isa_41:18, Isa_41:19. The wilderness shall be a fruitful field, Isa_32:15. And the desert
shall rejoice, Isa_35:1, Isa_35:2. The Septuagint reads, the deserts of Jordan, the very
wilderness in which John preached. In the Romish church there are those who call
themselves hermits, and pretend to follow John; but when they say of Christ, Behold, he
is in the desert, go not forth, Mat_24:26. There was a seducer that led his followers into
the wilderness, Act_21:38.
JAMISO , "Mat_3:1-12. Preaching and Ministry of John. ( = Mar_1:1-8; Luk_3:1-
18).

For the proper introduction to this section, we must go to Luk_3:1, Luk_3:2. Here, as
Bengel well observes, the curtain of the New Testament is, as it were, drawn up, and the
greatest of all epochs of the Church commences. Even our Lord’s own age is determined
by it (Luk_3:23). No such elaborate chronological precision is to be found elsewhere in
the New Testament, and it comes fitly from him who claims it as the peculiar
recommendation of his Gospel, that “he had traced down all things with precision from
the very first” (Mat_1:3). Here evidently commences his proper narrative.
Luk_3:1 :
Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar - not
the fifteenth from his full accession on the death of Augustus, but from
the period when he was associated with him in the government of the
empire, three years earlier, about the end of the year of Rome 779, or
about four years before the usual reckoning.
Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea - His proper title was
procurator, but with more than the usual powers of that office. After
holding it for about ten years, he was summoned to Rome to answer to
charges brought against him; but ere he arrived, Tiberius died (a.d. 35),
and soon after miserable Pilate committed suicide.
And Herod being tetrarch of Galilee - (See on Mar_6:14).
and his brother Philip - a very different and very superior Philip to
the one whose name was Herod Philip, and whose wife, Herodias, went to
live with Herod Antipas (see on Mar_6:17).
tetrarch of Ituraea - lying to the northeast of Palestine, and so called
from Itur or Jetur, Ishmael’s son (1Ch_1:31), and anciently belonging to
the half-tribe of Manasseh.
and of the region of Trachonitis - lying farther to the northeast,
between Iturea and Damascus; a rocky district infested by robbers, and
committed by Augustus to Herod the Great to keep in order.
and Lysanias the tetrarch of Abilene - still more to the northeast; so
called, says Robinson, from Abila, eighteen miles from Damascus.
Luk_3:2 :
Annas and Caiaphas being the high priests - The former,
though deposed, retained much of his influence, and, probably, as sagan
or deputy, exercised much of the power of the high priesthood along with
Caiaphas, his son-in-law (Joh_18:13; Act_4:6). In David’s time both
Zadok and Abiathar acted as high priests (2Sa_15:35), and it seems to
have been the fixed practice to have two (2Ki_25:18).
the word of God came unto John the son of Zacharias in the wilderness
- Such a way of speaking is never once used when speaking of Jesus,
because He was Himself The Living Word; whereas to all merely creature-
messengers of God, the word they spoke was a foreign element. See on
Joh_3:31. We are now prepared for the opening words of Matthew.
In those days — of Christ’s secluded life at Nazareth, where the last chapter left Him.
came John the Baptist, preaching — about six months before his Master.
in the wilderness of Judea — the desert valley of the Jordan, thinly peopled and

bare in pasture, a little north of Jerusalem.
HAWKER 1-4, "And the same John had his raiment of camel’s hair, and a leathern
girdle about his loins; and his meat was locusts and wild honey.
I include the whole of these verses into one view, for the better apprehension, and of
connecting together what is recorded of John the Baptist. And first let us pause and
consider the person and character of this illustrious man. His birth, though not
miraculous, was attended with such remarkable circumstances, as intimated a more
than ordinary purpose intended from his ministry. As the herald and harbinger of the
LORD JESUS CHRIST, the Prophets Isaiah and Malachi foretold of his coming. Isa_
40:3; Mal_3:1. And his birth was not only announced by the ministry of an angel, but it
was declared of him by the same heavenly messenger, that he should be filled with the
HOLY GHOST even from his mother’s womb Luk_1:13-17. And the LORD JESUS
himself declared concerning him, that among them that are born of women, there had
not risen a greater than John the Baptist. Mat_11:11.
Now before the Reader goes a step further in the account of John, let him pause, and
ponder over the precious testimony which this wonderful man, this greatest of men born
of women, gave of his Almighty LORD and Master, For when the Jews upon John’s
appearing, sent to ask him who he was, and the object of his mission; he declared
himself to be unworthy of the office of even unloosening the very latchets of CHRIST’S
shoes. I am (said John) the voice of one crying in the wilderness, prepare ye the way of
the LORD. Joh_1:19-36. And what is a voice? It is a nonentity, a mere sound, light as air,
and so short in its being and existence, if it can be called by such a name, that when it
hath performed its office, it dies away in the air, is dissolved, and is known no more.
Such said John am I, when considered in any comparative view with my LORD and
Master. Reader! are you a believer in the GODHEAD of CHRIST? Oh! think what a
precious testimony this is to that glorious doctrine of our holy faith! And should a reader
of the Arian or Socinian heresy but glance the same; oh that the LORD the HOLY
GHOST may graciously carry conviction to his very soul of the blessed truth, and bring
him upon his knees with Thomas; crying out My LORD and My GOD!
The next thing to be noticed in the account of John, is of his office and ministry. He
came preaching and baptizing. Baptizing was altogether a new rite in the church, and
probably John was called the Baptist on this account, for he was the first who used it.
But both his preaching the doctrine of repentance, and the use of baptism were evidently
intended only as preparatory to the coming of CHRIST: for no efficacy did John pretend
to convey by his preaching the doctrine of repentance: for to CHRIST is reserved the
power of communicating the grace of repentance in the heart: for it is said, that He was
exalted as a Prince and a Savior for to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins.
Act_5:31. And John no less drew a line of everlasting distinction between his water
ordinance, and the unction of the HOLY SPIRIT. I indeed baptize you (said he) with
water; but He shall baptize you with the HOLY GHOST and with fire. Mat_3:11.
I pass over all notice of the endless disputes which have taken place in the church of
CHRIST on the subject of baptism. The warmest advocates for immersion, who are
themselves partakers of the baptism of the SPIRIT, will be free to confess that the
outward sign, void of the inward effect, is nothing worth. And they who contend for
infant baptism, if they know anything of the LORD, must as readily allow, that nothing
short of the regeneration of the heart can be profitable before GOD. Here then let it rest.
It is awful to behold thousands who have been baptized in their infancy by water only;

and who, in riper years, live and die as complete infidels as those who never heard of
CHRIST. And it is equally awful to behold numbers who have been immersed in riper
years; and yet, by their after conduct, as fully proved that they never were baptized by
the HOLY GHOST. Oh! LORD! grant to my soul the continual baptisms und renewings
of the HOLY GHOST to be shed upon me abundantly, through JESUS CHRIST our
LORD. Tit_3:5-6.
The poor food, and the austere dress and ’manners of the Baptist, are particularly
noticed by the Evangelist. His raiment perhaps, was somewhat in conformity to ancient
times. See 2Ki_1:8; Zec_13:4. The Locusts were among the clean beasts allowed for
food. Lev_2:16. Reader! It is our happiness under the gospel to remember that meat
commendeth us not to God. The Kingdom of God is not meat and drink, but
righteousness and peace, and joy in the HOLY GHOST. Ro 14 throughout. 1Ti_4:1-5;
Tit_1:15.
SBC, "I. John was the finisher of one, and the introducer of a new dispensation. His
words found an echo in all hearts, for what had stirred in him had been stirring in the
Jews, only they could not give it clear expression. The new epoch of thoughts took
substance as the Baptist spoke. He threw into words, and in doing so interpreted, the
wordless passion of a thousand souls. That it is to be a preacher.
II. Of all the blessed works which God gives to man to do in this life, there is none more
blessed than that of the awakener—of the interpreter. It is the work which I would that
all who see beyond the present, and whose eyes God has opened, would now undertake
in England; for there is a movement abroad in society which ought to be made constant,
and which needs an interpreter of its meaning. Old thoughts, old institutions are ready
to perish; the old forms do not fit the new thought, the new wants, the new aspirations of
men. New wine has been poured into old bottles, and the old bottles are bursting on
every side. There is a stirring of all the surface waters of English life and thought, but no
one can tell why they are stirred; there is something at work beneath which no man sees,
which causes all these conflicting and commingling currents, all this trouble on the
upper waters.
III. There is, however, in it all that which is inexpressibly cheering. It tells us plainly that
Christ is coming, not in final judgment, but in some great revolution of life and thought.
We are waiting for the Sun of Righteousness to rise, and to illumine the new way on
which we are entering. Let us be ready for our John the Baptist when He comes; let us
pray for the Interpreter and the Awaker, who will come and say to us, "The kingdom of
heaven is at hand." Let us live in prayer, and progress, and patient watching for His
presence.
S. A. Brooke, Sermons, 1st series, p. 148.
Matthew 3:1-2
Morality and Religion.
I. As far as we know of the preaching of John the Baptist, it consisted in what we should
call the enforcement of moral duties. Soon after, our Lord Himself began His own
ministry, and His public teaching opened with the great discourse which ever since all

Christians have known as the Sermon on the Mount. And what is the general tenour of
this sermon? Again it consists in the enforcement of what we should call moral duties.
And still, through our Lord’s teaching to the very end, the same principle ever returns,
that whatever else may be needed to be His servant, this, at any rate, is indispensable,
that you shall do God’s will, that your life’s action shall be governed by God’s laws, that
you shall bring forth good fruits.
II. In order to make it easier to reflect seriously on our lives, and on the true character of
them, let us, as it were, gather them up under their chief heads: Principle and Temper.
(1) Now we all mean by principle that strong sense of duty which keeps us straight in all
cases in which we are not taken by surprise, or misled by mistake, and even in those
cases never lets us wander far, but quickly checks the straying feet, and calls us to the
path. The characteristic of principle is trustworthiness. The man of principle will live in
secret as he lives in public, and will not gratify a wish when it cannot be known, which he
would not gratify if it could be known. The man of principle is emphatically the man who
loves the light, and comes to the light. Apply this to our own lives. See how much of our
lives is right by a sort of happy accident, by absence of temptation, by presence of all
manner of aids. See how fitful, uncertain, untrustworthy, we often are. Look to this, and
you will assuredly find much to mend. (2) It is quite possible to have right principles,
and yet to spoil all by want of control of temper. High principles must of course stand
above disciplined temper; but let not any Christian dream that to leave temper
unchecked is a light sin in the eyes of the God of love. Not even high principle can be
retained for ever against the effect of self-indulged temper on the soul.
Bishop Temple, Rugby Sermons, 2nd series, p. 234.
I. Consider the character, office, and ministry of the Baptist, as preparatory to the setting
up of the Gospel Kingdom. He was all ardour, and courage, and uncompromising
fidelity. He respected no persons, he spared no vices, he regarded no consequences. We
cannot fail to observe the sectional character of John’s preaching, the skill with which he
addressed himself to the exposure of class errors and class sins. The ministry of the
Baptist was, so to speak, a type of the dispensation of the Spirit. Just as it is the twofold
office of the Comforter, first to convince of sin, and then to take of the things of Christ
and show the way of propitiation; so it was the twofold office of John, first to alarm the
conscience by saying, "Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand," and then to
kindle faith by saying, "Behold the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sins of the world."
II. Observe the appropriate connection between evangelical repentance and any part or
lot in the kingdom of heaven; between spiritual conviction of sin and the realized advent
of Him who is to deliver us from its guilt and power. "Repent ye: for the kingdom of
heaven is at hand." As the ministry of John generally was to prepare for the coming of
Christ, so we should expect the chief object of that ministry would be to prepare men’s
hearts for the receiving of Christ. And these requisitions are met in that first trumpet-
blast which the Baptist sounded in the ears of a slumbering world, "Repent, repent."
III. Then look at some of the resulting fruits of such preaching, as they actually followed
on the stern wilderness message. First we see there were, among those who came to him,
deep and humiliating convictions of sin; and these expressed openly, aloud, in the face of
their friends and of the whole world. Here we find excited in the heart the very first pre-
requisite for bringing Christ within reach, the very condition which disposes to

appreciate the great Physician’s medicines, as well as to become the subjects of an
effectual cure. John’s preaching exhibited the moral order of the soul’s conversion. His
first care was to ensure conviction of sins. No love of Christ, and no professed care about
Christ, could be of any avail without that. This done, however, then may Christ be held
up; and just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness did the Baptist direct all
eyes to the Crucified, and proclaim to those smitten with a sense of sin, and trembling
with a consciousness of their soul’s danger, "Behold the Lamb of God."
D. Moore, Penny Pulpit, No. 3,219.
I. Repentance is not a formal or technical thing. It is simply an operation of the human
mind in regard to evil things—putting spurs to the zeal of men, in going away from evil
and towards good. Repentance, therefore, is merely an abandonment of evil things, in
order that one may reach after better and higher things. The degree of repentance
essential is just that which is necessary to make you let go of mischief and evil. Just as
soon as you know enough of the evil of sin to let it alone, or to turn away from it with
your whole strength, you have repentance enough. Deep and abundant convictions are
beneficial in certain natures, because in these natures only such sensuous and wrestling
experiences will avail, since they are coarse-fibred, since they rank low morally, and
since, therefore, they need rasping. But if they are more nobly strong, if their moral
nature is more sensitive, if they can turn from evil on a slighter suggestion, is it not
better? For men ought to repent easily. It is a sin and a shame for them to repent
reluctantly and grudgingly.
II. The highest form of repentance is a turning away from bad to good on account of the
love which we bear to others; in other words, on account of that imperfect love which
belongs to us in our physical and earthly relations; for we seldom find men who have the
pure and spiritual impulse of love toward God so strong as to act as a dissuasion from
evil and a persuasion toward good until they have actually been drawn into a divine life.
III. Repentance may be, as it respects either single actions or courses of action, a
secondary impulse for some special intent or struggle, or it may become a dominant
influence, acting through long periods, and renewing and refreshing itself continually.
IV. From this great law no one can escape. There is not a man who does not need this
primary experience, this turning to a higher life from the animal life; and there is no man
who has a power of reasoning so high, no man who was born with such qualities, with
such a balance of all the attributes of the soul, that he stands disengaged from the great
law of repentance of everything that is evil, and of aspiration toward all that is good.
H. W. Beecher, Christian World Pulpit, vol. x., p. 100.
BARCLAY 1-6, "The emergence of John was like the sudden sounding of the voice of
God. At this time the Jews were sadly conscious that the voice of the prophets spoke no
more. They said that for four hundred years there had been no prophet. Throughout
long centuries the voice of prophecy had been silent. As they put it themselves, "There
was no voice, nor any that answered." But in John the prophetic voice spoke again. What
then were the characteristics of John and his message?
(i) He fearlessly denounced evil wherever he might find it. If Herod the king sinned by
contracting an evil and unlawful marriage, John rebuked him. If the Sadducees and
Pharisees, the leaders of orthodox religion, the churchmen of their day, were sunk in

ritualistic formalism, John never hesitated to say so. If the ordinary people were living
lives which were unaware of God, John would tell them so.
Wherever John saw evil--in the state, in the Church, in the crowd--he fearlessly rebuked
it. He was like a light which lit up the dark places; he was like wind which swept from
God throughout the country. It was said of a famous journalist who was great, but who
never quite fulfilled the work he might have done, "He was perhaps not easily enough
disturbed." There is still a place in the Christian message for warning and denunciation.
"The truth," said Diogenes, "is like the light to sore eyes." "He who never offended
anyone," he said, "never did anyone any good."
It may be that there have been times when the Church was too careful not to offend.
There come occasions when the time for smooth politeness has gone, and the time for
blunt rebuke has come.
(ii) He urgently summoned men to righteousness. John's message was not a mere
negative denunciation; it was a positive erecting of the moral standards of God. He not
only denounced men for what they had done; he summoned them to what they ought to
do. He not only condemned men for what they were; he challenged them to be what they
could be. He was like a voice calling men to higher things. He not only rebuked evil, he
also set before men the good.
It may well be that there have been times when the Church was too occupied in telling
men what not to do; and too little occupied in setting before them the height of the
Christian ideal.
(iii) John came from God. He came out of the desert. He came to men only after he had
undergone years of lonely preparation by God. As Alexander Maclaren said, "John leapt,
as it were, into the arena full-grown and full-armed." He came, not with some opinion of
his own, but with a message from God. Before he spoke to men, he had companied long
with God.
The preacher, the teacher with the prophetic voice, must always come into the presence
of men out of the presence of God.
(iv) John pointed beyond himself. The man was not only a light to illumine evil, a voice
to rebuke sin, he was also a signpost to God. It was not himself he wished men to see; he
wished to prepare them for the one who was to come.
It was the Jewish belief that Elijah would return before the Messiah came, and that he
would t)e the herald of the coming King. "Behold I will send you Elijah the prophet
before the great and terrible day of the Lord comes" (Malachi 4:5). John wore a garment
of camel's hair, and a leathern belt around his waist. That is the very description of the

raiment which Elijah had worn (2 Kings 1:8).
Matthew connects him with a prophecy from Isaiah (Isaiah 40:3). In ancient times in the
East the roads were bad. There was an eastern proverb which said, "There are three
states of misery--sickness, fasting and travel." Before a traveller set out upon a journey
he was advised "to pay all debts, provide for dependents, give parting gifts, return all
articles under trust, take money and good-temper for the journey; then bid farewell to
all." The ordinary roads were no better than tracks. They were not surfaced at all because
the soil of Palestine is hard and will bear the traffic of mules and asses and oxen and
carts. A journey along such a road was an adventure, and indeed an undertaking to be
avoided.
There were some few surfaced and artificially made roads. Josephus, for instance, tells
us that Solomon laid a causeway of black basalt stone along the roads that lead to
Jerusalem to make them easier for the pilgrims, and "to manifest the grandeur of his
riches and government." All such surfaced and artificially-made roads were originally
built by the king and for the use of the king. They were called "the king's highway." They
were kept in repair only as the king needed them for any journey that he might make.
Before the king was due to arrive in any area, a message was sent out to the people to get
the king's roads in order for the king's journey.
John was preparing the way for the king. The preacher, the teacher with the prophetic
voice, points not at himself, but at God. His aim is not to focus men's eyes on his own
cleverness, but on the majesty of God. The true preacher is obliterated in his message.
Men recognized John as a prophet, even after years when no prophetic voice had
spoken, because he was a light to light up evil things, a voice to summon men to
righteousness, a signpost to point men to God, and because he had in him that
unanswerable authority which clings to the man who comes into the presence of men out
of the presence of God.
LIGHTFOOT, "[John The Baptist preaching in the wilderness of Judea.] That John was
born in Hebron, one may not unfitly conjecture by comparing Luke 1:39 with Joshua
21:11; and that he was born about the feast of the Passover, namely, half a year before the
nativity of our Saviour, Luke 1:36. So the conceptions and births of the Baptist and our
Saviour ennobled the four famous tekuphas [revolutions] of the year: one being
conceived at the summer solstice, the other at the winter; one born at the vernal
equinox, the other at the autumnal.
"John lived in the deserts, until he made himself known unto Israel," Luke 1:80. That is,
if the pope's school may be interpreter, he led the life of a hermit. But,
I. Be ashamed, O papist, to be so ignorant of the sense of the word wilderness, or desert;
which in the common dialect sounds all one as if it had been said, "He lived in the

country, not in the city; his education was more coarse and plain in the country, without
the breeding of the university, or court at Jerusalem." An oblation for thanksgiving
consists of five Jerusalem seahs, which were in value six seahs of the wilderness; that is,
six country seahs.
"A Jerusalem seah exceeds a seah of the wilderness by a sixth part."
"The trees of the wilderness are those which are common, and not appropriate to one
master": that is, trees in groves and common meadows.
So 2 Corinthians 11:26: "in perils in the city, and in perils in the country."
II. The wildernesses of the land of Canaan were not without towns and cities; nor was he
presently to be called an Eremite who dwelt in the wilderness. The hill-country of Judea,
John's native soil, is called by the Talmudists, The royal mountain, or hill; and by the
Psalmist, The desert hill-country, Psalm 75:6; and yet "in the royal mountain were a
myriad of cities."
III. David passed much of his youth in the wilderness, 1 Samuel 17:28: but yet, who will
call him an eremite? In the like sense I conceive John living in the deserts, not only
spending his time in leisure and contemplation, but employing himself in some work, or
studies. For when I read, that the youth of our Saviour was taken up in the carpenter's
trade, I scarcely believe his forerunner employed his youth in no calling at all.
Beginning now the thirtieth year of his age, when, according to the custom of the priests,
he ought to have come to the chief Sanhedrim to undergo their examination, and to be
entered into the priesthood by them, "the word of God coming unto him," Luke 3:2, as it
had done before to the prophets, he is diverted to another ministry.
RWP, "And in those days cometh John the Baptist (en de tais hēmerais
paraginetai Iōanēs ho Baptistēs). Here the synoptic narrative begins with the baptism of
John (Mat_3:1; Mar_1:2; Luk_3:1) as given by Peter in Act_1:22, “from the baptism of
John, unto the day that he was received up from us” (cf. also Act_10:37-43, Peter’s
summary to Cornelius very much like the outline of Mark’s Gospel). Matthew does not
indicate the date when John appeared as Luke does in ch. 3 (the fifteenth year of
Tiberius’s reign). It was some thirty years after the birth of John, precisely how long
after the return of Joseph and Mary to Nazareth we do not know. Moffatt translates the
verb (paraginetai) “came on the scene,” but it is the historical present and calls for a vivid
imagination on the part of the reader. There he is as he comes forward, makes his
appearance. His name John means “Gift of Jehovah” (cf. German Gotthold) and is a
shortened form of Johanan. He is described as “the Baptist,” “the Baptizer” for that is
the rite that distinguishes him. The Jews probably had proselyte baptism as I. Abrahams
shows (Studies in Pharisaism and the Gospels, p. 37). But this rite was meant for the

Gentiles who accepted Judaism. John is treating the Jews as Gentiles in demanding
baptism at their hands on the basis of repentance.
Preaching in the wilderness of Judea (Kērussōn en tēi erēmōi tēs Ioudaias). It
was the rough region in the hills toward the Jordan and the Dead Sea. There were some
people scattered over the barren cliffs. Here John came in close touch with the rocks, the
trees, the goats, the sheep, and the shepherds, the snakes that slipped before the burning
grass over the rocks. He was the Baptizer, but he was also the Preacher, heralding his
message out in the barren hills at first where few people were, but soon his startling
message drew crowds from far and near. Some preachers start with crowds and drive
them away.
CALVI , "Matthew 3:1 ow in those days Luke 3:1.And in the fifteenth year It
could not be gathered from Matthew and Mark in what year of his age John began
to preach: but Luke shows sufficiently, that he was about thirty years of age. The
ancient writers of the Church are almost unanimously agreed, that he was born
fifteen years before the death of Augustus. His successor Tiberius had held the
government of the Roman Empire for fifteen years, when the same John began to
preach. In this way are made up the thirty years which I have mentioned. Hence it
follows, that he did not long discharge the office of teacher, but, in a short time, gave
way to Christ; for we shall soon find, that Christ also was baptized in the thirtieth
year of his age, when he was immediately installed into the discharge of his public
office. ow as John, the morning-star, or dawn, was immediately followed by
Christ, “the Sun of Righteousness,” (Malachi 4:2,) there is no reason to wonder, that
John disappeared, in order that Christ might shine alone in greater brightness.
BURKITT, "Observe here, 1. The preacher sent by God, John the Baptist, a pattern
of mortification, and a preacher of repentance.
Observe, 2. The place he is sent to preach in, The wilderness of Judea; not in
populous Jerusalem, but in a barren wilderness, where the inhabitants are few, and
probably very ignorant and rude.
Learn hence, That it is God's prerogative to send forth the preachers of the gospel,
when and whither, and to what people he pleases; and none must assume the office
before they be sent.
Observe, 3. The doctrine that he preaches; namely, the doctrine of repentance,
Repent ye. This was to prepare the people for the Messiah, and the grace of the
gospel.
Learn thence, that the preaching of the doctrine of repentance is absolutely
necessary, in order to the preparing of the hearts of sinners for the receivimg Christ
Jesus and his holy doctrine.
Observe, 4. The motives which St. John uses to enforce the exhortation to
repentance. The kingdom of heaven is at hand.

That is, now is the so-much-expected time of the appearing of the Messiah come; the
Old Testament dispensation is now to be abolished, and the mercy and grace of the
gospel is now to be revealed; therefore repent, and amend your lives.
ote thence, That the free and full tenders of grace and mercy in the gospel, are the
most alluring arguments to move a sinner to repent, and to convert to God.
COKE, "Matthew 3:1. In those days— That is, while Jesus was yet at azareth,
where he dwelt till he entered on his public ministry, in the thirtieth year of his age.
It is usual with authors to denote the times they are speaking of in an indeterminate
manner. St. Luke, chap. Matthew 3:2 has specified this period very particularly;
and as he has given us a morefull and exact account of John the Baptist than St.
Matthew, we shall refer our readers to the notes on his Gospel. The wilderness of
Judea was not a place wholly void of inhabitants; but hilly, and not so fruitful or so
well inhabited as the rest of Judaea; though there were several cities in it. Joshua
reckons six. See Joshua 15:61-62. St John was born and had been brought up in this
wilderness. Compare Luke 1:39-40.
COFFMA , "In those days ... that is, some thirty years after the events recorded in
the previous chapter. This is typical of Matthew's slight attention to chronology.
Jesus was about 30 years of age when he was baptized (Luke 3:23). The date of
John's ministry is also given by Luke as occurring in the fifteenth year of the reign
of Tiberius Caesar (Luke 3:1).
John the Baptist ... John is called "the baptist" because he baptized people.
McGarvey identified John as the originator, under God, of the ordinance of
baptism.[1] Dummelow commented on the immense popularity of John the Baptist,
"The public appearance of the Baptist marked a new era. He came forward in the
two-fold capacity of a prophet and forerunner of the Messiah. Since prophecy had
been silent for 400 years, and all patriotic Jews were longing for the coming of the
Messiah to deliver them from the Roman yoke, it is not surprising that he was
welcomed with enthusiasm; and that those who ventured to doubt his mission found
it expedient to dissemble (Matthew 21:26)."[2] Jesus had the highest opinion of John
(Luke 7:28). The Jewish priests said he was possessed by a demon (Matthew 11:18),
but this poor opinion of John was a reflection upon themselves and sprang out of
the evil in which they were engrossed.
The wilderness of Judaea ... was a strip of waste land also called a desert (Luke
1:80), lying west of the Dead Sea near the mouth of the Jordan. This wilderness
platform of John's preaching served to identify him as "the voice of one crying in
the wilderness." That John the Baptist was most certainly the person spoken of by
the prophet, Isaiah, "is evident from the fact that he alone, of all the great preachers
known to history, chose a wilderness as his place of preaching."[3]
Repent ye ... John's message was one of repentance. Benjamin Franklin, pioneer

Restoration preacher, proclaimed that God appointed three changes in conversion
and three actions designed to effect those three changes. These are FAITH to change
the heart (mind); REPE TA CE to change the will; and BAPTISM to change the
status. Repentance involving a change of the will is far more than mere sorrow for
sin (2 Corinthians 7:10). Repentance is an instantaneous change of the will, induced
by godly sorrow, and issuing forth in a reformation of life, and marked by
restitution wherever possible. See under Matthew 18:3.
The kingdom of heaven ... This is the kingdom of Daniel 2:44. John was the herald
of this approaching king, Christ, in his kingdom. That this wonderful new kingdom
was not to be a kingdom of this world in the ordinary and secular sense was a fact
unknown to the Jews and only dimly appreciated by the Twelve themselves,
especially at first. The kingdom of God and the church are one and the same
institution, and this fact is more and more apparent. See under Matthew 16:13-19.
Is at hand ... With the ministry of John the Baptist, the kingdom was near but not
yet established. Moffatt's translation of this place is: "The reign of heaven is near."
In Mark 9:1, Christ emphatically declared that the kingdom of God would be
established with power within the lifetime of the apostles, saying, "Verily, I say unto
you, There are some here of them who stand by, who shall in no wise taste of death,
till they see the kingdom of God come with power." Both Christ and Judas Iscariot
were to taste of death before the kingdom began; and, therefore, the words "some of
them" are most precisely accurate.
[1] J. W. McGarvey, ew Testament Commentary (Delight, Arkansas: Gospel Light
Publishing Co.), p. 33.
[2] J. R. Dummelow, One Volume Commentary ( ew York: Macmillan Company,
1937), p. 629.
[3] J. W. McGarvey, op. cit., p. 34.
EBC 1-12, "HIS HERALD
THIRTY years have gone since all Jerusalem was in trouble at the rumour of Messiah’s
birth. But as nothing has been heard of Him since, the excitement has passed away.
Those who were troubled about it are aging or old or dead; so no one thinks or speaks of
it now. There have been several political changes since, mostly for the worse. Judea is
now a province of Rome, governed by procurators, of whom the sixth, called Pontius
Pilate, has just entered on his office. Society is much the same as before-the same
worldliness and luxurious living after the manner of the Greek, the same formalism and.
bigotry after the manner of the Scribe. There is no sign, in Jerusalem at least, of any
change for the better.
The only new thing stirring is a rumour in the street. People are telling one another that
a new prophet has arisen. "In the Palace?"-"No." "In the Temple?"-"No." "Surely
somewhere in the city?"-"No." He is in the wilderness, clad in roughest garb, subsisting
on poorest fare-a living protest against the luxury of the time. He makes no pretence to

learning, draws no fine distinctions, gives no curious interpretations, and yet, with only
a simple message, -which, however, he delivers as coming straight from God Himself, -is
drawing crowds to hear him from all the country side. So the rumour spreads
throughout the town, and great numbers go out to see what it is all about; some perhaps
from curiosity, some in hope that it may be the dawn of a brighter day for Israel, all of
them no doubt more or less stirred with the excitement of the thought that, after so
many silent centuries, a veritable prophet has come, like those of old. For it must be
remembered that even in gay Jerusalem the deep-rooted feelings of national pride and
patriotism had been only overlaid, not superseded, by the veneer of Greek and Roman
civilisation, which only seemed for the moment to satisfy the people.
So they go out in multitudes to the wilderness; and what do they see? "A man clothed in
fine raiment," like the Roman officials in the palace, which in those degenerate days
were Jerusalem’s pride? "A reed shaken by the wind," like the time-serving politicians of
the hour? Nay, verily; but a true prophet of the Lord, one reminding them of what they
have read in the Scriptures of the great Elijah, who suddenly appeared in the wild
mountain region of Gilead, at a time when Phoenician manners were making the same
havoc in Israel that Greek manners are now making in Jerusalem. Who can he be? He
seems to be more than a prophet. Can he be the Christ? But this he entirely disclaims. Is
he Elijah then? John probably knew that he was sent "in the spirit and power of Elijah,"
for so his father had learned from the angel on the occasion of the announcement of his
birth; but that was not the point of their question. When they asked, "Art thou Elijah?"
they meant "Art thou Elijah risen from the dead?" To this he must, of course, answer,
"No." In the same way he must disclaim identity with any of the prophets. He will not
trade upon the name of any of these holy men of old. Enough that he comes, a nameless
one, before them, with a message from the Lord. So, keeping himself in the background,
he puts his message before them, content that they should recognise in it the fulfilment
of the well-known word of prophecy: "A voice crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the
way of the Lord, make His paths straight."
John wishes it to be distinctly understood that he is not that Light which the prophets of
old have told them should arise, but is sent to bear witness to that Light. He has come as
a herald to announce the approach of the King, and to call upon the people to prepare for
His coming. Think not of me, he cries, ask not who I am; think of the coming King, and
make ready for HIM, -"Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make His paths straight."
How is the way of the Lord to be prepared? Is it by summoning the people to arms all
over the land, that they may repel the Roman invader and restore the ancient kingdom?
Such a proclamation would no doubt have struck a chord that would have vibrated
through all the land. That would have been after the manner of men; it was not the way
of the Lord. The summons must be, not to arms, but to repentance: "Wash you, make
you clean: put away the evil of your doings." So, instead of marching up, a host of
warriors, to the Roman citadel, the people troop down, band after band of penitents, to
the Jordan, confessing their sins. After all it is the old, old prophetic message over again,
-the same which had been sent generation after generation to a back-sliding people, its
burden always this: "Turn ye unto Me, saith the Lord of Hosts, and I will turn unto you,
saith the Lord of Hosts."
Like many of the old prophets, John taught by symbol as well as by word. The
preparation needed was an inward cleansing, and what more fitting symbol of it than the
water baptism to which he called the nation? "In that day," it was written in the
prophets, "there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants
of Jerusalem, for sin and for uncleanness." The prophecy was about to be fulfilled, and

the baptism of John was the appropriate sign of it. Again, in another of the prophets the
promise ran, "Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean; from all
your filthiness and from all your idols will I cleanse you and I will put my spirit within
you." John knew well that it was not given to him to fulfil this promise. He could not
grant the real baptism, the baptism of the Holy Ghost; but he could baptise with water;
he could give the sign and assurance to the truly. penitent heart that there was
forgiveness and cleansing in the coming One; and thus, by his baptism with water, as
well as by the message he delivered, he was preparing the way of the Lord. All this, we
cannot but observe, was in perfect accord with the wonderful prophetic utterance of his
father Zacharias, as recorded by "St. Luke" thou, child, shalt be called the prophet of the
Highest: for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare His ways; to give
knowledge of salvation unto His people by "the remission of their sins,"-not to give
salvation, which only Christ can give, but the knowledge of it. This he did not only by
telling. Of the coming Saviour, and, when He came, pointing to Him as "the Lamb of
God that taketh away the sin of the world": but also by the appropriate sign of baptism,
which gave the same knowledge in the language of symbol addressed to the eye.
The summons of the prophet of the wilderness is not in vain. The people come. The
throngs increase. The nation is moved. Even the great ones of the nation condescend to
follow the multitude. Pharisees and Sadducees, the leaders of the two great parties in
Church and State, are coming; many of them are coming. What a comfort this must be to
the prophet’s soul. How gladly he will welcome them, and let it be known that he has
among his converts many of the great ones of the land! But the stern Baptist is a man of
no such mould. What cares he for rank or position or worldly influence? What he wants
is reality, simplicity, godly sincerity; and he knows that, scarce as these virtues are in the
community at large, they are scarcest of all among these dignitaries. He will not allow
the smallest admixture of insincerity or hypocrisy in what is, so far, a manifest work of
God. He must test these new-comers to the uttermost, for the sin of which they need
most to repent is the very, sin which they are in danger of committing afresh in its most
aggravated form in offering themselves for baptism. He must therefore test their
motives: he must at all risks ensure that, unless their repentance is genuine, they shall
not be baptised. For their own sakes, as well as for the work’s sake, this is necessary.
Hence the strong, even harsh language he uses in putting the question why they had
come. Yet he would not repel or discourage them. He does not send them away as if past
redemption, but only demands that they bring forth fruit worthy of the-repentance they
profess. And lest they should think that there was an easier way of entrance for them
than for others, lest they should think that they had claims sufficient because of their
descent, he reminds them that God can have his kingdom upon earth, even though every
son of Abraham in the world should reject Him: "Think 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."
It is as if he said, The coming kingdom of righteousness and truth will not fail, even if
Pharisees and Sadducees and all the natural children of Abraham refuse to enter its only
gate of repentance; if there is no response to the Divine summons where it is most to be
expected, then it can be secured where it is least to be expected; if flesh become stone,
then stone can be made flesh, according-to the word of promise. So there will be no
gathering in of mere formalists to make up numbers, no including of those who are only
"Jews outwardly." And there will be no half measures, no compromise with evil, no
parleying with those who are unwilling or only half willing to repent. A time of crisis has
come, -"now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees." It is not lifted yet. But it is
there lying ready, ready for the Lord of the vineyard, when He shall come (and He is

close at hand); then, "every free which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down and
cast into the fire."
Yet not for judgment is He coming, -John goes on to say, -but to fulfil the promise of the
Father. He is coming to baptise you with the Holy Ghost and with fire-to purify you
through and through and to animate you with a new life, glowing, upward-striving,
heaven-aspiring; and it is to prepare you for this unspeakable blessing that I ask you to
come and put away those sins which must he a barrier in the way of His coming, those
sins which dim your eyes so that you cannot see Him, which stop your ears so that you
cannot recognise your Shepherd’s voice, that clog your hearts so that the Holy Spirit
cannot reach them, -repent, repent, and be baptised all of you; for there cometh One
after me, mightier than I, whose meanest servant I am not worthy to be, -He shall
baptise you with the Holy Ghost and with fire, if you are ready to receive Him; but if you
are not, still you cannot escape Him, "Whose fan is in His hand, and He will throughly
cleanse His threshing-floor; and He will gather His wheat into the garner, but the chaff
He will burn up with unquenchable fire" (R.V).
The work of John must still be done. It specially devolves upon the ministers of Christ;
would they were all as anxious as he was to keep in the background, as little concerned
about position, title, official rank, or personal consideration.
BROADUS, "The second great division of this Gospel comprises Matthew 3 to Matthew
4:11, and narrates the events connected with the entrance of our Lord upon his public
work, including the appearance and ministry of John the Baptist
(Matthew 3:1-12), the baptism of Jesus (Matthew 3:13-17), and his temptation.
(Matthew 4:1-11.) Here for the first time (Mark 1:1-8), and (Luke 3:1-18), become really
parallel to Matthew; for Luke's apparently parallel matter heretofore has been entirely
distinct from Matthew.
Matthew 3:1. In those days. The Rev. Ver. has, And in.(1) This signifies, in the days in
which Joseph and his family dwelt at Nazareth, as recorded in the preceding sentence.
This event and the appearance of John are thrown together as belonging to the same
period, no account being taken of the uneventful intervening time, which, in this case,
was near thirty years. (Luke 3:23.) So Exodus 2:11, "in those days," passes over the whole
time from Moses' early youth, when his mother returned him to Pharaoh's daughter,
until he was forty years old. (Acts 7:23) In other cases the expression is equally
indefinite, though the time passed over is shorter (e. g., Isaiah 38:1, Mark 1:9, Acts 1:15).
The same use of the phrase is found in classic writers also, where nothing is aimed at but
a general designation of the time. Luke (Luke 3:1) here gives the date of John's
appearance with great particularity. Pontius Pilate became procurator A. D. 25-6. The
fifteenth year of Tiberius is probably to be counted from the time when he was
associated with Augustus (two years before the latter's death), which would be A. D. 12.
There cannot be much doubt that John appeared in A. D. 26. Came, or rather, arrives,
presents himself. The word is several times used to denote the arrival or public
appearance of an official personage (compare 1 Maccabees 4:46, Hebrews 9:11; and
below, Matthew 3:13); and it may be intended here to denote John's appearance in his
official character. The Greek has here the present tense, precisely as in Matthew 3:13.

John the Baptist.â€”The most probable date for the beginning of the Baptist's ministry is
A. D. 20, say in the spring. (Compare on Matthew 2:19.) The name John (Johananâ€”
Jehovah graciously gave) had become common since the time of the popular ruler John
Hyrcanus (died B. C. 106); thirteen persons of that name are mentioned in Josephus;
and in the New Testament, besides the Baptist and the Evangelist, we meet with John
Mark (Acts 12:12), and John of the high-priestly family. (Acts 4:6) John the forerunner
was well known to Matthew's first readers as the 'Baptist,' or Baptizer (compare
Matthew 14:2, Matthew 14:8); we find Josephus also ("Ant.," 18, 5, 2) mentioning him as
"John, who was surnamed Baptist." This name, the Baptizer, was of course given him in
consequence of the remarkable rite he performed, which attracted universal attention,
and was repeatedly used as the characteristic representative of his whole work (see on
"Matthew 21:25").â€”The circumstances connected with John's birth are given only by
Luke. Of his history since childhood we only know that he 'was in the deserts till the day
of his shewing unto Israel.' (Luke 1:80) His father would be anxious to give to the child
of such hopes the best priestly education, and it is probable that he retired to 'the
deserts' after the death of his parents, who were of advanced age at the time of his birth.
Such a step would be natural only when grown, or nearly so. In the wild region between
Jerusalem and the Dead Sea (see below), he probably spent his time in religious
meditation, ripening for his great mission. Yet that he knew human nature, and
observed the men of his own time, appears from Luke 3:10-14. In this same wild region
dwelt the Essenes (see on "Matthew 3:7"), and here also Josephus ("Life," 2) locates the
teacher Banus, with whom he spent three years in seclusion, at a period about thirty
years later than John's public appearance. It had been appointed (Luke 1:15) that from
the beginning of John's life he should not 'drink wine or strong drink,' i.e., should live as
a Nazirite, (Numbers 6:1-21) implying extraordinary and lifelong consecration to God's
service. A child of the mountains, and living a temperate life in the open air, he probably
became strong in body, as well as 'grew strong in spirit.' (Luke 1:80.) Compare on
Matthew 3:4. It is probable (see on "Matthew 3:13") that he began his ministry when
about thirty years old. "This protracted period of private discipline and preparation in
the life both of Christ and his forerunner, is in striking contrast with our own impatience
even under the most hurried superficial processes of education." (Alexander).â€”That a
priest should be called to be a prophet was not strange; compare Jeremiah and Ezekiel.â
€”For a further account of John, see throughout this chapter, and on Matthew 4:12;
Matthew 9:14 ff.; Matthew 11:2-19; Matthew 14:1-13; Matthew 17:10-13; Matthew 21:25,
Matthew 21:32. Kohler: "Though the historical information is very limited, there are few
persons of whom we can form so clear and lively a conception.... An imposing figure, in
whose posture and traits of countenance were depicted iron will, and deep, holy
earnestness, yet without passing into hardness. In general, John may be called a classical
example of the manifestation of love in the garb of severity. We cannot doubt his
profound compassion for the unhappy condition of his people, sunken in sin and
exposed to judgment, although it would hardly occur to us to conceive of him as
weeping, like the Lord Jesus, over the coming fate of Jerusalem."
Preaching. See on "Matthew 4:17". The word wilderness is used both in Old Testament
and New Testament to denote a region not regularly built up and cultivated, portions of
which were quite sterile, while other portions might be not destitute of herbage and
other spontaneous productions. Such a tract was commonly used for pasturage, (Psalms
65:12; Joel 2:22; Luke 15:4) and sometimes contained watchtowers, (2 Chronicles 26:10)
settled inhabitants (Judges 1:16), and even cities. (Joshua 15:61, Isaiah 42:11) The

'wilderness of Judea' was a region of no very well marked boundaries, lying west of the
Dead Sea, and of the extreme southern part of the Jordan, occupying about one third of
the territory of Judah (Keim), and extending up into that of Benjamin. The narrow plain
of the Jordan, from the Sea of Galilee to the Dead Sea, is also called by Josephus ("War,"
3, 10, 17) a desert, and described by him as parched, unhealthy, and destitute of water,
except the river. (So also Thomson, II. 159 f.) Now Luke (Luke 3:2-3) says: 'The word of
God came unto John, in the wilderness, and he came into all the country about Jordan
preaching,' and John (John 1:28) speaks of him as engaged in baptizing, a little later
than this, at Bethany, beyond Jordan. We thus conclude that Matthew, as in many other
cases, contents himself with the general statement that John's preaching and baptizing
took place in the wilderness of Judea, which included the lower part of the Jordan valley,
and being without definite boundaries, did not need to be carefully distinguished from
the similar desert region extending farther up the river, into which (as we gather from
the other Evangelists) John gradually moved, at length crossing the river, (John 1:28,
John 10:40) and at a later period, (John 3:23) crossing back and removing to Enon,
which was certainly west of the Jordan.(1) There is thus no occasion for inferring, as
some do, from Luke's expression, that John first preached for some time in the
wilderness at a distance from the Jordan, and afterwards came to the river. It should be
observed that events described as occurring in 'the wilderness,' or 'the wilderness of
Judea,' must of necessity be referred to different parts of that quite extensive district.
John had probably lived (Luke 1:80) in the southwestern part, towards Hebron; the
scene of his baptizing was in the northeastern part; and the tract mentioned in John
11:54, apparently formed the northwestern part. As to the scene of the temptation, see
on "Matthew 4:1". The same Greek word is used in all the passages of New Testament in
which the Com. Vet. has 'wilderness' or 'desert.' (See further on "Matthew 14:13".)â€”
John called the people away from the seats of government and of fixed social influences,
into the wilder regions, where thought more readily becomes free, and where the mind is
at once drawn out towards God, and driven in upon itself. (Keim.) In such a region was
given the law of Moses, and pretenders to a prophetic mission, after our Lord's time,
repeatedly drew crowds into the wilderness. (Acts 21:38, Matthew 24:26; Joshua "Ant.,"
20, 5, 1; "War," 7, 11, 1.)
BIBLICAL ILLUSTRATOR, "John the Baptist.
I. The special mission of the Baptist.
1. He wag the herald of the Messiah.
2. He belonged, properly, neither to the Mosaic nor to the Christian dispensation.
His was a transition ministry.
3. He was appointed to prepare for, as well as to announce, the introduction of the
Gospel. A spiritual economy, demanding a process of moral and religious
preparation.
4. His character corresponded with his office-stern.
II. The chief subject of his preaching.
1. The nature of repentance.
2. The duty of repentance.
3. The connection of repentance with faith in Christ.

4. The evidences of repentance. Learn
(1) The necessity of repentance;
(2) What are the hindrances to the progress of the gospel in the world. (R.
Watson and D. Moore.)
John the Baptist
1. His work.
2. His qualifications.
3. His message.
4. His Divine appointment.
5. His un-worldliness.
6. His popularity.
7. His courageous utterances. (D. C. Hughes,M. A.)
Wilderness
I. In his solitude he did breathe more pure inspiration.
1. Heaven was more open.
2. God was more familiar and frequent in His visitations.
3. In the wilderness his company was angels.
4. His employment, meditation and prayer.
5. His temptations, simple and from within.
6. His occasions of sin as few as his examples.
7. His condition such, that if his soul were at all busy, his life could not easily be
other than the life of angels.
II. In solitude pious persons may go to heaven by the way of prayers and devotion’.
1. In society, by the way of mercy, charity, and dispensations to others.
2. In solitude there are fewer occasions of vices.
3. But also the exercise of fewer virtues.
4. Temptations though they be not from many objects, yet are in some
circumstances more dangerous.
5. Because the worst of evils, spiritual pride seldom misses to creep upon those
goodly oaks, like ivy, and suck their heart out.
6. As they communicate less with the world, so they do less charity and fewer offices
of mercy.
III. Many holy persons have left their wilderness and sweetnesses of devotion in
retirement to serve god in public, by the ways of charity and exterior offices.

IV. John the Baptist united both these lives; and our blessed Saviour … for He lived a
life:
(1)common;
(2)sociable;
(3)humane;
(4) charitable;
(5) and public.
From both we are taught that-
I. Solitude is a good school.
II. The world is the best theatre.
III. The institution is best there, but the practice here.
IV. The wilderness hath one advantage of discipline.
V. Society hath opportunities of perfection.
VI. Privacy is best for devotion.
VII. Publicity for charity. (Jeremy Taylor.)
Wilderness of Judaea
Everything in this desert is of one colour-a tawny yellow. The rocks, the partridges, the
camels, the foxes, the ibex, are all of this shade, and only the dark Bedawin and their
black tents are distinguishable in the general glare From a very early period this horrible
wilderness appears to have had an attraction for ascetics, who sought a retreat from the
busy world of their fellowmen, and who thought to please God by torturing the bodies
which He had given them. Thus the Essenes, the Jewish sect whose habits and tenets
resembled so closely those of the first Christians, retired into this wilderness and lived in
caves. Christian hermits, from the earliest period, were also numerous in all the country
between Jerusalem and Jericho, and the rocks are riddled with caves in inaccessible
places where they lived Lifeless and treeless though it be, nature prepares every day a
glorious picture, quickly-fading but matchless in brilliance of colour; the distant ranges
seem stained with purple and pink; in autumn the great bands of cloud sweep over the
mountains with long bars of gleaming light between; and for a few minutes, as the sun
sets, the deep crimson blush comes over the rocks and glorifies the whole landscape with
an indescribable glow. (Lieut. Condor, R. E.)
Solitude sometimes conducive to usefulness
The Baptist did not rush from the society of his species into the solitudes of Judaea to
hide his candle for ever under a bushel, as modern and ancient asceticism has done; but
he resorted thither only from an unselfish and most expanded motive, namely, in order
that his candle alight all the more brightly, and widely, and publicly shine, when he
issued forth at length to preach, in the midst of mixed crowds, “Repent, for the kingdom
of heaven is at hand.” (B. Jones.)

Solitude necessary to inward realization
Only in quiet, in solitude with God, in unbroken questioning with his own soul, can a
prophet of God discover what God is saying to his spirit. (S. Brooke, M. A.)
2 and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven
has come near.”
BAR ES, "Repent ye - Repentance implies sorrow for past offences 2Co_7:10; a
deep sense of the evil of sin as committed against God Psa_51:4; and a full purpose to
turn from transgression and to lead a holy life. A true penitent has sorrow for sin, not
only because it is ruinous to his soul, but chiefly because it is an offence against God, and
is that abominable thing which he hates, Jer_44:4. It is produced by seeing the great
danger and misery to which it exposes us; by seeing the justice and holiness of God Job_
42:6; and by seeing that our sins have been committed against Christ, and were the
cause of his death, Zec_12:10; Luk_22:61-62. There are two words in the New
Testament translated “repentance,” one of which denotes a change of mind, or a
reformation of life; and the other, sorrow or regret that sin has been committed. The
word used here is the former, calling the Jews to a change of life, or a reformation of
conduct. In the time of John, the nation had become extremely wicked and corrupt,
perhaps more so than at any preceding period. Hence, both he and Christ began their
ministry by calling the nation to repentance.
The kingdom of heaven is at hand - The phrases kingdom of heaven, kingdom of
Christ, kingdom of God, are of frequent occurrence in the Bible. They all refer to the
same thing. The expectation of such a kingdom was taken from the Old Testament, and
especially from Daniel, Dan_7:13-14. The prophets had told of a successor to David that
should sit on his throne 1Ki_2:4; 1Ki_8:25; Jer_33:17. The Jews expected a great
national deliverer. They supposed that when the Messiah should appear, all the dead
would be raised; that the judgment would take place; and that the enemies of the Jews
would be destroyed, and that they themselves would be advanced to great national
dignity and honor.
The language in which they were accustomed to describe this event was retained by
our Saviour and his apostles. Yet they early attempted to correct the common notions
respecting his reign. This was one design, doubtless, of John in preaching repentance.
Instead of summoning them to military exercises, and collecting an army, which would
have been in accordance with the expectations of the nation, he called them to a change
of life; to the doctrine of repentance - a state of things far more accordant with the

approach of a kingdom of purity.
The phrases “kingdom of God” and “kingdom of heaven” have been supposed to have
a considerable variety of meaning. Some have supposed that they refer to the state of
things in heaven; others, to the personal reign of Christ on earth; others, that they mean
the church, or the reign of Christ in the hearts of his people. There can be no doubt that
there is reference in the words to the condition of things in heaven after this life. But the
church of God is a preparatory state to that beyond the grave - a state in which Christ
pre-eminently rules and reigns and there is no doubt that the phrases sometimes refer to
the state of things in the church; and that they may refer, therefore, to the state of things
which the Messiah was to set up his spiritual reign begun in the church on earth and
completed in heaven.
The expression “the kingdom of heaven is at hand” would be best translated, “the
reign of God draws near.” We do not say commonly of a kingdom that it is movable, or
that it approaches. A reign may be said to be at hand; and it may be said with propriety
that the time when Christ would reign was at hand. In this sense it is meant that the time
when Christ should reign, or set up his kingdom, or begin his dominion on earth, under
the Christian economy, was about to commence. The phrase, then, should not be
confined to any period of that reign, but includes his whole dominion over his people on
earth and in heaven.
In the passage here it clearly means that the coming of the Messiah was near, or that
the time of the reign of God which the Jews had expected was coming.
The word “heaven,” or “heavens,” as it is in the original, means sometimes the place so
called; and sometimes it is, by a figure of speech, put for the Great Being whose
residence is there, as in Dan_4:26; “the Heavens do rule.” See also Mar_11:30; Luk_
15:18. As that kingdom was one of purity, it was proper that the people should prepare
themselves for it by turning from their sins, and by bringing their hearts into a state
suitable to his reign.
CLARKE, "Repent - Μετανοειτε. This was the matter of the preaching. The verb
µετανοεω is either compounded of µετα, after, and νοειν to understand, which signifies
that, after hearing such preaching, the sinner is led to understand, that the way he has
walked in was the way of misery, death, and hell. Or the word may be derived from µετα
after, and ανοια, madness, which intimates that the whole life of a sinner is no other than
a continued course of madness and folly: and if to live in a constant opposition to all the
dictates of true wisdom; to wage war with his own best interests in time and eternity; to
provoke and insult the living God; and, by habitual sin, to prepare himself only for a
state of misery, be evidences of insanity, every sinner exhibits them plentifully. It was
from this notion of the word, that the Latins termed repentance resipiscentia, a growing
wise again, from re and sapere; or, according to Tertullian, Resipiscentia, quasi receptio
mentis ad se, restoring the mind to itself: Contra Marcion, lib. ii. Repentance, then,
implies that a measure of Divine wisdom is communicated to the sinner, and that he
thereby becomes wise to salvation. That his mind, purposes, opinions, and inclinations,
are changed; and that, in consequence, there is a total change in his conduct. It need
scarcely be remarked, that, in this state, a man feels deep anguish of soul, because he has
sinned against God, unfitted himself for heaven, and exposed his soul to hell. Hence, a
true penitent has that sorrow, whereby he forsakes sin, not only because it has been

ruinous to his own soul, but because it has been offensive to God.
The kingdom of heaven is at hand - Referring to the prophecy of Daniel, Dan_
7:13,Dan_7:14, where the reign of Christ among men is expressly foretold. This phrase,
and the kingdom of God, mean the same thing, viz. the dispensation of infinite mercy,
and manifestation of eternal truth, by Christ Jesus, producing the true knowledge of
God, accompanied with that worship which is pure and holy, worthy of that God who is
its institutor and its object. But why is this called a kingdom? Because it has its laws, all
the moral precepts of the Gospel: its subjects, all who believe in Christ Jesus: and its
king, the Sovereign of heaven and earth. N. B. Jesus Christ never saved a soul which he
did not govern; nor is this Christ precious or estimable to any man who does not feel a
spirit of subjection to the Divine will.
But why is it called the kingdom of Heaven? Because God designed that his kingdom
of grace here should resemble the kingdom of glory above. And hence our Lord teaches
us to pray, Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven. The kingdom of heaven is not
meat and drink, says St. Paul, Rom_14:17; does not consist in the gratification of sensual
passions, or worldly ambition; but is righteousness, peace, and joy, in the Holy Ghost.
Now what can there be more than this in glory? Righteousness, without mixture of sin;
peace, without strife or contention; joy, in the Holy Ghost, spiritual joy, without mixture
of misery! And all this, it is possible, by the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, to enjoy here
below. How then does heaven itself differ from this state? Answer. It makes the
righteousness eternal, the peace eternal, and the joy eternal. This is the heaven of
heavens! The phrase, kingdom of heaven, ‫שמים‬ ‫מלכות‬ malcuth shamayim, is frequently
used by the rabbinical writers, and always means, the purity of the Divine worship, and
the blessedness which a righteous man feels when employed in it.
It is farther added, This kingdom is at hand. The dispensation of the glorious Gospel
was now about to be fully opened, and the Jews were to have the first offers of salvation.
This kingdom is also at hand to us; and wherever Christ crucified is preached, there is
salvation to be found. Jesus is proclaimed to thee, O man! as infinitely able and willing
to save. Believe in his name - cast thy soul upon his atonement, and enter into rest!
GILL, "And saying, repent ye,.... The doctrine which John preached was the
doctrine of repentance; which may be understood either of amendment of life and
manners; for the state of the Jews was then very corrupt, all sorts of men were grown
very wicked; and though there was a generation among them, who were righteous in
their own eyes, and needed no repentance; yet John calls upon them all, without any
distinction, to repent; and hereby tacitly strikes at the doctrine of justification by works,
which they had embraced, to which the doctrine of repentance is directly opposite: or
rather, this is meant, as the word here used signifies, of a change of mind, and
principles. The Jews had imbibed many bad notions. The Pharisees held the traditions of
the elders, and the doctrine of justification by the works of the law; and the Sadducees
denied the resurrection of the dead; and it was a prevailing opinion among them all, and
seems to be what is particularly struck at by John, that the Messiah would be a temporal
king, and set up an earthly kingdom in this world. Wherefore he exhorts them to change
their minds, to relinquish this notion; assuring them, that though he would be a king,
and would have a kingdom, which was near at hand, yet it would be a heavenly, and not
an earthly one. Hence the manner in which John enforces his doctrine, or the reason and
argument he uses to prevail upon them to regard it, is by saying,

for the kingdom of heaven is at hand: by which is meant not the kingdom of glory
to be expected in another world; or the kingdom of grace, that is internal grace, which
only believers are partakers of in this; but the kingdom of the Messiah, which was "at
hand", just ready to appear, when he would be made manifest in Israel and enter upon
his work and office: it is the Gospel dispensation which was about to take place, and is so
called; because of the wise and orderly management of it under Christ, the king and head
of his church by the ministration of the word, and administration of ordinances;
whereby, as means, spiritual and internal grace would be communicated to many, in
whose hearts it would reign and make them meet for the kingdom of glory; and because
the whole economy of the Gospel, the doctrines and ordinances of it are from heaven.
This phrase, "the kingdom of heaven" is often to be met with in Jewish writings; and
sometimes it stands opposed to the "kingdom of the earth" (r); by it is often meant the
worship, service, fear, and love of God, and faith in him: thus in one of their books (s)
having mentioned those words, "serve the Lord with fear": it is asked, what means this
phrase, "with fear?" It is answered, the same as it is written, "the fear of the Lord is the
beginning of wisdom"; and this is ‫שמים‬ ‫מלכות‬ "the kingdom of heaven". And elsewhere
they (t) ask, "what is the kingdom of heaven?" To which is answered, "the Lord our God
is one Lord". Yea, the Lord God himself is so called (u), and sometimes the sanctuary;
and sometimes they intend by it the times of the Messiah, as the Baptist here does; for so
they paraphrase (w) those words,
"the time of the singing of birds, or of pruning, is come; the time for Israel to be
redeemed is come; the time for the uncircumcision to be cut off is come; the time that
the kingdom of the Cuthites (Samaritans or Heathens) shall be consumed is come; and
the time ‫שתגלה‬ ‫שמים‬ ‫מלכות‬ ‫של‬ that "the kingdom of heaven shall be revealed" is come, as it
is written, "and the Lord shall be king over all, the earth."''
Very pertinently does John make use of this argument to engage to repentance; since
there cannot be a greater motive to it, whether it regard sorrow for sin, and confession of
it, or a change of principles and practice, than the grace of God through Christ, which is
exhibited in the Gospel dispensation: and very appropriately does he urge repentance
previous to the kingdom of heaven; because without that there can be no true and
cordial embracing or entering into the Gospel dispensation, or kingdom of heaven; that
is, no real and hearty receiving the doctrines, and submitting to the ordinances of it. Nor
ought the Jews above all people to object to John's method of preaching; since they
make repentance absolutely necessary to the revelation of the Messiah and his kingdom,
and redemption by him; for they say (x) in so many words, that
"if Israel do not repent, they will never be redeemed; but as soon as they repent, they will
be redeemed; yea, if they repent but one day, immediately the son of David will come.''
HE RY, "III. His preaching. This he made his business. He came, not fighting, nor
disputing, but preaching (Mat_3:1); for by the foolishness of preaching, Christ's
kingdom must be set up.
1. The doctrine he preached was that of repentance (Mat_3:2); Repent ye. He
preached this in Judea, among those that were called Jews, and made a profession of
religion; for even they needed repentance. He preached it, not in Jerusalem, but in the
wilderness of Judea, among the plain country people; for even those who think
themselves most out of the way of temptation, and furthest from the vanities and vices of
the town, cannot wash their hands in innocency, but must do it in repentance. John

Baptist's business was to call men to repent of their sins; Metanoeite - Bethink
yourselves; “Admit a second thought, to correct the errors of the first - an afterthought.
Consider your ways, change your minds; you have thought amiss; think again, and
think aright.” Note, True penitents have other thoughts of God and Christ, and sin and
holiness, and this world and the other, than they have had, and stand otherwise affected
toward them. The change of the mind produces a change of the way. Those who are
truly sorry for what they have done amiss, will be careful to do so no more. This
repentance is a necessary duty, in obedience to the command of God (Act_17:30); and a
necessary preparative and qualification for the comforts of the gospel of Christ. If the
heart of man had continued upright and unstained, divine consolations might have been
received without this painful operation preceding; but, being sinful, it must be first
pained before it can be laid at ease, must labour before it can be at rest. The sore must be
searched, or it cannot be cured. I wound and I heal.
2. The argument he used to enforce this call was, For the kingdom of heaven is at
hand. The prophets of the Old Testament called people to repent, for the obtaining and
securing of temporal national mercies, and for the preventing and removing of temporal
national judgments: but now, though the duty pressed is the same, the reason is new,
and purely evangelical. Men are now considered in their personal capacity, and not so
much as then in a social and political one. Now repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at
hand; the gospel dispensation of the covenant of grace, the opening of the kingdom of
heaven to all believers, by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is a kingdom of
which Christ is the Sovereign, and we must be the willing, loyal subjects of it. It is a
kingdom of heaven, not of this world, a spiritual kingdom: its original from heaven, its
tendency to heaven. John preached this as at hand; then it was at the door; to us it is
come, by the pouring out of the Spirit, and the full exhibition of the riches of gospel-
grace. Now, (1.) This is a great inducement to us to repent. There is nothing like the
consideration of divine grace to break the heart, both for sin and from sin. That is
evangelical repentance, that flows from a sight of Christ, from a sense of his love, and the
hopes of pardon and forgiveness through him. Kindness is conquering; abused kindness,
humbling and melting. What a wretch was I to sin against such grace, against the law
and love of such a kingdom! (2.) It is a great encouragement to us to repent; “Repent,
for your sins shall be pardoned upon your repentance. Return to God in a way of duty,
and he will, through Christ, return to you in a way of mercy.” The proclamation of
pardon discovers, and fetches in, the malefactor who before fled and absconded. Thus
we are drawn to it with the cords of man, and the bands of love.
JAMISO , "And saying, Repent ye — Though the word strictly denotes a change
of mind, it has respect here (and wherever it is used in connection with salvation)
primarily to that sense of sin which leads the sinner to flee from the wrath to come, to
look for relief only from above, and eagerly to fall in with the provided remedy.
for the kingdom of heaven is at hand — This sublime phrase, used in none of the
other Gospels, occurs in this peculiarly Jewish Gospel nearly thirty times; and being
suggested by Daniel’s grand vision of the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven to
the Ancient of days, to receive His investiture in a world-wide kingdom (Dan_7:13, Dan_
7:14), it was fitted at once both to meet the national expectations and to turn them into
the right channel. A kingdom for which repentance was the proper preparation
behooved to be essentially spiritual. Deliverance from sin, the great blessing of Christ’s
kingdom (Mat_1:21), can be valued by those only to whom sin is a burden (Mat_9:12).
John’s great work, accordingly, was to awaken this feeling and hold out the hope of a

speedy and precious remedy.
RWP, "Repent (metanoeite). Broadus used to say that this is the worst translation
in the New Testament. The trouble is that the English word “repent” means “to be sorry
again” from the Latin repoenitet (impersonal). John did not call on the people to be
sorry, but to change (think afterwards) their mental attitudes (metanoeite) and conduct.
The Vulgate has it “do penance” and Wycliff has followed that. The Old Syriac has it
better: “Turn ye.” The French (Geneva) has it “Amendez vous.” This is John’s great word
(Bruce) and it has been hopelessly mistranslated. The tragedy of it is that we have no one
English word that reproduces exactly the meaning and atmosphere of the Greek word.
The Greek has a word meaning to be sorry (metamelomai) which is exactly our English
word repent and it is used of Judas (Mat_27:3). John was a new prophet with the call of
the old prophets: “Turn ye” (Joe_2:12; Isa_55:7; Eze_33:11, Eze_33:15).
For the kingdom of heaven is at hand (ēggiken gar hē Basileia tōn ouranōn). Note
the position of the verb and the present perfect tense. It was a startling word that John
thundered over the hills and it re-echoed throughout the land. The Old Testament
prophets had said that it would come some day in God’s own time. John proclaims as
the herald of the new day that it has come, has drawn near. How near he does not say,
but he evidently means very near, so near that one could see the signs and the proof. The
words “the kingdom of heaven” he does not explain. The other Gospels use “the kingdom
of God” as Matthew does a few times, but he has “the kingdom of heaven” over thirty
times. He means “the reign of God,” not the political or ecclesiastical organization which
the Pharisees expected. His words would be understood differently by different groups
as is always true of popular preachers. The current Jewish apocalypses had numerous
eschatological ideas connected with the kingdom of heaven. It is not clear what
sympathy John had with these eschatological features. He employs vivid language at
times, but we do not have to confine John’s intellectual and theological horizon to that of
the rabbis of his day. He has been an original student of the Old Testament in his
wilderness environment without any necessary contact with the Essenes who dwelt
there. His voice is a new one that strikes terror to the perfunctory theologians of the
temple and of the synagogue. It is the fashion of some critics to deny to John any
conception of the spiritual content of his words, a wholly gratuitous criticism.
For this is he that was spoken of by Isaiah the prophet (houtos gar estin ho
rhētheis dia Esaiou tou prophētou). This is Matthew’s way of interpreting the mission and
message of the Baptist. He quotes Isa_40:3 where “the prophet refers to the return of
Israel from the exile, accompanied by their God” (McNeile). He applies it to the work of
John as “a voice crying in the wilderness” for the people to make ready the way of the
Lord who is now near. He was only a voice, but what a voice he was. He can be heard yet
across the centuries.
CALVIN, "Matthew 3:2.Repent ye Matthew differs from the other two Evangelists in this
respect, that he relates the substance of John’s doctrine, as uttered by John himself,
while they relate it in their own words; though Mark has one word more than Luke: for
he says, he came Baptizing, and preaching the baptism of repentance But in substance
there is the most perfect agreement: for they all connect repentance with the forgiveness
of sins. Thekingdom of God among men is nothing else than a restoration to a happy life;
or, in other words, it is true and everlasting happiness. When John says, that the

kingdom of God is at hand, his meaning is, that men, who were alienated from the
righteousness of God, and banished from the kingdom of heaven, must be again
gathered to God, and live under his guidance. This is accomplished by a free adoption
and the forgiveness of sins, by which he reconciles to himself those who were unworthy.
In a word, the kingdom of heaven is nothing else than “newness of life,” (Romans 6:4,)
by which God restores us to the hope of a blessed immortality. Having rescued us from
the bondage of sin and death, he claims us as his own; that, even while our pilgrimage on
earth continues, we may enjoy the heavenly life by faith: for he
“hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ,”
(Ephesians 1:3.)
Though we are like dead men, yet we know that our life is secure; for it “is hid with
Christ in God,” (Colossians 3:3.)
From this doctrine, as its source, is drawn the exhortation to repentance. For John does
not say, “Repent ye, and in this way the kingdom of heaven will afterwards be at hand;”
but first brings forward the grace of God, and then exhorts men to repent Hence it is
evident, that the foundation of repentance is the mercy of God, by which he restores the
lost. In no other sense is it stated by Mark and Luke, that he preached repentance for the
forgiveness of sins Repentance is not placed first, as some ignorantly suppose, as if it
were the ground of the forgiveness of sins, or as if it induced God to begin to be gracious
to us; but men are commanded to repent, that they may receive the reconciliation which
is offered to them. Now, as the undeserved love of God — by which he receives into his
favor wretched men, “not imputing their trespasses unto them,” (2 Corinthians 5:19) —
is first in order; so it must be observed, that pardon of sins is bestowed upon us in
Christ, not that God may treat them with indulgence, but that he may heal us from our
sins. And, indeed, without hatred of sin and remorse for transgressions, no man will
taste the grace of God. But a definition of repentance and faith may explain more fully
the manner in which both are connected; which leads me to handle this doctrine more
sparingly.
With regard to the meaning of the present passage, it is proper to observe, that the
whole Gospel consists of two parts, —forgiveness of sins, and repentance Now, as
Matthew denominates the first of these the kingdom of heaven, we may conclude, that
men are in a state of deadly enmity with God, and altogether shut out from the heavenly
kingdom, till God receives them into favor. Though John, when he introduces the
mention of the grace of God, exhorts men to repentance, yet it must not be forgotten that
repentance, not less than the inheritance of the heavenly kingdom, is the gift of God. As
he freely pardons our sins, and delivers us, by his mercy, from the condemnation of
eternal death, so also does he form us anew to his image, that we may live unto
righteousness. As he freely adopts us for his sons, so he regenerates us by his Spirit, that
our life may testify, that we do not falsely, (245) address him as our Father. In like
manner, Christ washes away our sins by his blood, and reconciles our Heavenly Father
to us by the sacrifice of his death; but, at the same time, in consequence of
“our old man being crucified with him, and the body of sin destroyed,”
(Romans 6:6)

Matthew 3 commentary

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Matthew 3 commentary