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“Study of Jesus - Book of Mathew”
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Topic Catagories
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By Darren Caves |
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Chapter 3 |
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In those days John the Baptist began his mission in the wilderness of Judea, proclaiming, 2 “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. 3 For this is he who was spoken of by Isaiah the prophet when he said, ‘The voice of one crying out in the wilderness: Prepare the way of the Lord; make his paths straight.’” |
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4 Now John wore clothing made of camel’s hair, with a leather belt about his waist; and his food was locusts and wild honey. 5 At that time people were going out to him from Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region along the Jordan, 6 and they were being baptized by him in the Jordan River, confessing their sins. |
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7 But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? 8 Therefore bear fruit worthy of repentance, 9 and do not presume you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father’; for I say to you that God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham. 10 Even now the axe is lying at the root of the trees; so any tree that does not bear good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire. |
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Commentary |
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| 3:1 |
In those days - that is, while Jesus dwelt there. In the wilderness of Judea - This was a wilderness properly so called, a wild, barren, desolate place as was that also where our Lord was tempted. But, generally speaking, a wilderness in the New Testament means only a common, or less cultivated place, in opposition to pasture and arable land. 1:1 ; 3:1 . |
| 3:2 |
The kingdom of heaven, and the kingdom of God, are but two phrases for the same thing. They mean, not barely a future happy state, in heaven, but a state to be enjoyed on earth: the proper disposition for the glory of heaven, rather than the possession of it. Is at hand - As if he had said, God is about to erect that kingdom, spoken of by Daniel Daniel 2:44 ; 7:13,14; the kingdom of the God of heaven. It properly signifies here, the Gospel dispensation, in which subjects were to be gathered to God by his Son, and a society to be formed, which was to subsist first on earth, and afterward with God in glory. In some places of Scripture, the phrase more particularly denotes the state of it on earth: in ,others, it signifies only the state of glory: but it generally includes both. The Jews understood it of a temporal kingdom, the seat of which they supposed would be Jerusalem; and the expected sovereign of this kingdom they learned from Daniel to call the Son of man. Both John the Baptist and Christ took up that phrase, thekingdom of heaven, as they found it, and gradually taught the Jews (though greatly unwilling to learn) to understand it right.The very demand of repentance, as previous to it, showed it was a spiritual kingdom, and that no wicked man, how politic, brave, or learned soever, could possibly be a subject of it. |
| 3:3 |
The way of the Lord - Of Christ. Make his paths straight - By removing every thing which might prove a hinderance to his gracious appearance. 40:3 . |
| 3:4 |
John had his raiment of camels' hair - Coarse and rough, suiting his character and doctrine. A leathern girdle - Like Elijah, in whose spirit and power he came. His food was locusts and wild honey - Locusts are ranked among clean meats, Leviticus 11:22 . But these were not always to be had.So in default of those, he fed on wild honey. |
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| 3:6 |
Confessing their sins - Of their own accord; freely and openly. Such prodigious numbers could hardly be baptized by immergingtheir whole bodies under water: nor can we think they were provided with change of raiment for it, which was scarcely practicable for such vast multitudes. And yet they could not be immerged naked with modesty, nor in their wearing apparel with safety. It seems, therefore, that they stood in ranks on the edge of the river, and that John, passing along before them, cast water on their heads or faces, by which means he might baptize many thousands in a day. And this way most naturally signified Christ's baptizing them with the Holy Ghost and with fire, which John spoke of, as prefigured by his baptizing with water, and which was eminently fulfilled, when the Holy Ghost sat upon the disciples in the appearance of tongues, or flames of fire. |
| 3:7 |
The Pharisees were a very ancient sect among the Jews. They took their name from a Hebrew word, which signifies to separate, because they separated themselves from all other men. They were outwardly strict observers of the law, fasted often, made long prayers, rigorously kept the Sabbath, and paid all tithe, even of mint, anise, and cummin. Hence they were in high esteem among the people. But inwardly, they were full of pride and hypocrisy. The Sadducees were another sect among the Jews, only not soconsiderable as the Pharisees. They denied the existence of angels, and the immortality of the soul, and by consequence the resurrection of the dead. Ye brood of vipers - In like manner, the crafty Herod is styled a fox, and persons of insidious, ravenous, profane, or sensual dispositions, are named respectively by him who saw their hearts, serpents, dogs, wolves, and swine; terms which are not the random language of passion, but a judicious designation of the persons meant by them. For it was fitting such men should be marked out, either for a caution to others, or a warning to themselves. |
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