SEV Biblia, Chapter 3:1
¶ Y en aquellos días vino Juan el Bautista predicando en el desierto de Judea,
Clarke's Bible Commentary - Matthew 3:1
Verse 1. 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. i 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 aera.
Came-preaching] khrusswn, 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.
khrussein, says Rosenmuller, de iis dicitur, qui in PLATEIS, in CAMPIS, in AERE aperto, ut a multis audiantur, vocem tollunt, &c. "The verb khrussein 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, rbdm midbar or twyrbdm 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.
John Gill's Bible Commentary
Ver. 1. In those days came John the Baptist , etc.] 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 Herods 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 njwy , 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, ( Luke 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, ( Luke 1:13-60,63). He is called by some of the Jewish writers f132 , 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, ( Matthew 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 calls him John, who is surnamed o baptisthv , the Baptist; and Ben Gorion having spoken of him, says f134 , this is that John who hlybj h[ , 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 Joshuas time six cities in this wilderness, namely Betharabah, Middin, and Secacah, and Nibshan, and the city of Salt, and Engedi, ( Joshua 15:61,62). Mention is made in the Talmud F135 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 hdwhyb rbdmb , in the wilderness which is in Judea.
The Jews have an observation F136 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, ( Luke 3:23) an age in which ecclesiastical persons entered into service, ( Numbers 4:3). It was indeed, as Luke says, ( Luke 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.
Matthew Henry Commentary
Verses 1-6 - After Malachi there was no prophet until John the Baptist came. He appeared first in the wilderness of Judea. This was not an uninhabite desert, but a part of the country not thickly peopled, nor muc enclosed. No place is so remote as to shut us out from the visits of Divine grace. The doctrine he preached was repentance; "Repent ye." The word here used, implies a total alteration in the mind, a change in the judgment, disposition, and affections, another and a better bias of the soul. Consider your ways, change your minds: you have thought amiss think again, and think aright. True penitents have other thoughts of God and Christ, sin and holiness, of this world and the other, tha they had. The change of the mind produces a change of the way. That is gospel repentance, which flows from a sight of Christ, from a sense of his love, and from hopes of pardon and forgiveness through him. It is 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 unto you in the way of mercy. It is stil as necessary to repent and humble ourselves, to prepare the way of the Lord, as it then was. There is a great deal to be done, to make way for Christ into a soul, and nothing is more needful than the discovery of sin, and a conviction that we cannot be saved by our own righteousness The way of sin and Satan is a crooked way; but to prepare a way for Christ, the paths must be made straight, Heb 12:13. Those whose business it is to call others to mourn for sin, and to mortify it ought themselves to live a serious life, a life of self-denial, an contempt of the world. By giving others this example, John made way for Christ. Many came to John's baptism, but few kept to the professio they made. There may be many forward hearers, where there are few tru believers. Curiosity, and love for novelty and variety, may bring man to attend on good preaching, and to be affected for a while, who neve are subject to the power of it. Those who received John's doctrine testified their repentance by confessing their sins. Those only ar ready to receive Jesus Christ as their righteousness, who are brough with sorrow and shame to own their guilt. The benefits of the kingdo of heaven, now at hand, were thereupon sealed to them by baptism. Joh washed them with water, in token that God would cleanse them from all their iniquities, thereby intimating, that by nature and practice all were polluted, and could not be admitted among the people of God unless washed from their sins in the fountain Christ was to open, Ze 13:1.
Greek Textus Receptus
εν 1722 PREP δε 1161 CONJ ταις 3588 T-DPF ημεραις 2250 N-DPF εκειναις 1565 D-DPF παραγινεται 3854 5736 V-PNI-3S ιωαννης 2491 N-NSM ο 3588 T-NSM βαπτιστης 910 N-NSM κηρυσσων 2784 5723 V-PAP-NSM εν 1722 PREP τη 3588 T-DSF ερημω 2048 A-DSF της 3588 T-GSF ιουδαιας 2449 N-GSF
Vincent's NT Word Studies
1. In those days. The phrase is indefinite, but always points back to a preceding date; in this case to the date of the settlement of the family at Nazareth. "In those days," i.e., some time during the nearly thirty years since that settlement.John. Hebrew, meaning God has dealt graciously. Compare the German Gotthold.
Came (paraginetai). Rev., cometh. The verb is used in what is called the historical present, giving vividness to the narrative, as Carlyle ("French Revolution"): "But now also the National Deputies from all ends of France are in Paris with their commissions." "In those days appears John the Baptist."
Preaching (khrusswn). See on 2 Pet. ii. 5.
Wilderness (th erhmw). Not suggesting absolute barrenness but unappropriated territory affording free range for shepherds and their flocks. Hepworth Dixon ("The Holy Land") says, "Even in the wilderness nature is not so stern as man. Here and there, in clefts and basins, and on the hillsides, grade on grade, you observe a patch of corn, a clump of olives, a single palm."
Robertson's NT Word Studies
3:1 {And in those days cometh John the Baptist} (en de tais hemerais paraginetai iwanes ho baptistes). Here the synoptic narrative begins with the baptism of John (#Mt. 3:1; Mr 1:2; Lu 3:1) as given by Peter in #Ac 1:22, "from the baptism of John, unto the day that he was received up from us" (cf. also #Ac 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} (kerusswn en tei eremwi tes 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.
