Matthew 3:3

3 . by ] See note on ch. Matthew 2:5 . by the prophet Esaias ] The reference in Isaiah 40:3 is to the promised return from Babylon. A herald shall proclaim the joyous news on mountains and in the desert through which the return should be. This incident in the national history is transferred to the more glorious deliverance from bondage and to the coming of the true King. The voice ] The message is more than the messenger, the prophet’s personality is lost in the prophetic voice. make his paths straight ] The image would be familiar to Eastern thought, a Semiramis or a Xerxes orders the mountains to be levelled or cut through, and causeways to be raised in the valleys.

Matthew 3:3 . For this is he, &c. — These may be the words of John himself, (comp. John 1:22-23 ,) but it is more likely that they are the words of the evangelists; spoken of by the Prophet Esaias, saying, The voice, &c. — Isaiah, in the passage referred to, Isaiah 40:3 , &c., is to be understood as speaking first, though not principally, concerning the Jews returning from the Babylonish captivity, as appears from the preceding chapter. As, however, the prophet intended, under the emblem of that deliverance of God’s people, to shadow out a redemption of an infinitely higher and more important nature, the evangelists, with the greatest propriety, apply his words to the opening of the gospel dispensation by the preaching of John, and to the introduction of the kingdom of the Messiah, who was to effect a much greater deliverance of the people of God, Gentiles as well as Jews, from the captivity of sin, and the power of death. And the same thing may be affirmed concerning many other passages of the prophets. See notes on Isaiah 40:3-4 . This expression, The voice of one crying, is as much as to say, A herald is at hand proclaiming. The word crying, implies that John’s testimony concerning Christ was uttered, not secretly, negligently, or doubtfully, but openly and publicly, freely, expressly, and resolutely, with a fervent spirit, and an audible, or strong voice.

In the wilderness — These words are generally considered as connected with the preceding, so as to signify that John preached in the wilderness of Judea; and some interpret the expression figuratively as well as literally, and by the wilderness of Judea, understand the desert state of the Jewish Church at that time, destitute of religious culture, and the trees and fruits of righteousness. But Bishop Lowth connects Isaiah’s words with the following clause, and translates them, A voice crieth: In the wilderness prepare ye the way of Jehovah, which he thus interprets: “The prophet hears a crier giving orders, by solemn proclamation, to prepare the way of the Lord in the wilderness; to remove all obstructions before Jehovah marching through the desert; through the wild, uninhabited, and unpassable country;” the idea, he thinks, “being taken from the practice of the eastern monarchs, who, whenever they entered upon an expedition, or took a journey, especially through desert countries, sent harbingers before them to prepare all things for their passage, and pioneers to open the passes, to level the ways, and to remove all impediments.” Thus John the Baptist, the harbinger of Christ, who was God manifest in the flesh, is sent to prepare his way before him, by calling the people to repentance and to faith in him, their great Redeemer and Saviour. Make his paths straight — The paths of our God.

Matthew 3:3 . οὗτος γάρ ἐστιν , etc.: the evangelist here speaks. He finds in John the man of prophecy who proclaims in the desert the near advent of Jehovah coming to deliver His people. He quotes Isaiah only. Mark ( Mark 1:2 ) quotes Malachi also, identifying John, not only with the voice in the desert, but with Elijah. Isaiah’s herald is not merely a type of John in the view of the evangelist; the two are identical. The quotation follows the Sept[12], except that for τοῦ θεοῦ ἡμῶν is substituted αὐτοῦ . Note where Matthew stops. Luke, the universalist, goes on to the end of the oracle. The mode of introducing the prophetic citation is peculiar. “This is he,” not “that it might be fulfilled”. Weiss (Meyer) thinks this an indication that the passage is taken from “the apostolic source”. [12] Septuagint.

(3) This is he. —The words are those of the Evangelist, not of the Baptist, though the latter also used them to describe his own office ( John 1:23 ). In each case the reference shows how strongly the great second part of Isaiah had impressed itself on the minds of men. To the Baptist, brooding over the sins of his people, and the long-expected consolation of Israel, there had come “the word of the Lord” ( Luke 3:2 ), bidding him identify himself with that “voice of one crying in the wilderness.” Historically, the connection of the opening chapters of this part of Isaiah with the protests against idolatry (Isaiah 40:18-24; Isaiah 41:7; Isaiah 44:9-20), and with the name of Cyrus (Isaiah 44:28; Isaiah 45:1), shows that the prophet blended his glorious visions of the ideal polity of the future with the return of the exiles from Babylon. The return came, and the ideal was not realised. The kingdom of heaven seemed still far off. Now, the Baptist came to proclaim its nearness. Prepare ye the way of the Lord.—The imagery is drawn from the great strategical works of the conquerors of the East. They sent a herald before them to call the people of the countries through which they marched to prepare for their approach. A “king’s highway” had to be carried through the open land of the wilderness, valleys filled up, and hills levelled (the words used are, of course, poetical in their greatness), winding bye-paths straightened, for the march of the great army.

Interpreted in its spiritual application, the wilderness was the world lying in evil, and the making low the mountains and hills was the bringing down of spiritual pride. When the poor in spirit were received into the kingdom of heaven, the valleys were exalted; when soldier and publican renounced their special sins, the rough places were made plain and the crooked straight. It is probable that the stress thus laid upon “the way of the Lord,” in the first stage of the Gospel, led to the peculiar use of the term “the way” by St. Luke, to denote what we should call the “religion” of the Apostolic Church (Acts 9:2; Acts 18:25-26; Acts 19:9; Acts 19:23; Acts 22:4; Acts 24:14; Acts 24:22).

3. For this is he that was spoken of by the prophet Esaias, saying—(Mt 11:3). The voice of one crying in the wilderness—(See on [1213]Lu 3:2); the scene of his ministry corresponding to its rough nature. Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight—This prediction is quoted in all the four Gospels, showing that it was regarded as a great outstanding one, and the predicted forerunner as the connecting link between the old and the new economies. Like the great ones of the earth, the Prince of peace was to have His immediate approach proclaimed and His way prepared; and the call here—taking it generally—is a call to put out of the way whatever would obstruct His progress and hinder His complete triumph, whether those hindrances were public or personal, outward or inward. In Luke (Lu 3:5, 6) the quotation is thus continued: "Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be brought low; and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways shall be made smooth; and all flesh shall see the salvation of God." Levelling and smoothing are here the obvious figures whose sense is conveyed in the first words of the proclamation—"Prepare ye the way of the Lord." The idea is that every obstruction shall be so removed as to reveal to the whole world the salvation of God in Him whose name is the "Saviour." (Compare Ps 98:3; Isa 11:10; 49:6; 52:10; Lu 2:31, 32; Ac 13:47).

Matthew 3:3 . Οὗτος , κ . τ . λ ., this , etc.) There are many circumstances recorded in the New Testament, which had been predicted in the Old.— γαρ , for ) The reason why it was necessary that John should thus arise at that time (as is described in verses 1, 2), was, that it had been so predicted.— φωνὴ , κ . τ . λ ., a voice , etc.) See Gnomon on Luke 3:4 . “ A voice,” i.e. , “it is a voice .”— βοῶντος , of one crying [117]) i.e. , of John. An analogous phrase occurs in Romans 10:15 , viz., οἱ πόδες τῶν εὐαγγελιζομένων , the feet of them that preach .— ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ , in the wilderness ) Not in the temple, or the synagogues. Some construe this passage thus, “ Prepare ye in the wilderness , etc,” because the accents[118] in the original Hebrew of Isaiah require it to be so construed there. But if such had been the evangelist’s meaning, he would subsequently have expressed, in equivalent terms, the parallel phrase בערבה , in the desert .[119] As the passage stands, the expressions, “ preaching in the wilderness ,” in Matthew 3:1 , and “a voice of one crying in the wilderness ,” in Matthew 3:3 , correspond with each other. It comes to the same thing: for where there is the voice, there also are the hearers who are commanded to prepare the way, and there is the Coming of the Lord. St Matthew, also, in ch. Matthew 4:15 , contains something different from the Hebrew accents.—Cf.

Gnomon on Hebrews 3:7 .— τἠν ὁδὸν , the way ) There is one primary way , and this includes many tracks , τρίβους .— Κυρίου , of the Lord ) The Hebrew יהוה , Jehovah , for which the Hebrews of later ages substituted אדני , Adonai , is rendered by the LXX. ΚΎΡΙΟς , Lord . In this passage Christ is intended. The appellation Κύριος , Lord , when applied to Christ in the New Testament, has various meanings, according to the variety of circumstances, times, and speakers. In passages quoted from the Old Testament it frequently corresponds to the names יהוה and אדני , of which the one expresses His majesty as the Son of God, the other, His glory also as the Messiah. Men amongst whom He walked addressed Him thus with various purport, according to the various extent of their faith. From that time forward, the apostles, and the faithful in general, frequently employed this appellation with reference to His dominion and authority over His own followers, and over all things beside, even in His state of humiliation,[120] but rather in His state of exaltation: in which cases the pronoun “ my ” is sometimes added, which is never joined with the tetragrammaton יהוה .— εὐθείας ) straight . [117] “Clamantis”— crying out , uttering with a loud voice—not weeping .—(I. B.) [118] See p. 132, f. n. 5.—(I.