Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Matthew 3:3
For this is he that was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.
3. by ] See note on ch. Mat 2:5.
by the prophet Esaias ] The reference in Isa 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.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
The prophet Esaias – The prophet Isaiah. Esaias is the Greek mode of writing the name. This passage is taken from Isa 40:3. It is here said to have been spoken in reference to John, the forerunner of Christ. The language is such as was familiar to the Jews. and such as they would understand. It was spoken at first with reference to the return from the captivity at Babylon. In ancient times, it was customary in the march of armies to send messengers, or pioneers, before them to proclaim their approach; to provide for them; to remove obstructions; to make roads, level hills, fill up valleys, etc. Isaiah, describing the return from Babylon, uses language taken from that custom. A crier, or herald, is introduced. In the vast deserts that lay between Babylon and Judea he is represented as lifting up his voice, and, with authority, commanding a public road to be made for the return of the captive Jews, with the Lord as their deliverer. Prepare his ways, make them straight, says he. The meaning in Isaiah is, Let the valleys be exalted, or filled up, and the hills be levelled, and a straight, level highway be prepared, that they may march with ease and safety. See the notes at Isa 40:3-4. The custom here referred to is continued in the East at the present time. When Ibrahim Pasha proposed to visit certain places on Lebanon, the emeers and sheiks sent forth a general proclamation, somewhat in the style of Isaiahs exhortation, to all the inhabitants, to assemble along the proposed route and prepare the way before him. The same was done in 1845, on a grand scale, when the present sultan visited Brousa. The stones were gathered out, the crooked places straightened, and the rough ones made level and smooth. – The Land and the Book, Vol i. pp. 105, 106.
As applied to John, the passage means that he was sent to remove obstructions, and to prepare the people for the coming of the Messiah, like a herald going before an army on the march, to make preparations for its coming.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Mat 3:3
Prepare ye the way.
Preparing the way
When the Pacha of Magnesia went to take possession of his new appointment at Aleppo, he was attended by a large retinue of horse and foot soldiers, and other attendants, to the number of 2,000 persons. The road had been recently repaired for the passage of the Pacha to his government; affording a striking illustration of the Scripture, He shall prepare the way before Him. The rough places were attempted to be made plain. (Arundels discoveries in Asia Minor.)
The Forerunner
John was Christs forerunner, as the ploughman goes before the sower. Before good work can be expected, there must be excitement. The turf-bound surface of communities must be torn up, the compacted soil turned to the air and light. Upon the rough furrows, and not on the shorn lawn, is there hope for the seed. (H. W. Beecher.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 3. The voice of one crying in the wilderness] Or, A voice of a crier in the wilderness. This is quoted from Isa 40:3, which clearly proves that John the Baptist was the person of whom the prophet spoke.
The idea is taken from the practice of eastern monarchs, who, whenever they entered upon an expedition, or took a journey through a desert country, 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. The officers appointed to superintend such preparations were called by the Latins, stratores.
Diodorus’s account of the march of Semiramis into Media and Persia, will give us a clear notion of the preparation of the way for a royal expedition. “In her march to Ecbatane, she came to the Zarcean mountain, which, extending many furlongs, and being full of craggy precipices and deep hollows, could not be passed without making a great compass about. Being therefore desirous of leaving an everlasting memorial of herself, as well as shortening the way, she ordered the precipices to be digged down, and the hollows to be filled up; and, at a great expense, she made a shorter and more expeditious road, which, to this day, is called from her, The road of Semiramis. Afterwards she went into Persia, and all the other countries of Asia, subject to her dominion; and, wherever she went, she ordered the mountains and precipices to be levelled, raised causeways in the plain country, and, at a great expense, made the ways passable.” Diod. Sic. lib. ii. and Bp. Lowth.
The Jewish Church was that desert country, to which John was sent, to announce the coming of the Messiah. It was destitute at that time of all religious cultivation, and of the spirit and practice of piety; and John was sent to prepare the way of the Lord, by preaching the doctrine of repentance. The desert is therefore to be considered as affording a proper emblem of the rude state of the Jewish Church, which is the true wilderness meant by the prophet, and in which John was to prepare the way of the promised Messiah. The awful importance of the matter, and the vehemence of the manner of the Baptist’s preaching, probably acquired him the character of the crier, .
For the meaning of the word JOHN, see the note on Mr 1:4.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
It is not much material whether we understand these words as the words of the evangelist concerning John, as it should seem by Mar 1:3; Luk 3:4, or the words of John himself, for he thus spake, Joh 1:23. As the words of the prophet they are found Isa 40:3. The words are judged literally, but typically, to concern Cyrus and Darius, and either these princes, who were instrumental in the restoring of the Jews to their liberty from the captivity of Babylon, or those prophets who encouraged them to their return, or upon their return to build the temple and city. But they are confirmed by all the four evangelists, Mar 1:3; Luk 3:4; Joh 1:23, to have a special relation also to John the Baptist, who was to come more immediately before Christ, and with the fervency and in the spirit of Elias, Luk 1:17, crying,
Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. As the harbingers of great princes are sent before them to call to persons to remove things out of the way which may hinder their free passage, so John was sent before this great King in Zion, now coming forth to show himself, and to set up his kingdom in the world; to cry fervently to all people, by a true and timely repentance, to cast off those sinful courses, and to reject those false opinions, of which they were possessed, the holding of and to which might hinder the progress of this spiritual kingdom.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
3. For this is he that was spoken ofby the prophet Esaias, saying (Mt11:3).
The voice of one crying inthe wilderness(See on Lu 3:2);the scene of his ministry corresponding to its rough nature.
Prepare ye the way of theLord, make his paths straightThis prediction is quoted in allthe four Gospels, showing that it was regarded as a great outstandingone, and the predicted forerunner as the connecting link between theold and the new economies. Like the great ones of the earth, thePrince of peace was to have His immediate approach proclaimed and Hisway prepared; and the call heretaking it generallyis a call toput out of the way whatever would obstruct His progress and hinderHis complete triumph, whether those hindrances were public orpersonal, outward or inward. In Luke (Luk 3:5;Luk 3:6) the quotation is thuscontinued: “Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain andhill shall be brought low; and the crooked shall be made straight,and the rough ways shall be made smooth; and all flesh shall see thesalvation of God.” Levelling and smoothing are here the obviousfigures whose sense is conveyed in the first words of theproclamation”Prepare ye the way of the Lord.” Theidea is that every obstruction shall be so removed as to reveal tothe whole world the salvation of God in Him whose name is the”Saviour.” (Compare Psa 98:3;Isa 11:10; Isa 49:6;Isa 52:10; Luk 2:31;Luk 2:32; Act 13:47).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
For this is he that was spoken of,…. These are not the words of the Baptist himself, as in Joh 1:23 but of the Evangelist, who cites and applies to John a passage in the Prophet Isaiah, Isa 40:3 and that very pertinently, since that “chapter” is a prophecy of the Messiah. The consolations spoken of in Isa 40:3, were to be in the days of the king Messiah, as a writer of note y among the Jews observes. The Messiah is more expressly prophesied of in Isa 40:9 as one that should appear to the joy of his people, and “come with a strong hand”, vigorously prosecute his designs, faithfully perform his work, and then receive his reward; he is spoken of under the “character” of a “shepherd”, who would tenderly discharge the several parts of his office as such, which character is frequently given to the Messiah in the Old Testament: now the person spoken of in Isa 40:3 was to be his harbinger to go before him, proclaim and make ready for his coming; and what is said of him agrees entirely with John the Baptist, as the character given of him,
the voice of one crying, , lowing like an ox; which expresses the austerity of the man, the roughness of his voice, the severity of his language; that he called aloud and spoke out, openly, publicly, and freely; and that he delivered himself in preaching with a great deal of zeal and fervency. The place where he preached was “in the wilderness”, that is, of Judea, where he is said before, in Mt 3:1 to come preaching. The doctrine he preached was,
prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight, which is best explained by what is said before, in Mt 3:2
repent ye, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. The Lord whom ye have sought, the Messiah whom you have expected, is just coming, he will quickly appear; prepare to meet him by repentance, and receive him by faith, relinquish your former notions and principles, correct your errors, and amend your lives, remove all out of the way which may be offensive to him. The allusion is to a great personage being about to make his public appearance or entrance; when a harbinger goes before him, orders the way to be cleared, all impediments to be removed, and everything got ready for the reception of him.
y R. David Kimchi in Isa. xl. 1.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
1) “For this is he that was spoken of,” (hutos gar estin ho hretheis) “Because this is (exists as) the one who is spoken of;” This means spoken of at length, and in a special way, in a way that he might be identified and recognized upon his coming.
2) “By the prophet Esaias, saying,” (dia Esaiou tou prophetou legontos) “Through Isaiah the prophet saying,” explaining, and predicting through prophetic utterance, Isa 40:3.
3) “The voice of one crying in the wilderness,” (phone Bontis eb te eremo) “There (will be) a voice of one crying aloud (bellowing like an ox) in the wilderness,” proclaiming, heralding an heaven directed message, Joh 1:6; Joh 1:23; Joh 1:33; Luk 3:3-4.
4) “Prepare ye the way of the Lord,” (hetoimasate ten hodon kuriou) “You all prepare or make ready the way or path-way of the Lord; “John was a way-fixer or preparer for the coming of Jesus and establishment of His church, Mr 1:1, 2; Joh 15:16; Joh 15:27; Act 1:21-22; Act 10:37; Act 15:13-14. Royal persons were preceded by security persons or emissaries who cleared and prepared for their coming.
5) “Make his paths straight.” (eutheias poieite tas tribous autou) “You all make straight his paths,” the way He leads or shall soon lead; lay the foundation, or prepare the material that needs be used by Him upon His arrival. This John did in preaching, baptizing, and informing men of the eminent (soon) coming of Jesus as Savior and founder of His church, alluded to restrictedly, definitively, and exclusively as “The kingdom of heaven,” by Matthew, repeatedly.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
Mat 3:3
. The yoke of one crying in the wilderness Though this passage of the prophet Isaiah (40:3) ought not to be limited exclusively to John, yet he is one of the number of those to whom it certainly refers. After having spoken of the destruction of the city, and of the awful calamities that would befall the people, he promises a restoration that would follow. His words are,
“
Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God,” (Isa 40:1.)
When the temple had been thrown down, and sacrifices abolished, and the people led away into captivity, their affairs seemed to be desperate. And as their ears had been deaf to the uninterrupted voice of the prophets, the Lord kept silence for a time. (247) That pious minds may not be cast down during this melancholy silence, the prophet announces, that other preachers of grace will yet arise, to awaken in the people a hope of salvation. Such were Zechariah, Haggai, Malachi, and the like. (248) But as the restoration promised is perpetual, and not for a time only, and as Isaiah refers chiefly to the redemption, which was to be expressed at the coming of Christ, John the Baptist is justly considered the chief minister of consolation.
Next follows in the words of the prophet, The voice of one crying That voice is contrasted with the temporary silence, (249) which I have just mentioned: for the Jews were to be deprived, for a time, of the instruction, which they had wickedly despised. The word wilderness is here used metaphorically for desolation, or the frightful ruin of the nation, such as existed in the time of the captivity. It was so dismally shattered, that it might well be compared to a wilderness The prophet magnifies the grace of God. “Though the people,” says he, “have been driven far from their country, and even excluded from the society of men, yet the voice of God will yet be heard in the wilderness, to revive the dead with joyful consolation.” When John began to preach, Jerusalem was in this sense a wilderness: for all had been reduced to wild and frightful confusion. But the very sight of a visible wilderness must have had a powerful effect on stupid and hardened men, leading them to perceive that they were in a state of death, and to accept the promise of salvation, which had been held out to them. We now see, that this prediction actually relates to John, and is most properly applied to him.
Prepare the way of the Lord The prophet undoubtedly addresses Cyrus and the Persians, whose agency the Lord employed in this matter. The meaning is: by his wonderful power, God will open a way to his people through impassable forests, through broken rocks, through a sandy desert; for he will have at hand the ministers of his grace, to remove all hindrances out of the way. But that was a shadowy anticipation of redemption. When the spiritual truth is about to appear, John is sent to remove obstacles. And even now the same voice sounds in our ears, that we may prepare the way of the Lord: that is, that we may take out of the way those sins which obstruct the kingdom of Christ, and thus may give access to his grace. To the same purpose are the following words of the prophet: the crooked shall be made straight, (Isa 40:4.) All that they mean is: there are intricate and crooked windings in the world, but through such appalling difficulties the Lord makes a way for himself, and breaks through, by incredible means, to accomplish our salvation.
(247) “ Et pource qu’ils avoyent auparavant ferme leurs aureilles a la voix des prophetes, qui journellement et sans cesse, parloyent a eux, le Seigneur se teut, et laissa de parler a eux pour un temps.” — “And because they had formerly shut their ears to the voice of the prophets, who daily and unceasingly spoke to them, the Lord was silent, and ceased to speak to them for a time.”
(248) “ Malachie, Esdras, et autres semblables personnages.” — “Malachi, Ezra, and other similar characters.”
(249) “ Anquel il n’y avoit personne qui parlast au nom de Dieu;” — “in which there was nobody who spoke in the name of God.”
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(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 (Joh. 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 (Luk. 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 (Isa. 40:18-24; Isa. 41:7; Isa. 44:9-20), and with the name of Cyrus (Isa. 44:28; Isa. 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 kings 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 (Act. 9:2; Act. 18:25-26; Act. 19:9; Act. 19:23; Act. 22:4; Act. 24:14; Act. 24:22).
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
3. This is he that was spoken of by Esaias Isa 40:3-5. I agree with Mr. Watson, that the passage has no reference to the return from Babylon, (as some commentators imagine,) of which it would be no true description.
The voice of one crying The passage is more fully given by Luk 3:4-6, to which, or to the prophet, the reader should refer. Dr. Thomson says:
“When Ibrahim Pasha proposed to visit certain places on Lebanon, the emeers and sheikhs sent forth a general proclamation, somewhat in the style of Isaiah’s exhortation, to all the inhabitants, to assemble along the proposed route, and prepare the way before him. The same was done in 1845, on a grand scale, when the present sultan visited Brusa. The stones were gathered out, crooked places straightened, and rough ones made level and smooth. I had the benefit of their labour a few days after his majesty’s visit. From customs like these comes the exhortation of John the Baptist: ‘Prepare ye the way of the Lord; make his paths straight,’ etc.”
And so King Messiah is coming with all his train to assume his dominion. Before him a herald comes to prepare the way. The herald’s voice is heard ringing from the wilderness through which He is to march. As before the chariots of ordinary kings, the road must be graded; the elevations must be lowered and the depressions raised; so before this Divine King the very mountains must sink, and the vales must rise to prepare a level for his wheels.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘For this is he who was spoken of through Isaiah the prophet, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, “Make you ready the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.” ’
We now learn that the arrival of John was no accident. He had come, as God had foreordained and declared, in order to bring about all that Isaiah had spoken of (Isa 40:3). His arrival was the arrival of the one who was to persuade the people to prepare the way for God finally to act, and who was to call on them to smooth the way for His coming, to smooth the way for the coming of the King. The Isaianic prophecies are in process of being ‘filled to the full’. The difference now is that ‘the Lord’ will come among men as a human being.
Thus the way was to be smoothed for the Lord’s coming by the effect of Johns preaching on them which would make them also smooth the way for His coming (compare Mal 4:5-6), in a way similar to that in which the prominent townspeople of a town would repair the roads that led to the town and make them level if some great king was coming. For in Him was coming the Isaianic King and Servant (see Mat 3:17), and the way had to be prepared for Him spiritually in the hearts of men.
‘Spoken of through Isaiah the prophet.’ As we have already seen, there is surely no coincidence in the fact that Isaiah is here named for the first time (in contrast with the anonymous Mat 1:23) and that the quotations which are pinpointed in the next few chapters (up to Mat 13:14) are all from Isaiah and are all specifically referenced with his name (as against mainly anonymous quotations elsewhere, with the exception of Jeremiah). Thus we may consider that this opening formula to the Isaiah sayings is worded differently so as to open the series. Matthew wants us to see Jesus over this period as very much the King and Servant of Isaiah, and as fulfilling all that Isaiah had declared and revealed.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Matthew’s manner of adducing the prophetic passage in this instance is peculiar:
v. 3. For this is he that was spoken of by the prophet Esaias, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make His paths straight. He sets him apart from others concerning whom there was a prophecy. This is the man whom Isaiah had in mind when he wrote his words of comfort for Jerusalem, Isa 40:3. We have here an allusion to the well-known Oriental custom of heralding the coming of, and preparing the way for, princes in their travels. The typical prophecy of Isaiah became a distinct announcement in Malachi, chapter 3:1. See Mal 4:6; Luk 1:17; Mat 11:10-14; Mat 17:11. John was the herald of Jesus. The purpose of his ministry was by preaching and by baptizing to prepare the hearts and minds of the people for the coming of the great King of Mercy. The King’s highway must be straight, without deviations of hypocrisy, without twists and turns of selfishness. That is the burden of the cry in the wilderness.
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
Mat 3:3 . ] “Causa, cur Johannes ita exoriri tum debuerit, uti Mat 5:1-2 , describitur, quia sic praedictum erat,” Bengel.
Does not belong to John’s discourse, Mat 3:3 , so that by he points to himself, as Er. Schmid, Raphel, Fritzsche, Paulus, Rettig in the Stud. u. Krit . 1838, p. 205 f., maintain, since so prominent a self-designation has no basis in the connection (Joh 1:23 ; on the other hand, Joh 6:50 ; Joh 6:58 ); further, the descriptive present is quite in keeping with in Mat 3:1 ; and , Mat 3:4 , is quite in keeping with the sense of the objectively and generally delivered prophetic description (the voice of one calling , and so on), and leads to the concrete person thereby intended.
] belongs in the original text to , and in the LXX. also there is no reason for separating it from it; but here it belongs to , according to Mat 3:1 : . This in answer to Rettig, Hofmann, Weissag. u. Erf . II. p. 77 f., and Delitzsch.
The passage, Isa 11:3 , quoted according to the LXX., contains historically a summons to prepare the way for Jehovah, who is bringing back His people from exile, and to make level the streets which He is to traverse, after the analogy of what used to take place in the East when rulers set out on a journey (Wetstein and Mnthe). In this the evangelist recognises (and the Baptist himself had recognised this, Joh 1:23 ) the typically prophetic reference to John as the prophet who was to call on the Jews to prepare themselves by repentance for the reception of the Messiah (whose manifestation is the manifestation of Jehovah). In Isaiah, the voice which calls is that of a herald of Jehovah, who desires to begin his journey; in the Messianic fulfilment, it is the voice of the Baptist.
Faith in a God-sent forerunner runner of the Messiah, based on prophecy (Mal 3:1 ; Luk 1:17 ; Luk 1:76 ) and confirmed by Jesus Himself (Mat 11:10 , Mat 17:11 ), and attested as realized in the appearance of the Baptist, had in various ways (see Bertholdt, Christol . p. 58) assumed the form of the expectation of the return of one of the ancient prophets. Comp. Mat 16:14 ; Joh 1:21 .
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
3 For this is he that was spoken of by the prophet Esaias, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.
Ver. 3. For this is he which was spoken of ] Whether these be the words of the Baptist or the Evangelist, it appears not, skills not: the most say, of the Evangelist concerning the Baptist.
By the prophet Esaias ] Thus one Testament infolds another, as those wheels in Ezekiel; and the law preacheth faith in Christ, as well as the gospel, Rom 10:6-7 .
The voice of one crying ] Loudly and lustily; lifting up his voice as a trumpet ( , boantis, vociferantis ), or as the sound of many waters. Likewise St Paul was ordained to be a crier, 1Ti 1:11 ; ( ), and so is every faithful preacher,2Ti 4:22Ti 4:2 . He must cry and be instant, stand to the work, and stand over it ( ). Sta cum diligentia, Stand with care, saith the Syriac there, clangite, clamate, Shout, proclaim, Isa 58:1 ; Jer 4:5 . Ye have to do with deaf men, dead men, living carcuses, walking sepulchres of themselves. Clames etiam ut Stentora vincas. Now, therefore, as our Saviour lifted up his voice when he said, “Lazarus, come forth,” so must Christ’s ministers (when they speak to such as lie rotting and stinking in the graves of their corruptions) cry aloud, “Awake, thou that sleepest, and stand up from the dead, that Christ may give thee light,” Eph 5:14 . Ecclesia (the Church) is a word in use among the Athenians, and signifies an assembly of citizens, called out of the multitude (as it were) by name, or in their ranks, by the voice of the public crier ( ), to hear some speech or sentence of the senate. The Church, in like sort, is a company called out of the kingdom of Satan by the voice of God’s ministers, as it were criers, to hear the doctrine of the gospel revealed from heaven. There are that observe, a that John Baptist entered upon his calling in the year of Jubilee, which used to be proclaimed by a crier with the sound of a trumpet, and that in allusion thereunto he is called, “The voice of a crier.”
Prepare ye the way of the Lord ] Suffer the terrors of the Lord to seize upon your souls: take not up bucklers against the strokes of God’s law, bring not your buckets to quench the motions of his Spirit, knocking at your hearts by the hammer of his word; make much of the least beginnings of grace, even those they call repressing, since they prepare the heart for conversion. “Open the everlasting doors, that the King of glory may come in,” that “Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith.” As Esther leaned upon her two maids when she came before the king, so let the soul lean upon the attrition of the law and contrition of the gospel; so shall the King of glory stretch out the golden sceptre of his grace, and we shall live. As John Baptist was Christ’s forerunner into the world, so must repentance be his forerunner into our hearts; for he that repenteth not, the kingdom of God is far from him: he cannot see it for his lusts that hang in his light.
Make his paths straight ] ( . Heb. , Isa 40:3 . Viam apertam et oculis intuentium conspicuam facite. Obstant enim affectus mundani, &c. Erasmus.) Walk exactly, precisely, accurately, by line and by rule; Eph 5:15 walk as in a frame, make straight steps to your feet, or else there is no passing the strait gate; so strait, that as few can walk in it, so none can halt in it, but must needs go upright. Plain things will join in every point one with another; not so, round and rugged things. In like sort, plain spirits close with God’s truths, not those that are swollen, &c. The old heart will never hold out the hardship of holiness.
a Rolloc. in Joh 1:15 .
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
3. ] Not the words of the Baptist , meaning , as in Joh 1:23 , but of the Evangelist; and is not for , but is the prophetic present, representing to us the place which the Baptist fills in the divine purposes. Of , Bengel says well, “Causa cur Johannes ita exoriri tum debuerit uti Mat 3:1-2 describitur, quia sic prdictum erat.” The words belong in the Hebrew to , but in the LXX and here to . The primary and literal application of this prophecy to the return from captivity is very doubtful. If it ever had such an application, we may safely say that its predictions were so imperfectly and sparingly fulfilled in that return, or any thing which followed it, that we are necessarily directed onward to its greater fulfilment the announcement of the kingdom of Christ. Euthymius remarks, , , , , , , .
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Mat 3:3 . , 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 (Mar 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 is substituted . 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.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
spoken. As well as written.
by. Greek. hupo. App-104., but all the Greek texts read “dia”.
Esaias = Isaiah. The first of twenty-one occurrences of the name in N.T. See App-79.
The voice, &c. Quoted from Isa 40:3. See note there. App-107.
the LORD = Jehovah in Isa 40:3. See App-98.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
3. ] Not the words of the Baptist, meaning , as in Joh 1:23, but of the Evangelist; and is not for , but is the prophetic present, representing to us the place which the Baptist fills in the divine purposes. Of , Bengel says well, Causa cur Johannes ita exoriri tum debuerit uti Mat 3:1-2 describitur, quia sic prdictum erat. The words belong in the Hebrew to , but in the LXX and here to . The primary and literal application of this prophecy to the return from captivity is very doubtful. If it ever had such an application, we may safely say that its predictions were so imperfectly and sparingly fulfilled in that return, or any thing which followed it, that we are necessarily directed onward to its greater fulfilment-the announcement of the kingdom of Christ. Euthymius remarks, , , , , , , .
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Mat 3:3. , …, this, etc.) There are many circumstances recorded in the New Testament, which had been predicted in the Old.-, 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.-, …, a voice, etc.) See Gnomon on Luk 3:4. A voice, i.e., it is a voice.-, of one crying[117]) i.e., of John. An analogous phrase occurs in Rom 10:15, viz., , the feet of them that preach.- , 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 evangelists meaning, he would subsequently have expressed, in equivalent terms, the parallel phrase , in the desert.[119] As the passage stands, the expressions, preaching in the wilderness, in Mat 3:1, and a voice of one crying in the wilderness, in Mat 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. Mat 4:15, contains something different from the Hebrew accents.-Cf. Gnomon on Heb 3:7.- , the way) There is one primary way, and this includes many tracks, .-, of the Lord) The Hebrew , Jehovah, for which the Hebrews of later ages substituted , Adonai, is rendered by the LXX. , Lord. In this passage Christ is intended. The appellation , 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 and , 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 .-) straight.
[117] Clamantis-crying out, uttering with a loud voice-not weeping.-(I. B.)
[118] See p. 132, f. n. 5.-(I. B.)
[119] In Isa 40:3, the passage stands thus: The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God; where the phrases, in the wilderness, and in the desert, are in parallelism to each other.-(I. B.)
[120] Exinanitionis; literally, of being emptied out: a phrase of frequent occurrence, suggested by the words in Php 2:7, , He emptied Himself-rendered in E. V., made Himself of no reputation.-(I. B.)
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
by: Isa 40:3, Mar 1:3, Luk 3:3-6, Joh 1:23
Prepare: Isa 57:14, Isa 57:15, Mal 3:1, Luk 1:17, Luk 1:76
Reciprocal: Deu 4:12 – only ye heard a voice 2Sa 15:23 – the wilderness Psa 5:8 – make Psa 95:7 – if ye Psa 97:1 – Lord Pro 8:1 – General Jer 31:9 – in a Dan 2:44 – set up Mat 11:10 – General Luk 3:4 – The voice Joh 3:28 – but Joh 7:37 – and cried Act 18:25 – instructed
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
3:3
Verse 3. The prophecy cited Is in Isaiah 40 : where the prophet passes from a favorable turn in the affairs of ancient Israel to the time when preparation. were to be made tor Christ’s entry upon the new dispensation. Make his path straight has the idea. of preparing a path for another to use afterward. By taking down the high and rough places and taking out the sharp curves, the other party could make better progress in his travels. Of course this Is all figurative and refers to the work of John in bringing about a reformation among the Jews. Such a work would get a group of people in better frame of mInd and character to receive the more advanced work of Christ.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Mat 3:3. For. He thus preached, because he was sent to fulfil this prophecy.
Is he. All the Evangelists and John himself thus apply the prophecy, which is more than a typical one. Even if the primary reference was to a return from captivity, the entire fulfilment was in the mission of the Baptist.Isaiah, Isa 40:3. Here, as in Mar 1:3; Luk 3:4, the Evangelist quotes; in Joh 1:23, the Baptist applies the prophecy to himself.
The voice. From the Septuagint. Literally a voice. Some suppose John is represented as a voice, in contrast with Christ as the Word, others because his life was vocal, the whole man being as it were a sermon, perhaps with reference to the long silence since the prophet Malachi.
In the wilderness is connected, in the Hebrew, with prepare, here with crying. The sense remains the same. The wilderness here (and probably in the original prophecy) refers to the spiritually desolate condition of Gods people.
The way of the Lord, i.e., Jehovah. By implication the coming One was Jehovah. An allusion to the Eastern custom of removing obstacles before the approach of a royal personage. Hence the prophecy did not primarily refer to the return of the Jews from captivity, when no King was present.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
The Papists, from John the Baptist’s living in the wilderness, would make him the first founder of the order of the hermits, but very groundlessly.
For, 1. What he did was by God’s command; what they do is by the dictates of their own fancy.
2. He busied himself in preaching in the wilderness; they bury themselves alive, and do nothing.
3. He lived in the wilderness but for a time, afterwards we find him at court, preaching a sermon to Herod; but they bind themselves by a vow to live and die hermits.
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
Mat 3:3. For this is he, &c. These may be the words of John himself, (comp. Joh 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, Isa 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 Gods 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 Isa 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 Johns 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 Isaiahs 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. Remove all obstructions out of his way, particularly all sin and unbelief, all carnal desires and worldly views, affections, and expectations, that your Saviour and your King may have a ready passage, and free access to your hearts, and may there erect his spiritual kingdom of righteousness, peace, and joy in, and by, the Holy Ghost; and may rule your lives, your whole conversation and conduct by his righteous and holy laws. Though this could only be done by divine grace, and it is grace which prepares for further grace, yet as man must concur with God, and be a worker together with him, John with propriety calls on the people thus to prepare the Lords way, that his grace might not be received in vain. The words imply that they were unprepared for receiving the Messiah and his salvation, which indeed they were in every sense, being neither in a fit disposition to relish, or even understand, his doctrine, to be convinced by his miracles, receive his Spirit, follow his example, rely on his mediation, or become his subjects. An earthly, sensual, and devilish disposition had taken possession of their minds and hearts, even the whole spirit of the world, and obstructed the entrance of Christs spiritual kingdom into them and among them. It was necessary, therefore, that these hinderances should be removed out of the way, that they might become the true people and followers of the Messiah.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Verse 3
Esaias; the Greek form of the Hebrew word Isaiah. (Isaiah 40:3.)–Prepare ye the way of the Lord. As monarchs, on their journeys, were preceded by a herald, summoning the inhabitants of the provinces through which they were to pass, to prepare, highway for the royal retinue, so John, the herald of the Messiah, called upon the people to prepare their hearts, by penitence and holy lives, for the spiritual religion of the Savior.
Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament
3:3 For this is he that was spoken of by the prophet Esaias, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, {e} make his paths straight.
(e) Make him a plain and smooth way.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
"This is the one OT citation of Matthew’s own eleven direct OT quotations that is not introduced by a fulfillment formula . . . Instead he introduces it with a Pesher formula (e.g., Act 2:16 . . .) that can only be understood as identifying the Baptist in an eschatological, prophecy-and-fulfillment framework with the one of whom Isaiah (Isa 40:3) spoke." [Note: Carson, "Matthew," p. 101.]
In Isa 40:3 the voice exhorts the people to prepare for God’s coming as He brings Israel back from her dispersion. The prophet then proceeded to describe the blessings that would follow her return. Matthew identified Yahweh in Isa 40:3 with Jesus in Mat 3:3. This means the kingdom of God is the kingdom of Jesus. While this is not an implicit statement of Jesus’ deity, it certainly presents Jesus as more than just Yahweh’s representative.