and the day of His universal judgment, is exquisitely and solemn ly declared. — AiroD, His) Neither His forerunner, nor any of His apostles, had this fan in the same manner as the Lord Jesus Himself. The consolation of His ministers in their weakness is, " The Lord will do it." Their wrath, though void of strength, is not vain. — rqv dXuva AuroD, His threshing-floor) The wayfarers are in the threshing-floor, the conquerors in the garner.1— His) See Heh. iii. 6. — nal ffvvd^si rlv <S?TOV Aurov et$ rr\v and will gather His wheat into the garner) Aurou, His, must either be omitted or construed with avc&r)xr,v, garner ;2 cf. Matt, xiii. 30, rbv dt aTrov ffwaydytrs ti$ rr,v d<r<$jj?C7)i> Men, but gather the wheat into My garner. The Same is Lord of the wheat as of the garner : the Same of the garner as of the threshing-floor. See Luke iii. 17. — &xvpov, chaff) The chaff is held of no3 account.4 — cryp/, with Jire) Every one must be either baptized with fire here, or burned with fire hereafter : there is no other alternative. — dff/Ssrfrw, unquenchable) See therefore that your sins be first blotted out. In Job xx. 26, the LXX. have vvp azau<rrot, in combustible fire \i.e. fire that cannot be burnt out] shall consume the ungodly: er, rather, from the Cod. Alex., as/Sta™, un quenchable, unextinguishable (which word would otherwise not be found in the LXX.), so as to render HS>3 fcO £;K, Jire which can never be extinguished.
14. A«= jcwXusv, forbade) John had not yet known that this was the Messiah. He had known, however, that the Messiah was close at hand, and that Pie would come to his baptism, and be indicated by a clear sign ; see John i. 33. In the meanwhile, as soon as he sees Jesus, from that sympathy by which he had been moved in the womb, and from His most gracious aspect, he judges that this candidate for baptism must be the Messiah, and skilfully declares his conviction by a previous protest.5 See
1 One cannot well express in English the contrast implied in the very rhythm of Bengel's Latin, " In area sunt viatores, in horreo victores." — ED.
2 " Which Luther has rightly done." — Not. Grit.
3 Cf. Gnomon on chap. xiii. 49. — (I. B.)
4 Although at times it is not unlike the wheat. — Vers. Germ.
0 By this protest, precaution was becomingly taken, on the part of Provi dence, that the humiliation wherewith Christ condescended to undergo baptism, should not prove at all derogatory to His dignity. — Vers. Germ