desire to pass for Elijah, but ex similarity of mood.— δὲ τροφή; his diet as poor as his clothing was
πιεαπ.---ἀκρίδες : the last of four Finds of edible locusts named in - xi, 22 (Sept.), still it seems used by the poor in the east; legs and wings stripped off, and the remainder boiled or roasted. “The Beduins of Arabia and of East μπει land eat many locusts, roasted,
iled or baked in cakes. In Arabia they are sold in the market. They taste not badly” (Benzinger, Hebraische Archdologie). Euthy. reports to the same effect as to his own time: many eat it in those parts τεταριχενµένον (pickled). Not pleasant food, palatable only to keen hun If we may trust Epiphanius, the Ebionites, in their aver- sion to animal food, grudged the Baptist even that poor diet, and restricted him to cakes made with honey ba pap ἐν µελίτι), or to honey alone, Vide Nichol- son’s Gospel according to the Hebrews, p. 34, and the notes κας; also Suicer’s Thesaurus, sub, v. i : opinion is divided between bee θα and tree honey, i.¢., honey made by wild bees in trees or holes in the rocks, or a liquid exuding from palms and fig trees. (On this also consult Nicholson, Gospel of Hebrews, p. 35.) Both were used as food, but our decision should incline to
5. Τότε ἐξεπορεύετο πρὸς αὐτὸν Ἱεροσόλυμα καὶ πᾶσα ἡ Ἰουδαία { Gen. xiii
καὶ πᾶσα ἡ } περίχωρος τοῦ ᾿Ιορδάνου: 6. καὶ ἐβαπτίζοντο] ἐν τῷ ᾿Ιορδάνῃ ” ὑπ αὐτοῦ, Ἠ ἐξομολογούμενοι τὰς ἁμαρτίας αὐτῶν.
io (same
7. 35+
1, 28 al.
᾿Ιδὼν δὲ πολλοὺς τῶν Φαρισαίων καὶ Σαδδουκαίων ἐρχομένους ἐπὶ τὸ κ here and
, A a A , βάπτισμα aitod,® εἶπεν ad.ois, “'᾿ Γεννήματα ἐχιδνῶν, τίς ™ ὑπέδειξεν
Similar sense in Acts xix. 18. James v. 16. const. and sense).
1Ch. xii. 34; xxiii. 33.
in Mk. i. 5 =to con- fess sin.
Lk. iii. 7. m Lk. iii. 7 (same
1 Some copies (C? 33) have παντες after εβαπτ. 27S8BCA al. have ποταµω after lop, which the scribes may have omitted as
superfluous. 3 avrov omitted in ΦΕΒ and by Origen.
vegetable honey, on the simple ground that it was the poorer food. Bee honey was a delicacy, and is associated with milk in Scripture in descriptions of a fertile land. The vegetable product would suit best John’s taste and state. ‘‘Habitatori solitudinis congruum est, non delicias ciborum, sed necessitatem humanae carnis explere.”” Jerome.
Vv. 5-6. Effects of Fohn’s preaching. Remarkable by his appearance, his mes- sage, and his moral intensity, John made a great impression. They took him for a prophet, and a prophet was a novelty in those days. His message appealed to the common Messianic hope, and pro- claimed fulfilment to be at hand.—Tore, then, general note of time, frequent in this Gospel. ἐξεπορεύετο imperfect, de- noting continued action. The movement of course was gradual. It began on a small scale and steadily grew till
it reached colossal dimensions. Each evangelist, in his own way, bears witness to this. Luke speaks of
crowds (ili. 7), Mark and Matthew give graphic particulars, similar, but in diverse order. ‘All Judaea and all the Jerusalemites,” says Mark. ‘‘ feru- salem, Judaea and the Jordan country,” Matthew. The historical order was probably the reverse of that in Matthew’s narrative. First came those from the surrounding country—people living near the Jordan, on either side, in what is now called El-Ghor. Then the move- ment extended in widening circles into Judaea. Finally it affected conservative, disdainful Jerusalem, slow to be touched by new popular influences.—‘lepodoAv- pa: the Greek form here as in ii. 3, and generally in this Gospel. It is not said all Jerusalem, asin Mark. ‘The remark- able thing is that any came from that quarter. Standing first, and without the “all,” the reference means even Jerusa-
lem. The πᾶσα in the other two clauses is of course an exaggeration. It implies, not that every human being went to the Jordan, but that the movement was general. The evangelist expresses him- self just as we should do in a similar case. Πᾶς with the article means ‘the whole,” without, ‘‘every”’.—Ver. 6. καὶ ἐβαπτίζοντο: the imperfect again. They were baptised as they came.—év τῷ ορ. ποταµφ. The word ποταμῷ, omitted in T. R., by all means to be retained. Dull prosaic scribes might deem it superfluous, as all men knew the Jordan was a river, but there is a touch of nature in it which helps us to call up the scene.—iz’ αὐτοῦ, by him, the one man. John would not want occupation, baptising such a crowd, one by οπε.-- ἐξομολογούμενοι: confes- sion was involved in the act of sub- mitting to baptism at the hands of one whose preaching had for its burden, Repent. But there was explicit confes- sion, frank, full (ἐκ intensifies), on the part of guilt-burdened men and women glad to get reliefso. General or special confession ? Probably both: now one. now the other, according to idiosyncrasy and mood. Confession was not exacted as a conditio sine qua non of baptism, but voluntary. The participle means, while confessing ; not, provided they confessed. This confession of sins by individuals was a new thing in Israel. There was a collective confession on the great day of atonement, and individual confession in certain specified cases (Numb. v. 7), but no great spontaneous self-unburdenment of penitent souls— every man apart, It must have been 2 stirring sight.