_ Vv. 7-10. Words of rebuke and warn- ing to unwelcome vistors (Luke iii. 7-0). Ver. 7. ᾿Ιδὼν δὲ, etc.: among those who visited the Jordan were some.
_hot a few, many indeed (πολλοὺς) of the
82
nCf. Ie veil
o for the idea of “ the coming wrath,” vide Rom. ii. 5. Lk. iii. 8. C/. Ps. iv. 5; x. 6; xiv. 1.
“4 ὑμῖν " Φυγεῖν ἀπὸ "τῆς μελλούσης ὀργῆς ; Mk.xvi.8. ἀξίους 1 τῆς µετανοίας: ο. 1 Thess. i. 10.
Il.
8. ποιήσατε οὖν καρποὺς καὶ μὴ ) δόξητε Ἀλέγειν ἐν ἑαυτοῖς, p Ch. vi. 7; xxvi.53. κα Ch. ix. 21.
1 καρπον αξιον in BCD and many other uncials. The reading in T. R. (found in L) may have come in from Lk. iii. 8, where it is undisputed.
Puarisgzes and Sappucees. The first mention of classes of whom the Gospels have much to say, the former being the legal precisians, virfuosi in religion, the latter the men of affairs and of the world, largely belonging to the sacer- dotal class (consult Wellhausen, Die Pharisder und die Sadducder), Their presence at the scene of John’s ministry is credible. Drawn doubtless by mixed motives, as persons of their type gene- rally are, moral simplicity not being in their line; partly curious, partly fasci- nated, partly come to spy; in an am- biguous state of mind, neither decidedly in sympathy nor pronouncedly hostile. In any case they cannot remain in- different to a movement so deep and widespread. So here they are; coming to (ἐπὶ) John’s baptism, not to be bap- tised, nor coming against, as some (Olearius, ¢.g.) have thought, as if to put the movement down, but coming to wit- ness the strange, novel phenomenon, and form their impressions. John did not make them welcome. His spirit was troubled by their presence. Simple, sensitive, moral natures instinctively shrink from the presence of insincerity, duplicity and craftiness.—t8ev: how did they come under his observation? By their position in the crowd or on the outskirts of it, and by their aspect? How did he identify them as Pharisees and Sadducees ? How did the hermit of the desert know there were such people? It was John’s business to know all the moral characteristics of histime. These were the matters in which he took supreme interest, and he doubtless had means of informing himself, and took pains to do so. It may be assumed that he knew well about the Essenes living in his neighbourhood, by the shores of the Dead Sea, somewhat after his own tashion, and about the other two classes, whose haunts were the great centres of population. There might be Essenes too in the crowd, though not singled out, the history other- wise having no occasion to mention them.—yervyjpara ἐχιδνῶν: sudden, ‘ir- repressible outburst of intense moral
aversion. Why vipers? The ancient and medieval interpreters (Chrysos., Aug., Theophy., Euthy.) had recourse in explanation to the fable of the young viper eating its mother’s womb. The term ought rather to be connected with the following words about fleeing from the coming wrath. The serpents of all sorts lurking in the fields flee when the stubble is set on fire in harvest in pre- paration for the winter sowing. he Baptist likens the Pharisees and Sad- ducees to these serpents fleeing for their lives (Furrer in Zeitschrift fur Missions- kunde und Religionswissenschaft, 1890). Professor G. A. Smith, istorical Geography of the Holy Land, p. 495, suggests the fires among the dry scrub, in the higher stretches of the Jordan valley, chasing before them the scorpions and vipers, as the basis of the metaphor. There is grim humour as well as wrath in the similitude. The emphasis is not on vipers but on fleeing. But the felicity of the comparison lies in the fact that the epithet suits very well. It implies that the Pharisees and Sadducees are fleeing. They have caught slightly the infection of repentance; yet John does not believe in its depth or permanence.— τίς ὑπέδειξεν: there is surprise in the question. Can it be possible that even you have learned to fear the approaching crisis? Most unlikely scholars.—vyeiv ἀπὸ: pregnant for ‘flee and escape from" (De Wette). The aorist points to possibility, going with verbs of hoping and promising in this sense (Winer, § xliv. 7 c.). The implied thought is that it is not possible = who encouraged you to expect deliverance? The aorist further signifies a momentary act: now or πενετ.- τῆς ὀργῆς, the day of wrath impending, preluding the advent of the Kingdom. The idea of wrath was prominent in John’s mind: the coming of the Kingdom an awful affair; Messiah's work largely a work of judgment. But he rose above ordinary Jewish ideas in this: they conceived of the judgment as concerning the heathen peoples ; he thought of it as concerning the godless in Israel—Ver. 8. ποιήσατα