CuHapTeR III. ΤΗΕ ΜΙΝΙΞΤΕΥ oF THE New Era OPENS. Having related the beginnings ot the lives of the two prophets of the new time (chapters i. and ii.), the evangelist now introduces us to the beginnings of their prophetic ministries, or rather to the ministry of
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III. 1. "EN ἔτει δὲ πεντεκαιδεκάτῳ τῆς "ἡγεμονίας Τιβερίου
Ν. T. ὗ bCh. ii. 2. Καΐσαρος, ’ ἡγεμονεύοντος Ποντίου Πιλάτου τῆς Ἰουδαίας, καὶ τετραρχοῦντος 1 τῆς Γαλιλαίας Ἡρώδου, Φιλίππου δὲ τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ. αὐτοῦ τετραρχοῦντος τῆς Ἰτουραίας καὶ Τραχωνίτιδος χώρας, καὶ
1 The spelling of this word varies in MSS. B has it asin T.R. ΝΟ τετρααρ- χονντος (ter), which Tisch. and W.H. adopt.
John as the prelude to the evangelic drama. In regard to the ministry of Jesus he gives us merely the date of its beginning (iii. 23), attaching thereto a genealogy of Jesus. Bengel has well expressed the significance of this chapter by the words: Hic quasi scena N. T. panditur.
Vv. 1-2. General historic setting of the beginnings. For Mt.’s vague “in those days” (iii. 1), which leaves us entirely in the dark at what date and age Jesus entered on His prophetic career, Lk. gives a group of dates connecting his theme with the general history of the world and of Palestine ; the universalistic spirit here, as in ii, 1, 2, apparent. This spirit constitutes the permanent ethical interest of what may seem otherwise dry details: for ordinary readers of the Gospel little more than a collection of names, personal and_ geographical. Worthy of note also, as against those who think Lk. was toa large extent a free inventor, is the indication here given of the historical spirit, the desire to know the real facts (i. 3). The his- toric data, six in all, define the date of John’s ministry with reference to the reigning Roman emperor, and the civil and ecclesiastical rulers of Palestine.
Ver.1. ἐν ἔτει, etc., in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius as Caesar. This seems a very definite date, render- ing all the other particulars, so far as fixing time is concerned, comparatively superfluous. But uncertainty comes in in connection with the question: is the fifteenth year to be reckoned from the death of Augustus (το Aug., 767 A.U.Cc.), when Tiberius became sole emperor, or from the beginning of the regency of Tiberius, two years earlier? The former mode of calculation would give us 28 or 29 A.D. as the date of John’s ministry and Christ’s baptism, making Jesus then thirty-two years old; the latter, 26 A.D., making Jesus then thirty years old, agreeing with iii, 23. The former mode of dating would be more in accordance with the practice of Roman historians and Josephus; the latter lends
itself to apologetic and harmonistic in- terests, and therefore is preferred by many (¢.g., Farrar and Hahn).—Novriov Πιλάτου. Pilate was governor of the Roman province of Judaea from 26 Α.Ρ. to 36 Α.Ὀ., the fifth in the series of governors. His proper title was ἐπί- τροπος (hence the reading of D: ἐπιτρο- πενοντος π. π.); usually ἡγεμὼν in Gos- pels. He owes his place here in the historic framework to the part he played in the last scenes of our Lord’s life. Along with him are named next two joint rulers of other parts of Palestine, belonging to the Herod family ; brought in, though of no great importance for dating purposes, because they, too, figure occasionally in the Gospel story.—tetpapxotvros, act- ing as tetrarche The verb means primarily: ruling over a fourth part, then by an easy transition acting as a tributary ῥΡείπος.- Γαλιλαίας: about twenty-five miles long and broad, divided into lower (southern) Galilee and upper (northern). With Galilee was joined for purposes of government Peraea.— Ἡρώδον, Herod Antipas, murderer of the Baptist, and having secular authority over Jesus as his ςα0]εοῖ.- Φιλίππον, Herod Philip, brother of Antipas, whose name reappears in the new name of Paneas,; rebuilt or adorned by him, Caesarea Philippii—rjfs “Irovpaias καὶ Τραχωνίτιδος χώρας: so Lk. designates the territory ruled over by Philip. The words might be rendered: the Ituraean and Trachonitic territory, implying the identity of Ituraea and Trachonitis (as in Eusebius. For a defence of this view, vide article by Professor Ramsay in Expositor, February, 1894); or, as in A. V., of Ituraea and of the region of Trachonitis. The former was a moun- tainous region to the south of Mount Hermon, inhabited by a hardy race, skilled in the use of the bow; the latter (the rough country) = the modern Ε]- Lejah, the kingdom of Og in ancient times, was a basaltic region south of Damascus, and east of Golan. It is pro- bable that only a fragment of Ituraea belonged to Philip, the region around