ο. 6 προφήτης: Founding on Zech. xiii. 1, “In that day there shall be a fountain opened for sin and for unclean- ness,” and on Ezek. xxxvi. 25, “‘then will I sprinkle clean water upon you,” they expected a general purification before the coming of the Messiah. Hence their question. If John was not the Messiah, nor the prophet, nor Elias in elose connection with the Messiah, why did he baptise? Lightfoot (Hor. Heb., Ρ. 965) quotes from Kiddushin “ Elias venit ad immundos distinguendum et ad purificandum’”’. See also Ammonius and Beza quoted in Lampe. In reply to this objection of the Pharisees (ver. 26) John says: ἐγὼ Λβαπτίζω . . . τοῦ ὑποδήματος, “I for my part baptise with water’; the emphatic ‘‘I”’ leading us
to expect mention of another with whom a contrast is drawn. This contrast is further signified by the mention of the element of the baptism, ἐν ὕδατι; a merely symbolic element, but also the element by baptism in which preparation for the Messiah was to be made. And John’s administration of this precursory baptism is justified by the fact he im- mediately states, µέσος ὑμῶν στήκει ὃν ὑμεῖς οὐκ οἴδατε. Had they been aware of this presence (tpets emphatic) as John was aware of it, they could not have challenged the baptism of John, because it was the divinely appointed prepara- tion for the Messiah’s advent. This. scarcely amounts to what Lampe calls it, ‘nova exprobratio ignorantiae Pharisaeorum” (Is. xlii. 1ο, xxix. 14), because as yet they had had no oppor- tunity of knowing the Christ.—péoos. ὑμῶν. There is no reason why the words should not be taken strictly. So Euthymius, ἦν yap 6 Χριστὸς ava- μεμιγµένος τότε τῷ ag.—étricw pov ἐρχόμενος, denoting the immediate arrival of the Messiah and John’s close connection with Him. He is further described relatively to John as incon- ceivably exalted above him, οὗ οὐκ εἰμὶ
- « ὑποδήματο. The grammatical form admitting both the relative and pers. pronoun is Hebraistic. ἄξιος ἵνα also stands instead of the classical construc- tion with the infinitive. - Talmudists quote the saying: ‘‘ Every service which a servant will perform for his master, a disciple will do for his Rabbi, except loosing his sandal thong”.—Ver. 28. ταῦτα ἐν Βηθανίᾳ ... βαπτίζων. The place is mentioned on account of the im- portance of the testimony thus borne to Jesus, and because the evangelist him- self in all probability was present and it was natural to him to name it. But where was it? There is no doubt that
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