The Pulpit Commentary — Matthew — Volume 1 — Section 83

must have been moch more common before l<mgs, all well watered, and J11ll of dwellings" the gree.oor part of the timber we.a cut (John Lightfoot,' Hor. Heb.'). down (cf. Judg. xiv. 8; 1 Se.m. xiv. 25; Ps. Ver. 6.-And (they, Revised Version) were lnxi. 16). Bee-keeping we.s e. favoorite baptised. The Revised Version probo.bly punmit of the Essence (Philo, ii. p. 633), desires to call attention to the change in the o.nd the Tolmnd hns frequent notices of verb from singular to plural. In lordan; hives and the methods of taking bees, etc. fo the river Jordan (Revised Version, with (t>ide Hamburger, • Real-Encyc.,' i. Ml, manuscripts). So nlso parallel p11ssage in "Biene "). Hence the nce<l for the addition Mark (cf. Introduction, p. v.), :By him; of some soch epithet as "wild," althongh i.e. their baptism was not self-imposed, but tl,ere seems to be no independent pe.rallel an act of submission to ilia teaching, nnd of instance of the exact word used (11-yp,ov); cf. acceptance of his message. The forerunner Pliuy's "mel silvestre." (2) Possibly" tree- saw results, not merely in orowds of listeners, honey" (so Weiss, 'l\'[arc.,' p. 44; •Life,' but in external act.ions. By him (contrast i. 308), a sweet vegetable juice obtained John iv. 2). Confessing their sins; i.e. in at from dates ( mde Joseph us, infra) and grapes least some detail; cf.-Josephus, 'Ant.,' viii. (as probably in Gen. xliii. 11; Ezek. xxvii. 4. 6, "confessing their sius and their 17), and perhaps directly from wild trees, transgressions of the laws of their country such as the manna ash and the ta.me.risk. ('foµo1'.o-yovµ.lv,,,v -r,r.s a.µ.ap-rlas aJ-rwv, 1ral -rcu So distinctly Suidas (A.D. 1100). "The -rr»v 1ra-rpl.w voµ.lµ.ow 1rapafJd.u«s);" also Acts forerunner ate locusts and wild honey, xix. 18, "confessing aud declaring their which is gathered together from the trees, deeds" (cf. Jns. v. 16). and is commonly called manna.." Diodorus Siculus (B.O. 8) seems to use the epithet Vera. 7-12.-The Jait1tful warning, "wild" (11-ypwv) to distinguish this vegetable (Parallel passage: Luke iii. 7-9, 16, 17.) honey from that commonly in use (cf. Observe that this ia before the baptism of Nicholson, 'Gosp. Heh.,' p. 35). Josephus our Lord, while the witness in John i. 19- (' Bell. Jud.,' iv. 8. 3) states that in the plain 27 is after. watered by the fountain of Jericho, "there are many sorts of palm trees watered by it, Ver. 7.-But when he saw many of the different from each other in taste and name; Pharisees and Sadducees. 'l'l.tetypicalJews, the better sort of them, when they are considered e.s one clnss (-rwv <l>ap,uaC.w 1ral pressed, yield an excellent kind of honey :£aBBov1ralow), in contrast to the multi tu des. (JJ.b.. , 5al/ti>..h ctv,iiuw), not much inferior Pharisees. '!'heir charac~er:iatic is shown in to other honey. This country withal pro- their name, "Separatists;" i.e. from any- duces honey from bees (1ral µ,,1'.,-r-ro.,-pdq,os thing tliat would hinder exact obedience to 3, 'T/ X"'P")." But the former interpretation the Mosaic Law. Hence they are the strict seems the more probable. adherents of tradition. They ultimately Ver. 5.-Then. Not merely temporal, as gained the BBCendancy, and, in consequence, probably in ver. 13, but almost consequential, the standard Jewish books represent the "thereupon "; so also ver. 15; eh. ii. 7, 16. result of their teaching. They belonged John's preaching and manner of life were almost entirely to the middle classes. Sad- not witllout effect. Went out; lt•7rop,6e-ro ducees. They were chiefly of the noblest, ( aim ilar in the parallels). Our Lord, when especially the high-priestly, families. Henco referring to tlris (cil. xi. 7, 8, 9), uses the their first thought was politicnl quiet, and commoner l~f/1'.Ba-r,, merely indicating the witil this they not unnaturally combined the crowds leaving for a while their present love of Greek culture. They set the plain surroundings. The synoptista here point meaning of the Law far above all tre.di tion, rather to the trouble involved and the even that of the Propheta and the Hagio- distance traversed (cf. Mark vi. 11 with grapha. Come (coming, Revised Version) 12). Tile singular is used (as often in the to his baptism; 'pxoµ,lvov$ l1rl -ro 1Jd.1r- Hebrew) because the writer's first thought -r1uµ.a (omit au-rou). They were apparently wa8 of J erosalem ; the other parts were not merely coming to see what took pince, added as an afterthought. All ( cf. eh. viii. but with the purpose of receiving his 34); i.e. from all parts and in large num- baptism (cf. Thayer, l-,rl c. i. 2, g. ')', aa.); b(;ra. Judea. Strictly speaking, this would, cf. eh. xxvi. 50 (iq,' If); Luke xxiii. 48. The of course, include part of the next expression, marginal reading, however, proposed by the but tile reference here is especially to the American Revisers "for baptism," does not liill-country. And all the region round about do justice to the article. The Gospel accord- Jordan; i.e. the inhabitants of the Ghor, ing to the Hebrews (Resch, • Agrapha,' p. the Jordan valley. They pre811Illably came 343) says that they were in fact baptized, from either side of the river. "J;trabo, con- but we can hardly suppose this to have been cerning the plain bordering on Jordan, hath the case after John's worda to them. Ob- ,ile.i: words: It i, a plcu, of an hundrw /M- serve that the Pharisees, with their self-con• orr. m. 1-17.] THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. MATTHEW. 71