1614 | Matthew 3:4
who was spo ken of through the proph et Isa iah:
“ A voice of one calling in the wilderness,
‘ Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.’” a q
3:3 q Isa 40:3; Mal 3:1; Lk 1:76; Jn 1:23 3:4 r 2Ki 1:8 s Lev 11:22
3:7 t Mt 12:34; 23:33 u Ro 1:18; 1Th 1:10 3:8 v Ac 26:20 3:10 w Mt 7:19; Lk 13:6-9; Jn 15:2, 6
11“ I bap tize you with b wa ter for re pentance. But af ter me comes one who is more pow er ful than I, whose san dals I am not wor thy to car ry. He will bap tize you with b the Holy Spir it x and fire. y 12 His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his thresh ing floor, gath er ing his wheat into the barn and burn ing up the chaff with unquenchable fire.” z
4 John’ s clothes were made of cam el’ s
hair, and he had a leath er belt around his waist. r His food was lo custs s and wild honey. 5 Peo ple went out to him from Je rusa lem and all Ju dea and the whole re gion of the Jor dan. 6 Confessing their sins, they were bap tized by him in the Jor dan Riv er.
7 But when he saw many of the Phari sees and Sad du cees com ing to where he was bap tiz ing, he said to them:“ You
3:11 x Mk 1:8 brood of vipers! t Who warned you to flee y Isa 4:4; Ac 2:3, 4 from the com ing wrath? u 8 Pro duce fruit
3:12 z Mt 13:30
in keeping with repentance. v 9 And do not 3:13 a Mk 1:4 3:16 b Isa 11:2; think you can say to your selves,‘ We have
42:1
Abra ham as our fa ther.’ I tell you that out 3:17 c Mt 17:5; Jn 12:28
of these stones God can raise up chil dren d Ps 2:7; for Abra ham. 10 The ax is al ready at the 2Pe 1:17, 18 e Isa 42:1; root of the trees, and ev ery tree that does
Mt 12:18; 17:5;
not pro duce good fruit will be cut down Mk 1:11; 9:7; and thrown into the fire. w Lk 9:35 a 3 Isaiah 40:3 b 11 Or in
The Baptism of Jesus 3:13-17pp— Mk 1:9-11; Lk 3:21,22; Jn 1:31-34
13 Then Jesus came from Gal i lee to the
Jor dan to be bap tized by John. a 14 But John tried to de ter him, say ing,“ I need to be bap tized by you, and do you come to me?”
15 Jesus re plied,“ Let it be so now; it is
prop er for us to do this to ful fill all righteousness.” Then John con sent ed.
16 As soon as Jesus was bap tized, he
went up out of the wa ter. At that mo ment heav en was opened, and he saw the Spir it of God b de scend ing like a dove and alighting on him. 17 And a voice from heav en c said,“ This is my Son, d whom I love; with him I am well pleased.” e
3:4 leather belt. It evokes Elijah( 2Ki 1:8), who was to prepare the way for God’ s coming( Mal 4:5 – 6). See note on Mk 1:6. 3:7 brood of vipers. Many people in antiquity thought that vipers were born by hatching inside their mother, then gnawing their way through their mothers’ wombs— killing their mothers in the process. Comparing people to a“ brood of vipers,” then, was analogous to calling them“ parent-murderers”— one of the most reprehensible offenses conceivable. 3:9 Abraham as our father. Many Jewish people believed that Israel as a whole would be saved because God chose Israel in Abraham. Prophets, however, sometimes challenged Israel’ s dependence on their chosenness( Am 3:2; 9:7). stones... children. Sometimes in the OT stones were used to symbolize the 12 tribes of Israel( Ex 28:21; Jos 4:8; 1Ki 18:31). In Hebrew and Aramaic,“ children” and“ stones” sound very similar; prophets often made wordplays( note examples in the Hebrew texts of Jer 1:11 – 12 [ see NIV text note ]; Am 8:1 – 2; Mic 1:10 – 15 [ see NIV text notes ]). 3:10 ax is already at the root of the trees. Cutting down or burning a tree could symbolize a nation’ s judgment( Ps 80:14 – 16; Jer 11:16; Eze 31:10 – 18; Da 4:23). The image here probably involves dead trees or small trees, the kind that could be felled easily by most farmers’ axes. Fruit trees that yielded no fruit typically served best as firewood. 3:11 baptize you with water. Many people, including Jewish people, had ritual washings; some Jewish sects required ritual immersion to purify those entering their sect, and Gentiles converting to Judaism were immersed to cleanse them from the impurity of idolatry( see the article“ Baptism,” p. 1686). sandals... to carry. Handling sandals was the sort of servile task that only a servant would normally perform; the prophets were“ servants of God”( 2Ki 9:7; Jer 7:25; 26:5; 29:19; 35:15; 44:4), but John considers himself unworthy even for this role. Clearly he envisions himself as preparing for the coming of God himself( see notes on vv. 3,4). baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. Biblically only God could pour out his own Spirit, as he promised to do at the time of the coming restoration( Isa 32:15; 44:3; Eze 39:29; Joel 2:28). In contrast to the Spirit, the“ fire” here presumably signals end-time judgment( see notes on vv. 10,12). 3:12 gathering his wheat... burning up the chaff. After harvest farmers had to separate the edible wheat from the inedible chaff. They would toss the grain into the air so that the wind could blow out the chaff, which was lighter. Scripture often used“ chaff” as an image for the worthless that God would destroy( e. g., Ex 15:7 [ stubble ]; Ps 1:4; Isa 17:13; 29:5; Hos 13:3). Indeed,“ Elijah’ s” mission( see note on 3:4) was to prevent the nation from becoming like burned chaff( Mal 4:1,5). Real chaff burns too quickly to be good fuel; the chaff here, however, burns with“ unquenchable” fire( cf. Isa 66:24). Jewish people had various views of Gehinnom( or Gehenna), or hell: the wicked would burn up instantly; they would be tortured for a year and then either released or destroyed; or they would burn forever. In his message to the religious elite( v. 7) John sides with the harshest option articulated by his contemporaries. 3:14 I need to be baptized by you. Given John’ s expectation that the coming one would be divine and baptize in the Spirit( see note on v. 11), that John feels unworthy to baptize Jesus makes sense. 3:16 heaven was opened. The heavens could be opened for revelations from God( Eze 1:1). dove. Doves had various symbolic functions in ancient sources; perhaps the most widespread and relevant for Jewish hearers would be the dove’ s role as a harbinger of a new world in Ge 8:8 – 12. 3:17 Sometimes God spoke with a voice from heaven( e. g., Ge 22:15 – 18). Later Jewish teachers called this means of God speaking a bat qol; though they felt that it was an inferior substitute for prophecy, the prophet here also recognizes Jesus’ identity( v. 14). The voice here seems to blend allusions to two Biblical texts; the first is Ps 2:7, a promise to the Davidic line especially applicable to the promised, end-time Davidic ruler. For Mark( 1:11), the second might be Ge 22:2, but Matthew probably intends an