Matthew 3

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Matthew 3:3

(3) This is he.—The words are those of the Evangelist, not of the Baptist, though the latter also used them to describe his own office (John 1:23). In each case the reference shows how strongly the great second part of Isaiah had impressed itself on the minds of men. To the Baptist, brooding over the sins of his people, and the long-expected consolation of Israel, there had come “the word of the Lord” (Luke 3:2), bidding him identify himself with that “voice of one crying in the... read more

Charles John Ellicott

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Matthew 3:4

(4) His raiment of camel’s hair.—The dress was probably deliberately adopted by the Baptist as reviving the outward appearance of Elijah, who was “a hairy man, and girt with a girdle of leather” (2 Kings 1:8); and the “rough garment,” that had been characteristic of the prophet’s life even at a later period (Zechariah 13:4), as contrasted with the “long garments” of the Pharisees (Mark 12:38), and the “gorgeous apparel” of the scribes who attached themselves to the court of Herod (Luke 7:25).... read more

Charles John Ellicott

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Matthew 3:5

(5) All the region round about Jordan.—This would include the whole length of the river-valley, and would therefore take in parts of Peræa, Samaria, Galilee, and Gaulonitis. read more

Charles John Ellicott

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Matthew 3:6

(6) Were baptized.—The Greek tense implies continual succession. Crowd after crowd passed on, and still they came confessing their sins—i.e., as the position of the word implies, in the closest possible connection with the act of immersion. The Greek word (sometimes used for “confessing” in the sense of “praising,” as in Luke 12:8), always implies public utterance, and included, as the plural of the noun seems to show, a specific mention of, at least, the more grievous individual sins. read more

Charles John Ellicott

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Matthew 3:7

(7) Pharisees and Sadducees.—It is desirable to give, once for all, a sufficient account of these two sects to explain their relation to each other and to the teaching of our Lord. (1.) THE PHARISEES. Singularly enough, the name appears for the first time in the Gospel history. Josephus, who tells us most about them, being presumably later, if not than the Gospels in their present form, yet, at all events, than the materials from which they are derived. We cannot say, therefore, when the name... read more

Charles John Ellicott

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Matthew 3:8

(8) Fruits (better, fruit) meet for repentance.—The English version is ambiguous and not happy, suggesting the thought of the “fruit” as preparing the way for repentance. The thought is, however, “by coming to the baptism you profess repentance; bring forth, therefore, fruit worthy of repentance—i.e., of a changed heart and will.” read more

Charles John Ellicott

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Matthew 3:9

(9) We have Abraham to (better, as) our father.—The boast seems to have been common, as in John 8:33-39, and was connected with the belief that this alone, or taken together with the confession of the creed of Israel “the Lord our God is one Lord” (Deuteronomy 6:4), would be enough to ensure for every Jew an admission into Paradise. The “bosom” of Abraham was wide enough to receive all his children. “We have Abraham as our father” was to the Jew all and more than all that “civis Romanus sum”... read more

Charles John Ellicott

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Matthew 3:10

(10) Now.—Rather, already. The present of an act no longer future.The ax is laid unto the root of the trees.—The symbolism which saw in “trees” the representatives of human characters, of nations, and institutions, had been recognised in Isaiah’s parable of the vine (Isaiah 5:1-7), in Jeremiah’s of the vine and the olive (Jeremiah 2:21; Jeremiah 11:16), and the Baptist’s application of it was but a natural extension. Judgments that were only partial or corrective were as the pruning of the... read more

Charles John Ellicott

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Matthew 3:11

(11) With water unto repentance.—The “I” is emphasized, as also the baptism with water, as contrasted with that which was to follow. The result of John’s baptism, even for those who received it faithfully, did not go beyond the change of character and life implied in “repentance.” The higher powers of the unseen world were to be manifested afterwards.He that cometh after me.—The words as spoken by the Baptist could only refer to the expected Christ, the Lord, whose way he had been sent to... read more

Charles John Ellicott

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Matthew 3:12

(12) Whose fan is in his hand.—The scene brought before us is that of the large hardened surface which was the “threshing-floor” of the East, the sheaves of corn thrown over it, the oxen treading on them, the large winnowing fan driving on them the full force of the strong current of air, leaving the wheat in the middle, while the chaff is driven to the outskirts of the field to be afterwards swept up and burnt. The metaphor was a sufficiently familiar one. (Comp. Job 21:18; Psalms 1:4; Psalms... read more

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Matthew 3:3

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Matthew 3:4

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Matthew 3:5

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Matthew 3:6

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Matthew 3:7

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Matthew 3:8

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Matthew 3:9

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Matthew 3:10

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Matthew 3:11

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Matthew 3:12

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