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Mat 3:3. Οὗτος, κ.τ.λ., this, etc.) There are many circumstances recorded in the New Testament, which had been predicted in the Old.-γαρ, for) The reason why it was necessary that John should thus arise at that time (as is described in verses 1, 2), was, that it had been so predicted.-φωνὴ, κ.τ.λ., a voice, etc.) See Gnomon on Luk 3:4. “A voice,” i.e., “it is a voice.”-βοῶντος, of one crying[117]) i.e., of John. An analogous phrase occurs in Rom 10:15, viz., οἱ πόδες τῶν εὐαγγελιζομένων, the feet of them that preach.-ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ, in the wilderness) Not in the temple, or the synagogues. Some construe this passage thus, “Prepare ye in the wilderness, etc,” because the accents[118] in the original Hebrew of Isaiah require it to be so construed there. But if such had been the evangelist’s meaning, he would subsequently have expressed, in equivalent terms, the parallel phrase בערבה, in the desert.[119] As the passage stands, the expressions, “preaching in the wilderness,” in Mat 3:1, and “a voice of one crying in the wilderness,” in Mat 3:3, correspond with each other. It comes to the same thing: for where there is the voice, there also are the hearers who are commanded to prepare the way, and there is the Coming of the Lord. St Matthew, also, in ch. Mat 4:15, contains something different from the Hebrew accents.-Cf. Gnomon on Heb 3:7.-τἠν ὁδὸν, the way) There is one primary way, and this includes many tracks, τρίβους.-Κυρίου, of the Lord) The Hebrew יהוה, Jehovah, for which the Hebrews of later ages substituted אדני, Adonai, is rendered by the LXX. ΚΎΡΙΟς, Lord. In this passage Christ is intended. The appellation Κύριος, Lord, when applied to Christ in the New Testament, has various meanings, according to the variety of circumstances, times, and speakers. In passages quoted from the Old Testament it frequently corresponds to the names יהוה and אדני, of which the one expresses His majesty as the Son of God, the other, His glory also as the Messiah. Men amongst whom He walked addressed Him thus with various purport, according to the various extent of their faith. From that time forward, the apostles, and the faithful in general, frequently employed this appellation with reference to His dominion and authority over His own followers, and over all things beside, even in His state of humiliation,[120] but rather in His state of exaltation: in which cases the pronoun “my” is sometimes added, which is never joined with the tetragrammaton יהוה.-εὐθείας) straight.
[117] “Clamantis”-crying out, uttering with a loud voice-not weeping.-(I. B.)
[118] See p. 132, f. n. 5.-(I. B.)
[119] In Isa 40:3, the passage stands thus: “The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God;” where the phrases, in the wilderness, and in the desert, are in parallelism to each other.-(I. B.)
[120] “Exinanitionis;” literally, of being emptied out: a phrase of frequent occurrence, suggested by the words in Php 2:7, ἑαυτὸν ἐκένωσε, He emptied Himself-rendered in E. V., made Himself of no reputation.-(I. B.)