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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadJohn Bengel Commentary - Matthew 3:7 - 3:7
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Mat 3:7. Πολλοὺς, κ.τ.λ., many, etc.) of whom some adhered to their purpose of receiving the baptism of John; some, deterred by his just denunciations, appear to have gone back. By far the greater number did not come at all.-See ch. Mat 21:25, and Luk 7:30.-τῶν Φαρισαίων καὶ Σαδδουκαίων, of the Pharisees and Sadducees) Differing sects.-αὐτοῖς, to them) i.e., to the Pharisees especially, but also to the people, before baptizing them.-See Mat 3:11, and Luk 3:7. It frequently occurs, that words are mentioned after the act which they accompany or precede.-See 2Sa 1:16; 2Sa 1:15.-γεννήματα, broods) Various families.-ἐχιδνῶν, of vipers) This is said in opposition to their boasting of their descent from Abraham.-τίς, κ.τ.λ., who? etc.) As though he had said, “You appear to be showing the way to others, but who showed it to you?” He implies that wrath was in store for them; that there was, close at hand, a means of escaping it, but that the Pharisees and Sadducees were strangers to it.-ὑπέδειξεν, hath showed) The compound verb has the same meaning as the simple δείκνυμι. He approves of their coming, but with an important condition.-φυγεῖν, to flee) sc. by baptism.-ἀπὸ τῆς μελλούσης ὀργῆς, from the wrath to come) which they will incur, rejecting the kingdom of Heaven by their impenitence. That same wrath is afterwards spoken of, in 1Th 1:10, as τῆς ἐρχομένης, which is coming. At the same time, the error of the Sadducees in denying the resurrection is refuted. That wrath was to come upon them at the destruction of Jerusalem and the last Judgment.