23 He said, I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make straight the way of the Lord, as said the prophet Esaias.



Ver. 23. I am the voice of one crying] Christ spake not a word to Herod, saith one; because Herod had taken away this voice of his in beheading the Baptist. {See Trapp on "Mar_1:3"} The Reverend Sam. Crook was wont to say to his friends rejoicing with him, and blessing God for him, "I am nothing but a voice."



In the wilderness] Not in the temple; to show that the legal shadows were now to vanish. Chrysologus calls John Baptist, fibulam legis et gratiae.