Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

“Did we know exactly the sources from which the matter of each of the Gospels was drawn up, or the mode in which these were used, this apparent discrepancy would probably disappear at once. In neither case is there any inaccuracy.”

“In those days--of Christ's secluded life at Nazareth, where the last chapter left Him. came John the Baptist, preaching--about six months before his Master. in the wilderness of Judea--the desert valley of the Jordan, thinly peopled and bare in pasture, a li…”

“A kingdom for which repentance was the proper preparation behooved to be essentially spiritual. Deliverance from sin, the great blessing of Christ's kingdom (Mt 1:21), can be valued by those only to whom sin is a burden (Mt 9:12). John's great work, accordi…”

“The voice of one crying in the wilderness--(See on Lu 3:2); the scene of his ministry corresponding to its rough nature. Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight--This prediction is quoted in all the four Gospels, showing that it was regarded …”

“And the same John had his raiment of camel's hair--woven of it. and a leathern girdle about his loins--the prophetic dress of Elijah (2Ki 1:8; and see Zec 13:4). and his meat was locusts--the great, well-known Eastern locust, a food of the poor (Le 11:22…”

“Then went out to him Jerusalem, and all Judea, and all the region round about Jordan--From the metropolitan center to the extremities of the Judean province the cry of this great preacher of repentance and herald of the approaching Messiah brought trooping pen…”

“And were baptized of him in Jordan, confessing their sins--probably confessing aloud. This baptism was at once a public seal of their felt need of deliverance from sin, of their expectation of the coming Deliverer, and of their readiness to welcome Him when He…”

“What an expression is this, "The wrath to come!" God's "wrath," in Scripture, is His righteous displeasure against sin, and consequently against all in whose skirts sin is found, arising out of the essential and eternal opposition of His nature to all moral ev…”

“John now being gifted with a knowledge of the human heart, like a true minister of righteousness and lover of souls here directs them how to evidence and carry out their repentance, supposing it genuine; and in the following verses warns them of their danger i…”

“What a strength, too, of just indignation is in that word "cast" or "flung into the fire!" The third Gospel here adds the following important particulars in Lu 3:10-16. Lu 3:10: And the people--the multitudes. asked him, saying, What shall we do then?--tha…”

“Whose fan--winnowing fan. is in his hand--ready for use. This is no other than the preaching of the Gospel, even now beginning, the effect of which would be to separate the solid from the spiritually worthless, as wheat, by the winnowing fan, from the chaff.”

“Thus, as He rode into Jerusalem upon an ass "whereon yet never man sat" (Lu 19:30), and lay in a sepulchre "wherein was never man yet laid" (Joh 19:41), so in His baptism, too. He would be "separate from sinners."”

“The import of circumcision and of baptism seems to be radically the same. And if our remarks on the circumcision of our Lord (see on Lu 2:21-24) are well founded, He would seem to have said, "Thus do I impledge Myself to the whole righteousness of the Law--t…”

“"My dove, my undefiled is one," says the Song of Solomon (So 6:9). Again, "Be ye harmless as doves," says Christ Himself (Mt 10:16). This is the same thing, in the form of inoffensiveness towards men.”

“Thus, Ge 22:1, "It came to pass that God did tempt Abraham," or put his faith to a severe proof. But for the most part in Scripture the word is used in a bad sense, and means to entice, solicit, or provoke to sin.”

“So it was apparently with Moses (Ex 34:28) and Elijah (1Ki 19:8) for the same period. A supernatural power of endurance was of course imparted to the body, but this probably operated through a natural law--the absorption of the Redeemer's Spirit in the dre…”

“And when the tempter came to him--Evidently we have here a new scene. he said, if thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread--rather, "loaves," answering to "stones" in the plural; whereas Luke, having said, "Command this stone," in the s…”

“Then the devil taketh him up--rather, "conducteth Him." into the holy city--so called (as in Isa 48:2; Ne 11:1) from its being "the city of the Great King," the seat of the temple, the metropolis of all Jewish worship. and setteth him on a pinnacle of the …”

“He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands--rather, "on their hands." they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone--The quotation is, precisely as it stands in the Hebrew and the Septuagint, save that a…”

“Again, the devil taketh him up--"conducteth him," as before. into--or "unto" an exceeding high mountain, and showeth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them--Luke (Lu 4:5) adds the important clause, "in a moment of time"; a clause which se…”

“And still further, is it not said that Christ came to destroy by His death "him that hath the power of death, that is, the devil" (Heb 2:14)? No doubt these passages only express men's voluntary subjection to the rule of the wicked one while they live, and hi…”

“Once more the word "only," in the second clause--not expressed in the Hebrew and the Septuagint--is here added to bring out emphatically the negative and prohibitory feature of the command.”

“Why it was reserved for the fourth Gospel, published at so late a period, to supply such important particulars in the life of Christ, it is not easy to conjecture with any probability.”

“Now when Jesus had heard that John was cast into prison--more simply, "was delivered up," as recorded in Mt 14:3-5; Lu 3:19, 20. he departed--rather, "withdrew." into Galilee--as recorded, in its proper place, in Joh 4:1-3.”

“But how, in that case, are we to take the word "leaving Nazareth" here? We answer, just as the same word is used in Ac 21:3, "Now when we had sighted Cyprus, and left it on the left, we sailed into Syria,"--that is, without entering Cyprus at all, but merel…”