Matthew 3:1 — Community Reflections

MATTHEW 3:1 — KING JAMES VERSION 0

“In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judea,”

In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea. After the infancy narrative, Matthew leaps forward roughly thirty years with the simple phrase in those days — a biblical transition that signals a new era is beginning. John the Baptist arrives in the wilderness of Judea, the same desert landscape where Israel had wandered for forty years between Egypt and the promised land. Isaiah 40:3 had announced a voice crying in the wilderness, and Malachi 4:5 had promised Elijah's return before the great and terrible day of the Lord. John is both: the wilderness prophet who embodies the Elijah spirit (verse 4, with the same clothing description as 2 Kings 1:8) and the voice Isaiah announced. His appearance signals that the long wait is ending.

Church Fathers on Matthew 3:1

The Sun as he approaches the horizon, and before he is yet visible, sends out his rays and makes the eastern sky to glow with light, that Aurora going before may herald the coming day. Thus the Lord at His birth in this earth, and before He shews Himself, enlightens John by the rays of His Spirit’s teaching, that he might go before and announce the Saviour that was to come. Therefore after having related the birth of Christ, before proceeding to His teaching and baptism,…
Pseudo-Chrysostom · 5th century

In these words we have not only time, place, and person, respecting St. John, but also his office and employment. First the time, generally; 'In those days.'
Remigius · 9th century

Luke describes the time by the reigning sovereigns. [Luke 3:1] But Matthew must be understood to speak of a wider space of time by the phrase 'those days,' than the fifteenth year of Tiberius. Having related Christ’s return from Egypt, which must be placed in early boyhood or even infancy, to make it agree with what Luke has told of His being in the temple at twelve years old, he adds directly, 'In those days,' not intending thereby only the days of His childhood, but all the…
Augustine · 4th century · de Cons. Evan., ii, 6

Read all 28 entries in the readerCatena Aurea · St. Thomas Aquinas, tr. J. H. Newman · public domain

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