“In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judea,”
Matthew 3:1 — Greek Interlinear
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,…
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.'
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…