Matthew 11:2

δεσμωτηρίῳ (from δεσμόω, δεσμός, a bond), in prison in the fortress of Machærus by the Dead Sea (Joseph., Antiq., 18, 5, 2), a fact already alluded to in Matthew 4:12. By this time he has been a prisoner a good while, long enough to develop a prison mood. ἀκούσας : not so close a prisoner but that friends and followers can get access to him (cf. Matthew 25:36; Matthew 25:43). τὰ ἔργα τοῦ χριστοῦ : this the subject in which the Baptist is chiefly interested. What is Jesus doing? But the evangelist does not say the works of Jesus, but of the Christ, i.e., of the man who was believed to be the Christ, the works which were supposed to point Him out as the Christ. In what spirit reported, whether simply as news, with sympathy, or with jealousy, not indicated. πέμψας : the news set John on musing, and led to a message of inquiry διὰ τ. μαθητῶν αὐτοῦ, by his disciples, possibly the same men who brought the news. There would be constant coming and going between Galilee and Machærus. The construction is Hebraistic = sent by the hand of.