Matthew 3:1

In those days. The phrase is indefinite, but always points back to a preceding date; in this case to the date of the settlement of the family at Nazareth. "In those days," i e., some time during the nearly thirty years since that settlement.

John. Hebrew, meaning God has dealt graciously. Compare the German Gotthold.

Came [π α ρ α γ ι ν ε τ α ι]. Rev., cometh. The verb is used in what is called the historical present, giving vividness to the narrative, as Carlyle (" French Revolution ") : "But now also the National Deputies from all ends of France are in Paris with their commissions." " In those days appears John the Baptist. "

Preaching [κ η ρ υ σ σ ω ν]. See on 2 Peter 2:5.

Wilderness [τ η ε ρ η μ ω]. Not suggesting absolute barrenness but unappropriated territory affording free range for shepherds and their flocks. Hepworth Dixon (" The Holy Land ") says, "Even in the wilderness nature is not so stern as man. Here and there, in clefts and basins, and on the hillsides, grade on grade, you observe a patch of corn, a clump of olives, a single palm."