Matthew 3:5,6

And were baptized of him in Jordan, confessing their sins.

The wilderness of Judea John preached in, is not to be considered by us as what we should now call a wilderness, that is a solitary place, for there were both towns and villages in it. The multitude thronging to him is not to be wondered at, when we consider how long an interval, even of 350 years, had taken place in the church, from the days of Malachi, the last Prophet.