St Matthew Chapter III : Verses 1-12
Contents
⮚Matt. iii. 1-12 Douay-Rheims text & Latin text (Vulgate)
⮚Notes on text
Matt. iii. 1-12
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| John the Baptist preaching. J-J Tissot. Brooklyn Museum. |
In diebus autem illis venit Joannes Baptista praedicans in deserto Judææ,
2 And saying: Do penance: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
et dicens : Poenitentiam agite : appropinquavit enim regnum cælorum
3 For this is he that was spoken of by Isaias the prophet, saying: A voice of one crying in the desert, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight his paths.
Hic est enim, qui dictus est per Isaiam prophetam dicentem : Vox clamantis in deserto : Parate viam Domini : rectas facite semitas ejus.
4 And the same John had his garment of camels' hair, and a leathern girdle about his loins: and his meat was locusts and wild honey.
Ipse autem Joannes habebat vestimentum de pilis camelorum, et zonam pelliceam circa lumbos suos : esca autem ejus erat locustæ, et mel silvestre.
5 Then went out to him Jerusalem and all Judea, and all the country about Jordan:
Tunc exibat ad eum Jerosolyma, et omnis Judaea, et omnis regio circa Jordanem;
6 And were baptized by him in the Jordan, confessing their sins.
et baptizabantur ab eo in Jordane, confitentes peccata sua.
7 And seeing many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them: Ye brood of vipers, who hath shewed you to flee from the wrath to come?
Videns autem multos pharisaeorum, et sadducæorum, venientes ad baptismum suum, dixit eis : Progenies viperarum, quis demonstravit vobis fugere a ventura ira?
8 Bring forth therefore fruit worthy of penance.
Facite ergo fructum dignum pœnitentiæ.
9 And think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham for our father. For I tell you that God is able of these stones to raise up children to Abraham.
Et ne velitis dicere intra vos : Patrem habemus Abraham. Dico enim vobis quoniam potens est Deus de lapidibus istis suscitare filios Abrahæ.
10 For now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that doth not yield good fruit, shall be cut down, and cast into the fire.
Jam enim securis ad radicem arborum posita est. Omnis ergo arbor, quae non facit fructum bonum, excidetur, et in ignem mittetur.
11 I indeed baptize you in the water unto penance, but he that shall come after me, is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear; he shall baptize you in the Holy Ghost and fire.
Ego quidem baptizo vos in aqua in poenitentiam : qui autem post me venturus est, fortior me est, cujus non sum dignus calceamenta portare : ipse vos baptizabit in Spiritu Sancto, et igni.
12 Whose fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly cleanse his floor and gather his wheat into the barn; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.
Cujus ventilabrum in manu sua : et permundabit aream suam : et congregabit triticum suum in horreum, paleas autem comburet igni inextinguibili.
Notes
1. in those days. A common Hebrew idiom. The Evangelist probably refers to the time when Christ was dwelling at Nazareth, which has just been recorded, St Luke gives a more definite note of time. Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Cæsar^ Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, and Herod being tetrarch of Galilee., and Philip his brother tetrarch of Iturea and the country of Trachonitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilina, under the high-priests Annas and Caiphas (iii. 1, 2).
According to the generally received chronology, St John began his mission in the autumn of A.D. 26 (i.e. 779 A.U.C.). All the Evangelists give the mission of the Baptist, but only St Luke relates his miraculous birth.
cometh John the Baptist preaching. St John waited for the express command of God, since we read, the word of the Lord was made unto John the son of Zachary, in the desert (St Luke iii. 2).
in the desert of Judea. The Arabah, a deep valley north of the Jordan. Humboldt calls it “ the deepest and hottest chasm in the world,”
The sirocco blows there continuously. The Baptist had been brought up in the desert. And the child grew, and was strengthened in spirit ; and was in the deserts until the day of his manifestation to Israel (St Luke i. 80).
“What a stir would be produced at the present day by the preaching of a man who, clothed with the authority of holiness, should proclaim with power the speedy coming of the Lord, and His impending judgment. Such was the appearance of John in Israel ” (Godet, St Luke, p. 175).
2. Do penance. The Greek verb (Μετανοεῖτε) here translated “ do penance” signifies “a change of mind and heart.” In the Anglican version it is translated “ repentance.” By “ penance,” Catholics understand an interior sorrow for sin which must be manifested by exterior acts, such as avoiding the occasions of sin, and punishing ourselves for having offended God. The Latin “ pœnitentia ” does not only signify exterior acts of penance, nor does the Greek μετάνοια apply only to interior acts of sorrow for sin. Therefore both the Latin and Greek words, which we translate by “ penance ” or “ repentance,” agree in expressing sorrow for sin, proved by penitential works.
the kingdom of heaven. Lit. “ the kingdom of the heavens” (ἡ βασιλεία τῶν οὐρανῶν.). St Matthew frequently uses this Talmudic expression, whereas the other Evangelists write the kingdom of God. Both refer to —
(а) The Catholic Church which Christ came to establish on earth.(b) His reign in the individual soul of the Christian.
The Baptist at once dispels the illusions of his hearers concerning a Messianic reign of temporal greatness.
is at hand. Lit. “has come” (ἤγγικεν) and therefore is now actually present.
3. A voice of one crying, etc. A reference to a herald preceding a monarch and proclaiming his coming.
The Baptist applied these words to himself. He said ; I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness (St John i. 23).
These words, quoted from the Septuagint (i.e. Greek version of the Old Testament), are taken from the message God sent to His people to comfort them by the promise of a Messias who should forgive sins. The message begins thus : Be comforted, be comforted, my people, saith your God. Speak ye to the heart of Jerusalem, and call to her : for her evil is come to an end, her iniquity is forgiven : she hath received of the hand of the Lord double for all her sins. The voice of one crying in the desert : Prepare ye the way of the Lord, etc. (Is. xl. 1-3).
Prepare ye the way of the Lord. St John exhorted his hearers to do this by confessing their sins, and bringing forth worthy fruits of penance.
make straight his paths. An allusion to the Eastern custom of sending out workmen to prepare the roads for the passage of a monarch.
It consisted in filling valleys, levelling hills, and making devious paths straight and even.
4. camels’ hair. A rough cloth made from coarse camels’ hair. St John the Baptist led a life of penance, hence his clothes and food were of the poorest.
leathern girdle. The rich wore expensive girdles ; the poor used a plain leathern strap such as the Arabs of the desert still wear.
locusts. A rather large- winged insect, considered “ clean” by the Jews. The food of the poor. The locusts were dried in the sun, and sometimes made into cakes.
wild honey was found in quantities in the clefts of the rocks in the desert ; or the term may mean the tree-honey, a gum found exuding from certain trees.
5. Then went out to him, etc. The multitudes came from —
(b) Bethania beyond the Jordan (St John i. 28). This place is now unknown. They went to the desert where St John was preaching and baptizing. We read of three places, but there would have been others : —
1. The desert of Judea, probably the traditional site near Jericho.2. Bethania beyond the Jordan. The site is now unknown.3. Ennon, near Salim (St John iii. 23), on the border between Samaria and Judea. Since the days of Malachias, 400 years earlier, no prophet had risen up ; hence the eagerness of the people to see and hear the Precursor.
Note. — It is probable that the Baptist’s ministry coincided with a sabbatical year, hence the vast multitudes were freed from agricultural labours. Every seventh year the land was allowed to lie fallow, and no agricultural work was done. Six years thou shalt sow thy field, and, six years thou shalt prune thy vineyard, and shalt gather the fruits thereof : But in the seventh year there shall be a sabbath to the land, of the resting of the Lord : thou shalt not sow thy field, nor prune thy vineyard. What the ground shalt bring forth of itself, thou shalt not reap : neither shalt thou gather the grapes of the first-fruits as a vintage : for it is a year of rest to the land (Lev. xxv. 3-5).
country about Jordan. This applies to both sides of the river, from Jericho to the Dead Sea on the right bank, and from Bethnimra to the brook of Gired on the left bank. St John probably baptized in the valley of the Jordan at different stations. St Luke alone mentions the journeys of St John ; the other Evangelists only speak of the multitudes that went out to him. He came into all the country about the Jordan, preaching the baptism of penance for the remission of sins (St Luke iii. 3).
6. And were baptized by him. They did not receive the Sacrament of Baptism, but a penitential rite to prepare them for the preaching of Christ.
This baptism of penance could not itself take away sin. When the Baptist’s disciples became Christians they were re-baptized.
Cf. And he said : In what then were you baptized ? Who said : In John’s baptism. Then Paul said : John baptized the people with the baptism of penance saying. That they should believe in him who was to come after him, that is to say, in Jesus. Having heard these things they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus (Acts xix. 3, 4, 5).
confessing their sins, — i.e. “ declaring their deeds.” These words do not refer to the Sacrament of Penance, which was not as yet instituted. The Law of Moses prescribed a detailed confession of certain sins, e.g. unjust or rash oaths. Leviticus : Let him do penance for his sin, and offer of the flocks an ewe lamb or a she-goat, and the priest shall pray for him and for his sin (v. 5, 6).
St Luke describes the different classes of people who came to St John the Baptist, and the different advice he gave to each (see iii. 10-15).
7. Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism. They came to listen to his preaching, but the Pharisees, as a class, certainly did not accept the baptism of John. But the Pharisees and the lawyers despised the counsel of God against themselves, being not baptized by him (St Luke vii. 30).
Ye brood of vipers. The word vipers expresses crafty wickedness. Jesus also applied it to them. You serpents, generations of vipers, how will you flee from the judgment of hell ? (xxiii. 33). Perhaps there is an allusion to the devil, the infernal serpent. Cf. You are of your father the devil (St John viii. 44). When the dry stalks are set on fire in the autumn, the vipers in the grass try to escape from the flames (Holtzmann).
who hath shewed you, etc. ? Who has persuaded you that the mere ceremony of baptism, without true repentance, will suffice to assure your salvation? This is the meaning generally given to these words.
Other interpretations are —
(a) The words are employed negatively, — i.e. no one has warned you how to escape God’s judgments. Cf. Ilotv tvill you jlee from the judgment of hell?(b) St John rejoices that the proud, depraved Pharisees and Sadducees are in earnest about their salvation.
The next two verses favour the first explanation ; but whichever meaning we take, the same necessity remains — to flee from the wrath to come.
8. fruit worthy of penance. As proofs of their inward sorrow. The heart of man is the tree, his deeds are the fruit. St Luke gives the plural, “ fruits.” The Baptist goes on to enumerate some of these fruits.
The Rabbis had various “ sayings ” on this subject : —
“ If Israel would only repent one day, the Son of David would come forthwith.”“All the stages are past, and all depends solely on repentance and good works.”
9. We have Abraham for our father. The Jews boasted of being the children of Abraham, without troubling to do the works of Abraham (St John viii. 39). Cf. They answered him : We are the seed of Abraham . . . . Abraham is our father (St John viii. 33 and 39). St John was but confirming the teaching of the prophets.
Cf. Her princes have judged, for bribes, and her priests have taught for hire, and her prophets divined for money : and they leaned upon the Lord, saying: Is not the Lord in the midst of us ? no evil shall come upon us (Micheas iii. 11). Make your ways and your doingsgood: .... if you will execute judgment between a man and his neighbour, if you oppress not the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, . ... I will dwell with you in this place (i.e. the Temple) (Jer. vii. 3-7).
of these stones to raise up children. There is here a play upon the Hebrew words “ banim,” “ children,” and “ abanim,” “ stones.” In Isaias, God is represented as saying : Look unto the rock whence you are hewn . . . . look unto Abraham your father (li. 1, 2). The words these stones would be accompanied by an energetic gesture, as the Baptist pointed to the loose rocks and pebbles on the banks of the Jordan. In the children to Abraham, whom God could raise up, we have a reference to the conversion of the Gentiles. Note that all the metaphors employed are derived from the desert ; vipers, trees, fruit, stones.
10. now the axe is lead. There is need of haste, for the ventura ira (wrath to come) is near at hand, and the unfruitful trees will be cut down.
Cf. Behold, for three years 1 come seeking fruit on this fig-tree, and I find none. Cut it down therefore ; why cumbereth it the ground ? (St Luke xiii. 7). In Palestine trees were valued only for their fruit, and barren trees were speedily removed.
11. I indeed baptize. St John’s baptism was only an external rite, a sign that the recipient was penitent, whereas the baptism of the Messias was a means of sanctification and purification of souls. Hence St John proclaims that the Old Testament prophecies are fulfilled, since the Holy Ghost is now poured out on those who believe in Christ and receive His baptism. Cf. —
Until the spirit be poured upon us from on high (Is. xxxii. 15).I will put a new spirit in their bowels (Ezec. xi. 19).I have poured out my spirit upon all the house of Israel (Ezec. xxxix, 29) .I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh (Joel ii. 28).
Our Lord Himself explains these words of St John the Baptist, and refers them to the descent of the Holy Ghost. John indeed baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost (Acts i. 5).
he that shall come after me. Notice the successive stages in the proclamation of the herald :—
(a) There shall come one mightier than 1.
(b) There hath stood one in the midst of you, whom you know not.
(c) Behold the Lamb of God. This is he of whom 1 said : After me there cometh, etc. (St John i. passim). St John the Baptist was born about six months before our Lord. As no .Tew was allowed to preach before his thirtieth year, Jesus l)egan His Public Life about six months later than St John.
mightier than I. Note the Baptist’s humility : Jesus is the mighty God.
whose shoes I am not worthy to hear. St Luke has : The latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to loose (iii. 16). The Baptist, speaking frequently, would naturally vary his expressions. The thought is the same. “ I am not worthy to perform for the Messias a service which the slave renders to his lord.”
In the East, the slaves removed and carried their masters’ sandals when they entered into a temple or banqueting-hall.
shoes. Better, “sandals.”
in the Holy Ghost. A reference to the work of the Holy Ghost in the soul, which He first purifies, and then enkindles with the love of God and zeal for souls.
Cf. I am come to cast fire on the earth, and what will I but that it be kindled ? (St Luke xii. 49). In Baptism we receive the Holy Ghost, and in Confirmation He comes to the soul and imparts His sevenfold gifts.
and fire. Four different interpretations have been given of these words.
They signify —
(a) Purgatory (Origen, St Hilary, St Jerome).
(b) Trials and persecutions (St Bede).
(c) Hell fire (some modern non-Catholic writers).
(d) The purifying and enkindling of the soul by the Holy Ghost (St John Chrysostom, Zigabenus, a Lapide, etc.).
The third view given has little weight, for nowhere in Scripture is the word “baptism” used to denote hell fire.
The last interpretation is the one most generally accepted, since —
(a) The Holy Ghost descended on the apostles in the form of fiery tongues.(b) St Matthew uses the expression in the Holy Ghost and fire as though these terms were synonymous.(c) The prophets compare the action of the Holy Ghost to a purifying fire. Cf . The Lord shall wash away the blood of J erusalem . ... by the spirit of burning (Is. iv. 4). Behold he cometh .... for he is like a refining fire (Mai. iii. 1, 2). (Abridged from Maas, S.J., Comm. St Matt.)
12. fan. A winnowing shovel made of osiers, by which the threshed corn was tossed up against the wind in order to separate the grain from the husks.
his floor. This cleansing consisted in gathering up the grain, and burning the stalks, husks, etc. The threshing-floor in the East consists of a hardened circular area on which the grain is strewn, and then beaten with flails or trodden out by oxen. The corn is then separated by means of fans, and stored in underground pits or in natural caverns.
The refuse, when burnt, is used as manure. The farmer sets fire to it windward, and as long as there is any chaff to consume, the fire burns.
barn here signifies (1) the Catholic Church, (2) Heaven.
chaff. The wicked are often compared to chaff. Cf. All that do wickedly shall he stubble : and the day that cometh shall set them on fire (Mai. iv. 1). I will scatter them with a fan in the gates of the land (Jer. XV. 7). “ Christ compares the visible Church, which is the world, with an area, a circular threshing-floor, where chaff and grain, good and bad, now lie mingled together, till He who will winnow them shall come. And thus He teaches us faith, patience, constancy, charity, zeal and fear” (Wordsworth, Greek Testament).
Totus tuus ego sum
Et omnia mea tua sunt;
Tecum semper tutus sum:
Ad Jesum per te, Maria.
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