--- title: "Matthew 3 - Study King James Bible with lightfoots commentary on the gospels" description: "Read Matthew 3 with lightfoots commentary on the gospels commentary. 1 In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judaea, 2 And saying, Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. 3 For this is" image: "/_app/immutable/assets/missing.C7wGMEZ6.jpg" url: "https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/lightfoots-commentary-on-the-gospels/matthew/3" --- [ Read](/kjv/matthew/3)[ Commentary](/study/matthew/3)[ Interlinear](/interlinear/matthew/3) Audio 1 In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judaea, 2 And saying, Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. 3 For this is he that was spoken of by the prophet Esaias, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. 4 And the same John had his raiment of camel’s hair, and a leathern girdle about his loins; and his meat was locusts and wild honey. 5 Then went out to him Jerusalem, and all Judaea, and all the region round about Jordan, 6 And were baptized of him in Jordan, confessing their sins. 7 ¶ But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come? 8 Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance: 9 And think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to *our* father: for I say unto you, that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham. 10 And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees: therefore every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. 11 I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and *with* fire: 12 Whose fan *is* in his hand, and he will throughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the garner; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire. 13 ¶ Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John, to be baptized of him. 14 But John forbad him, saying, I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me? 15 And Jesus answering said unto him, Suffer *it to be so* now: for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness. Then he suffered him. 16 And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him: 17 And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. [Matthew 2](/study/matthew/2) [Matthew 4](/study/matthew/4) ## Commentary To verse 1 In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judaea, [John The Baptist preaching in the wilderness of Judea.] That John was born in Hebron, one may not unfitly conjecture by comparing [Luke 1:39](/kjv/luke/1/39) with [Joshua 21:11](/kjv/joshua/21/11); and that he was born about the feast of the Passover, namely, half a year before the nativity of our Saviour, [Luke 1:36](/kjv/luke/1/36). So the conceptions and births of the Baptist and our Saviour ennobled the four famous *tekuphas* *[revolutions]* of the year: one being conceived at the summer solstice, the other at the winter; one born at the vernal equinox, the other at the autumnal. "John lived in the deserts, until he made himself known unto Israel," [Luke 1:80](/kjv/luke/1/80). That is, if the pope’s school may be interpreter, he led the life of a hermit. But, I. Be ashamed, O papist, to be so ignorant of the sense of the word *wilderness*; or *desert*; which in the common dialect sounds all one as if it had been said, "He lived in the country, not in the city; his education was more coarse and plain in the country, without the breeding of the university, or court at Jerusalem." *An oblation for thanksgiving consists of five Jerusalem seahs, which were in value six seahs of the wilderness*; that is, six country seahs. "A Jerusalem seah exceeds a seah of the wilderness by a sixth part." "*The trees of the wilderness* are those which are common, and not appropriate to one master": that is, trees in groves and common meadows. So [2 Corinthians 11:26](/kjv/2-corinthians/11/26); "in perils in the city, and in perils in *the country.*" II. The wildernesses of the land of Canaan were not without towns and cities; nor was he presently to be called an *Eremite* who dwelt in the wilderness. The hill-country of Judea, John’s native soil, is called by the Talmudists, *The royal mountain*; or *hill*; and by the Psalmist, *The desert hill-country*; [Psalms 75:6](/kjv/psalms/75/6); and yet "in the royal mountain were a myriad of cities." III. David passed much of his youth in the wilderness, [1 Samuel 17:28](/kjv/1-samuel/17/28); but yet, who will call him an eremite? In the like sense I conceive John living in the deserts, not only spending his time in leisure and contemplation, but employing himself in some work, or studies. For when I read, that the youth of our Saviour was taken up in the carpenter’s trade, I scarcely believe his forerunner employed his youth in no calling at all. Beginning now the thirtieth year of his age, when, according to the custom of the priests, he ought to have come to the chief Sanhedrim to undergo their examination, and to be entered into the priesthood by them, "the word of God coming unto him," [Luke 3:2](/kjv/luke/3/2); as it had done before to the prophets, he is diverted to another ministry. ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#website","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com","name":"Real Bible Believers","description":"RBB","publisher":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#/schema/person/e966585dde703268e7f6ae890ea98509"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/search?q={search_term_string}","query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/lightfoots-commentary-on-the-gospels/matthew/3#primaryimage","inLanguage":"en-US","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/_app/immutable/assets/missing.C7wGMEZ6.jpg","contentUrl":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/_app/immutable/assets/missing.C7wGMEZ6.jpg","width":672,"height":448,"caption":"Real Bible Believers"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/lightfoots-commentary-on-the-gospels/matthew/3#webpage","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/lightfoots-commentary-on-the-gospels/matthew/3","name":"Matthew 3 - Study King James Bible with lightfoots commentary on the gospels","isPartOf":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/lightfoots-commentary-on-the-gospels/matthew/3#primaryimage"},"author":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#/schema/person/e966585dde703268e7f6ae890ea98509"},"description":"Read Matthew 3 with lightfoots commentary on the gospels commentary. 1 In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judaea, 2 And saying, Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. 3 For this is","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/lightfoots-commentary-on-the-gospels/matthew/3#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/lightfoots-commentary-on-the-gospels/matthew/3"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/lightfoots-commentary-on-the-gospels/matthew/3#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/","name":"Home"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study","name":"Study Bible"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/lightfoots-commentary-on-the-gospels","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/lightfoots-commentary-on-the-gospels","name":"lightfoots commentary on the gospels"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":4,"item":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/lightfoots-commentary-on-the-gospels/matthew","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/lightfoots-commentary-on-the-gospels/matthew","name":"Matthew"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":5,"item":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/lightfoots-commentary-on-the-gospels/matthew/3","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/lightfoots-commentary-on-the-gospels/matthew/3","name":"3"}}]},{"@type":["Person","Organization"],"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#/schema/person/e966585dde703268e7f6ae890ea98509","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#personlogo","inLanguage":"en-US","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/android-chrome-512x512.png","contentUrl":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/android-chrome-512x512.png","width":512,"height":512},"logo":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#personlogo"},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/RBiblebeliever","https://www.facebook.com/RBibleBelievers"]}]} ```