in the next verse. In this sense is, χάριν ̓ΑΝΤΙ τῆς EVEρyeolas. Xen. Cyropæd. apud Steph. tom. iv. p. 349. That xápis, usually grace, is sometimes benefit or service, see Steph. tom. iv. p. 351, 2. xáρıv ποιεῖν vel διδόναι, beneficium conferre. Marsh, note on Michaelis, c. iv. §. viv. vol. i. p. 459. See also Scapula, voc. Xápis. Avri. Many other explanations of this difficult text are given by the commen

tators.

V. 19. the Jews sent] i. e. the Jewish Sanhedrim: they alone could judge a tribe, the high-priest, or a prophet. Sanhedrin, Perek. i. Hence a prophet could not perish out of Jerusalem, Luke xiii. 33. Lightfoot, Har. Ev. Grotius.

V. 19.-Who art thou? They knew his name and parentage: they ask respecting his function. Lightfoot. Rather; they ask, Art thou the Christ? as appears by the preceding part of the chapter. So Nonnus rightly, μǹ Xpiròs épus; Grotius.

V. 20.-and denied not; This pleonasm is a common elegancy of expression in Scripture, and strengthens the affirmation; as 2 Kings xviii. 36. Isa. xxxviii. 1. Ezek. vii. 6. 1 John i. 1, 3. ii. 27. and here ver. 3. Whitby. So Job v. 17. Grotius. Lightfoot, Har. Ev.

V. 21.-Art thou Elias? The Jews had a constant tradition, which they yet cherish, that Elias must first come. See note on Matt. xi. 14. Whitby; also note on Matt. xvi. 14. Grotius. Compare Lightfoot ad loc. et Har. Ev. John denied that he was Elias, such as the Jews expected him-in his own person returned from heaven: but allows that he was the Elias, in the true sense of the prophet Malachi iv. 5. mentioned by Christ, Matt. xi. 14. and by the Angel, Luke i. 17.

The Scriptures speak sometimes according to men's apprehensions; as, that preaching was foolishness, 1 Cor. i. 21. that the counsel of Achitophel was good, 2 Sam. xvii. 14. Thus John to the Jews. Beza. Lightfoot, Har. Ev.

V. 21.-Art thou that prophet?] o poprns. It may very well be "a prophet," as the Eng. margin, Syr. Vulg.; and to this Lightfoot inclines, as the idea of Cyril and Chrysostom, with others, that it refers to Deut. xviii. 15. separate from Christ, or Elias, has no grounds. The Jews, indeed, expect all the prophets to rise again in the last days. Sanhedr. fol. 92. 2. but no particular one, except Elias. Lightfoot ad loc. Har. Ev. It may be Jeremiah ; see note on Matt. xvi. 14. The article is insisted on by the Greek commentators; so 2 Macc. xv. 14. " and there was a rumour amongst them of his coming." Grotius. So Whitby ad Matt. xi. 9, 10.

V. 24.-of the Pharisees.] The greatest part of the Sanhedrim were pharisees, Acts xxiii. As these were the most strict in their traditions, they ask, Why introducest thou a new rite? We understand that a universal baptism may take place on the coming of Christ, from Zech. xiii. 1. but thou deniest thou art either Christ or Elias, or any prophet preceding him. Grotius. Lightfoot. Or, Why usest thou to God's people a rite only employed to cleanse the heathen proselytes, and prepare them for our covenant? Whitby. That infants also, when admitted proselytes, were baptized, see Lightfoot, Har. Ev.

τις

V. 25.-Why baptizest] Note: Ti here is diári, why? for what cause? as Matt. xvii. 10. vi. 28. John'iv. 27. vii. 19. and in other places. Whitby.

V. 26.-baptize with water:] See ver. 33. infra.

I am the messenger foretold by Malachi. By my baptism will be fulfilled the promise of God in Ezek. xxxvi. at ver. 25. by Christ's baptism with the Holy Spirit, that in ver. 26, 27. Whitby.

עבר

V. 28.-in Bethabara, beyond Jordan,] compounded of beth a house or place, and abara a passage or ford; from y transire. It was at the place where John first baptized, x. 40. which was in Jordan, Matt. iii. 6. so that it was at a passage on the river; probably the public one from Jericho to Perea; and might have its name from Josh. iii. 16, 17. the passage of the Israelite army, where the word y twice occurs; or rather from Josh. ii. 7, 23. where the fords are spoken of. Yet the place was on the Perea side of the river, or beyond Jordan: not on this side, as Beza would suppose, rendering éρav "along," and not "beyond." Grotius. For Beza had once rendered Tepav by secùs, (see Lightfoot;) but in his best edition, A.D. 1582, he silently drops that opinion, and has not that rendering.

Lightfoot, Har. Ev. on the contrary, holds, that the passage of Joshua's army must be indeterminate, being a space of many miles (see his note on Luke iii. 21.); that Bethabara was so near Cana in Galilee as to admit of his going thither in far less than three days. The first night, ver. 39. of this chapter, he probably reached Capernaum. That it was plainly some distance beyond Jordan, by his return, Luke xviii. 31, 35. from his second going there, x. 40. and his journeys, Mark x. 1. That x. 40. says only that he went to where John first baptized beyond Jordan, in distinction from Ænon and Salim. And on the whole; that during the forty days of Christ's temptation, John, having long preached on the banks of Jordan, pursued his course northward by the east of the sea of Galilee to Bethabara, which he places in the region of Scythopolis, opposite and not

far from the passage over Jordan from Galilee, at the north end of the lake.

Lightfoot places Capernaum on the south end of the lake. If it be situated, as usual with other geographers, on the north end of it, Christ's going there from Bethabara, ver. 39. and his going forth into Galilee, ver. 43. are, on Lightfoot's hypothesis, very consistent. The chief difficulty is the distance in this case of Bethabara from Jerusalem, and the long journey of the Priests and Levites, ver. 19. Of Capernaum, see note on Matt. xi. 24. supra.

V. 28.-Bethabara,] The Vulg. Syr. and almost all the MSS. and Vers. read Bethania. But Chrysostom, Hom. 16. in Joh. i. Epiphan. Hæres. 51. p. 435. and especially Origen in Joh. fully establish the present reading. So Theophylact and Suidas. See Mill. edit. Küster, ad loc. et Prol. 1039. Whitby Ex. Millii. Calmet. Beza conjectures the word might have been Batanea, the country east of the lake of Galilee, mentioned by Josephus. Beza.

Note: Barabapà, LXX, Josh. xviii. 22. properly, Bai apabà-and Baignoà, LXX, Jud. vii. 24. properly, as in the Hebr. Banpà, are different places. Grotius. Bethania was probably first added in the margin, and then taken generally into the text. Mill ubi supra.

V. 29.-The next day] n ravρiov not the morrow, in the Hebrew sense of any future time, but properly the next day. John bore witness of Christ before his baptism, as mentioned by the three other Evangelists, Matt. iii. 11. Mark i. 7. Luke iii. 16. Christ, after his baptism, withdrew into the wilderness; and whilst there, the Priests and Levites came to John to know if he were the Messiah or not. This This gave occasion to a second testimony, ver. 15. and ver. 19, &c. to ver. 28. The very day after the Priests left the Bap

tist, our Lord returned from the desert to Jordan, as in the text, ver. 29. There John sees him, and testifies again of him at large. The next day after, ver. 35. is the beginning of a new account; again, ver. 43. is the second day of this new account; and then is added, ii. 1. "on the third day." Hammond.

V. 29. the Lamb of God,] Compare 1 Pet. i. 18, 19. alluding either to the paschal lamb (Grotius), or rather to the lamb of the daily sacrifice in the Temple for the sins of the people, Num. xxviii. 3. Christ was this piacular victim, Rev. v. 9. Eph. i. 7. Col. i. 14. (Whitby.) The stationary men ap pointed to represent the people always laid their hands on the head of the lamb thus offered morning and evening; as Lev. i. 4. iii. 2. iv. 4. as a token of transferring the sins of the people on the victim. Taanith. c. iv. hal. 2. Lightfoot. The half-shekel paid yearly by the Jews, εἰς λύτρον τῆς ψυχῆς, Exod. xxx. 12, 14, 16. was expended in providing these lambs for this purpose. (Whitby.) Thus Christ is said himself to have borne our sins, 1 Pet. ii. 24. He was made No, a sacrifice for sin for us, 2 Cor. v. 21. The Baptist constantly preached repentance to lead to remission of sins. On seeing our Lord, "Behold (saith he) the Lamb of God!" the sacrifice who will bear your sins, and give this remission. Lightfoot ad loc. et Har. Ev. So Whitby. Others refer this to the paschal lamb, by the sprinkling of whose blood they were delivered from the Egyptian destruction, Exod. xii. 11-17. Whitby, note on 1 Pet. i. 19. Grotius would narrow this text to reformation of life, from 1 Pet. i. 18. and 1 John i. 7.

V. 33. And I knew him not:] I knew not that the Messiah was in the world till he came to be baptized, when, knowing him by the Spirit, I forbade