With the wicked his grave was assigned,
And with the rich in his martyr death;
Although he had done no violence,

And there was no deceit in his mouth. (Is. liii. 3, 5, 8-9.)

It seems also that Simeon had in mind the test stone of the first Isaiah."

Thus a strain of sorrow mingles with the thanksgiving of the departing saint who represents so well the departing dispensation of the old covenant. It is said that Anna also praised God and spoke of the child Jesus to all who were looking for redemption in Jerusalem."

THE HERALD OF THE MESSIAH.

§ 13. John the Baptist heralded the advent of God and his kingdom. He taught that Jesus was mightier than himself; that he would baptize with the Holy Spirit and with fire, and would wield the fan of judgment on his threshing floor. Jesus was the lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world.

Some thirty years after the events underlying these songs, John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness of Judea declaring that the kingdom of God was at hand, that he was the herald of the Messiah, and instituting the baptism of repentance unto the remission of sins. The four evangelists agree in giving an account of this introductory ministry of the Baptist. It belongs to the earliest Christian tradition and the earliest Gospels. Their reports are essentially the same as to the main features, but each of them has material not contained in the others. The new institution of the baptism of repentance is common to them all. The preacher called. the people to repentance as the true preparation for

1 Is. xxviii. 16.

2 Luke ii. 38.

their God; he baptized them with water as a public solemn testimony and seal of this repentance, and he set before them the remission of sins as the aim of the repentance and the baptism. John the Baptist conceives of the advent as an advent in judgment, for which repentance and remission are the necessary preparations. Hence it is that the Baptist appears as the herald of the divine advent predicted in Malachi and in the great prophet of the exile.

Behold I send my messenger before thy face, who shall prepare thy way. The voice of one crying in the wilderness, make ye ready the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be brought low; and the crooked shall become straight, and the rough ways smooth and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.1

These translations differ from the original text in several important particulars, but not so as in any way to dull the points of the citations. The advent is the advent of Yahweh; it is an advent in the glory of redemption and of judgment. It is an advent of judgment for the wicked, and of redemption for the righteous people. God is to lead them into the holy land, and before him. all nature is transformed. This advent is heralded by a

1 These passages are a mosaic from the three evangelists, Matth. iii. 3; Lk. i. 2, 3; Lk. iii. 4, 5; John i. 23. The first sentence is given only by Mark, who cites it from Isaiah. The evangelist, however, mistakes his reference, for it is from Malachi iii. 1. The citation is free, for it differs from the LXX. as well as the Hebrew. It was made probably from an oral Aramaic targum. The second sentence is given by the three synoptists. It is nearer to the LXX. than the Hebrew. John's Gospel condenses this sentence. The last sentence is given only by Luke. It also is closer to the LXX. than to the Hebrew. The two extracts were probably from an Aramaic original. The movement of the Hebrew poetry of the original was destroyed by these translations, and the R. V. is incorrect in its arrangement of the lines which do not correspond with the rhythm of Isaiah xl. 3-5. See Briggs' Messianic Prophecy, PP 375, 473.

2 See Toy, Quotations in the New Testament, p. 16.

special messenger, whose office is to prepare the way, to proclaim the approach of the great king. John the Baptist was this herald, and it is a divine advent that he has in view, an advent chiefly in judgment, but a judgment that implies redemption to the people of God.

In accordance with this conception of his mission, the few discourses of the Baptist that have been preserved in the three synoptic evangelists are words of warning. They assume the poetic form, as was usual with the prophets of the Old Testament:

Ye offspring of vipers, who warned you

To flee from the wrath to come?

Bring forth therefore fruits worthy of repentance;
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.

And even now is the axe laid unto the root of the trees:
Every tree therefore that bringeth not forth good fruit
Is hewn down, and cast into the fire.'

It

This passage of Matthew and Luke had a common source in the original Aramaic Gospel of Matthew. has all the features of a trimeter poem. Matthew applies it to the Pharisees and Sadducees, to whom, indeed, it seems most appropriate. But Luke gives it a more general reference to the multitudes. This is all the more striking in view of his specification of publicans and soldiers in the warnings of the Baptist preserved by him alone. It seems most probable that the original source contained only the sayings of the

1 Matth. iii. 7-10 is identical with Luke iii. 7-9 with the exception of каρлòν ἄξιον for καρποὺς ἀξίους and δόξητε for ἄρξησθε ver. 8, and that Luke inserts kai in ver. 9. Matthew's text is preferable.

Baptist without the explanatory remarks. The additional sentences given by Luke are:

He that hath two coats,

Let him impart to him that hath none;
And he that hath food,

Let him do likewise. (Luke iii. 11.)

To the publicans he said:

Extort no more than that which is appointed you.

To the soldiers he said:

(Luke iii. 13.)

Extort from no man by violence, neither accuse any one wrongfully;

And be content with your wages. (Luke iii. 14.)

These sayings were probably derived from another source than the Aramaic Matthew. Luke represents in his introduction that he used many sources.' These are specimens given by the Baptist of the fruits of repentance such as were required in preparation for the advent of God in judgment. He sees that the axe is already lying at the root of the dead trees, and is about to cut them down. The fire is ready to consume them. The true children of Abraham, the heirs of the promises of God, will abide; God will provide for that. Even the stones of the wilderness are more likely to produce living children of Abraham than such fruitless trees and venomous serpents as the Pharisees and their disciples. The day of wrath, the Day of Yahweh, predicted by the prophets of the Old Testament, is at hand; and those who do not prepare themselves for it by true repentance have every reason to dread it, and flee away from it.

Matthew, in accordance with his custom, adds another discourse of the Baptist to the previous one with

1 Luke i. 1-4.

2 Matt. iii. 11, 12.

3

out comment or mark of separation. Luke' gives it on another occasion in response to the people, who inquired whether John was the Messiah. Mark' gives it in an abridged form, as the theme of his preaching. John also gives it in a shortened form, in response to an inquiry of the Pharisees whether he was Elijah, the Messiah, or the expected prophet. A careful study of these four parallel passages makes it probable that the original Aramaic discourse would be as follows:

I indeed baptize you with water;

But he that is mightier than I cometh after me,
Whose shoes I am urworthy to untie :

He will baptize you with fire.

Whose fan is in his hand,

Thoroughly to cleanse his threshing-floor;
And to gather the wheat into his garner;

But the chaff he will burn up with unquenchable fire.

In this discourse the Baptist looks again at the judg ment of fire. The chaff will be consumed here, as the

1 Luke iii. 16, 17.

2 Mark i. 7, 8.

3 John i. 26, 27.

The first four lines are common to the four evangelists. Disregarding the differences in order of words in the sentences, Matthew alone gives "unto repentance." Matthew and John use the preposition "in" before "water." Mark alone uses the aorist "baptized." Luke's text is to be preferred in the first line. In the second line, Matthew and John use the participle "coming," Mark and Luke the present "cometh." All use "after me" but Luke. In the third line, the text of Luke is best. John uses a final clause for the infinitive of Mark and Luke. Mark inserts "stoop down," and Matthew substitutes "to bear." "Latchet" is given by all but Matthew; it is an amplification for greater distinctness. John uses "worthy" for "sufficient" of the three others. Mark and John do not give "and with fire" of Matthew and Luke. "Fire" is best suited to the context. "Holy Spirit" was probably an explanation of the fire, in two of the evangelists substituted for it, in the other two inserted before it. This was due to reflection upon these words in connection with the descent of the Spirit on the day of Pentecost. The last four lines are given by Matthew and Luke. The only differences are in the use of infinitives of Luke for futures of Matthew. We prefer to follow Luke. This difference, as well as differences in order of words, is due to a different translation of the Aramaic original.