A Voice in the Wilderness and a Name from Heaven

Tiberius became emperor in AD 14, so his fifteenth year falls about AD 28–29. A tetrarch was literally the ruler of a fourth part, by then any minor ruler below a king. Critics once said the only known Lysanias died decades earlier, until an inscription at Abila named a Lysanias as tetrarch in Tiberius’ time.

Annas was high priest from AD 6 to 15 and was deposed by Rome, but five of his sons and his son-in-law Caiaphas held the office after him; the Greek says “high priest”, singular, with two names attached. “The word of God came unto” is the formula that opens prophetic books such as Jeremiah (1:1–2).

“The country about Jordan” is the phrase the Greek Old Testament uses for the plain of Jordan that Lot chose for himself (Genesis 13:10–11). Luke says nothing about John’s camel hair or locusts; he describes the message, not the man’s appearance.

“Esaias” is the Greek form of Isaiah, and the “book” is a scroll. In the Hebrew of Isaiah 40:3 the words run “in the wilderness prepare ye the way”, the road being in the wilderness. The Greek, followed here, puts the voice in the wilderness, which is exactly where John is.

“Brought low” is the verb behind Mary’s “exalted them of low degree” (1:52), so the levelling of the land picks up the levelling of people. Kings had roads cleared and smoothed before a royal visit; Isaiah 62:10 says, “cast up the highway; gather out the stones.”

Luke’s quotation leaves out Isaiah 40:5’s “the glory of the LORD shall be revealed” and moves straight to “all flesh shall see”. The word “salvation” here returns at the very end of Acts, when Paul says “the salvation of God is sent unto the Gentiles” (Acts 28:28).

In Matthew this insult is aimed at Pharisees and Sadducees; in Luke it is thrown at the whole crowd. The picture may be of snakes fleeing a field fire at harvest time, which suits “flee from the wrath to come”. Paul met a viper driven out by the heat of a fire on Malta (Acts 28:3).

In Hebrew and Aramaic, “children” (banim) and “stones” (abanim) sound nearly alike, and many think John is playing on the words. The river bank was full of stones. “Begin not to say” means do not even start that line of thought.

The axe is already lying at the root, laid there ready for use. Isaiah 10:33–34 pictures the LORD cutting down the thickets of the forest with iron. The point of the image is timing: not a warning about someday, but a tool already in place.

“What shall we do?” is asked three times in this section (verses 10, 12, 14). Luke has the same question put by the crowd at Pentecost (Acts 2:37), and a lawyer and a ruler ask a version of it later in the gospel (10:25, 18:18).

The coat is the chiton, the tunic worn next to the skin; owning two meant having a spare. “Meat” in 1611 meant any food. The standard is simple and hard: whoever has a surplus shares it with whoever has nothing.

Publicans were collectors of tolls and customs, working for those who had bought the right to collect them from the authorities. Luke mentions them more than any other gospel, including Levi (5:27) and Zacchaeus (19:2). They call John “Master”, teacher, and come to be baptised.

“Exact” means collect or levy. A collector’s profit came from charging more than the fixed rate. John does not tell them to quit; he tells them to charge what is owed and nothing more, which in their trade would have been conspicuous.

“Do violence” is literally to shake someone down, extortion by intimidation. “Accuse falsely” is the verb behind “sycophant”, first used of informers who brought false charges for profit; Zacchaeus uses it when he promises fourfold repayment (19:8). “Wages” were a soldier’s ration money.

The Greek pictures everyone privately turning the question over. The movement John started outlasted him: in Acts 19:1–7 Paul meets disciples at Ephesus who knew only John’s baptism, years later and hundreds of miles away.

Untying sandals was a slave’s job. A later rabbinic saying held that a disciple should do for his teacher every task a slave does except untie his sandal; John puts himself lower than that. The “latchet” is the leather thong.

The “fan” is a winnowing fork used to toss threshed grain into the wind; the heavy wheat falls back and the husks blow aside. “Throughly purge his floor” means clear the threshing floor completely. “Garner” is a granary. “Unquenchable” fire recalls the last verse of Isaiah (66:24).

“Preached ... unto the people” is the verb for proclaiming good news, the root of “gospel”. Luke calls John’s preaching of axes, fire and vipers good news, because it announces the one who is coming.

Herodias was a granddaughter of Herod the Great. She had married one uncle and then left him for his half-brother Antipas, who divorced his Nabatean wife to have her. Leviticus 18:16 forbids taking a brother’s wife. Josephus calls her first husband Herod; he is not the tetrarch Philip of verse 1.

Josephus says Antipas held John at Machaerus, a fortress east of the Dead Sea, and killed him because he feared John’s influence over the crowds might lead to revolt. Luke presents it as the last and worst item in Herod’s record: “added yet this above all”.

Only Luke says Jesus was praying. He shows Jesus praying at each turning point: before choosing the twelve (6:12), before Peter’s confession (9:18), on the mountain of the transfiguration (9:28–29) and on the Mount of Olives (22:41). Heaven opens while he prays.

“Thou art my Son” comes from Psalm 2:7, the coronation psalm, and “in thee I am well pleased” echoes Isaiah 42:1, where God delights in his chosen servant. One ancient manuscript, Codex Bezae, has the voice quote Psalm 2:7 in full: “this day have I begotten thee.”

At thirty Joseph stood before Pharaoh (Genesis 41:46), David began to reign (2 Samuel 5:4), and Levites entered their service (Numbers 4:3). “Began” means began his work. Matthew names Joseph’s father as Jacob; Luke names Heli. Luke’s list climbs upward from son to father, the reverse of Matthew’s.

Matthat is a short form of Mattathias, “gift of the LORD”, a name made popular by the priest Mattathias who began the Maccabean revolt. Levi is a tribal name used as a personal one, like the tax collector in 5:27. Melchi means “my king”. None of these five men is known outside this list.

Two of these ancestors share names with prophets: Amos, and Naum, the Greek form of Nahum, which means comfort. Nagge represents a Hebrew name meaning brightness. The line in these generations passes through families remembered by name only.

Semei is Shimei, a common name in the Old Testament, borne among others by the Benjamite who cursed David as he fled Jerusalem (2 Samuel 16:5). Juda is Judah, the patriarch’s name reused. A second Joseph appears in the line, and a third comes in verse 30.

Here Luke’s list touches Matthew’s: Zorobabel is Zerubbabel, who led exiles home from Babylon and laid the foundation of the second temple (Ezra 3:8), and Salathiel is Shealtiel. Matthew makes Shealtiel the son of King Jechonias; Luke makes him son of Neri. Some suggest Rhesa is the Aramaic word for prince, a title mistaken for a name.

Er is also the name of Judah’s firstborn, whom the LORD slew (Genesis 38:7). Elmodam may be related to Almodad, a descendant of Shem in Genesis 10:26. These are generations between David and the exile for whom the Old Testament records nothing at all.

Where the King James has “Jose”, many Greek manuscripts read “Jesus”, the Greek form of Joshua, so an ancestor of Jesus bore the same name. Eliezer was the name of Abraham’s steward (Genesis 15:2) and of one of Moses’ sons (Exodus 18:4).

Three of Jacob’s sons stand in a row here: Simeon, Judah, Joseph. Eliakim was also the name of Hezekiah’s palace steward, to whom Isaiah said God would give “the key of the house of David” (Isaiah 22:22). Jonan is a form of Johanan.

Nathan is not the prophet but David’s son by Bathsheba, born in Jerusalem (2 Samuel 5:14, 1 Chronicles 3:5). Matthew traces the line through Solomon and the kings; Luke goes through a son who never reigned. Zechariah 12:12 mentions “the family of the house of Nathan” among David’s house.

These five names come almost straight from the close of Ruth (4:18–22). Booz is Boaz, Ruth’s husband. Naasson is Nahshon, prince of Judah in the wilderness (Numbers 1:7), whose sister Elisheba married Aaron (Exodus 6:23), the name Elisabeth bears in chapter 1.

Phares is Perez, born to Judah and Tamar, whose name means breach because he broke out first at birth (Genesis 38:29). Many manuscripts read two names, Admin and Arni, where the King James has Aram, one of the textual tangles of this list. Judah is the tribe of kings (Genesis 49:10).

Thara is Terah, who, Joshua says, “served other gods” beyond the Euphrates (Joshua 24:2). The line runs straight past him. Nachor is Nahor, Abraham’s grandfather (Genesis 11:24), not the brother of Abraham who bore the same name.

Phalec is Peleg, “for in his days was the earth divided” (Genesis 10:25). Heber is Eber, whose name may lie behind the word Hebrew. Saruch is Serug, Ragau is Reu and Sala is Shelah, all from the list of Shem’s descendants in Genesis 11.

This Cainan, between Arphaxad and Sala, is not in the Hebrew text of Genesis 11 but appears in the Greek translation (Genesis 11:12–13), which Luke follows. Sem is Shem and Noe is Noah. Lamech named Noah hoping he would bring comfort from the toil of the ground (Genesis 5:29).

Enoch “walked with God: and he was not; for God took him” (Genesis 5:24), and Jude 14 calls him “the seventh from Adam”. Mathusala is Methuselah, the longest-lived man in Scripture at 969 years. Maleleel is Mahalaleel, “praise of God”. A second Cainan closes the verse.

Enos is Enosh, in whose days “began men to call upon the name of the LORD” (Genesis 4:26). Seth was given in place of murdered Abel (4:25). Counting upward, Luke’s list holds about seventy-seven names depending on the manuscript, and only the last is not a man.