The verb metanoew is either compounded of meta, after, and noein to understand, which signifies that, after hearing such preaching, the sinner is led to understand, that the way he has walked in was the way of misery, death, and hell. Or the word may be derived from meta after, and anoia, madness, which intimates that the whole life of a sinner is no other than a continued course of madness and folly: and if to live in a constant
opposition to all the dictates of true wisdom; to wage war with his own best interests in time and eternity; to provoke and insult the living God;
and, by habitual sin, to prepare himself only for a state of misery, be evidences of insanity, every sinner exhibits them plentifully. It was from this notion of the word, that the Latins termed repentance resipiscentia, a growing wise again, from re and sapere; or, according to Tertullian,
Resipiscentia, quasi receptio mentis ad se, restoring the mind to itself:
Contra Marcion, lib. ii. Repentance, then, implies that a measure of Divine wisdom is communicated to the sinner, and that he thereby becomes wise to salvation. That his mind, purposes, opinions, and inclinations, are changed; and that, in consequence, there is a total change in his conduct. It need scarcely be remarked, that, in this state, a man feels deep anguish of soul, because he has sinned against God, unfitted himself for heaven, and exposed his soul to hell. Hence, a true penitent has that sorrow, whereby he forsakes sin, not only because it has been ruinous to his own soul, but because it has been offensive to God.
The kingdom of heaven is at hand— Referring to the prophecy of Daniel,
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Daniel 7:13,14, where the reign of Christ among men is expressly foretold. This phrase, and the kingdom of God, mean the same thing, viz.
the dispensation of infinite mercy, and manifestation of eternal truth, by Christ Jesus, producing the true knowledge of God, accompanied with that worship which is pure and holy, worthy of that God who is its institutor and its object. But why is this called a kingdom? Because it has its laws, all the moral precepts of the Gospel: its subjects, all who believe in Christ
Jesus: and its king, the Sovereign of heaven and earth. N. B. Jesus Christ never saved a soul which he did not govern; nor is this Christ precious or estimable to any man who does not feel a spirit of subjection to the Divine will.
But why is it called the kingdom of HEAVEN? Because God designed that his kingdom of grace here should resemble the kingdom of glory above.
And hence our Lord teaches us to pray, Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven. The kingdom of heaven is not meat and drink, says St. Paul,
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Romans 14:17; does not consist in the gratification of sensual passions, or worldly ambition; but is righteousness, peace, and joy, in the Holy Ghost. Now what can there be more than this in glory? Righteousness, without mixture of sin; peace, without strife or contention; joy, in the Holy Ghost, spiritual joy, without mixture of misery! And all this, it is possible, by the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, to enjoy here below. How then does heaven itself differ from this state? Answer. It makes the righteousness eternal, the peace eternal, and the joy eternal. This is the heaven of heavens! The phrase, kingdom of heaven, µymç twklm malcuth shamayim, is frequently used by the rabbinical writers, and always means, the purity of the Divine worship, and the blessedness which a righteous man feels when employed in it.
It is farther added, This kingdom is at hand. The dispensation of the glorious Gospel was now about to be fully opened, and the Jews were to have the first offers of salvation. This kingdom is also at hand to us; and wherever Christ crucified is preached, there is salvation to be found. JESUS
is proclaimed to thee, O man! as infinitely able and willing to save. Believe in his name-cast thy soul upon his atonement, and enter into rest!
Verse 3. The voice of one crying in the wilderness— Or, A voice of a crier in the wilderness. This is quoted from <234003>
Isaiah 40:3, which clearly proves that John the Baptist was the person of whom the prophet spoke.
The idea is taken from the practice of eastern monarchs, who, whenever they entered upon an expedition, or took a journey through a desert country, sent harbingers before them, to prepare all things for their
passage; and pioneers to open the passes, to level the ways, and to remove all impediments. The officers appointed to superintend such preparations were called by the Latins, stratores.
Diodorus’s account of the march of Semiramis into Media and Persia, will give us a clear notion of the preparation of the way for a royal expedition.
“In her march to Ecbatane, she came to the Zarcean mountain, which, extending many furlongs, and being full of craggy precipices and deep hollows, could not be passed without making a great compass about. Being therefore desirous of leaving an everlasting memorial of herself, as well as shortening the way, she ordered the precipices to be digged down, and the hollows to be filled up; and, at a great expense, she made a shorter and more expeditious road, which, to this day, is called from her, The road of Semiramis. Afterwards she went into Persia, and all the other countries of Asia, subject to her dominion; and, wherever she went, she ordered the mountains and precipices to be leveled, raised causeways in the plain country, and, at a great expense, made the ways passable.” Diod. Sic. lib.
ii. and Bp. Lowth.
The Jewish Church was that desert country, to which John was sent, to announce the coming of the Messiah. It was destitute at that time of all religious cultivation, and of the spirit and practice of piety; and John was sent to prepare the way of the Lord, by preaching the doctrine of
repentance. The desert is therefore to be considered as affording a proper emblem of the rude state of the Jewish Church, which is the true
wilderness meant by the prophet, and in which John was to prepare the way of the promised Messiah. The awful importance of the matter, and the vehemence of the manner of the Baptist’s preaching, probably acquired him the character of the crier, bown.
For the meaning of the word JOHN, see the note on <410104>
Mark 1:4.
Verse 4. His raiment of camel’s hair— A sort of coarse or rough covering, which, it appears, was common to the prophets, <381304>
Zechariah 13:4. In such a garment we find Elijah clothed, <120108>
2 Kings 1:8. And as John had been designed under the name of this prophet, <390405>
Malachi 4:5, whose spirit and qualifications he was to possess, <420117>
Luke 1:17, he took the same habit and lived in the same state of self-denial.
His meat was locusts— akridev. akriv may either signify the insect called the locust, which still makes a part of the food in the land of Judea;
or the top of a plant. Many eminent commentators are of the latter
opinion; but the first is the most likely. The Saxon translator has [AS]
grasshoppers.
Wild honey.— Such as he got in the rocks and hollows of trees, and which abounded in Judea: see <091426>
1 Samuel 14:26. It is most likely that the dried locusts, which are an article of food in Asiatic countries to the present day, were fried in the honey, or compounded in some manner with it. The Gospel according to the Hebrews, as quoted by Epiphanius, seems to have taken a similar view of the subject, as it adds here to the text, ou h geusiv hn tou manna, wv egkriv en elaiw. And its taste was like manna, as a sweet cake baked in oil.
Verse 5. Jordan— Many of the best MSS. and versions, with <410105>
Mark 1:5, add potamw, the river Jordan; but the definitive article, with which the word is generally accompanied, both in the Hebrew and the Greek, is, sufficient; and our article the, which should ever be used in the translation, expresses the force of the other.