[Ministry of John the Baptist, Matt. 3:1-12 =Mark 1:1-8 =Luke 3:1-18. Major comment: Matthew and Luke; see The Ministry of Our Lord] That is, when Jesus “dwelt in a city called Nazareth” (Matt. 2:23). Jesus commenced His public ministry when He “began to be about thirty years of age” (see on Luke 3:23). This was in the autumn of A.D. 27 (DA 233; see pp. 242-247; see on Luke 3:1). John was about six months older than Jesus (see on Luke 1:39, 57), and it is reasonable to think that his ministry began about six months prior to that of Christ. Thus John may have begun in the spring of the same year, perhaps about the Passover season. Great throngs would be approaching or leaving Jerusalem in the vicinity of the very spot where John was preaching (see p. 295, “Wilderness of Judea;” see on Luke 3:1).

 The apt illustrations John used in his preaching imply that the time of the (spring) harvest was not far away (see on Matt. 3:7, 12).

 “In those days” the Jews living in Palestine, particularly in Judea, were on the verge of revolution. Since the assignment of Roman procurators to govern Judea in A.D. 6, upon the banishment of Archelaus by Augustus (see on ch. 2:22), the presence of Roman officers and soldiers, the exercise of Roman authority, and the resulting influx of heathen customs had resulted in one uprising after another. Thousands of the bravest men of Israel had paid for their patriotism with their blood. Conditions were such that the people longed for a strong leader to deliver them from the cruel bondage of Rome. See p. 54.

 This expression generally refers to the rugged, barren hills between the Dead Sea and the crest of the central mountain range of Palestine, a region of little rainfall and few inhabitants (see Early Ministry and Baptism to First Passover). John had spent much of his time as a youth and young man in the wilderness (Luke 1:80). His parents had probably lived in or near Hebron, not far from the western borders of this “wilderness.”

 In NT times the term wilderness was used to refer to both the rugged hills west of the Dead Sea and the lower part of the Jordan valley. According to Luke 3:3, John went from place to place, up and down the Jordan valley. Between Jericho and the Dead Sea the wilderness of Judea met that of the Jordan. John’s ministry apparently began in this vicinity.

 When arrested by Herod Antipas, John must have been in Herod’s territory— probably Peraea—and, according to Josephus, was imprisoned at Machaerus, on the eastern side of the Dead Sea (Antiquities xviii. 5. 2). In view of the fact that baptism was so important a feature of his evangelistic program, John seems never to have been far from a place where “much water” (John 3:23) was available. This probably explains, in part at least, why he carried on most of his work in “the region round about Jordan” (Matt. 3:5; cf. DA 220). At the time of Jesus’ baptism John was preaching and baptizing at Bethabara (Bethany Beyond Jordan), not far from where Israel had crossed the Jordan (DA 132; see on John 1:28; Joshua 2:1; 3:1, 16). Later he carried on his work at “Aenon near to Salim” (John 3:23). See Early Ministry and Baptism to First Passover; Palestine During the Ministry of Jesus.

 For the meaning of the name John see on Luke 1:13; and for his youth and early training see on Luke 1:80. Jesus said of John that “among those that are born of women there is not a greater prophet” (Luke 7:28). He was “more than a prophet” (see on Matt. 11:9). John’s influence with the people eventually became so great that Herod Antipas at first hesitated to harm him (Matt. 14:1, 5; Mark 11:32), and the Jewish leaders did not dare speak openly against him (Matt. 21:26; Luke 20:6). Josephus gives a vivid account of John the Baptist that closely parallels that of the Gospels (Antiquities xviii. 5. 2).