In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judaea,
Ver. 1. In those days came John the Baptist] Whom Chrysologus fitly calleth fibulam legis et gratiae, the bond or buckle of both Testaments. He standeth as that angel, with one foot on the sea (the law), and with the other foot on the land (the gospel), Revelation 10:1 .
Preaching in the wilderness of Judea] A place wherein we find six cities with their villages, Joshua 15:62, but called a wilderness, because more thinly inhabited. In which sense we may say of Germany, that Aceldama or field of blood, and many other once rich and fertile countries, that they are become a wilderness, war being a tragedy that always destroys the stage whereon it is acted; but for the wickedness of them that dwell therein it is that a fruitful land is turned into a wilderness, saith David, Psalms 107:34. And the heathen historian, Herodotus, saith little less, when he tells us that the ruin and rubbish of Troy are set by God before the eyes of men, for an example of that rule, that great sins have great punishments. Iam seges est ubi Troia fuit. Now grain grows where Troy was. (Ovid.) Now alterius perditio sit tua cautio, saith an ancient: not to be warned by others is a sure presage of ruin. (Isidore soliloq.) Scipio beheld and bewailed the downfall of Rome in the destruction of Carthage. And when Hannibal was beleaguering Saguntum in Spain, the Romans were as sensible thereof as if he had been then beating upon the walls of their Capitol. (Livy.) A storm often times begins in one place and ends in another. When the sword rides circuit (as a judge) it is in commission, Ezekiel 14:17; Jeremiah 47:6,7. And, "When I begin" (saith God) "I will make an end," 1 Samuel 3:12. We cannot but foresee a storm, unless we be of those in Bernard, who seek straws to put out their eyes with. a If we break not off our sins by repentance (that there may be a lengthening of our tranquillity, Dan 4:27), a removal of our candlestick may be as certainly foreseen and foretold as if visions and letters were sent us from heaven, as once to the Church of Ephesus. God may well say to us, as to them of old, "Have I been a wilderness unto Israel, a land of darkness?" Jeremiah 2:31; or, as Themistocles to his Athenians, Are ye weary of receiving so many benefits by one man? Bona a tergo formosissima. Our sins have long since solicited an utter dissolution and desolation of all; and that we should be made a heap and a hissing, a waste and a wilderness. Jeremiah 25:9; Jeremiah 49:2. Quod Deus avertat. Because God left.
a Qui festucam quaerunt, unde oculos sibi eruant.