2:17-19
(Vers. 17 seqq.) Then was fulfilled what was spoken by the prophet Jeremiah, saying: A voice was heard in Ramah, sobbing and loud lamentation; Rachel weeping for her children, and she would not be consoled, since they are no more (Jerem. XXXI, 15). But when Herod died, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, saying: Rise, take the child and his mother, and go to the land of Israel. From Rachel was born Benjamin, in whose tribe Bethlehem is not (Genes. XXXV). Therefore, it is asked how Rachel mourns the sons of Judah, that is, Bethlehem, as if they were her own. We will answer briefly, because she is buried near Bethlehem in Ephrath, and from the maternal womb, she received the name of the mother's lodging. Whether because Judah and Benjamin were two joined tribes, and Herod had ordered not only the killing of children in Bethlehem, but also in all its borders. By the slaughter of Bethlehem, we understand that many from Benjamin were also killed. But she wept for her children, and she did not receive consolation, according to a twofold interpretation. Either because she considered them dead for eternity, or because she did not want to console herself about those whom she knew would survive. But what is said in Rama, let us not think that this is the name of a place, near Gabaa, but 'rama' is interpreted as 'an elevated place', so the meaning is: A voice was heard in an elevated place, that is, far and wide dispersed.
2:20
(Verse 20) For those who sought the child's life are dead. From this we understand that not only Herod, but also the priests and scribes at the same time had planned the death of the Lord.
2:21
(Verse 21.) He rose and took the child and his mother, and came into the land of Israel. He did not say, 'I took my son and my wife,' but the child and his mother, as if a foster father, not a husband.
2:22
(Verse 22) But hearing that Archelaus was reigning in Judea, in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. And being warned in a dream, he withdrew to the region of Galilee. Many fall into error due to ignorance of history, thinking that he is the same Herod who mocked the Lord in his passion, and who is reported to be dead now. Therefore, this Herod, who later became friends with Pilate, is the son of that Herod, the brother of Archelaus; and Tiberius Caesar himself, the city of Lugdunum, which is in Gaul, banished him, and made his brother Herod successor to the kingdom. Read the story of Joseph.
2:23
(Verse 23) And coming, he lived in a city called Nazareth, so that what was spoken by the prophets might be fulfilled, that he would be called a Nazarene. If he had set a fixed example from the Scriptures, he would never have said, what was spoken by the prophets; but simply, what was spoken by the prophet: but now, calling them prophets in the plural, he shows that he did not take words from the Scriptures, but the meaning. Nazarene, interprets as holy. But all Scripture testifies that the Lord would be holy. We can also say in another way, that even in the same words, according to the Hebrew truth, it is written in Isaiah: There shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Nazarene shall rise out of his roots (Isa. 11:1).
3:1
(Chapter III - Verse 1) Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near. John the Baptist proclaims the kingdom of heaven, honoring the Lord as its precursor with this privilege.
3:3
(Verse 3.) For this is he who is spoken of by the prophet Isaiah, saying: 'The voice of one crying out in the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths.' He was preparing the souls of the believers, in whom the Lord was going to walk, to walk in the purest ways, saying: 'I will dwell in them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people' (Leviticus 26:12). Porphyry compares this passage to the beginning of the Gospel of Mark, where it is written: 'The beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, as it is written in the prophet Isaiah: Behold, I send my angel before your face, who will prepare your way.' The voice of one crying in the wilderness: Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths. (Isa. XL, 3). For even though the testimony is from Malachi (Chap. III) and connected to Isaiah, it is asked how we can consider it as an example taken from one Isaiah. This question was answered fully by learned scholars. However, we think that the name of Isaiah was added by mistake of the scribes, which we can also prove in other places, or certainly from the fact that different testimonies of the Scriptures have become one body. Read the thirteenth Psalm, and you will find the same.
3:4
(Verse 4.) Now John himself had a garment made of camel's hair and a leather belt around his waist. He said, 'It is made of hair, not wool.' The type of clothing indicates austerity, not luxury. The leather belt that he wore, just like Elijah, is a symbol of mortification (IV Kings 1). Furthermore, what follows is...
But his food was locusts and wild honey. It is fitting for a dweller of solitude to fulfill not the delights of food, but the necessity of human flesh.
3:9
(Verse. 9.) God is able to raise up children of Abraham from these stones. He calls them ethnic stones because of the hardness of the heart. Read Ezekiel: I will take away the heart of stone from you and give you a heart of flesh (Ezek. XXXVI, 26). In the stone, hardness is shown, in the flesh, softness is shown. Or it simply indicates the power of God, that he who created everything out of nothing can also create a people from the hardest stones.
3:10-11
(Verse 10, 11.) For now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire. I indeed baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I. The preaching of the Gospel word, which is sharp on both sides, is called an axe, according to the prophet Jeremiah, who compares the word of the Lord to an axe cutting through a rock (Jeremiah 46).
Whose shoes I am not worthy to bear. In another Gospel: Whose, he said, I am not worthy to untie the strap of his shoe: here humility is shown, there mystery is demonstrated, that Christ is the bridegroom, and John does not deserve to untie the bridegroom's shoe, lest his house be called according to the law of Moses, and the example of Ruth, the house of the barefoot (Deut. XXV, and Ruth. IV).
3:12
(Verse 12.) He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clean out His threshing floor, and gather His wheat into the barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire. This is because the Holy Spirit is like a fire, as the Acts of the Apostles teach, which, when it descended, sat upon each of them like tongues of fire (Acts 2); and the word of the Lord was fulfilled when He said, 'I came to send fire upon the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled' (Luke 12:49). Whether it be because in the present we are baptized by the Spirit, and in the future by fire. The Apostle also concurs with this meaning: The work of each one shall be made manifest: for the day of the Lord shall declare it, because it shall be revealed in fire. (1 Corinthians 3:13).
3:13-14