The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare you the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.
Read Chapter 1
Augustine of Hippo
AD 430
Quaest. nov. et vet. Test.lvii: For knowing that all things are to be referred to their author, he has brought these sayings back to Isaiah, who was the first to intimate the sense. Lastly, after the words of Malachi, he immediately subjoins, “The voice of one crying in the wilderness,” in order to connect the words of each prophet, belonging as they do to one meaning, under the person of the elder prophet.
Being about to write his Gospel, Mark rightly puts first the testimonies of the Prophets, that he might notify to all, that what he should write was to be received without scruple of doubt, in that he showed that these things were beforehand foretold by the Prophets. At once, by one and the same beginning of his Gospel, he prepared the Jews, who had received the Law and the Prophets, for receiving the grace of the Gospel, and those sacraments, which their own prophecies had foretold; and he also calls upon the Gentiles, who came to the Lord by publishing of the Gospel, to receive and venerate the authority of the Law and the Prophets; whence he says, "As it is written in the prophet Isaiah, Behold”.
Or otherwise, we must understand, that although these words are not found in Isaiah, still the sense of them is found in many other places, and most clearly in this which he has subjoined, "The voice of one crying in the wilderness.” For that which Malachi has called, the angel to be sent b...
Hierom. ad Pammach, Epist 57: But this is not written in Isaiah, but in Malachi, the last of the twelve prophets. The Evangelist therefore, taking parts of two prophecies, has put them down as spoken by Isaiah, and refers them here toone passage, without mentioning, however, by whom it is said, “Behold, I send mine angel.”.
By Malachi, therefore, the voice of the Holy Spirit resounds to the Father concerning the Son, who is the countenance of the Father by which He has been known.
Or, “the way of the Lord, "by which He comes into men, in penitence, by which God comes down to us, and we mount up to Him. And for this reason the beginning of John’s preaching was, "Repent ye.”.
But it is called “the voice of one crying,” for we are wont to use a cry to deaf persons, and to those afar off, or when we are indignant, all which things we know applied to the Jews; for “salvation is far from the wicked,” and they “stopped their ears like deaf adders,” and deserved to hear “indignation, and wrath...
The quotation is made up from two prophets, Malachi and Isaiah. From the first part: “Behold I send my messenger to prepare the way before me,” occurs at the close of Malachi. But the second part: “The voice of one crying,” etc., we read in Isaiah. On what ground then has Mark in the very beginning of his book set the words: “As it is written in the prophet Isaiah, Behold I send my messenger,” when, as we have said, it is [in part] not written in Isaiah at all, but in Malachi, the last of the twelve prophets? Let ignorant presumption solve this nice question if it can. I will ask pardon for being in the wrong….
The apostle has not rendered his original word for word, but using a paraphrase, he has given the sense in different terms.
Voice and crying go together: the voice preaches faith; the cry calls for repentance; the voice, comfort; the cry, danger; the voice sings mercy; the cry announces judgment.
The Forerunner of Christ, therefore, is call an angel, on account of his angelic life and lofty reverence. Again, where he says, “Before thy face,” it is as if he said, Thymessenger is near thee: whence is shown the intimate connection of the Forerunner with Christ; for those walk next to kings who are their greatestfriends.There follows, “Who will prepare thy way before thee.”For by baptism he prepared the minds of the Jews to receive Christ.
Or, the “way” is the New Testament, and the “paths” are the Old, because it is a trodden path. For it was necessary to be prepared for the way, that is, for the New Testament; butit was right that the paths of the Old Testament should be straightened.
