This remarkable man was chosen to be the forerunner of our Lord, as prophesied in Isa. 40:3-5. He was miraculously born; for his mother, Elizabeth, was barren; and she and her husband, Zacharias, well stricken in years. The beginning of his history is marked in a very unusual way. We read:- "Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judaea, and Herod being tetrach of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrach of Ituraea, and of the region of Trachonitis, and Lysanias the tetrach of Abilene, Annas and Caiaphas being the high priests, the word of God came unto John the son of Zacharias in the wilderness." (Luke 3:1, 2).
This is a most impressive and precise introduction, and the more so that it surely appears that John's ministry was of far greater importance in the estimation of heaven than all the offices held by emperors, tetrarchs and high priests. This is an interesting list of men ruling at one and the same time. These names and places and chronology can all be traced in Josephus as completely agreeing with those of Luke 3:1, 2.
As we have already written of the death of John the Baptist at the command of Herod Antipas, we forbear repetition.