Luke 7:26

26 Tell me, what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes indeed, but you saw much more than a prophet.

Luke 7:26 Meaning and Commentary

Luke 7:26

But what went ye out for to see?
&c.] What led your curiosity to go into the wilderness after him, since it could not be any of the above things? was it to see

a prophet?
which was the case; for John was a prophet, and was known to be one; and the fame of him, as such, drew vast numbers to see and hear him, there not having been a prophet among the Jews, for some hundreds of years:

yea, I say unto you, and much more than a prophet;
not that he was the prophet Moses did say should come; nor was he the priest that should arise with the "Urim" and "Thummim", that the "Tirshatha", Nehemiah spoke of; nor was he the king Messiah; but he was his forerunner, he saw him and baptized him, and so was greater than any of the prophets that went before him.

Luke 7:26 In-Context

24 After John's messengers had left, Jesus began to speak about him to the crowds: "When you went out to John in the desert, what did you expect to see? A blade of grass bending in the wind?

25 What did you go out to see? A man dressed up in fancy clothes? People who dress like that and live in luxury are found in palaces!

26 Tell me, what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes indeed, but you saw much more than a prophet.

27 For John is the one of whom the scripture says: "God said, I will send my messenger ahead of you to open the way for you.'

28 I tell you," Jesus added, "John is greater than anyone who has ever lived. But the one who is least in the Kingdom of God is greater than John."