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.