Verse 21 I am not; that is, he was not Elias, or Elijah, in a literal and personal sense. The Jews understood the prophecy, Malachi 4:5, to mean that Elias himself was to rise from the dead, and reappear upon earth; whereas the meaning was, that a new prophet should arise, with the bold and energetic character of Elijah, as is expressed by the angel, Luke 1:17.--That prophet. It is not certain to what expectation of the Jews this question refers. From Matthew 16:14, it seems that the reappearance of Jeremiah might have been looked for as a prelude to the coming of Christ. In Deuteronomy 18:15, the coming of a prophet is mentioned; and this may have been the prediction referred to here.