And they asked him, what then? art thou Elias?.... Elijah, the prophet; the Tishbite, as Nonnus in his paraphrase expresses it; who was translated, soul and body, to heaven: the Jews had a notion that that prophet would come in person a little before the coming of the Messiah; See Gill on "Mt 17:10" wherefore these messengers inquire, that since he had so fully satisfied them that he was not the Messiah, that he would as ingenuously answer to this question, if he was Elias, or not:and he saith, I am not; that is, he was not Elijah the prophet that lived in Ahab's time, and was called the Tishbite; for John's answer is to the intention of their question, and their own meaning in it, and is no contradiction to what Christ says of him, Mt 11:14 that he was the Elias that was to come; for he was the person meant by him in Mal 4:5 though not in the sense the Jews understood it; nor is it any contradiction to what the angel said to Zacharias, Lu 1:17 for he does not say that John should come in the body, but in the power and spirit of Elias; See Gill on "Mt 11:14".
Art thou that prophet? Jeremiah, whom some of the Jews have thought to be the prophet Moses spoke of, in De 18:15 and expected that he would appear about the times of the Messiah; see Mt 16:14 or any one of the ancient prophets risen from the dead, which they also had a notion of, Lu 9:8 or, as it may be rendered, "art thou a prophet?"
for prophecy had long ceased with them:and he answered, no; he was not Jeremiah, nor any one of the old prophets risen from the dead, nor a prophet in the sense they meant: he was not like one of the prophets of the Old Testament; he was a prophet, and more than a prophet, as Christ says, Mt 11:9 yet not such a prophet as they were; his prophesying lay not so much in predicting future events, as in pointing out Christ, and preaching the doctrine of the remission of sins by him.
Baal Hatturim in Deut. xviii. 15. Tzeror Hammor, fol. 127. 4. & 143. 4. Siphre in Jarchi in Jer. i.