John the Baptist – A Jewish Preacher Recast as the Herald of Jesus

Editor’s note: For a discussion on how this purification ritual developed, see Yonatan Adler, “On the Origins of Tevilah (Ritual Immersion),” TheTorah (2017); Hayah Katz, “Biblical Purification: Was It Immersion?” TheTorah (2014).

^{Κατά Μάρκον 1:4} Ἐγένετο Ἰωάννης βαπτίζων ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ, καὶ κηρύσσων βάπτισμα μετανοίας εἰς ἄφεσιν ἁμαρτιῶν. ^1:5 Καὶ ἐξεπορεύετο πρὸς αὐτὸν πᾶσα ἡ Ἰουδαία χώρα, καὶ οἱ Ἱεροσολυμῖται, καὶ ἐβαπτίζοντο πάντες ἐν τῷ Ἰορδάνῃ ποταμῷ ὑπ᾽ αὐτοῦ, ἐξομολογούμενοι τὰς ἁμαρτίας αὐτῶν. ^1:6 Ἦν δὲ ὁ Ἰωάννης ἐνδεδυμένος τρίχας καμήλου, καὶ ζώνην δερματίνην περὶ τὴν ὀσφὺν αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἐσθίων ἀκρίδας καὶ μέλι ἄγριον.

This prophecy appears in the latter half of the book of Zechariah (chs. 9–14), which is not based on the prophecies of Zechariah ben Berechiah ben Iddo, who lived at the time of King Darius I of Persia. We do not know who wrote Zech 9-14, and if this is a unified work or reflects several authors. Scholars refer to this section as Second Zechariah, or Deutero-Zechariah.

Notably, אדרת שער is the same phrase used to describe how the baby Esau looked when he was born (Gen 25:25)—as if he were wearing a hairy mantle—the only other occurrence of the phrase in the Hebrew Bible.

Josephus, Ant. 18.117-8; trans. Feldman adapted.

Most scholars are of the opinion that these texts were written by the members of the Essene sect or smaller sectarian groups that were related to them.

Florentino Garcia Martinez and Eibert J.C. Tigchelaar, eds., The Dead Sea Scrolls Study Edition (Leiden/Grand Rapids: Brill/Eerdmans, 1997–1998) 1.74–75.

This possibility is confirmed by a tradition reported in the New Testament that he grew up in the desert. (See Luke 1:8.)

Editor’s note: For more on Herod, see Evie Gassner, “How Jewish Was Herod,” TheTorah (2019).

Josephus, AJ 18.118-9; trans. Feldman.

^{Κατά Μάρκον 6:17} Αὐτὸς γὰρ ὁ Ἡρῴδης ἀποστείλας ἐκράτησεν τὸν Ἰωάννην καὶ ἔδησεν αὐτὸν ἐν φυλακῇ διὰ Ἡρῳδιάδα τὴν γυναῖκα Φιλίππου τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ αὐτοῦ, ὅτι αὐτὴν ἐγάμησεν· ^6:18 ἔλεγεν γὰρ ὁ Ἰωάννης τῷ Ἡρῴδῃ ὅτι οὐκ ἔξεστίν σοι ἔχειν τὴν γυναῖκα τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ σου.

Editor’s note: For more on this prohibition, see Isaac Sassoon, “The Priestly Repudiation of Yibbum,” TheTorah (2016).

The text reads:

^{Κατά Μάρκον 6:19} ἡ δὲ Ἡρῳδιὰς ἐνεῖχεν αὐτῷ καὶ ἤθελεν αὐτὸν ἀποκτεῖναι, καὶ οὐκ ἠδύνατο· ^6:20 ὁ γὰρ Ἡρῴδης ἐφοβεῖτο τὸν Ἰωάννην, εἰδὼς αὐτὸν ἄνδρα δίκαιον καὶ ἅγιον, καὶ συνετήρει αὐτόν, καὶ ἀκούσας αὐτοῦ πολλὰ ἠπόρει, καὶ ἡδέως αὐτοῦ ἤκουεν.

^{Mark 6:19} So Herodias nursed a grudge against John and wanted to kill him. But she was not able to, ^6:20 because Herod feared John and protected him, knowing him to be a righteous and holy man. When Herod heard John, he was greatly puzzled; yet he liked to listen to him.

Note, however, that according to Matthew, Herod delayed the execution because he was afraid of the crowd (Matthew 14:5). Matthew omits any mention of Herod Antipas having respect for John.

^{Κατά Μάρκον 6:21} Καὶ γενομένης ἡμέρας εὐκαίρου ὅτε Ἡρῴδης τοῖς γενεσίοις αὐτοῦ δεῖπνον ἐποίησεν τοῖς μεγιστᾶσιν αὐτοῦ καὶ τοῖς χιλιάρχοις καὶ τοῖς πρώτοις τῆς Γαλιλαίας, ^6:22 καὶ εἰσελθούσης τῆς θυγατρὸς αὐτοῦ Ἡρῳδιάδος καὶ ὀρχησαμένης ἤρεσεν τῷ Ἡρῴδῃ καὶ τοῖς συνανακειμένοις. εἶπεν ὁ βασιλεὺς τῷ κορασίῳ· αἴτησόν με ὃ ἐὰν θέλῃς, καὶ δώσω σοι· ^6:23 καὶ ὤμοσεν αὐτῇ [πολλὰ] ὅ τι ἐάν με αἰτήσῃς δώσω σοι ἕως ἡμίσους τῆς βασιλείας μου.

^{Κατά Μάρκον 6:24} καὶ ἐξελθοῦσα εἶπεν τῇ μητρὶ αὐτῆς· τί αἰτήσωμαι; ἡ δὲ εἶπεν· τὴν κεφαλὴν Ἰωάννου τοῦ βαπτίζοντος. ^6:25 καὶ εἰσελθοῦσα εὐθὺς μετὰ σπουδῆς πρὸς τὸν βασιλέα ᾐτήσατο λέγουσα· θέλω ἵνα ἐξαυτῆς δῷς μοι ἐπὶ πίνακι τὴν κεφαλὴν Ἰωάννου τοῦ βαπτιστοῦ.

^{Κατά Μάρκον 6:26} καὶ περίλυπος γενόμενος ὁ βασιλεὺς διὰ τοὺς ὅρκους καὶ τοὺς ἀνακειμένους οὐκ ἠθέλησεν ἀθετῆσαι αὐτήν· ^6:27 καὶ εὐθὺς ἀποστείλας ὁ βασιλεὺς σπεκουλάτορα ἐπέταξεν ἐνέγκαι τὴν κεφαλὴν αὐτοῦ. καὶ ἀπελθὼν ἀπεκεφάλισεν αὐτὸν ἐν τῇ φυλακῇ ^6:28 καὶ ἤνεγκεν τὴν κεφαλὴν αὐτοῦ ἐπὶ πίνακι καὶ ἔδωκεν αὐτὴν τῷ κορασίῳ, καὶ τὸ κοράσιον ἔδωκεν αὐτὴν τῇ μητρὶ αὐτῆς.

^{Κατά Μάρκον 6:29} καὶ ἀκούσαντες οἱ μαθηταὶ αὐτοῦ ἦλθον καὶ ἦραν τὸ πτῶμα αὐτοῦ καὶ ἔθηκαν αὐτὸ ἐν μνημείῳ.

Wolfgang Schenk, “Gefangenschaft und Tod des Täufers: Erwägungen zur Chronologie und ihren Konsequenzen,” New Testament Studies 29 (1983): 453–483, [463, 471–472].

This is comparable to the story of the anonymous prophet in 1 Kings 13:1-32, whose strange death verified that he was indeed a prophet (see esp. vv. 26 and 32).

^{Κατά Λουκάν 11:1} κύριε, δίδαξον ἡμᾶς προσεύχεσθαι, καθὼς καὶ Ἰωάννης ἐδίδαξεν τοὺς μαθητὰς αὐτοῦ.

^{Κατά Λουκάν 11:2} Πάτερ, ἁγιασθήτω τὸ ὄνομά σου· ἐλθέτω ἡ βασιλεία σου· ^11:3 τὸν ἄρτον ἡμῶν τὸν ἐπιούσιον δίδου ἡμῖν τὸ καθ᾽ ἡμέραν· ^11:4 καὶ ἄφες ἡμῖν τὰς ἁμαρτίας ἡμῶν, καὶ γὰρ αὐτοὶ ἀφίομεν παντὶ ὀφείλοντι ἡμῖν· καὶ μὴ εἰσενέγκῃς ἡμᾶς εἰς πειρασμόν.

The prayer does not have any specifically Christian elements, and it has various parallels to Jewish liturgical texts, especially the Kaddish, which has a similar opening, see Craig A. Evans, “Jesus and Rabbinic Parables, Proverbs, and Prayers,” in idem, Jesus and His Contemporaries: Comparative Studies (Leiden: Brill, 1995), 251–297 [283-294].

See Clare K. Rothschild, Baptist Traditions and Q, Wissenschafliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament, 190 (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2005). This is a complex set of problems, but two simple considerations can be pointed out: (1) When similar sentences are attributed to both John the Baptist and Jesus (e.g. Luke 3:7 and Matthew 23:33), it is more likely that the attribution to the lesser authority—that is, John—is the older one and closer to historical reality. (2) The earliest gospels paint widely divergent pictures about the content and the style of Jesus’ teaching: in the synoptic gospels (Mark, Matthew, Luke), Jesus teaches in aphoristic sentences and parables about ethical topics, while in the Fourth Gospel, Jesus pronounces enigmatic sayings about his own personality, often employing the metaphors of Light and Darkness. There is almost no overlap at all among the teachings attributed to Jesus in these two branches of the transmission, while there are significant overlaps in miracle stories and in passion narratives. Therefore, the oldest oral traditions on which the gospels were based were chiefly stories about Jesus and may have included very few, if any, authentic teachings of Jesus. The hypothesis that the synoptic gospels drew many of the sayings and parables from sources on John the Baptist and attributed them to Jesus can explain both phenomena at the same time. Nevertheless, this hypothesis is not generally accepted by New Testament scholars today.

The punctuation follows the Hebrew here, but the Gospels understand the meaning as “The voice of one crying out in the wilderness, ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.’” For a discussion of how the Gospels read this verse, see Amy-Jill Levine, “The Jewish Origins of the Christmas Story,” TheTorah (2019).

^{Κατά Μάρκον 1:7} Καὶ ἐκήρυσσεν λέγων· ἔρχεται ὁ ἰσχυρότερός μου ὀπίσω μου, οὗ οὐκ εἰμὶ ἱκανὸς κύψας λῦσαι τὸν ἱμάντα τῶν ὑποδημάτων αὐτοῦ. ^1:8 ἐγὼ ἐβάπτισα ὑμᾶς ὕδατι, αὐτὸς δὲ βαπτίσει ὑμᾶς ἐν πνεύματι ἁγίῳ.

^{Κατά Μάρκον 1:9} Καὶ ἐγένετο ἐν ἐκείναις ταῖς ἡμέραις ἦλθεν Ἰησοῦς ἀπὸ Ναζαρὲτ τῆς Γαλιλαίας καὶ ἐβαπτίσθη εἰς τὸν Ἰορδάνην ὑπὸ Ἰωάννου. ^1:10 καὶ εὐθὺς ἀναβαίνων ἐκ τοῦ ὕδατος εἶδεν σχιζομένους τοὺς οὐρανοὺς καὶ τὸ πνεῦμα ὡς περιστερὰν καταβαῖνον εἰς αὐτόν· ^1:11 καὶ φωνὴ ἐγένετο ἐκ τῶν οὐρανῶν· σὺ εἶ ὁ υἱός μου ὁ ἀγαπητός, ἐν σοὶ εὐδόκησα.

^{Κατά Μαθθαίον 3:13} Τότε παραγίνεται ὁ Ἰησοῦς ἀπὸ τῆς Γαλιλαίας ἐπὶ τὸν Ἰορδάνην πρὸς τὸν Ἰωάννην τοῦ βαπτισθῆναι ὑπ᾽ αὐτοῦ. ^3:14 ὁ δὲ Ἰωάννης διεκώλυεν αὐτὸν λέγων· ἐγὼ χρείαν ἔχω ὑπὸ σοῦ βαπτισθῆναι, καὶ σὺ ἔρχῃ πρός με; ^3:15 ἀποκριθεὶς δὲ ὁ Ἰησοῦς εἶπεν πρὸς αὐτόν· ἄφες ἄρτι, οὕτως γὰρ πρέπον ἐστὶν ἡμῖν πληρῶσαι πᾶσαν δικαιοσύνην. τότε ἀφίησιν αὐτόν.

^{Κατά Λουκάν 1:17} καὶ αὐτὸς προελεύσεται ἐνώπιον αὐτοῦ ἐν πνεύματι καὶ δυνάμει Ἠλίου, ἐπιστρέψαι καρδίας πατέρων ἐπὶ τέκνα καὶ ἀπειθεῖς ἐν φρονήσει δικαίων…

In this gospel, John is a relative of Jesus, and their births are closely connected and accompanied by miracles. According to a famous scene, which is often depicted on charming medieval paintings, when the pregnant Elisabeth, John’s mother, met Mary, who was also pregnant with Jesus, the embryonic Baptist “leaped in joy” in his mother’s belly sensing the presence of the embryonic Jesus (see Luke 1:39-45).

The Lamb of God is a metaphor referring to Jesus used especially in Christian liturgy. The phrase alludes to the idea that Jesus’ crucifixion was similar to the sacrifice of Passover lambs (see John 19:36, 1 Corinthians 5:7)

^{Κατά Ιωάννην 1:29} Τῇ ἐπαύριον βλέπει τὸν Ἰησοῦν ἐρχόμενον πρὸς αὐτὸν καὶ λέγει· ἴδε ὁ ἀμνὸς τοῦ θεοῦ ὁ αἴρων τὴν ἁμαρτίαν τοῦ κόσμου. ^1:30 οὗτός ἐστιν ὑπὲρ οὗ ἐγὼ εἶπον· ὀπίσω μου ἔρχεται ἀνὴρ ὃς ἔμπροσθέν μου γέγονεν, ὅτι πρῶτός μου ἦν. ^1:31 κἀγὼ οὐκ ᾔδειν αὐτόν, ἀλλ᾽ ἵνα φανερωθῇ τῷ Ἰσραὴλ διὰ τοῦτο ἦλθον ἐγὼ ἐν ὕδατι βαπτίζων.

Each includes a story about John contacting Jesus’ disciples through his own disciples (Matthew 11:2–19, Luke 7:18–25).

The Gospel of John makes no mention of John the Baptist’s execution.

This interpretation is contested by some New Testament scholars who argue for the historical accuracy of the gospels in this respect, see, for example, Joel Marcus, John the Baptist in History and Theology (Columbia: University of South California Press, 2018), 121-124. For an overview of the debate and a detailed defense of the interpretation presented here, see Tamás Visi, “The Chronology of John the Baptist and the Crucifixion of Jesus of Nazareth: A New Approach,” Journal for the Study of the Historical Jesus 18 (2020): 3–34.

For a detailed account, consult Visi, “The Chronology of John the Baptist,” 16-19.

It is possible that putting the Baptist’s death before that of Jesus originated not in apologetics but as an error in recollection. Three decades after both had been killed within a few years of each other, most people were probably unable to recall the exact chronological details of either Jesus or John’s biography. The evangelists probably did not have chronological records at their disposal and had to rely on the collective memories of the first Christians, and such memories are particularly weak in recollecting chronologies. The reader may consider the collective memories of our own times concerning Janis Joplin, Jim Morisson, and Jimmy Hendrix. Most people know that these icons of pop music died at the age of 27 sometime in the late 1960s and early 1970s. But few people can put their deaths into the proper chronological sequence from memory. Cf. Visi, “The Chronology of John the Baptist,” 20-27.

This has been argued by Johannes Tromp, “John the Baptist according to Flavius Josephus, and His Incorporation in the Christian Tradition,” in Empsychoi Logoi—Religious Innovations in Antiquity: Studies in Honour of Pieter Willem van der Horst, ed., Alberdina Houtman, Albert de Jong, and Magda Misset-van de Weg (Leiden: Brill, 2008), 135–149.