John the Baptist

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Permalink Reply by pilgrim on May 11, 2009 at 10:57am

Joanna,

I have not looked deeply into John the Baptist and maybe someone who is scholarly can shed more light on the data that may exist.

Jewish Antiquities book 18, chapter 5 by Flavius Josephus.

In this writing, which some say was added, Josephus says that Herod had him put to death because he posed a threat to the Roman political order, not because he denounced adultery, or someone danced for his head, and this is why HaShem judged Herod.

The apocalyptic view of the Essenes and many other "preachers" at the time, looking for the messianic age, was the turmoil of this time.

John may have been an actual person, or, an embodiment of the apocalyptic times. Either way it would seem that he was written into the gospels to support a forerunner (Elijah) who would be used to build the story for "The Day of the Lord".

The apocalyptic expectation was woven from messianic interpretations and appears to have taken a hypothesis and created a rule for it.

Paul Bunyon and Babe the blue OX. Well we have the Grand Canyon, the Mississippi river, lumber camps, so it must be true?

Permalink Reply by Mike Clark on May 11, 2009 at 5:19pm

When I was in Israel a couple years ago our tour guide took us to a place in the dead sea area, and showed us how the essenes lived, and all that cool stuff. Then they were telling us the story that John did live in that community and learned all the way's of an essene. But it appears one day he left, and went to the wilderness and started to preach his message, which was the message of the essenes, to repent, and turn back to G-D. As we do know his father was the high priest, but we find no record that John ever went to the Temple, which also lines up with essene teaching, because they felt the Temple was defiled. So, thats my two cents, and how I feel about John.
Mika'el

Permalink Reply by Joanna Garrett on May 11, 2009 at 7:00pm

Well I'll go our on a limb here. I have often thought that John the Baptist and Jesus were the same historical person. Just as you have Siddhartha and Buddha, you might have had John the Baptist who, upon receiving the revelation of his Son-ship became enlightened, taking on a new role as the One who saves or brings others into enlightenment.

Permalink Reply by Mike Clark on May 17, 2009 at 2:51pm

Maybe, but is this be true, it would be more of Jesus and his brother James, not John.

Permalink Reply by Rabbi Yochanan Levine on December 7, 2010 at 2:38pm

We know from Scripture that there was a direct association between Y'shua and Yochanan the Immerser (John the Baptist) and the Essene Brotherhood. Scripture is clear that Yochanan was an Essene and that Y'shua was a P'rushim (a Pharisee) although he clearly admired the Essene Teacher of Righteousness and sometimes quoted his teachings. We know that connection existed.
We do not know for certain if Y'shua's association (with the Essenes) preceded Yochanan's moving to Bethabara (where he headed and probably established an Essene splinter community that varied somewhat from the main Qumran sect doctrinally), but the evidence would seem to imply Y'shua was already familiar with the Brotherhood (and absolutely not a member of it). Yochanan and Y'shua of course were cousins, Miryam and Elizabeth visited and the boys recognized one another's presence even before they were born so we can assume their association went back to their earliest days.

We have this:

KJV: Luke 1:41 And it came to pass, that, when Elisabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the babe leaped in her womb; and Elisabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost:
1:42 And she spake out with a loud voice, and said, Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb.

With such a beginning it seems certain the sons knew each other well, even though Yochanan moved away to live with the Essenes at an early age. Yochanan and Y'shua shared a common mission.

Since we know from Y'shua's brother James (in the Protevangelion of James) and the New Testament that Yochanan had been living a secluded Essene lifestyle it is assumed by some folks that Y'shua would not have been directly associated with Yochanan prior to his baptism. The Essenes were after all very private. However that is an assumption only and is not supported by what is known. For instance we know that Lazarus and his sisters Miryam (not Y'shua's mother) and Martha lived near Yochanan's community at Bethabara and that Miryam was interested in spiritual studies (Luke 10:38-42). We know that Y'shua frequented their home and that Miryam sought his teachings (presumably as well as Yochanan's).

Thanks to the discovered Dead Sea Scrolls we know that many of Y'shua's sermons (especially the Sermon on the Mount) were directly inspired by sermons of the Essene Teacher of Righteousness. This strongly suggests there must have been contact between Y'shua and the Essenes prior to the beginning of his ministry. He clearly studied those teaching and incorporated them.

Such contacts would surely have been made through association with his Essene cousin, especially considering the closed nature of the Brotherhood. But again, we can not prove conclusively when their direct association began so its conjecture on all sides. I believe it was a lifelong association however that was nurtured as Miryam (Y'shua's mother) visited with Elizabeth, as the two boys grew up challenging one another in camaraderie and later as serious talmidim of their respective teachers. Such contrasting of Essene and P'rushim doctrine would have honed the wit and independent spirit manifested in both men during their ministries.

Like Adon Yochanan, Adon Y'shua clearly knew who he was and what his life would bring. That this common bond would not have been utilized seems most unlikely. Who other than Yochanan could have understood Y'shua as he was growing up and vice-versa? Based on the emphasis placed on Yochanan's birth in the Gospels (compare Luke 1) and the Protevangelion of James and the relationship that existed between Yochanan's mother Elizabeth and Y'shua's mother Miryam, the lifelong close connection between Y'shua and his cousin Yochanan is certain in my opinion.

That Yochanan was trained by the Jewish Essene Brotherhood from an early age is spoken of by Y'shua's brother James as he describes Yochanan's rescue by the Brotherhood during the days when Rome was seeking to destroy the Jewish children (as accounted in the Gospels: Matthew 2:13). Of this we read:

Protevangelion 16:3 Elizabeth also, hearing that her son Yochanan was about to be searched for, took him and went up into the mountains, and looked around for a place to hide him;
4 and there was no place to be found.
5 Then she groaned within herself, and said, "O mountain of Adonai, receive the mother with the child."
6 For Elizabeth could not climb up.
7 And instantly the mountain was divided and received them.
8 And there appeared to them an angel of Adonai, to preserve them.

The Kingdom of Heaven Was At hand!

In my opinion the preceding is James' accurate testimony of how Yochanan was called to and out of "the Wilderness" by HaShem as a child in fulfillment of the prophecies of Isaiah 40:1-3. This account by Ya'akov (James) reveals how Yochanan (John the Baptist) was educated by the Essene Brotherhood of Qumran -- who dressed in white like the angels and lived in the caves such as those discovered at Qumran where the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered.

This Gospel by Ya'akov shows us how Yochanan later returned to civilization (came out of the wilderness) as an Essene Adon (Master) (headquartered at Bethabara, 8 miles from the Qumran Essene community) to proclaim that the time for the implementation of the Kingdom of Heaven had arrived (Matthew 3:2).

I believe it is clear from what is known that that Yochanan was an intimate talmidim (student) of the Essene Teacher of Righteousness himself and that he was trained to proclaim the establishment of the literal, earthly Kingdom of HaShem. His task, under Essene benediction, was to proclaim his cousin Y'shua HaMashiach (to announce that Adon Y'shua was the awaited Nazir (Nazarene) or Mashiach, King of Israel: Isaiah 11:1, John 1:29. Hence we read:

CJB: Matthew 3:1 It was during those days that Yochanan the Immerser arrived in the desert of Y'hudah and began proclaiming the message,
2 "Turn from your sins to God, for the Kingdom of Heaven is near!"
3 This is the man Yesha`yahu [Isaiah] was talking about when he said, "The voice of someone crying out: `In the desert prepare the way of ADONAI! Make straight paths for him!'"

Yochanan's whole life was invested in training for this event of singular importance. Yochanan did not say the Kingdom will be established in a couple of thousand years! No, he said the Kingdom was at hand then. BUT there was a condition! "Repent!" he urged, because the time is now at hand. Prepare yourselves to receive the Kingdom!

It is equally clear from all extant texts that Yochanan the Immerser considered his role to be as forerunner to HaMashiach:

Matthew 3:11 It's true that I am immersing you in water so that you might turn from sin to God; but the one coming after me is more powerful than I -- I'm not worthy even to carry his sandals -- and he will immerse you in the Ruach HaKodesh and in fire.

The elders of Judah (both P'rushim: Pharisees and Tz'dukim: Sadducees) needed to repent and be immersed by Yochanan the Essene. Yochanan would then have presented them to their King, Y'shua HaMashiach.

It is clear from the words of both masters that Yochanan and Y'shua fully intended to establish the Kingdom at that time (compare Matthew 3:2, 4:17 etc.). They were not speaking in symbols; they were ready to act!

However the elders of Israel rejected the Kingdom on behalf of Am Israel and so the Times of the Gentiles (Luke 21;24) continued.

It is also important to note that all of the disciples and early talmidim of Yochanan and Y'shua were Jews and that the number of Jews who accepted Y'shua as Mashiach was vast (Acts 17:1-6), however it was the scribes and P'rushim (Pharisees) seated in the place of Moshe (Matthew 22:2) who had to accept Mashiach and vouch for him and they refused. HaShem deals with Israel as a people according to an established hierarchy. When the Elders of Israel rejected Yochanan and Y'shua, all of Israel rejected them by proxy. Without being accepted by the elders Y'shua could not take up the messianic mantle (and that time).

Conversely, had the elders led Israel in sincere repentance as directed by Yochanan, the Kingdom would have been established 2000 years ago!

Of course HaShem knows all things and He knew that was not going to happen (Romans 11:8) because human beings have free will and HaShem knows the choices we will make before we make them. This is not predestination, it is the foreknowledge of God, a foreknowledge that even Adon Y'shua does not have completely (Matthew 13:32).

This is my view on the question.
Shalom,
Messianic Rabbi Yochanan

Permalink Reply by James Daniel Tabor on December 28, 2010 at 6:31am

For several years I have taught an entire college course on John the Baptizer/Dipper (Yochanan Ha Matbil). There is a lot of material on my university Web site of a historical nature, see in particular this link, but there are a few others as well if you care to browse a bit:

 

http://religiousstudies.uncc.edu/people/jtabor/johnessay.html

 

I likewise taught a similar course on James/Yaaqov, brother of Jesus, and those materials are there as well.

 

I weave a great deal of this into my narrative in the book, The Jesus Dynasty (2006) that you can get at a great discount right now on Amazon.

 

Happy Studies to all,

 

James Tabor

Permalink Reply by Rabbi Yochanan Levine on December 28, 2010 at 8:54pm

Thanks for the info James

 

~ Yochanan
James Tabor said:

For several years I have taught an entire college course on John the Baptizer/Dipper (Yochanan Ha Matbil). There is a lot of material on my university Web site of a historical nature, see in particular this link, but there are a few others as well if you care to browse a bit:

 

http://religiousstudies.uncc.edu/people/jtabor/johnessay.html

 

I likewise taught a similar course on James/Yaaqov, brother of Jesus, and those materials are there as well.

 

I weave a great deal of this into my narrative in the book, The Jesus Dynasty (2006) that you can get at a great discount right now on Amazon.

 

Happy Studies to all,

 

James Tabor