[1] In the A.V. of ii. 17 it appears that subjection to a foreign
power is not a present fact but a thing feared. But the parallelism
and v. 19 justify the rendering in margin of R.V. "use a byword
against them."
[2] The hypothesis of an Arabian Javan, applied to Joel iii. 6 by
Credner, Hitzig, and others, may be viewed as exploded (see Stade,
"Das Volk Javan," 1880, reprinted in his _Akad. Reden u.
Abhandlungen_, 1899, pp. 123-142). The question, however, has to be
re-examined; later interpreters, e.g. the LXX translators, may have
misunderstood. The text of the passages has to be critically treated
anew. See Cheyne, _Traditions and Beliefs of Ancient Israel_ (on Gen.
x. 2).
[3] Compare Movers, _Phönizisches Alterthum_, iii. i. 70 seq.
[4] See Ewald on Jer. xlviii. 47, Kuenen, _Theol. Tijdschrift_
(1873), p. 519; Schwally, _Z. A. T. W._, viii. 200, and Briggs on Ps.
xiv. 7.
[5] Stade not unreasonably questions whether 2 Kings xii. 1-3 implies
the paramount political influence of Jehoiada.
[6] See Wellhausen, _Geschichte Israels_, p. 78 seq.; _Prolegomena
zur Gesch. Israels_ (1883), p. 82 seq.
[7] It has been suggested that _Saphon_, which is often rather
troublesome if rendered "the north," may be a weakened form of
_sib'on_, a current popular corruption of _shimo'n_ = Ishmael. In
Ezek. xxxviii. 15 it is distinctly said that Gog is to come from the
recesses of Saphon. "Meshech" and "Tubal" are no hindrance to this
view, if the names of the so-called "sons of Japheth" are critically
examined. For they, too, as well as Saphon, can be plausibly shown to
represent regions of North Arabia. See Cheyne, _Traditions and
Beliefs of Anc. Israel_, on Gen. x. 2-4.
JOEL, MANUEL (1826-1890), Jewish philosopher and preacher. After
teaching for several years at the Breslau rabbinical seminary, founded
by Z. Frankel, he became the successor of Abraham Geiger in the
rabbinate of Breslau. He made important contributions to the history of
the school of Aqiba (q.v.) as well as to the history of Jewish
philosophy, his essays on Ibn Gabirol and Maimonides being of permanent
worth. But his most influential work was connected with the relations
between Jewish philosophy and the medieval scholasticism. He showed how
Albertus Magnus derived some of his ideas from Maimonides and how
Spinoza was indebted to the same writer, as well as to Hasdai Crescas.
These essays were collected in two volumes of _Beiträge zur Geschichte
der Philosophie_ (1876), while another two volumes of _Blicke in die
Religionsgeschichte_ (1880-1883) threw much light on the development of
religious thought in the early centuries of the Christian era. Equally
renowned were Joel's pulpit addresses. Though he was no orator, his
appeal to the reason was effective, and in their published form his
three volumes of _Predigten_ (issued posthumously) have found many
readers. (I. A.)
JOFFRIN, JULES FRANÇOIS ALEXANDRE (1846-1890), French politician, was
born at Troyes on the 16th of March 1846. He served in the Franco-German
War, was involved in the Commune, and spent eleven years in England as a
political exile. He attached himself to the "possibilist" group of the
socialist party, the section opposed to the root-and-branch measures of
Jules Guesde. He became a member of the municipal council of Paris in
1882, and vice-president in 1888-1889. Violently attacked by the
Boulangist organs, _L'Intransigeant_ and _La France_, he won a suit
against them for libel, and in 1889 he contested the 18th arrondissement
of Paris with General Boulanger, who obtained a majority of over 2000
votes, but was declared ineligible. Joffrin was only admitted to the
Chamber after a heated discussion, and continued to be attacked by the
nationalists. He died in Paris on the 17th of September 1890.
JOGUES, ISAAC (1607-1646), French missionary in North America, was born
at Orleans on the 10th of January 1607. He entered the Society of Jesus
at Rouen in 1624, and in 1636 was ordained and sent, by his own wish, to
the Huron mission. In 1639 he went among the Tobacco Nation, and in 1641
journeyed to Sault Sainte Marie, where he preached to the Algonquins.
Returning from an expedition to Three Rivers he was captured by Mohawks,
who tortured him and kept him as a slave until the summer of 1643, when,
aided by some Dutchmen, he escaped to the manor of Rensselaerwyck and
thence to New Amsterdam. After a brief visit to France, where he was
treated with high honour, he returned to the Mohawk country in May 1646
and ratified a treaty between that tribe and the Canadian government.
Working among them as the founder of the Mission of the Martyrs, he
incurred their enmity, was tortured as a sorcerer, and finally killed at
Ossernenon, near Auriesville, N.Y.
See Parkman, _The Jesuits in North America_ (1898).
JOHANAN BEN ZACCAI, Palestinian rabbi, contemporary of the Apostles. He
was a disciple of Hillel (q.v.), and after the destruction of the Temple
of Jerusalem by Titus was the main instrument in the preservation of the
Jewish religion. During the last decades of the Temple Johanan was a
member of the Sanhedrin and a skilled controversialist against the
Sadducees. He is also reported to have been head of a great school in
the capital. In the war with Rome he belonged to the peace party, and
finding that the Zealots were resolved on carrying their revolt to its
inevitable sequel, Johanan had himself conveyed out of Jerusalem in a
coffin. In the Roman camp the rabbi was courteously received, and
Vespasian (whose future elevation to the imperial dignity Johanan, like
Josephus, is said to have foretold) agreed to grant him any boon he
desired. Johanan obtained permission to found a college at Jamnia
(Jabneh), which became the centre of Jewish culture. It practically
exercised the judicial functions of the Sanhedrin (see JEWS, § 40 ad
fin.). That chief literary expression of Pharisaism, the Mishnah, was
the outcome of the work begun at Jamnia. Johanan solaced his disciples
on the fall of the Temple by the double thought that charity could
replace sacrifice, and that a life devoted to the religious law could
form a fitting continuation of the old theocratic state. "Johanan felt
the fall of his people more deeply than anyone else, but--and in this
lies his historical importance--he did more than any one else to prepare
the way for Israel to rise again" (Bacher).
See Graetz, _History of the Jews_ (Eng. trans.), vol. ii. ch. xiii.;
Weiss, _Dor dor ve-doreshav_, ii. 36; Bacher, _Die Agada der
Tannaiten_, vol. i. ch. iii. (I. A.)
JOHANNESBURG, a city of the Transvaal and the centre of the Rand
gold-mining industry. It is the most populous city and the commercial
capital of South Africa. It is built on the southern slopes of the
Witwatersrand in 26° 11´ S. 28° 2´ E., at an elevation of 5764 ft. above
the sea. The distances by rail from Johannesburg to the following
seaports are: Lourenço Marques, 364 m.; Durban, 483 m.; East London, 659
m.; Port Elizabeth, 714 m.; Cape Town, 957 m. Pretoria is, by rail, 46
m. N. by E.
The town lies immediately north of the central part of the main gold
reef. The streets run in straight lines east and west or north and
south. The chief open spaces are Market Square in the west and
Government Square in the south of the town. Park railway station lies
north of the business quarter, and farther north are the Wanderers'
athletic sports ground and Joubert's Park. The chief business streets,
such as Commissioner Street, Market Street, President Street and
Pritchard Street, run east and west. In these thoroughfares and in
several of the streets which intersect them are the offices of the
mining companies, the banks, clubs, newspaper offices, hotels and shops,
the majority being handsome stone or brick buildings, while the survival
of some wooden shanties and corrugated iron buildings recalls the early
character of the town.
_Chief Buildings, &c._--In the centre of Market Square are the market
buildings, and at its east end the post and telegraph offices, a
handsome block of buildings with a façade 200 ft. long and a tower 106
ft. high. The square itself, a quarter of a mile long, is the largest in
South Africa. The offices of the Witwatersrand chamber of mines face the
market buildings. The stock exchange is in Marshall Square. The
telephone exchange is in the centre of the city, in Von Brandis Square.
The law courts are in the centre of Government Square. The Transvaal
university college is in Plein Square, a little south of Park station.
In the vicinity is St Mary's (Anglican) parish hall (1905-1907), the
first portion of a large building planned to take the place of "Old" St
Mary's Church, the "mother" church of the Rand, built in 1887. The chief
Jewish synagogue is in the same neighbourhood. In Kerk Street, on the
outskirts of central Johannesburg, is the Roman Catholic Church of the
Immaculate Conception, the headquarters of the vicar apostolic of the
Transvaal. North of Joubert's Park is the general hospital, and beyond,
near the crest of the hills, commanding the town and the road to
Pretoria, is a fort built by the Boer government and now used as a gaol.
On the hills, some 3 m. E.N.E. of the town, is the observatory, built in
1903. Johannesburg has several theatres and buildings adapted for public
meetings. There is a race-course 2 m. south of the town under the
control of the Johannesburg Turf Club.
_The Suburbs._--North, east and west of the city proper are suburbs,
laid out on the same rectangular plan. The most fashionable are to the
east and north--Jeppestown, Belgravia, Doornfontein, the Berea,
Hillbrow, Parktown, Yeoville and Bellevue. Braamfontein (with a large
cemetery) lies north-west and Fordsburg due west of the city. At
Fordsburg are the gas and electric light and power works, and north of
Doornfontein there is a large reservoir. There are also on the Rand, and
dependent on the gold-mining, three towns possessing separate
municipalities--Germiston and Boksburg (q.v.), respectively 9 m. and 15
m. E. of Johannesburg, and Krugersdorp (q.v.), 21 m. W.
_The Mines and other Industries._--South, east and west of the city are
the gold mines, indicated by tall chimneys, battery houses and the
compounds of the labourers. The bare veld is dotted with these unsightly
buildings for a distance of over fifty miles. The mines are worked on
the most scientific lines. Characteristic of the Rand is the fine white
dust arising from the crushing of the ore, and, close to the batteries,
the incessant din caused by the stamps employed in that operation. The
compounds in general, especially those originally made for Chinese
labourers, are well built, comfortable, and fulfil every hygienic
requirement. Besides the buildings, the compounds include wide stretches
of veld. To enter and remain in the district, Kaffirs require a monthly
pass for which the employer pays 2s. (For details of gold-mining, see
GOLD.) A railway traverses the Rand, going westward past Krugersdorp to
Klerksdorp and thence to Kimberley, and eastward past Springs to Delagoa
Bay. From Springs, 25 m. E. of Johannesburg, is obtained much of the
coal used in the Rand mines.
The mines within the municipal area produce nearly half the total gold
output of the Transvaal. The other industries of Johannesburg include
brewing; printing and bookbinding, timber sawing, flour milling, iron
and brass founding, brick making and the manufacture of tobacco.
_Health, Education and Social Conditions._--The elevation of
Johannesburg makes it, despite its nearness to the tropics, a healthy
place for European habitation. Built on open undulating ground, the town
is, however, subject to frequent dust storms and to considerable
variations in the temperature. The nights in winter are frosty and snow
falls occasionally. The average day temperature in winter is 53° F., in
summer 75°; the average annual rainfall is 28 in. The death-rate among
white inhabitants averages about 17 per thousand. The principal causes
of death, both among the white and coloured inhabitants, are diseases of
the lungs--including miners' phthisis and pneumonia--diarrhoea,
dysentery and enteric. The death-rate among young children is very high.
Education is provided in primary and secondary schools maintained by the
state. In the primary schools education is free but not compulsory. The
Transvaal university college, founded in 1904 as the technical institute
(the change of title being made in 1906), provides full courses in
science, mining, engineering and law. In 1906 Alfred Beit (q.v.)
bequeathed £200,000 towards the cost of erecting and equipping
university buildings.
In its social life Johannesburg differs widely from Cape Town and
Durban. The white population is not only far larger but more
cosmopolitan, less stationary and more dependent on a single industry;
it has few links with the past, and both city and citizens bear the
marks of youth. The cost of living is much higher than in London or New
York. House rent, provisions, clothing, are all very dear, and more than
counter-balance the lowness of rates. The customary unit of expenditure
is the threepenny-bit or "tickey."
_Sanitary and other Services._--There is an ample supply of water to the
town and mines, under a water board representing all the Rand
municipalities and the mining companies. A water-borne sewerage system
began to be introduced in 1906. The general illuminant is electricity,
and both electrical and gas services are owned by the municipality. The
tramway service, opened in 1891, was taken over by the municipality in
1904. Up to 1906 the trams were horse-drawn; in that year electric cars
began running. Rickshaws are also a favourite means of conveyance. The
police force is controlled by the government.
_Area, Government and Rateable Value._--The city proper covers about 6
sq. m. The municipal boundary extends in every direction some 5 m. from
Market Square, encloses about 82 sq. m. and includes several of the
largest mines. The local government is carried on by an elected
municipal council, the franchise being restricted to white British
subjects (men and women) who rent or own property of a certain value. In
1908 the rateable value of the municipality was £36,466,644, the rate
2¼d. in the £, and the town debt £5,500,000.
_Population._--In 1887 the population was about 3000. By the beginning
of 1890 it had increased to over 25,000. A census taken in July 1896
showed a population within a radius of 3 m. from Market Square of
102,078, of whom 50,907 were whites. At the census of April 1904 the
inhabitants of the city proper numbered 99,022, the population within
the municipal area being 155,642, of whom 83,363 were whites. Of the
white inhabitants, 35% were of British origin, 51,629 were males, and
31,734 females. Of persons aged sixteen or over, the number of males was
almost double the number of females. The coloured population included
about 7000 British Indians--chiefly small traders. A municipal census
taken in August 1908 gave the following result: whites 95,162; natives
and coloured 78,781; Asiatics 6780--total 180,687.
_History._--Johannesburg owes its existence to the discovery of gold in
the Witwatersrand reefs. The town, named after Johannes Rissik, then
surveyor-general of the Transvaal, was founded in September 1886, the
first buildings being erected on the part of the reef where are now the
Ferreira and Wemmer mines. These buildings were found to cover valuable
ore, and in December following the Boer government marked out the site
of the city proper, and possession of the plots was given to purchasers
on the 1st of January 1887. The exploitation of the mines led to a rapid
development of the town during the next three years. The year 1890 was
one of great depression following the exhaustion of the surface ore, but
the provision of better machinery and cheaper coal led to a revival in
1891. By 1892 the leading mines had proved their dividend-earning
capacity, and in 1895 there was a great "boom" in the shares of the
mining companies. The linking of the town to the seaports by railways
during 1892-1895 gave considerable impetus to the gold-mining industry.
Material prosperity was accompanied, however, by political, educational
and other disadvantages, and the desire of the Johannesburgers--most of
whom were foreigners or "Uitlanders"--to remedy the grievances under
which they suffered led, in January 1896, to an abortive rising against
the Boer government (see TRANSVAAL: _History_). One result of this
movement was a slight advance in municipal self-government. Since 1887
the management of the town had been entrusted to a nominated sanitary
board, under the chairmanship of the mining commissioner appointed by
the South African Republic. In 1890 elected members had been admitted to
this board, but at the end of 1897 an elective _stadsraad_ (town
council) was constituted, though its functions were strictly limited.
There was a great development in the mining industry during 1897-1898
and 1899, the value of the gold extracted in 1898 exceeding £15,000,000,
but the political situation grew worse, and in September 1899, owing to
the imminence of war between the Transvaal and Great Britain, the
majority of the Uitlanders fled from the city. Between October 1899,
when war broke out, and the 31st of May 1900, when the city was taken by
the British, the Boer government worked certain mines for their own
benefit. After a period of military administration and of government by
a nominated town council, an ordinance was passed in June 1903 providing
for elective municipal councils, and in December following the first
election to the new council took place. In 1905 the town was divided
into wards. In that year the number of municipal voters was 23,338. In
1909 the proportional representation system was adopted in the election
of town councillors.
During 1901-1903, while the war was still in progress or but recently
concluded, the gold output was comparatively slight. The difficulty in
obtaining sufficient labour for the mines led to a successful agitation
for the importation of coolies from China (see TRANSVAAL: _History_).
During 1904-1906 over 50,000 coolies were brought to the mines, a
greatly increased output being the result, the value of the gold
extracted in 1905 exceeding £20,000,000. Notwithstanding the increased
production of gold, Johannesburg during 1905-1907 passed through a
period of severe commercial depression, the result in part of the
unsettled political situation. In June 1907 the repatriation of the
Chinese coolies began; it was completed in February 1910.
An excellent compilation, entitled _Johannesburg Statistics_, dealing
with almost every phase of the city's life, is issued monthly (since
January 1905) by the town council. See also the _Post Office
Directory, Transvaal_ (Johannesburg, annually), which contains
specially prepared maps, and the annual reports of the Johannesburg
chamber of commerce. For the political history of Johannesburg, see
the bibliography under TRANSVAAL.
JOHANNISBERG, a village of Germany, in the Prussian province of
Hesse-Nassau, in the Rheingau, on the right bank of the Rhine, 6 m. S.
of Rüdesheim by railway. The place is mainly celebrated for the
beautiful Schloss which crowns a hill overlooking the Rhine valley, and
is surrounded by vineyards yielding the famous Johannisberger wine. The
Schloss, built in 1757-1759 by the abbots of Fulda on the site of a
Benedictine monastery founded in 1090, was bestowed, in 1807, by
Napoleon upon Marshal Kellermann. In 1814 it was given by Francis,
emperor of Austria, to Prince Metternich, in whose family it still
remains.
JOHN (Heb. [Hebrew: Yohanan]), _Yohanan_, "Yahweh has been gracious,"
Gr. [Greek: Iôannês], Lat. _Joannes_, Ital. _Giovanni_, Span. _Juan_,
Port. _João_, Fr. _Jean_, Ger. _Johannes_, _Johann_ [abbr. _Hans_],
Gael. _Ian_, Pol. and Czech _Jan_, Hung. _János_), a masculine proper
name common in all Christian countries, its popularity being due to its
having been borne by the "Beloved Disciple" of Christ, St John the
Evangelist, and by the forerunner of Christ, St John the Baptist. It has
been the name of twenty-two popes--the style of Popes John XXII. and
XXIII. being due to an error in the number assumed by John XXI.
(q.v.)--and of many sovereigns, princes, &c. The order followed in the
biographical notices below is as follows: (1) the Apostle, (2) the
Baptist, (3) popes, (4) Roman emperors, (5) kings; John of England
first, the rest in the alphabetical order of their countries, (6) other
sovereign princes, (7) non-sovereign princes, (8) saints, (9)
theologians, chroniclers, &c. These princes who are known by a name in
addition to John (John Albert, &c.) will be found after the article
JOHN, GOSPEL OF.
JOHN, THE APOSTLE, in the Bible, was the son of Zebedee, a Galilean
fisherman, and Salome. It is probable that he was born at Bethsaida,
where along with his brother James he followed his father's occupation.
The family appears to have been in easy circumstances; at least we find
that Zebedee employed hired servants, and that Salome was among those
women who contributed to the maintenance of Jesus (Mark i. 20, xv. 40,
41, xvi. 1). John's "call" to follow our Lord occurred simultaneously
with that addressed to his brother, and shortly after that addressed to
the brothers Andrew and Simon Peter (Mark i. 19, 20). John speedily took
his place among the twelve apostles, sharing with James the title of
Boanerges ("sons of thunder," perhaps strictly "sons of anger," i.e. men
readily angered), and became a member of that inner circle to which, in
addition to his brother, Peter alone belonged (Mark v. 37, ix. 2, xiv.
33). John appears throughout the synoptic record as a zealous, fiery
Jew-Christian. It is he who indignantly complains to Jesus, "We saw one
casting out devils in Thy name, and he followeth not us," and tells Him,
"We forbade him" for that reason (Mark ix. 38); and who with his
brother, when a Samaritan village will not receive Jesus, asks Him,
"Wilt thou that we command fire to come down from heaven and consume
them?" (Luke ix. 54). The book of Acts confirms this tradition. After
the departure of Jesus, John appears as present in Jerusalem with Peter
and the other apostles (i. 13); is next to Peter the most prominent
among those who bear testimony to the fact of the resurrection (iii.
12-26, iv. 13, 19-22); and is sent with Peter to Samaria, to confirm the
newly converted Christians there (viii. 14, 25). St Paul tells us
similarly that when, on his second visit to Jerusalem, "James," the
Lord's brother, "and Cephas and John, who were considered pillars,
perceived the grace that was given unto me, they gave to me and Barnabas
the right hand of fellowship, that we should go unto the heathen, and
they unto the circumcision" (Gal. ii. 9). John thus belonged in 46-47 to
the Jewish-Christian school; but we do not know whether to the stricter
group of James or to the milder group of Peter (ibid. ii. 11-14).
The subsequent history of the apostle is obscure. Polycrates, bishop of
Ephesus (in Euseb., _H. E._ iii. 31; v. 24), attests in 196 that John
"who lay on the bosom of the Lord rests at Ephesus"; but previously in
this very sentence he has declared that "Philip one of the twelve
apostles rests in Hierapolis," although Eusebius (doubtless rightly)
identifies this Philip not with the apostle but with the
deacon-evangelist of Acts xxi. 8. Polycrates also declares that John was
a priest wearing the [Greek: petalon] (gold plate) that distinguished
the high-priestly mitre. Irenaeus in various passages of his works,
181-191, holds a similar tradition. He says that John lived up to the
time of Trajan and published his gospel in Ephesus, and identifies the
apostle with John the disciple of the Lord, who wrote the Apocalypse
under Domitian, whom Irenaeus's teacher Polycarp had known personally
and of whom Polycarp had much to tell. These traditions are accepted and
enlarged by later authors, Tertullian adding that John was banished to
Patmos after he had miraculously survived the punishment of immersion in
burning oil. As it is evident that legend was busy with John as early as
the time of Polycrates, the real worth of these traditions requires to
be tested by examination of their ultimate source. This inquiry has been
pressed upon scholars since the apostolic authorship of the Apocalypse
or of the Fourth Gospel, or of both these works, has been disputed. (See
JOHN, GOSPEL OF, and REVELATION, BOOK OF.) The question has not been
strictly one between advanced and conservative criticism, for the
Tübingen school recognized the Apocalypse as apostolic, and found in it
a confirmation of John's residence in Ephesus. On the other hand,
Lützelberger (1840), Th. Keim (_Jesus v. Naz._, vol. i., 1867), J. H.
Scholten (1872), H. J. Holtzmann (esp. in _Einl. in d. N. T._, 3rd ed.,
1902), and other recent writers, wholly reject the tradition. It has had
able defenders in Steitz (_Stud. u. Krit._, 1868), Hilgenfeld (_Einl._,
1875) and Lightfoot (_Essays on Supernatural Religion_, collected 1889).
W. Sanday (_Criticism of Fourth Gospel_, 1905) makes passing admissions
eloquent as to the strength of the negative position; whilst amongst
Roman Catholic scholars, A. Loisy (_Le 4me. Ev._, 1903) stands with
Holtzmann, and Th. Calmes (_Ev. selon S. Jean_, 1904, 1906) and L.
Duchesne (_Hist. anc. de l'Egl._, 1906) exhibit, with papal
approbation, the inconclusiveness of the conservative arguments.
The opponents of the tradition lay weight on the absence of positive
evidence before the latter part of the 2nd century, especially in Papias
and in the epistles of Ignatius and of Irenaeus's authority, Polycarp.
They find it necessary to assume that Irenaeus mistook Polycarp; but
this is not a difficult task, since already Eusebius (c. 310-313) is
compelled to point out that Papias testifies to two Johns, the Apostle
and a presbyter, and that Irenaeus is mistaken in identifying those two
Johns, and in holding that Papias had seen John the Apostle (_H. E._
iii. 39, 5, 2). Irenaeus tells us, doubtless correctly, that Papias was
"the companion of Polycarp": this fact alone would suffice, given his
two mistakes concerning Papias, to make Irenaeus decide that Polycarp
had seen John the Apostle. The chronicler George the Monk (Hamartolus)
in the 9th century, and an epitome dating from the 7th or 8th century
but probably based on the _Chronicle_ of Philip of Side (c. 430),
declare, on the authority of the second book of Papias, that John the
Zebedean was killed by Jews (presumably in 60-70). Adolf Harnack,
_Chron. d. altchr. Litt._ (1897), pp. 656-680), rejects the assertion;
but the number of scholars who accept it as correct is distinctly on the
increase. (F. v. H.)
JOHN THE BAPTIST, in the Bible, the "forerunner" of Jesus Christ in the
Gospel story. By his preaching and teaching he evidently made a great
impression upon his contemporaries (cf. Josephus, _Ant._ xviii., § 5).
According to the birth-narrative embodied in Luke i. and ii., he was
born in "a city of Judah" in "the hill country" (possibly Hebron[1]) of
priestly parentage. His father Zacharias was a priest "of the course of
Abijah," and his mother Elizabeth, who was also of priestly descent, was
related to Mary, the mother of Jesus, whose senior John was by six
months. This narrative of the Baptist's birth seems to embody some very
primitive features, Hebraic and Palestinian in character, and possibly
at one time independent of the Christian tradition. In the apocryphal
gospels John is sometimes made the subject of special miraculous
experiences (e.g. in the _Protevangelium Jacobi_, ch. xxii., where
Elizabeth fleeing from Herod's assassins cried: "Mount of God, receive a
mother with her child," and suddenly the mountain was divided and
received her).
In his 30th year (15th year of the emperor Tiberius, ? A.D. 25-26) John
began his public life in the "wilderness of Judaea," the wild district
that lies between the Kedron and the Dead Sea, and particularly in the
neighbourhood of the Jordan, where multitudes were attracted by his
eloquence. The central theme of his preaching was, according to the
Synoptic Gospels, the nearness of the coming of the Messianic kingdom,
and the consequent urgency for preparation by repentance. John was
evidently convinced that he himself had received the divine commission
to bring to a close and complete the prophetic period, by inaugurating
the Messianic age. He identified himself with the "voice" of Isa. xl. 3.
Noteworthy features of his preaching were its original and prophetic
character, and its high ethical tone, as shown e.g. in its
anti-Pharisaic denunciation of trust in mere racial privilege (Matt.
iii. 9). Herein also lay, probably, the true import of the baptism which
he administered to those who accepted his message and confessed their
sins. It was an act symbolizing moral purification (cf. Ezek. xxxvi. 25;
Zech. xiii. 1) by way of preparation for the coming "kingdom of heaven,"
and implied that the Jew so baptized no longer rested in his privileged
position as a child of Abraham. John's appearance, costume and habits of
life, together with the tone of his preaching, all suggest the prophetic
character. He was popularly regarded as a prophet, more especially as a
second Elijah. His preaching awoke a great popular response,
particularly among the masses of the people, "the people of the land."
He had disciples who fasted (Mark ii. 18, &c.), who visited him
regularly in prison (Matt. xi. 2, xiv. 12), and to whom he taught
special forms of prayer (Luke v. 33, xi. 1). Some of these afterwards
became followers of Christ (John i. 37). John's activity indeed had
far-reaching effects. It profoundly influenced the Messianic movement
depicted in the Gospels. The preaching of Jesus shows traces of this,
and the Fourth Gospel (as well as the Synoptists) displays a marked
interest in connecting the Johannine movement with the beginnings of
Christianity. The fact that after the lapse of a quarter of a century
there were Christians in Ephesus who accepted John's baptism (Acts
xviii. 25, xix. 3) is highly significant. This influence also persisted
in later times. Christ's estimate of John (Matt. xi. 7 seq.) was a very
high one. He also pointedly alludes to John's work and the people's
relation to it, in many sayings and parables (sometimes in a tone of
irony). The duration of John's ministry cannot be determined with
certainty: it terminated in his imprisonment in the fortress of
Machaerus, to which he had been committed by Herod Antipas, whose
incestuous marriage with Herodias, the Baptist had sternly rebuked. His
execution cannot with safety be placed later than A.D. 28.
In the church calendar this event is commemorated on the 29th of August.
According to tradition he was buried at Samaria (Theodoret, _H. E._ iii.
3). (G. H. Bo.)