JOHN THE BAPTIST--VISIT OF JESUS TO JOHN, AND HIS ABODE IN THE DESERT
OF JUDEA--ADOPTION OF THE BAPTISM OF JOHN.
An extraordinary man, whose position, from the absence of documentary
evidence, remains to us in some degree enigmatical, appeared about
this time, and was unquestionably to some extent connected with Jesus.
This connection tended rather to make the young prophet of Nazareth
deviate from his path; but it suggested many important accessories to
his religious institution, and, at all events, furnished a very strong
authority to his disciples in recommending their Master in the eyes of
a certain class of Jews.
About the year 28 of our era (the fifteenth year of the reign of
Tiberius) there spread throughout Palestine the reputation of a
certain Johanan, or John, a young ascetic full of zeal and enthusiasm.
John was of the priestly race,[1] and born, it seems, at Juttah near
Hebron, or at Hebron itself.[2] Hebron, the patriarchal city _par
excellence_, situated at a short distance from the desert of Judea,
and within a few hours' journey of the great desert of Arabia, was at
this period what it is to-day--one of the bulwarks of Semitic ideas,
in their most austere form. From his infancy, John was _Nazir_--that
is to say, subjected by vow to certain abstinences.[3] The desert by
which he was, so to speak, surrounded, early attracted him.[4] He led
there the life of a Yogi of India, clothed with skins or stuffs of
camel's hair, having for food only locusts and wild honey.[5] A
certain number of disciples were grouped around him, sharing his life
and studying his severe doctrine. We might imagine ourselves
transported to the banks of the Ganges, if particular traits had not
revealed in this recluse the last descendant of the great prophets of
Israel.
[Footnote 1: Luke i. 5; passage from the Gospel of the Ebionites,
preserved by Epiphanius, (_Adv. Hær._, xxx. 13.)]
[Footnote 2: Luke i. 39. It has been suggested, not without
probability, that "the city of Juda" mentioned in this passage of
Luke, is the town of _Jutta_ (Josh. xv. 55, xxi. 16). Robinson
(_Biblical Researches_, i. 494, ii. 206) has discovered this _Jutta_,
still bearing the same name, at two hours' journey south of Hebron.]
[Footnote 3: Luke i. 15.]
[Footnote 4: Luke i. 80.]
[Footnote 5: Matt. iii. 4; Mark i. 6; fragm. of the Gospel of the
Ebionites, in Epiph., _Adv. Hær._, xxx. 13.]
From the time that the Jewish nation had begun to reflect upon its
destiny with a kind of despair, the imagination of the people had
reverted with much complacency to the ancient prophets. Now, of all
the personages of the past, the remembrance of whom came like the
dreams of a troubled night to awaken and agitate the people, the
greatest was Elias. This giant of the prophets, in his rough solitude
of Carmel, sharing the life of savage beasts, dwelling in the hollows
of the rocks, whence he came like a thunderbolt, to make and unmake
kings, had become, by successive transformations, a sort of superhuman
being, sometimes visible, sometimes invisible, and as one who had not
tasted death. It was generally believed that Elias would return and
restore Israel.[1] The austere life which he had led, the terrible
remembrances he had left behind him--the impression of which is still
powerful in the East[2]--the sombre image which, even in our own time,
causes trembling and death--all this mythology, full of vengeance and
terror, vividly struck the mind of the people, and stamped as with a
birth-mark all the creations of the popular mind. Whoever aspired to
act powerfully upon the people, must imitate Elias; and, as solitary
life had been the essential characteristic of this prophet, they were
accustomed to conceive "the man of God" as a hermit. They imagined
that all the holy personages had had their days of penitence, of
solitude, and of austerity.[3] The retreat to the desert thus became
the condition and the prelude of high destinies.
[Footnote 1: Malachi iv. 5, 6; (iii. 23, 24, according to the Vulg.);
_Ecclesiasticus_ xlviii. 10; Matt. xvi. 14, xvii. 10, and following;
Mark vi. 15, viii. 28, ix. 10, and following; Luke ix. 8, 19; John i.
21, 25.]
[Footnote 2: The ferocious Abdallah, pacha of St. Jean d'Acre, nearly
died from fright at seeing him in a dream, standing erect on his
mountain. In the pictures of the Christian churches, he is surrounded
with decapitated heads. The Mussulmans dread him.]
[Footnote 3: _Isaiah_ ii. 9-11.]
No doubt this thought of imitation had occupied John's mind.[1] The
anchorite life, so opposed to the spirit of the ancient Jewish people,
and with which the vows, such as those of the Nazirs and the
Rechabites, had no relation, pervaded all parts of Judea. The Essenes
or Therapeutæ were grouped near the birthplace of John, on the eastern
shores of the Dead Sea.[2] It was imagined that the chiefs of sects
ought to be recluses, having rules and institutions of their own, like
the founders of religious orders. The teachers of the young were also
at times species of anchorites,[3] somewhat resembling the
_gourous_[4] of Brahminism. In fact, might there not in this be a
remote influence of the _mounis_ of India? Perhaps some of those
wandering Buddhist monks who overran the world, as the first
Franciscans did in later times, preaching by their actions and
converting people who knew not their language, might have turned their
steps toward Judea, as they certainly did toward Syria and Babylon?[5]
On this point we have no certainty. Babylon had become for some time a
true focus of Buddhism. Boudasp (Bodhisattva) was reputed a wise
Chaldean, and the founder of Sabeism. _Sabeism_ was, as its etymology
indicates,[6] _baptism_--that is to say, the religion of many
baptisms--the origin of the sect still existing called "Christians of
St. John," or Mendaites, which the Arabs call _el-Mogtasila_, "the
Baptists."[7] It is difficult to unravel these vague analogies. The
sects floating between Judaism, Christianity, Baptism, and Sabeism,
which we find in the region beyond the Jordan during the first
centuries of our era,[8] present to criticism the most singular
problem, in consequence of the confused accounts of them which have
come down to us. We may believe, at all events, that many of the
external practices of John, of the Essenes,[9] and of the Jewish
spiritual teachers of this time, were derived from influences then but
recently received from the far East. The fundamental practice which
characterized the sect of John, and gave it its name, has always had
its centre in lower Chaldea, and constitutes a religion which is
perpetuated there to the present day.
[Footnote 1: Luke i. 17.]
[Footnote 2: Pliny, _Hist. Nat._, v. 17; Epiph., _Adv. Hær._, xix. 1
and 2.]
[Footnote 3: Josephus, _Vita_, 2.]
[Footnote 4: Spiritual preceptors.]
[Footnote 5: I have developed this point elsewhere. _Hist. Génér. des
Langues Sémitiques_, III. iv. 1; _Journ. Asiat._, February-March,
1856.]
[Footnote 6: The Aramean word _seba_, origin of the name of _Sabians_,
is synonymous with [Greek: baptizô].]
[Footnote 7: I have treated of this at greater length in the _Journal
Asiatique_, Nov.-Dec., 1853, and August-Sept., 1855. It is remarkable
that the Elchasaïtes, a Sabian or Baptist sect, inhabited the same
district as the Essenes, (the eastern bank of the Dead Sea), and were
confounded with them (Epiph., _Adv. Hær._, xix. 1, 2, 4, xxx. 16, 17,
liii. 1, 2; _Philosophumena_, IX. iii. 15, 16, X. xx. 29).]
[Footnote 8: See the remarks of Epiphanius on the Essenes,
Hemero-Baptists, Nazarites, Ossenes, Nazarenes, Ebionites, Samsonites
(_Adv. Hær._, books i. and ii.), and those of the author of the
_Philosophumena_ on the Elchasaïtes (books ix. and x).]
[Footnote 9: Epiph., _Adv. Hær._, xix., xxx., liii.]
This practice was baptism, or total immersion. Ablutions were already
familiar to the Jews, as they were to all religions of the East.[1]
The Essenes had given them a peculiar extension.[2] Baptism had become
an ordinary ceremony on the introduction of proselytes into the bosom
of the Jewish religion, a sort of initiatory rite.[3] Never before
John the Baptist, however, had either this importance or this form
been given to immersion. John had fixed the scene of his activity in
that part of the desert of Judea which is in the neighborhood of the
Dead Sea.[4] At the periods when he administered baptism, he went to
the banks of the Jordan,[5] either to Bethany or Bethabara,[6] upon
the eastern shore, probably opposite to Jericho, or to a place called
_Ænon_, or "the Fountains,"[7] near Salim, where there was much
water.[8] Considerable crowds, especially of the tribe of Judah,
hastened to him to be baptized.[9] In a few months he thus became one
of the most influential men in Judea, and acquired much importance in
the general estimation.
[Footnote 1: Mark vii. 4; Jos., _Ant._, XVIII. v. 2; Justin, _Dial.
cum Tryph._, 17, 29, 80; Epiph., _Adv. Hær._, xvii.]
[Footnote 2: Jos., _B.J._, II. viii. 5, 7, 9, 13.]
[Footnote 3: Mishnah, _Pesachim_, viii. 8; Talmud of Babylon,
_Jebamoth_, 46 _b_; _Kerithuth_, 9 _a_; _Aboda Zara_, 57 _a_;
_Masséket Gérim_ (edit. Kirchheim, 1851), pp. 38-40.]
[Footnote 4: Matt. iii. 1; Mark i. 4.]
[Footnote 5: Luke iii. 3.]
[Footnote 6: John i. 28, iii. 26. All the manuscripts say _Bethany_;
but, as no one knows of Bethany in these places, Origen (_Comment. in
Joann._, vi. 24) has proposed to substitute _Bethabara_, and his
correction has been generally accepted. The two words have, moreover,
analogous meanings, and seem to indicate a place where there was a
ferry-boat to cross the river.]
[Footnote 7: _Ænon_ is the Chaldean plural, _Ænawan_, "fountains."]
[Footnote 8: John iii. 23. The locality of this place is doubtful. The
circumstance mentioned by the evangelist would lead us to believe that
it was not very near the Jordan. Nevertheless, the synoptics are
agreed in placing the scene of the baptisms of John on the banks of
that river (Matt. iii. 6; Mark i. 5; Luke iii. 3). The comparison of
verses 22 and 23 of chap. iii. of John, and of verses 3 and 4 of chap.
iv. of the same Gospel, would lead us to believe that Salim was in
Judea, and consequently in the oasis of Jericho, near the mouth of the
Jordan; since it would be difficult to find in any other district of
the tribe of Judah a single natural basin in which any one might be
totally immersed. Saint Jerome wishes to place Salim much more north,
near Beth-Schean or Scythopolis. But Robinson (_Bibl. Res._, iii. 333)
has not been able to find anything at these places that justifies this
assertion.]
[Footnote 9: Mark i. 5; Josephus, _Ant._, XVIII. v. 2.]
The people took him for a prophet,[1] and many imagined that it was
Elias who had risen again.[2] The belief in these resurrections was
widely spread;[3] it was thought that God would raise from the tomb
certain of the ancient prophets to guide Israel toward its final
destiny. Others held John to be the Messiah himself, although he made
no such pretensions.[4] The priests and the scribes, opposed to this
revival of prophetism, and the constant enemies of enthusiasts,
despised him. But the popularity of the Baptist awed them, and they
dared not speak against him.[5] It was a victory which the ideas of
the multitude gained over the priestly aristocracy. When the chief
priests were compelled to declare themselves explicitly on this point,
they were considerably embarrassed.[6]
[Footnote 1: Matt. xiv. 5, xxi. 26.]
[Footnote 2: Matt. vi. 14; Mark vi. 15; John i. 21.]
[Footnote 3: Matt. xiv. 2; Luke ix. 8.]
[Footnote 4: Luke iii. 15, and following; John i. 20.]
[Footnote 5: Matt. xxi. 25, and following; Luke vii. 30.]
[Footnote 6: Matt., _loc. cit._]
Baptism with John was only a sign destined to make an impression, and
to prepare the minds of the people for some great movement. No doubt
he was possessed in the highest degree with the Messianic hope, and
that his principal action was in accordance with it. "Repent," said
he, "for the kingdom of heaven is at hand."[1] He announced a "great
wrath," that is to say, terrible calamities which should come to
pass,[2] and declared that the axe was already laid at the root of the
tree, and that the tree would soon be cast into the fire. He
represented the Messiah with a fan in his hand, collecting the good
wheat and burning the chaff. Repentance, of which baptism was the
type, the giving of alms, the reformation of habits,[3] were in John's
view the great means of preparation for the coming events, though we
do not know exactly in what light he conceived them. It is, however,
certain that he preached with much power against the same adversaries
as Jesus, against rich priests, the Pharisees, the doctors, in one
word, against official Judaism; and that, like Jesus, he was specially
welcomed by the despised classes.[4] He made no account of the title
"son of Abraham," and said that God could raise up sons unto Abraham
from the stones of the road.[5] It does not seem that he possessed
even the germ of the great idea which led to the triumph of Jesus, the
idea of a pure religion; but he powerfully served this idea in
substituting a private rite for the legal ceremonies which required
priests, as the Flagellants of the Middle Ages were the precursors of
the Reformation, by depriving the official clergy of the monopoly of
the sacraments and of absolution. The general tone of his sermons was
stern and severe. The expressions which he used against his
adversaries appear to have been most violent.[6] It was a harsh and
continuous invective. It is probable that he did not remain quite a
stranger to politics. Josephus, who, through his teacher Banou, was
brought into almost direct connection with John, suggests as much by
his ambiguous words,[7] and the catastrophe which put an end to John's
life seems to imply this. His disciples led a very austere life,[8]
fasted often, and affected a sad and anxious demeanor. We have at
times glimpses of communism--the rich man being ordered to share all
that he had with the poor.[9] The poor man appeared as the one who
would be specially benefited by the kingdom of God.
[Footnote 1: Matt. iii. 2.]
[Footnote 2: Matt. iii. 7.]
[Footnote 3: Luke iii. 11-14; Josephus, _Ant._ XVIII. v. 2.]
[Footnote 4: Matt. xxi. 32; Luke iii. 12-14.]
[Footnote 5: Matt. iii. 9.]
[Footnote 6: Matt. iii. 7; Luke iii. 7.]
[Footnote 7: _Ant._ XVIII. v. 2. We must observe that, when Josephus
described the secret and more or less seditious doctrines of his
countrymen, he suppressed everything which had reference to the
Messianic beliefs, and, in order not to give umbrage to the Romans,
spread over these doctrines a vulgar and commonplace air, which made
all the heads of Jewish sects appear as mere professors of morals or
stoics.]
[Footnote 8: Matt. ix. 14.]
[Footnote 9: Luke iii. 11.]
Although the centre of John's action was Judea, his fame quickly
penetrated to Galilee and reached Jesus, who, by his first discourses,
had already gathered around himself a small circle of hearers.
Enjoying as yet little authority, and doubtless impelled by the desire
to see a teacher whose instruction had so much in common with his own,
Jesus quitted Galilee and repaired with his small group of disciples
to John.[1] The newcomers were baptized like every one else. John
welcomed this group of Galilean disciples, and did not object to their
remaining distinct from his own. The two teachers were young; they had
many ideas in common; they loved one another, and publicly vied with
each other in exhibitions of kindly feeling. At the first glance, such
a fact surprises us in John the Baptist, and we are tempted to call it
in question. Humility has never been a feature of strong Jewish minds.
It might have been expected that a character so stubborn, a sort of
Lamennais always irritated, would be very passionate, and suffer
neither rivalry nor half adhesion. But this manner of viewing things
rests upon a false conception of the person of John. We imagine him an
old man; he was, on the contrary, of the same age as Jesus,[2] and
very young according to the ideas of the time. In mental development,
he was the brother rather than the father of Jesus. The two young
enthusiasts, full of the same hopes and the same hatreds, were able to
make common cause, and mutually to support each other. Certainly an
aged teacher, seeing a man without celebrity approach him, and
maintain toward him an aspect of independence, would have rebelled; we
have scarcely an example of a leader of a school receiving with
eagerness his future successor. But youth is capable of any sacrifice,
and we may admit that John, having recognized in Jesus a spirit akin
to his own, accepted him without any personal reservation. These good
relations became afterward the starting-point of a whole system
developed by the evangelists, which consisted in giving the Divine
mission of Jesus the primary basis of the attestation of John. Such
was the degree of authority acquired by the Baptist, that it was not
thought possible to find in the world a better guarantee. But far from
John abdicating in favor of Jesus, Jesus, during all the time that he
passed with him, recognized him as his superior, and only developed
his own genius with timidity.
[Footnote 1: Matt. iii. 13, and following; Mark i. 9, and following;
Luke iii. 21, and following; John i. 29, and following; iii. 22, and
following. The synoptics make Jesus come to John, before he had played
any public part. But if it is true, as they state, that John
recognized Jesus from the first and welcomed him, it must be supposed
that Jesus was already a somewhat renowned teacher. The fourth Gospel
brings Jesus to John twice, the first time while yet unknown, the
second time with a band of disciples. Without touching here the
question of the precise journeys of Jesus (an insoluble question,
seeing the contradictions of the documents and the little care the
evangelists had in being exact in such matters), and without denying
that Jesus might have made a journey to John when he had as yet no
notoriety, we adopt the information furnished by the fourth Gospel
(iii. 22, and following), namely, that Jesus, before beginning to
baptize like John, had formed a school. We must remember, besides,
that the first pages of the fourth Gospel are notes tacked together
without rigorous chronological arrangement.]
[Footnote 2: Luke i., although indeed all the details of the
narrative, especially those which refer to the relationship of John
with Jesus, are legendary.]
It seems, in fact, that, notwithstanding his profound originality,
Jesus, during some weeks at least, was the imitator of John. His way
as yet was not clear before him. At all times, moreover, Jesus yielded
much to opinion, and adopted many things which were not in exact
accordance with his own ideas, or for which he cared little, merely
because they were popular; but these accessories never injured his
principal idea, and were always subordinate to it. Baptism had been
brought by John into very great favor; Jesus thought himself obliged
to do like John; therefore he baptized, and his disciples baptized
also.[1] No doubt he accompanied baptism with preaching, similar to
that of John. The Jordan was thus covered on all sides with Baptists,
whose discourses were more or less successful. The pupil soon equaled
the master, and his baptism was much sought after. There was on this
subject some jealousy among the disciples;[2] the disciples of John
came to complain to him of the growing success of the young Galilean,
whose baptism would, they thought, soon supplant his own. But the two
teachers remained superior to this meanness. The superiority of John
was, besides, too indisputable for Jesus, still little known, to think
of contesting it. Jesus only wished to increase under John's
protection; and thought himself obliged, in order to gain the
multitude, to employ the external means which had given John such
astonishing success. When he recommenced to preach after John's
arrest, the first words put into his mouth are but the repetition of
one of the familiar phrases of the Baptist.[3] Many other of John's
expressions may be found repeated verbally in the discourses of
Jesus.[4] The two schools appear to have lived long on good terms with
each other;[5] and after the death of John, Jesus, as his trusty
friend, was one of the first to be informed of the event.[6]
[Footnote 1: John iii. 22-26, iv. 1, 2. The parenthesis of ver. 2
appears to be an interpolation, or perhaps a tardy scruple of John
correcting himself.]
[Footnote 2: John iii. 26, iv. 1.]
[Footnote 3: Matt. iii. 2, iv. 17.]
[Footnote 4: Matt. iii. 7, xii. 34, xxiii. 33.]
[Footnote 5: Matt. xi. 2-13.]
[Footnote 6: Matt. xiv. 12.]
John, in fact, was soon cut short in his prophetic career. Like the
ancient Jewish prophets, he was, in the highest degree, a censurer of
the established authorities.[1] The extreme vivacity with which he
expressed himself at their expense could not fail to bring him into
trouble. In Judea, John does not appear to have been disturbed by
Pilate; but in Perea, beyond the Jordan, he came into the territory of
Antipas. This tyrant was uneasy at the political leaven which was so
little concealed by John in his preaching. The great assemblages of
men gathered around the Baptist, by religious and patriotic
enthusiasm, gave rise to suspicion.[2] An entirely personal grievance
was also added to these motives of state, and rendered the death of
the austere censor inevitable.
[Footnote 1: Luke iii. 19.]
[Footnote 2: Jos., _Ant._, XVIII. v. 2.]
One of the most strongly marked characters of this tragical family of
the Herods was Herodias, granddaughter of Herod the Great. Violent,
ambitious, and passionate, she detested Judaism, and despised its
laws.[1] She had been married, probably against her will, to her uncle
Herod, son of Mariamne,[2] whom Herod the Great had disinherited,[3]
and who never played any public part. The inferior position of her
husband, in respect to the other persons of the family, gave her no
peace; she determined to be sovereign at whatever cost.[4] Antipas was
the instrument of whom she made use. This feeble man having become
desperately enamored of her, promised to marry her, and to repudiate
his first wife, daughter of Hareth, king of Petra, and emir of the
neighboring tribes of Perea. The Arabian princess, receiving a hint of
this design, resolved to fly. Concealing her intention, she pretended
that she wished to make a journey to Machero, in her father's
territory, and caused herself to be conducted thither by the officers
of Antipas.[5]
[Footnote 1: Jos., _Ant._, XVIII. v. 4.]
[Footnote 2: Matthew (chap. xiv. 3, in the Greek text) and Mark (chap.
vi. 17) have it that this was Philip; but this is certainly an
inadvertency (see Jos., _Ant._, XVIII. v. 1, 4). The wife of Philip
was Salome, daughter of Herodias.]
[Footnote 3: Jos., _Ant._, XVIII. iv. 2.]
[Footnote 4: Ibid., XVIII. vii. 1, 2, _B.J._, II. ix. 6.]
[Footnote 5: Ibid., XVIII. v. 1.]
Makaur,[1] or Machero, was a colossal fortress built by Alexander
Jannaeus, and rebuilt by Herod, in one of the most abrupt wâdys to the
east of the Dead Sea.[2] It was a wild and desolate country, filled
with strange legends, and believed to be haunted by demons.[3] The
fortress was just on the boundary of the lands of Hareth and of
Antipas. At that time it was in the possession of Hareth.[4] The
latter having been warned, had prepared everything for the flight of
his daughter, who was conducted from tribe to tribe to Petra.
[Footnote 1: This form is found in the Talmud of Jerusalem (_Shebiit_,
ix. 2), and in the Targums of Jonathan and of Jerusalem (_Numb._ xxii.
35).]
[Footnote 2: Now Mkaur, in the wâdy Zerka Main. This place has not
been visited since Seetzen was there.]
[Footnote 3: Josephus, _De Bell. Jud._, VII. vi. 1, and following.]
[Footnote 4: Jos., _Ant._, XVIII. v. 1.]
The almost incestuous[1] union of Antipas and Herodias then took
place. The Jewish laws on marriage were a constant rock of offence
between the irreligious family of the Herods and the strict Jews.[2]
The members of this numerous and rather isolated dynasty being obliged
to marry amongst themselves, frequent violations of the limits
prescribed by the Law necessarily took place. John, in energetically
blaming Antipas, was the echo of the general feeling.[3] This was more
than sufficient to decide the latter to follow up his suspicions. He
caused the Baptist to be arrested, and ordered him to be shut up in
the fortress of Machero, which he had probably seized after the
departure of the daughter of Hareth.[4]
[Footnote 1: _Lev._ xviii. 16.]
[Footnote 2: Jos., _Ant._, XV. vii. 10.]
[Footnote 3: Matt. xiv. 4; Mark vi. 18; Luke iii. 19.]
[Footnote 4: Jos., _Ant._, XVIII. v. 2.]
More timid than cruel, Antipas did not desire to put him to death.
According to certain rumors, he feared a popular sedition.[1]
According to another version,[2] he had taken pleasure in listening to
the prisoner, and these conversations had thrown him into great
perplexities. It is certain that the detention was prolonged, and that
John, in his prison, preserved an extended influence. He corresponded
with his disciples, and we find him again in connection with Jesus.
His faith in the near approach of the Messiah only became firmer; he
followed with attention the movements outside, and sought to discover
in them the signs favorable to the accomplishment of the hopes which
he cherished.
[Footnote 1: Matt. xiv. 5.]
[Footnote 2: Mark vi. 20. I read [Greek: êporei], and not [Greek:
epoiei].]