Here is my analysis. Hi Greg, He also came to identify and announce the Messiah. 13, § 3; “B. '” The sect is also mentioned in the Talmud (Ber. early 80s ce) no longer is a practicing or observant Jew (1:13-14), and is opposed to gentiles converting to become Jews. That is, he acknowledges the unavoidable truth of the opponents’ version in key specifics but does not retract the truth of his own different version, by rhetorically casting them to the reader as distinct visits. “Vridar is consistently thought-provoking, well-informed, and asking the right questions. That is something I have not attempted for quite some time so I will be interested to read what he has to say about that. These were apparently converts made by Apollos based on his knowledge of John the Baptist’s movement, before he learned the full message of Christ. Vespasian having knowledge thereof, made after them, sending out Poligorus [=Placidus], who overtook them, and made a great slaughter of them. Since Elijah never died, he could not be reincarnated. Curiously, John of Gischala may be behind the “man carrying a jar of WATER”: in addition to his potentisl capacity of baptize with WATER by his jar, this man (friend of Jesus) is also the owner of the upper room where the Gospel Jesus celebrated the eucharist. JohnTheBaptist Enoch Seminar Nangeroni Meeting Day 4. Hemerobaptist baptism differed from proselyte or synagogal ablutions in that this baptism was both symbol and sacrament. If you're not familiar with it, the Secret Information Club is a free service that I operate by email. Their activity certainly has an ascetic value, but then it changes into a preparation for military events. Going beyond the usual interpretation that the parallels are explained as added anachronistic items to a kernel earlier Jesus context, instead read the stories as simply variant versions of the same context in the spring of 68 with Jesus situated in that date context. Or, not likely, say: The three on the team, Frank from Detroit, Sally from Cleveland, and John the Presbyterian—without some note of the category departure, especially as observed, after saying earlier in War 2 that Essenes were peacemakers, not warriors. So, please continue to delve deeply and share this intellectual sustenance with your grateful readers.”, — Mary Booker, – February 2020 (personal email), “For an excellent example of generally high-quality scholarship by someone who isn’t a biblical studies professor, see Neil Godfrey’s work posted on the website vridar.org.”, “Here I give an admittedly subjective short list, in random order, of useful, high level and regularly updated weblogs on the study of the Old Testament . It may be a little while before I can read beyond summaries, articles and reviews, however, given the cost of it. Colson trans. I do not see cause for supposing the religious-order meaning (the sense in every other instance in which the word appears in Josephus) is excluded or less likely. 1. He was… With a little knowledge of the geography of the region, this apparent contradiction can be resolved. In the Jewish historian Josephus. Rengstorf, Leiden, 1968, p.34, 46, 66). What are the checks in rewriting Josephus at will? We have information about him from outside the New Testament. This means that Jesus and John were cousins in one or another senses of the term. I’ll try to offer something more substantial than “Thank you” in response at some point, but I didn’t want to wait . There is John in the vicinity of the Jordan, said by Josippon to be with his warriors present and active on the occasion of the slaughter of the Gadarenes told in Josephus’s Gr War. Cut-and-pasted from: https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/minor-sects. From Lady Drower’s edition of The Haran Gawaita: “[H]e shall be called Yahia-Yuhana (…) who dwelt at the city of Jerusalem (…) And he taught disciples and proclaimed the Call of the Life in the fallen House (Temple?). . There is no obvious reason why John should be named on the basis of how the two others were named. Who in their anointing themselves, and drinking, used [each of them] above an hin of them. He had been instructed in the way of the Lord; and being fervent in spirit, he spoke and taught accurately the things concerning Jesus, though he knew only the baptism of John [Acts 18:24-25]. . 13. He boldly proclaimed God’s message to both the common man and the hypocritical Pharisees of his day. The gospels situate John’s baptizing at the Jordan river. John as author of Revelation may or may not be pseudepigraphic but the oracles used as sources and reflected therein appear to come from a Revolt context associated with the figure of John. “Mark needed to put Jesus into a historical context so that the Jerusalem apostles living at the same time as Paul and who opposed him could reasonably be the same disciples who were Jesus’s companions and misunderstood his message. The gospels portray him as a complex man. For 33 years, he served as pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church, Minneapolis, Minnesota. And the adherents of another party call no one Lord except the Deity, even though one should put them to the torture, or even kill them.”, Postscript item #1: Just three weeks ago, someone I knew in college told an alumni group in a series of posts that he was present at the demonstration in Washington, D.C., which marched on the Capitol Building and then became a violent invasion and rampage throughout the Capitol Building in which several were killed and members of Congress were in terror of their lives. By far the most common descriptor in Josephus for names is patronymic, “son of “, and the reason that is not done in the case of Niger and Silas is sensible in that they come from afar. To recap briefly, I am certain, based upon present understanding, that Gal 1-2 reflects two versions of a single visit of Paul to Jerusalem, which I suspect was with representatives of the government of Jerusalem during the Revolt. The betrayal of Judas and/or the prediction of the denial of Simon Peter, according to Sid Martin, happened precisely then because it alludes cryptically to a historical betrayal: But as for the tyrants themselves, and those that were with them, when they found that they were encompassed on every side, and, as it were, walled round, without any method of escaping, they desired to treat with Titus by word of mouth. Note that Josephus earlier in War 2 told us Essenes were peacemakers, so it would be an anomaly if he had written (paraphrase): “and here’s an Essene general/warrior” without somehow remarking on the contradiction. But then the “Quote Investigator” blogger found a precursor in Live Stock Journal of 1891. This suggests the idea that the Gospel writer meant to connect the disciples of John with the Essenes, as he does not explicitly mention the latter sect, though we should expect him to do so. of Antiquities of Jordan and The American Center of Oriental Research: Amman, 1994), here 2013.003 page 2.28 and 2014.027 p. 2.29. That way there would be no person living who would contradict the story” (p. 202). 5) What does John have to teach us about on the job morals? This Jesus had to cross twice the Jordan because Samaria was closed to him. Now, the Upper City was ruled by John of Gischala: coincidence? I refer to your site frequently as yet more names and publications pop up requiring an academic critique and helpful recommendations for book purchases. They [the Essenes] think that oil is a defilement; and if any one of them be anointed, without his own approbation, it is wiped off his body; Jewish War 5:625: In the opening lines of Haran Gawaita the Mandaean origin story of a flight from Judea is associated with a Parthian ruler “Ardban”, of which three candidates are considered: Artabanus II/III (11-38 ce), Artabanus III/IV (79-81 ce), and Artabanus IV/V (208-224 ce). The Jesus’s power derived from John’s power in both the cases. A story comment: the direction of running is the behavior of a prisoner, otherwise he would be running the other direction. Conspiracy theories — true and false and how to tell the difference, I think all of us like to think we are open minded and that we all agree that its a…, It most certainly is appropriate. that in John’s case )Essai~oj means “of Essa.”. JohnTheBaptist Enoch Seminar Nangeroni Meeting Day 2. Curiously, in the Josippon version, where Gr. Repeated references to ‘the Jordan’ are nowhere associated with John, nor is Mandaean baptism an initiatory repentance-rite. 8) How did he get followers outside of Israel? John 1:12 says, “To all who received him [Jesus], who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.” And Galatians 3:26 says, “For in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith.” After that John’s fate is unknown so far as Josephus or Roman historians are concerned, but this is likely the same legendary John of Asia Minor whose name is associated with the virulently anti-Roman Revelation, filled with source oracles in its composition directly from the First Revolt which appear to reflect the standpoint of John, one of the two leaders of that Revolt in Jerusalem in its final months. Apparently, Apollos had some knowledge of the connection between John the Baptist and the Messiah, but only limited knowledge. He was also arrested and later beheaded, he, John the Baptist, did not write any of the Bible. This is often in the form of an exchange of letters in a Quaker journal. But I have often been impressed with their grasp of logic and analysis of scholarship. Conjunctions, the Star of Bethlehem and Astronomy, Pope Francis Says Magi Believed in Love, Not Worldly Power, Possible Site of Jesus’ Trial Uncovered in Jerusalem, Gerasenes, Gadarenes, Pigs and “Contradictions”, ‘The Thief Who Stole Heaven’ Takes on an Ancient Legend, Offering Spiritual Reading for Kids This Lent. Inter alia, even clues that the Matthean formula (“He will be called Nazarene”, known to refer an – apparently lost – old prophecy), was originally referred to John. Brodie: Beyond the Quest for the Historical Jesus, McGrath, Religion Prof: The Blog of James F. “. Also compare Gal 2:1 and 2 Cor 12:2 for indirect argument that the endpoint of the fourteen-year timespan of Gal 2:1 is the date of authorship of Galatians. These immediate contexts, taken with the fact that John is never credited with any of the traits otherwise mentioned for Essenes, provide prima facie support for Schalit’s proposal (1968: 46 s.v.) Good job.”, “Very good. In this connection, what I find interesting are also the findings of Sid Martin (Secret of the Savior, chapter 16) about the place of the Supper in Mark 14:12-21: “He will show you a large room upstairs, furnished and ready”. His followers were eventually absorbed into the Christian Church, although a part may have gone to the sect of Mandeans in lower Mesopotamia. One disadvantage of playing musical chairs with history (reminds somewhat of Barbara Thiering, in its only-I-can-interpret-thusness)—besides probably being false—is that the novelty may fade, and then a new, different, imaginative scenario may follow. Paul could show he bore even to the present day marks of having been tortured in that experience, “marks of Jesus” in his flesh (6:17). The location of John’s baptizing at Bethabara, of Jn 1, appears to be a variant version of the story of John enlisting warriors at Bethannibris in 68 CE, of Josippon. Although very hypothetical, if there were, say, a placard displayed with an image of a crucified, defeated Jewish rebel figure (such as Jesus, as long as we are imagining? And again, Nathanael Greene, a famous general under George Washington in the Revolutionary War, was known as a “fighting Quaker” because he had been Quaker. I continue to think the trial of Jesus/Barabbas (the two are versions of the same figure) of the Gospels reflects the trial of Jesus b. Ananias of ca. The man’s self-identification as “Legion” reads as a double-entendre underlying the text consistent with a story of a prisoner captured from a Roman legion in the vicinity, suggestive of a relationship with Vespasian and his forces on the part of Paul. to an Unpublished Commentary by Abraham Schalit”. Although at first sight it may seem a tough sell as an argument, I think a credible argument can be made that whereas Jesus b. Sapphat is historical, Jesus b. Ananias as a distinct figure told by Josephus may be historically illusory, originating at the outset from florid hearsay accounts of survivors of the siege to Roman interrogators actually applicable to Jesus b. Sapphat, then shaped tendentiously for purposes suiting Josephus’s editorial interests. He records that one of Herod’s armies was destroyed the A.D. 36 and states: Now, some of the Jews thought that the destruction of Herod’s army came from God, and that very justly, as a punishment of what he did against John, that was called the Baptist; for Herod slew him, who was a good man, and commanded the Jews to exercise virtue, both as to righteousness towards one another, and piety towards God, and so to come to baptism; for that the washing [with water] would be acceptable to him, if they made use of it, not in order to the putting away [or the remission] of some sins [only], but for the purification of the body; supposing still that the soul was thoroughly purified beforehand by righteousness. http://jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/5867-essenes. early 80s or so, 14 years forward from ca. Essenes (Philo: contribute to peace; Josephus: peacemakers; Pliny, Dio, etc.) Although the two stories were actually conflicting versions of the same visit, Paul does not repudiate his original story but addresses the opponents’ version giving the impression it is a second visit. A similar prophecy is ascribed to Simon the Essene (“Ant.” xvii. 3, § 5) that he once sat in the Temple surrounded by his disciples, whom he initiated into the (apocalyptic) art of foretelling the future, when Antigonus passed by. In a posting on ane-3 list (#7 in Dec., “Dating DS Scrolls by Paleography, C14 and AI”) I noted preliminary reports that some Qumran Scrolls are to be dated somewhat older than paleography estimates previously supposed. Elizabeth, being elderly, may have been an aunt, great-aunt, or one of the many types of “cousin.” The precise relationship cannot be determined. Here are 11 things to know and share... John the Baptist is a mysterious figure in the New Testament. Planning on becoming a Protestant pastor or seminary professor, he started an intensive study of the Bible. 2) When did John the Baptist’s ministry begin? Also I will add this on the matter of Ethics and Morals: The apatheistic argument states that morals do not come from God and that if a god exists, there would be no changes with regards to morality; therefore, a god’s existence or non-existence is irrelevant. 2. spring 68: “Thus when Jehochanan had gotten the upper hand of the City, he sent an army out of Jerusalem, to go and take the Cities that had made peace with Vespasian. Josephus’s Greek text has its version of the unnamed prophet of this oracle at War 6.285, where Josephus says of the mass killing of Jews in a fire set by Roman soldiers: “They [Jews who perished] owed their destruction to a false prophet, who had on that day proclaimed to the people in the city that God commanded them to go up to the temple court, to receive there the tokens of their deliverance”. Accounts of John the Baptist don’t suggest wartime to me. From that scroll, it seems that the Essenes have entered fully the logic of war and martyrdom. John Sidney McCain III (August 29, 1936 – August 25, 2018) was an American statesman and United States Navy officer who served as a United States Senator for Arizona from 1987 until his death in 2018. The argument in favor is it is in the right region, it is near the Jordan river, and the consonant sequence in the names. 7, § 4), who is possibly identical with the Simon in Luke ii. Neil, this is an excellent summary of Sanders. In the Book of Revelation, the little scroll "tasted like honey" in the Evangelist's mouth but turned bitter in his stomach, meaning that his call to prophecy seemed joyful at first but brought rejection later as commonly happens with prophets. Paul gives this version of his condemnation of Simon on that occasion, in the furtherance of his message in Galatians. to express appreciation for your detailed interaction with what I’ve written!”, “Neil, this is actually rather useful. In my understanding, once Josephus’s John the Baptist and aspects of Josephus’s John the Baptist in the synoptic gospels are deleted, what is left is not no-John but rather a John of the era of the First Revolt and then after that in Asia Minor–the John of Asia Minor of Acts 18 of the “disciples of John”; the John of Revelation; the John the narrative character with which the Fourth Gospel opens and implied author of that Gospel; and Papias’s “John the Elder”, all arguably John of Gischala of Josephus. Anyone hanged on a cross was considered accursed of God, (Deut. This is a misunderstanding of the true purpose of this sect, i.e., bodily cleansing. The defense attorney says his client is innocent, so that settles it? They “follow the Lamb whithersoever he goes”–a Lamb which wars and conquers and slays (Rev 19:7-16). He was quizzed by both tax-collectors and soldiers about what they needed to do to be right with God. And as the statements made about him [John the Baptist] seem to connect him more closely with the Essenes than with any other sect, a natural inference would be that he stands as the representative of that sect. In Josippon, following Roman capture and control of the temple, the remaining Jews retreat in large numbers to a final holdout on Mount Zion. Under this light, the parable of wineskins (Mark 2:22) may allude to the need of fasting and prayer not during the siege of Jerusalem (“the old wineskins”), as imposed by the situation and as required by the “followers of John” (by extension, by “men from James”), but for the time after the fall of Jerusalem, the time of the pauline New Israel, etc. . “Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence” appeared in 1895 in the context of geology discussion, I noted elsewhere. I see no connection between those two Ananias names (very common name) and think that goes off the rails there. Any ancient points of light toward a better world I want to honor. John the *Baptist was probably a Hemerobaptist, as is suggested in Clementine Homilies (2:23). sectarians of the known sect). Because the currently conjectured locations for “Bethabara” of Origen’s ancient oral report of John’s baptizing location do not seem stronger than conjecture and are uncertain, the way could be open to consider a new conjecture not previously considered in the literature: was Origen’s “Bethabara” Bethennabris? Several early Christian authors make mention of the Hemerobaptists. Papal biographer Austen Ivereigh, who co-wrote the Pope’s recent book Let Us Dream that endorses the concept, is leading an online discussion of the issue on Thursday. Josephus has Titus telling the Jews at the end how he had given them every opportunity to save themselves and their temple but it was now too late: “I besought you to spare your own shrines and to preserve the temple for yourselves … all offers you scorned … and after all this, most abominable wretches, do you now invite me to a parley?” (War 6.346-347). Essenes believed in fate, in predestination (Ant. The text dates the flight sixty years after the death of Yahia-Yuhana. One such flurry was prompted by two letters from Watchman in The Friend in 1943 and 1944 (reprinted in 1994).”, “In 1953 Arthur Morgan proposed inviting people of other faiths to join Friends. The soldiers couldn’t stop the sheep from returning to their shepherd’s voice. . Please carry on.”, “I always enjoy reading Neil’s blog because I think that he is careful, thorough, intellectually fair, and honest.”, “Neil, for what it is worth it is obvious to me that if you had earlier in life tracked into a graduate program at one of the world’s leading research universities you would be one of the world’s formidable ones. Forty-two years (he dwelt) there, and then his Transplanter [death-angel] looked upon him (…)”. The more I read your stuff (and I still do, of course), the more I realize how much we all owe you. To that suggestion can be added this: If you had a John collecting warriors and purifying them en masse upon enlistment–such that they were all pure and could eat together–then you would have a baptizing John, by definition. By identifying John the Baptist as the “Elijah” who was to come, Jesus indicated that the fulfillment of the Elijah prophecy was not meant to be taken in the literalistic way that the scribes of his day took it. building on Vermeiren’s case that the Gospel Jesus == Jesus son of Saphat, I wonder if the baptism of Jesus by John is a distorted record of Jesus son of Saphat becoming a vassal of John of Gischala after the former’s retreat to Jerusalem. multiple hearsay sources not given much critical analysis or cross-referencing. First, to clarify one sentence of mine, that Essenes were not “joiners.” Of course they joined the Essene group, with strict initiation rules–unless you reject that, too. “All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well.” —Julian of Norwich, Revelations of Divine Love. The two very most mentioned are John the Baptist, a cousin to Jesus who evangelized and baptised Believers into the gospel message of repenting and following the Messiah. I don’t always agree with them, but I respect their work.”. But John was arrested by Herod Antipas, the ruler of Galilee and Perea, which included part of the wilderness near Jerusalem. These fell upon them unexpectedly, slew many of them and took many prisoners” (Ant 20.97-98). 6) Was John the Baptist Elijah reincarnated? To recapitulate the argument following this correction: Josippon has the army of John the Revolt leader on the east side of the Jordan. This is admittedly speculative, but I am trying to show it is at least a possibility without obvious falsification. “John the Essene” is mentioned as a general in translations, but that may be mistaking Josephus, reading rather than with the gentilic (place name), someone from Essa/Gerasa, so maybe not an Essene, according to Abraham Schalit (in Namenwoerterbuch zu Flavius Josephus, supp. Therefore the Gadarene massacre episode in Josephus of spring 68 ce is where John is present, per Josippon and Jn 1:28/War 4.421, and where Jesus is present, both according to a version of that story in the Gospels (Mk 5:1-13) and according to the Paul Damascus road story (Acts 9) which itself appears in a different form in the Gospels’ Gadarene demoniac story (Mk 5:7, 19-20). Tractate ‘Avodah Zarah 3 states in the Gemara that the area before the idol Pe‘or was used as a latrine and that the worship of the idol consisted of defecating before it. However, in addition to the issues of assessment of the legends themselves, I was persuaded by a journal article (unfortunately, the citation is not immediately at hand) that the Mandaean flight tradition is better associated with Artabanus III/IV of 79-81 ce dating, following the upheavals of the Jewish War, rather than the earlier Artabanus. But is there a firsthand Essene text, or an external hostile witness testimony, or some other form of evidence which will withstand cross-examination, establishing Essenes really were ancient pacifists analogous to later anabaptists, Mennonites, Amish, Quakers etc of our time? And it is from this occurrence that they have received their appellation, being denominated (by some) Zelotae, but by others Sicarii. 13.393 = Gerasa in War 1.104), and a person from Essa would most naturally be called an )Essai~oj. Greek War of the same episode has that army located at Bethennabris, 16 km east of Jericho, where were enrolled “a considerable number of young men” at that location. Thank you for this careful and engaged reading of my work – much appreciated!”, “Thanks for this detailed interaction! (I published three articles related to this; two online by name search.) About “John the Essene” as possibly John of Gischala (and accordingly to my suggestion that “John the Baptist” served to eclipse partially the latter’s memory), Raschke followed Graetz in his proposal that the ethymology of ὁ βαπτίζων == ὁ Εσσαῖος. may have hated Rome, but their means of resistance, including prayer, spiritual warfare, appeal to God and angels, such as in 1QM and, maybe, if one accepts Essene-influence there, in the Apocalypse of John. Yes, there are other helps, for example: The chronological issue aside, Barker’s book is a serious and formidable argument. Samson of Sens translates a section of this Tosefta which refers to this cleansing: “The morning bathers said to the Pharisees: ‘We charge you with doing wrong in pronouncing the Name without having taken a ritual bath.’ Whereupon the Pharisees said: ‘We charge you with wrongdoing in pronouncing the Name with a body impure within.
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