Characteristic of the movements of First Century Palestine and earlier was that they were formed around a charismatic leader who attracted "disciples" who held views similar to their leader. The composition of the "school" that thus emerged varied greatly. We recall that Jesus' close group of twelve apostles included fishermen (Luke 5:1-11), a zealot (Luke 6:5; Acts 1:13), a mercenary of sorts, young and old.
His larger school of disciples was of an even more varied composition in addition to those already mentioned: it consisted of both men and women (Luke 8:2-3; 24:10-11), Jews and Gentiles (Luke 7:2-10; Acts 10:22-48), a tax collector (Luke 5:27-28), women of questionable morals (Luke 7:37-50), rich (Luke 5:27-29) and poor (Luke 21:2), outcasts (Luke 5:27-30; 7:22; 17:12-19), as well as pillars of society (Luke 7:31-50; 8:40-42).
Though we do occasionally come across references to the disciples of John (Luke 5:33-35; 7:18-23; 11:1; Acts 18:24-25; 19:1-6), we have very little direct information on them. It is, for example, difficult to determine the specifics of the composition of John's disciples compared to those of Jesus. Nor is it possible to determine the number of John's followers, whereas those of Jesus are at times spoken of in thousands (for example the five thousand that were fed [Luke 9:14-17], and the many other thousands converted in Acts 2:41-42 and similar texts), while at times they are simply referred to as "great crowds" or "a great many people" (Luke 6:17-19; 8:4), in each case a large mass of people being indicated. However scant our direct information on the disciples of John, it is nevertheless possible to note the following:-
(a) there is a likelihood that, as we will see, from the very beginning John's disciples were drawn from both Jewish and Gentile sectors of the Palestinian and Trans- Jordanian population;
(b) all sorts of people were drawn to John's message and were converted by it, specifically people engaged in professions that set them apart as a despised section of the Jewish population, such as for example the tax collectors (Luke 3:12-13) and soldiers (Luke 3:14);
(c) we know further that John's disciples fasted (Luke 5:33-35) and that John taught them to pray (Luke 11:2), while Jesus is mostly shown as praying alone (for example at Luke 5:16; 11:1);
(d) we also know that John's movement continued to exist and was dispersed far and wide long after his death, for we meet some of them in Ephesus (Acts 19:1-7), and some scholars like E. Lupieri believe that John's movement continues to exist in our own time in some form of the Mandaeans;448
(e) and we also know that John's movement was not sectarian (in the sense of drawing apart and living a solitary life apart from mainstream Judaism as, for example, the Qumran sectarians did). It would have been difficult to be a tax collector or a soldier in a puritanical community like that of Qumran. Indeed, John
"went into all the region about the Jordan" (Luke 3:3) and great crowds flocked to him. Essene communities lived in a way that set them apart from both Gentiles and ordinary Jews of their time. John's was an open and public ministry not limited to one location only, though some scholars have attempted to pinpoint with geographical precision the precise spot from which John preached and exercised his baptizing ministry;449 and, finally,
(f) there is nowhere an indication that John's movement, like some of the movements of his time (for example the zealots and the sicarii), was politically motivated. The question will also be discussed as to whether John's movement had anything to do with the Essenes, or whether John was in any way associated with the community of Qumran. We will also consider whether John's movement was opposed to the Temple and the Jerusalem priesthood. There were also water ablutions practised by the priests in the Temple: why did John institute his own ritual? Finally, what are we to make of the believers in Ephesus who, according to Acts 18:25 and 19:1-7 "knew only the baptism of John"?
See, for example, the study of E. Lupieri, The Mandaeans. This book has been acclaimed in the reviews (back flap) as making "an important contribution to the study of a religion...among the most ancient of the world's living religions... whose modern adherents are largely unknown..."
449 See, for example, H. Stegemann, The Library of Qumran, 213.
7.2 Was John the Baptist Connected With Qumran?
Since the discoveries at Qumran some scholars have surmised that prior to his public life and ministry John was in contact with the Jewish sect that produced the scrolls for which Qumran has become famous. The question as to whether John was in any way (and to what degree) connected with the Essenes has been debated by scholars for decades. Not a few scholars believe that John had some contact with the Essenes450
("the nature of this connection is far from clear"451 - some proponents of this position admit), or that he was actually one of them, having been, as it is supposed, brought up by them. This position is based on what, in our view, is a questionable exegesis of Luke 1:80: "And the child [John] grew and became strong in spirit, and he was in the wilderness till the day of his manifestation to Israel". Our own understanding of this text in its narrative context is similar to that of H. Stegemann.453 The author of Luke- Acts does not indicate where the wilderness in which John "grew and became strong"
was located. The "region about the Jordan" that the author refers to in Luke 3:3 is related to John's calling and ministry. Luke 1:80 is a redactional note of the author that links Luke 1:67-79 (the birth of John) with Luke 3:1-20 (the ministry of John).
As H. Stegemann has noted, the author of Luke-Acts employs the same narrative device in the story of Jesus, by means of which the narrative about the child Jesus (Luke 2:36-38) is linked to the narrative of the adult Jesus (Luke 3:23) by inserting the narrative of the young man Jesus aged twelve (Luke 2:41-50). In other words, Luke 1:80 is a narrative bridge created by the author of Luke-Acts and thus appears not to lend itself to being taken as historical.
C. Scobie is, however, so convinced that John was an Essene that he can maintain that it is the Essene movement "which forms the background of John's life and work... John's ministry was marked especially by the rite of baptism, which figures so prominently also in the sectarian movement."454 From his initial life with the
450 See, for example, S.L. Davies, "John the Baptist and Essene Kashruth", NTS 29 (1983), 569-571, especially 569; C. Scobie, John the Baptist, 37-40; J. Thomas, Le Monvement Baptiste, 13.
451 S.L. Davies, "John the Baptist and Essene Kashruth", 570, n.l.
452 See C. Scobie's assertion that "It is...possible that John, as a boy, was adopted by the Baptist sects"
(John the Baptist, 58; see also 59). See also A.S. Geyser who says that John's "outward appearance, words and acts betray that he has been formed by one or other of the Essene sects inhabiting that very region between Khirbet-Qumran and Masada" in "The Youth of John the Baptist: A Deduction from the Break in the Parallel Account of the Lucan Infancy Story", NovT 1 (1956), 70-75.
453 H. Stegemann, The Library of Qumran, 225.
454 C. Scobie, John the Baptist, 39. See also page 58.
146 Essenes, continues Scobie, John "went on to become an original and independent preacher."455
Another reason for believing that John was an Essene is based on his diet of locusts and wild honey. Though there is no parallel in Luke-Acts, this reference to John's wilderness food in Mark 1:6 has been taken by some to reflect John's Essene background. S.L. Davies, for example, writes:
John the Baptist, if an Essene, could have eaten within desert settlements or large towns but could not and would not have eaten food purchased from or prepared by non-Essenes. The same would be true if John had sincerely taken the Essene oath but had left the movement permanently. When in the desert or in small towns such as were in the Jordan valley John would be required to eat only certain herbs and locusts and wild honey. These foods, found in the wild, would thus be free from any suspicion of impurity.456
Yet some other scholars have gone so far as to put forward what they believe to be evidence that John's father (Zechariah) held views similar to those of the sectarians of Qumran and was generally in sympathy with them. 57 Diverse other hypotheses ranging from the sublime to the ridiculous have been propounded, the latter perhaps exemplified by J.L. Price: "Perhaps when he went to Jerusalem to be ordained to the priesthood, the conduct of the priests provoked John to indignation and he fled to the wilderness."458
There are, however, other scholars who, perhaps more convincingly, argue that John was not an Essene, though he probably knew of them. H. Stegemann has argued that
John the Baptist was neither an Essene nor a spiritual pupil of the Essenes. Were he ever to have made the effort to walk over to Qumran, as a non-Essene he would have been denied entry, and at best provided with enough food and drink for the long walk back.459
455 C. Scobie, John the Baptist, 58. See also J.A.T. Robinson, "The Baptism of John and the Qumran Community" in his Twelve New Testament Studies, London, SCM Press Ltd., 1962, 11-27; 0 . Betz,
"Was John the Baptist an Essene?" in H. Shanks (ed.), Understanding the Dead Sea Scrolls: A Reader from the Biblical Archaeology Review, New York, Random House, 1992, 205-214.
456 S.L. Davies, "John the Baptist and Essene Kashruth", 570.
457 See, for example, K. Schubert, The Dead Sea Community, 126-127.
458 J.L. Price, Interpreting the New Testament, New York, Holt, Rinehart and Winston, Inc., 1961,270.
459 H. Stegemann, The Library of Qumran, 225. See also pages 221-225.
J.E. Taylor concludes her study of this particular question in the section of her work with the title "John and the Essenes" with the observation that
The notion that there was a "Baptist movement" - to which both the Essenes and John belonged - out of line with "mainstream Judaism" rests on outdated presuppositions regarding Second Temple Judaism. John and the Essenes used immersion, and both types of immersion may have been for purification, but this probably derives from the fact that issues of purity were very important to all groups of Jews at this time [...John] rejected cultivated food like bread and wine, whereas the Essenes considered these staples of their diet, as did most others. His clothing of camel hair sackcloth indicated his humility before God; he did not wear the white garments of an Essene [...] In short, the overwhelming impression is that John should probably not be seen as having any direct relationship with the Essenes, least of all the isolated group at Qumran, whether prior to or during his own prophetic activity by the river Jordan.460
If, as Josephus tells us, there were communities of Essenes in most towns and centres of Judaea,461 and that some of them moved out to the wilderness, especially the Jordan valley which became the movement's "real centre",462 it is unlikely that John would not have known of them. On the other hand, even though Josephus also tells us that the Essenes adopted young children "while they are yet pliable and docile" and taught them their doctrine, 4 3 it is surely going beyond the context of the text to interpret Luke 1:80 ("And the child [John] grew and became strong in spirit, and he was in the wilderness till the day of his manifestation to Israel") as showing that the reference to
"the wilderness" means John was one of these children adopted by the Essenes.464
Some reasons given for this position, like his parents, being elderly, died while the child John was still very young, though logical in their own way, are nothing more than simple speculation. Certainly John had life in the wilderness in common not only with the Essenes, or with the community of Qumran, but also with some of the revolutionary movements who lived in expectation of the dawning of the eschatological and messianic age. There was no intrinsic connection between living in the wilderness and being one of the Essenes, though there were certainly areas of similarity of lifestyle.
460 J.E. Taylor, The Immerser, 48. See also 20-24.
461 War ill 19-161.
462 See C. Scobie, John the Baptist, 37.
463 War U.S.
464 So S.L. Davies, "John the Baptist and Essene Kashruth", 570.
Of course there were areas of convergence between John and the community of Qumran, among which the following have also been noted:
(a) both lived in the wilderness in relation with Isaiah 40:3, (b) the demand of both for repentance, and
(c) their practice of ritual immersion in water.
However, the vagueness of Luke 1:80 ("And the child [John] grew and became strong in spirit, and he was in the wilderness till the day of his manifestation to Israel"), and the fact that this verse serves as a literary and redactional link used by Luke to enable him to have John make his public appearance where he grew up,465 is not in itself sufficient to support the conjecture that John was brought up by, or among the Essenes. According to G. Theissen and A. Merz these areas of convergence between John and the Essenes of Qumran "points more towards a rival prophetic claim with sometimes comparable basic convictions".4
D.R. Swartz has noted other parallels between John and the members of the community of Qumran. Indeed, for Swartz, it is "This ascetic community by the Dead Sea [that] shows us the setting according to which [John] is to be understood."467
The question arises, however, as to how closely the search for parallels between John and the community of the Dead Sea scrolls is to be pursued. We look at three468 of the parallels as examples for not too quickly seeing or establishing parallels between John and the community of Qumran.
465 See G. Theissen & A. Merz, The HistoricalJesus, 198.
466 G. Theissen & A. Merz, The HistoricalJesus, 198.
467 D.R. Swartz, Studies in the Jewish Background of Christianity, Tubingen, J.C.B. Mohr, 1992, 3.
468 J.I.H. McDonald {"What Did You Come Out to See?", Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2000) has selected six from the many parallels between John and the community of Qumran adduced by D. Schwartz and others (the six being Desert/Wilderness, Isaiah 40:3, Asceticism, Ritual Purity and Immersion, Priestly Background, and the Sharing of Property). McDonald acknowledges there may be similarities between John and the community of Qumran, but these similarities "do not prove identity and must be balanced by dissimilarities." McDonald concludes his analysis of the six parallels by noting that "The setting according to which John is to be understood is not Qumran nor even the Essenes as a wider movement but late Second Temple Judaism" (:59).
(a) The Wilderness
Both John and the community of Qumran lived in the wilderness. For this reason, C.
Scobie sees John as "sharing in the 'wilderness eschatology' of the sectarian movement".469 Luke 1:80 is seen as supporting the belief that John was not only located in the wilderness, but specifically at Qumran. But John's area of operation in the wilderness was not limited to just one locale; it is indicated as being in the Jordan valley, or in Peraea. Nowhere, indeed, is it indicated as being the wilderness of Judaea, or near the Dead Sea. It is certainly probable that John's area of operation may also have been used by some groups of the Essenes as we have noted above, but there is no convincing argument for John's geographical proximity to Qumran.
(b) The Application of Isaiah 40:3
In Luke 3:4 we find applied to John this quotation of Isaiah 40:3: "The voice of one crying in the wilderness: Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight". In the Community Rule of Qumran we read:
And when these have become a community in Israel in compliance with these arrangements they are to be segregated from within the dwelling of the men of sin to walk to the desert in order to open there His path. As it is written (Isa 40:3): "In the desert, prepare the way of [the Lord], straighten in the steppe a roadway for our God".
This is the study of the law wh[i]ch he commanded through the hand of Moses, in order to act in compliance with all that has been revealed from age to age. (1QS VIII.13-16;
see also 1QS IX. 19-20)
W.H. Brownlee470 was among the first to claim that Isaiah 40:3 showed that John was at home with the views of the Qumran community with regard to the dawning of the expected messianic era. Firstly, as we will show below, the expectation of a messianic figure was not unique to the community of Qumran. Many sectors of Judaism beyond the limited confines of Qumran actively lived in anticipation of the advent of the messiah. This perspective already existed in the time of the prophets, as the quotation from Isaiah 40:3 indicates. It was therefore not necessary for a Jewish person to be a member of the community of Qumran in order to expect a messianic era, and in this respect therefore John was like many Jews of his time.
46 C. Scobie, John the Baptist, 46.
470 See, for example, in his "John the Baptist in the New Light of Ancient Scrolls" in K. Stendahl (ed.), The Scrolls in the New Testament, New York, Harper, 1957, 73.
John the Baptizer's activities and action, then, can be explained apart from any influence by Qumran. His ascetic lifestyle was in accord with Old Testament Nazirite vows...it is possible that John may have spent some time with the Sect prior to his public ministry; however, nothing in the biblical account calls for this assumption...the similarities between John the Baptizer and the Qumran Sect were probably because of commonly held Old Testament distinctions rather than the Sect's direct influence on John's life.474
7.3 Was John the Baptist Opposed to the Temple?
Was John's movement in opposition to the Temple and its priesthood? The fact that John started his own ritual of cleansing through his practice of baptism has led some scholars to believe that this act was in opposition to the priesthood in the Temple.
These scholars note that rituals for cleansing or purity were performed in the Temple, and that therefore there was as such no need for John to create his own ritual which was exercised far from the Temple. J. Thomas, for example, is convinced that
Josephe nous serait garant de ces faits: que les Esseniens ont abandonne, partiellment du moins, le temple de Jerusalem, qu'ils ont delaisse les sacritices, qui'ils ont remplace ceux-ci par des exercices nouveaux de culte, notamment par les purifications et les repas sacres, et meme qu'ils ont renonce au temple et aux sacrifices parce qu'ils preferaient a cela leurs purifications quotidiennes.475
J.D. Crossan holds that "any...baptism anywhere would have cast negative aspersions, be they explicit or implicit, on the Temple cult."476
C. Scobie is equally convinced that "opposition to the Temple and its sacrifices is another characteristic of the baptist movement", though "how far this was due to opposition to sacrifice as such is not clear."477 Scobie says further that it is the Essene movement
which forms the background of John's life and work...John's ministry was marked especially by the rite of baptism, which figures so prominently also in the sectarian movement. John's asceticism places him in line with these Baptist groups, but out of line with orthodox Judaism. John's attitude to orthodox Judaism and to the Jerusalem authorities marks him out as a sectarian and a non-conformist.478
But this view of Scobie's is untenable, as is his other assertion that sees John
474 R. Price, Secrets of the Dead Sea Scrolls, 169.
5 J. Thomas, Le Mouvement Baptiste, 13.
J.D. Crossan, The HistoricalJesus, 235.
477 C. Scobie, John the Baptist, 38.
478 C. Scobie, John the Baptist, 39.