Comments on: John the “B” and Elijah http://www.nine-moons.com/2006/02/08/john-the-b-and-elijah/ Thu, 20 Nov 2008 17:58:52 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5.1 By: larryco http://www.nine-moons.com/2006/02/08/john-the-b-and-elijah/#comment-2757 larryco Sat, 11 Feb 2006 00:29:35 +0000 http://www.nine-moons.com/?p=233#comment-2757 There is great speculation regarding John the Baptist's connection with the Qumron desert community and the Essene's who probably produced the Dead Sea Scrolls (and who also performed t'villah in their community misvahs). The apocalyptic nature of their writings, along with John's declaration as "one crying in the wilderness, 'prepare ye the way of the Lord'", would certainly have caused a stir among the people and led to a visit by the brethren. That is a much simpler explanation than Elijah's cloak. Remember, this is the second temple, not Solomon's temple, which was destroyed and ramsacked by the Babylonians. Not a lot of cloaks left behind. There is great speculation regarding John the Baptist’s connection with the Qumron desert community and the Essene’s who probably produced the Dead Sea Scrolls (and who also performed t’villah in their community misvahs). The apocalyptic nature of their writings, along with John’s declaration as “one crying in the wilderness, ‘prepare ye the way of the Lord’”, would certainly have caused a stir among the people and led to a visit by the brethren. That is a much simpler explanation than Elijah’s cloak. Remember, this is the second temple, not Solomon’s temple, which was destroyed and ramsacked by the Babylonians. Not a lot of cloaks left behind.

]]> By: Robert C. http://www.nine-moons.com/2006/02/08/john-the-b-and-elijah/#comment-2756 Robert C. Fri, 10 Feb 2006 03:12:46 +0000 http://www.nine-moons.com/?p=233#comment-2756 Great post, Don. I added it to our <a href="http://feastupontheword.org/Site:Blog_threads" rel="nofollow">list of blog threads about scripture</a>. Great post, Don. I added it to our list of blog threads about scripture.

]]> By: Bret http://www.nine-moons.com/2006/02/08/john-the-b-and-elijah/#comment-2755 Bret Thu, 09 Feb 2006 02:02:24 +0000 http://www.nine-moons.com/?p=233#comment-2755 It will be 12 weeks, dad. 24 sessions with two each week. Still a considerable length, especially in comparison with our what? Few weeks? I think it's fine to do it as is for Sunday school. I just wish there were more institute classes that were "The Book of Zephaniah" or whatever, instead of "Old Testament 2nd half." It will be 12 weeks, dad. 24 sessions with two each week. Still a considerable length, especially in comparison with our what? Few weeks?
I think it’s fine to do it as is for Sunday school. I just wish there were more institute classes that were “The Book of Zephaniah” or whatever, instead of “Old Testament 2nd half.”

]]> By: Kurt http://www.nine-moons.com/2006/02/08/john-the-b-and-elijah/#comment-2754 Kurt Wed, 08 Feb 2006 23:14:01 +0000 http://www.nine-moons.com/?p=233#comment-2754 The pharisees were probably sent to question him because he was practicing t'villah, or ritual immersion, outside of the confines of the local religious hierarchy, which was considered taboo at the time. But, he was the son of a former high priest. So, he was entitled to be part of the religious hierarchy, but was not, so that presented an obvious dilema for the local religious authorities, particularly given his rather miraculous conception and naming. Ritual ablution, or t'villah, what we would call "baptism", was not an unusual thing to the Jews at that time and it is still practiced today at Yom Kippur and for converts among the more conservative Jewish groups. That John Baptist was an Elijah-esque wild man is without question, cf. Luke 1:17, John 1:21-25. The pharisees were probably sent to question him because he was practicing t’villah, or ritual immersion, outside of the confines of the local religious hierarchy, which was considered taboo at the time. But, he was the son of a former high priest. So, he was entitled to be part of the religious hierarchy, but was not, so that presented an obvious dilema for the local religious authorities, particularly given his rather miraculous conception and naming.

Ritual ablution, or t’villah, what we would call “baptism”, was not an unusual thing to the Jews at that time and it is still practiced today at Yom Kippur and for converts among the more conservative Jewish groups.

That John Baptist was an Elijah-esque wild man is without question, cf. Luke 1:17, John 1:21-25.

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