The Bible and the Dead Sea Scrolls: The ... - josephprestonkirk

JÖRG FREY 445
According to Luke, the Baptizer was of priestly descent (1:5–25) and
lived in the desert until he appeared publicly (1:80). The place where he
baptized in the desert, “beyond the Jordan,” 137 was probably not too far
from Qumran. 138 His alleged celibacy (1:15) and his ascetic lifestyle
(Mark 1:6) make up a striking similarity, even if we consider that not all
members of the Essenes were unmarried. His diet and clothing are signs
of radical self-sufficiency or of a life of repentance and have parallels in
some texts as characterizing prophets, 139 but could also be interpreted as
the refusal to take something from others, as commanded by the Essene
purity rules (cf. 1QS 5.16–17; Josephus, J.W. 2.143). 140 This might be
confirmed by the observation that the Baptist’s food, locusts and honey,
seems to be in accordance with Essene dietary law. 141 John’s message of
the impending doom of the final judgment (Luke 3:7–9; Matt 3:7–10) has
numerous parallels in the Qumran texts but also in biblical and postbiblical
apocalyptic traditions. 142 Finally, John’s concern for eschatological
purity and his baptism as a rite of purification by living water have close
parallels with the Essene purification rites, even though the practice and
interpretation of his baptism shows remarkable differences from Essenism.
137. The localization of the places where John baptized is quite difficult. Norbert
Krieger, “Fiktive Orte der Johannestaufe,” ZNW 45 (1954): 121–23, wanted to abandon
the search because he thought that all the places mentioned in the Gospels were
fictive. But this view is certainly too skeptical. One traditional place is located near
Jericho (cf. Matt 3:1, “in the Judean desert”) but on the eastern side of the river. John
1:28 also mentions a place called Bethany “beyond the Jordan.” The fact that John
was finally arrested and executed by Herod Antipas, the tetrarch of Galilee and Perea,
is a good confirmation of the tradition that he baptized on the eastern side of the river
Jordan. It is not convincing to theorize that the place mentioned in John 1:28 is
located in the north, near the sea of Galilee, or should be identified with the region
of Batanaea, as proposed by Pixner, Wege des Messias und Stätten der Urkirche, 166–79;
and Rainer Riesner, “Bethany beyond the Jordan [John 1:28]: Topography, Theology
and History in the Fourth Gospel,” TynBul 38 (1987): 29–63; cf. Frey, Die johanneische
Eschatologie, 2:200–201.
138. Hartmut Stegemann, “Die Bedeutung der Qumranfunde für das Verständnis
Jesu und des frühen Christentums,” BK 48 (1993): 10–19, esp. 12, estimates a distance
of about 15 km between the two places, taking about five hours to walk.
Charlesworth, “John the Baptizer and Qumran Barriers,” 357, estimates “less than
three hours’ walk.”
139. Cf. the Mart. Isa. 2:10; Heb 11:37–38; 1 Clem. 17:1; cf. Rudolf Pesch, Das
Markusevangelium (HTKNT 2.1; Freiburg: Herder, 1976), 1:81. On John’s diet and its
early interpretation, cf. the monograph by James A. Kelhoffer, The Diet of John the
Baptist: “Locusts and Wild Honey” in Synoptic and Patristic Interpretation (WUNT 176;
Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2005).
140. Cf. Charlesworth, “John the Baptizer and Qumran Barriers,” 366–67.
141. Cf. ibid., 367–68; CD 12.11–15 seems to permit honey that has been filtered.
142. Cf. the parallels mentioned in Joseph A. Fitzmyer, The Gospel According to Luke
(vol. 1; AB 28; New York: Doubleday, 1981), 468.