Bible Dictionary
JOHN THE BAPTIST
JOHN THE BAPTIST
(Gr. «’loannes», from the Heb. «Yõhãnãn»: «Jehovah has given favor»).
Immediate precursor of Jesus, sent to prepare the way for him. His father Zechariah and his mother Elizabeth, both descendants of Aaron, were deeply pious people (Luke 1:5).
Elizabeth was a cousin of the virgin Mary, who belonged to the tribe of Judah (Lk. 1:36). John’s parents lived in a town in the hill country of Judah (Luke 1:39), perhaps Jutah, or in the priestly city of Hebron. Zechariah was fulfilling his priestly function by burning incense in the Temple of Jerusalem, when the angel Gabriel appeared to him.
He promised him a son, who should be called John, and who should be raised as a Nazarite, like Samson and Samuel. The angel also announced to him that the child would be filled with the Holy Spirit from his birth, and that he was called to prepare a well-disposed people for the Lord (Lk. 1: 8-17).
John was born in the year 2 BC. He spent his youth in the desert region not far from his homeland, west of the Dead Sea (Luke 1:80). In the year 29 AD. He began to preach in the desert, around the Jordan. John is believed to have ministered to him on a sabbatical year (Lk. 3:1, 2).
His mission was to reveal the Messiah in the person of Jesus (John 1:15). With intense fervor, he preached to the crowds who came to him from all sides. He urged them to repent immediately, because the kingdom of heaven was at hand. Many were baptized in the Jordan, after having confessed their sins.
For this reason, John received the epithet “the Baptist”, which has since distinguished him from his namesakes. His water baptism symbolized the purification of sins; but the prophet did not believe that that was enough. He exhorted his listeners to believe in the One who should come after him (Acts 19:4).
He declared himself unworthy to untie the thong of his sandals, because the Christ would baptize his disciples with the Holy Spirit and with fire (Mt. 3: 5-12). Although John declared himself inferior to Jesus, our Lord wanted to be baptized by him.
Opposing this from the beginning, the Baptist demonstrated that he had recognized the Messiah in Jesus (Mt. 3: 13-17). He was not ignorant of what Zechariah and Elizabeth had told him about it. The accuracy of his accounts was fully confirmed when he saw the Holy Spirit descending upon Jesus as he was baptized.
This sign authorized him to proclaim that Jesus was the Christ (John 1:32, 33).
Malachi had prophesied that Elijah would come before the great day of Jehovah, and that a forerunner would prepare the way of the Lord (Mal. 4:5-6; 3:1).
The angel who spoke to Zechariah had announced that his son would go “before Him (the Lord) in the spirit and power of Elijah” (Lk. 1:17). Jesus himself declared that the ministry of John the Baptist was a first fulfillment of Malachi’s prophecy (Mark 9:11-13). Furthermore, the Baptist clearly stated that he was not Elijah (John 1:21).
The latter will return, it seems, as one of the two witnesses of Rev. 11, immediately before the glorious coming of Christ (see ELIJAH). As for John the Baptist, in many points he had a great resemblance to Elijah: his rustic clothing, his behavior towards the great of this world, and above all his action before the people to bring them to God through repentance and true conversion.
Of Jesus he said: “He must increase, but I must decrease,” and he confirmed, without any jealousy, the fulfillment of his prediction (John 3: 25-30). His ministry was very brief, but he enjoyed great popularity. Towards the end of the year 31 AD, faithful to his mission, he reproached Herod the tetrarch for the adultery in which he lived with the wife of his brother Philip; Herod had the prophet imprisoned (Luke 3:19, 20).
Distraught, eager to know what turn Jesus’ work was going to take, perhaps feeling abandoned while others were being helped, John sent two of his disciples to inquire of Jesus if He was the promised Messiah. The Lord responded to them with an account of his works.
As the two disciples turned to John, Jesus delivered before the crowd a magnificent eulogy of John the Baptist (Matt. 11:2-15). Although he had not performed any miracles (John 10:41), he was the greatest of the prophets, in the sense that he had the privilege of preparing the people for the coming of the Christ and of revealing him as such.
Herodias, the adulterous princess, plotted the death of the prophet; She persuaded her daughter, whose dance had bewitched Herod, to ask the Tetrarch for the head of John the Baptist. She was granted this wish, and John’s disciples took John’s headless corpse away for burial.
Deprived of their teacher, they remembered the testimony that John had given of the Lamb of God, and followed Jesus (Mt. 14:3-12; Mark 6:16-29; Luke 3:19-20). Josephus attributes the death of the prophet to Herod’s jealousy, because John had great influence over the people.
This historian adds that the annihilation of Herod’s army in his war against Aretas was generally considered a judgment sent by God on the tetrarch because of the death of John. Josephus places the imprisonment and death of the Baptist in the fortress of Machaerus (Ant. 18:5, 2).
This place, called Machera in the time of Herod, is currently called Mekaur (Mukawer); It is located in the mountains, on the eastern coast of the Dead Sea, about 8 km north of the Arnon, on the summit of a cone-shaped height that dominates the Dead Sea at more than 11,000 m. Tall.
The vestiges of the old fortress are still clearly visible. In the center there is a deep well and two towers; possibly one of them was where John the Baptist was imprisoned.
BETHEL
is the name of a Canaanite city in the ancient region of Samaria, located in the center of the land of Canaan, northwest of Ai on the road to Shechem, 30 kilometers south of Shiloh and about 16 kilometers north of Jerusalem.
Bethel is the second most mentioned city in the Bible. Some identify it with the Palestinian village of Beitin and others with the Israeli settlement of Beit El.
Bethel was the place where Abraham built his altar when he first arrived in Canaan (Genesis 12:8; Genesis 13:3). And at Bethel Jacob saw a vision of a ladder whose top touched heaven and the angels ascended and descended (Genesis 28:10-19).
For this reason Jacob was afraid, and said, “How terrible is this place! It is nothing other than the house of God, and the gate of heaven »and he called Bethel the place that was known as «Light» (Genesis 35-15).
Bethel was also a sanctuary in the days of the prophet Samuel, who judged the people there (1 Samuel 7:16; 1 Samuel 10:3). And it was the place where Deborah, the nurse of Rebekah, Isaac’s wife, was buried.
Bethel was the birthplace of Hiel, who sought to rebuild the city of Jericho (1 Kings 16:34).
When Bethel did not yet belong to the people of Israel, Joshua had to battle against the king of Bethel and other kings and defeated them (Joshua 12-16).
When the people of Israel had taken possession of the promised land, in the division by tribes it was assigned to the Tribe of Benjamin (Joshua 18-22), but in later times it belonged to the Tribe of Judah (2 Chronicles 13:19).
It was one of the places where the Ark of the Covenant remained, a symbol of the presence of God.
In Bethel the prophet Samuel judged the people.
Then the prophet Elisha went up from there to Bethel; and as he was going up the road, some boys came out of the city and mocked him, and said to him: “Go up, bald man; Come up, bald! When he looked back and saw them, he cursed them in the name of the Lord. Then two bears came out of the forest and tore to pieces forty-two boys” (2 Kings 2:23).
After the division of the kingdom of Israel, Jeroboam I, king of Israel, had a golden calf raised at Bethel (1 Kings 21:29) which was destroyed by Josiah, king of Judah, many years later (2 Kings 23:15). .
Bethel was also a place where some of the Babylonian exiles who returned to Israel in 537 BC gathered. (Ezra 2:28).
The prophet Hosea, a century before Jeremiah, refers to Bethel by another name: “Bet-Aven” (Hosea 4:15; Hosea 5:8; Hosea 10:5-8), which means ‘House of Iniquity’, ‘House of Nothingness’, ‘House of Vanity’, ‘House of Nullity’, that is, of idols.
In Amos 7: 12-13 the priest Amaziah tells the prophet Amos that he flee to Judah and no longer prophesy in Bethel because it is the king’s sanctuary, and the head of the kingdom.
The prophet Jeremiah states that “the house of Israel was ashamed of Bethel” (Jeremiah 48:13), because of their idolatry and, specifically, the worship of the golden calf.
PUTEOLI
(lat.: “small fountains”).
Two days after arriving in Rhegium, the ship carrying Paul arrived at Puteoli, which was then an important maritime city.
The apostle found Christians there, and enjoyed their hospitality (Acts 28:13).
It was located on the northern coast of the Gulf of Naples, near the site of present-day Pouzzoles.
The entire surrounding region is volcanic, and the Solfatare crater rises behind the city.
PUT
Name of a nation related to the Egyptians and neighbors of their country (Gen. 10:6).
Put is mentioned with Egypt and other African countries, especially Libya (Nah. 3:9) and Lud (Ez. 27:10; Is. 66:19 in the LXX. Put appears between Cush and Lud in Jer. 46:9; Ez. 30:5).
In the LXX he is translated as Libyans in Jeremiah and Ezekiel. Josephus also identifies it with Libya (Ant. 1:6, 2), but in Nah. 3.9 is distinguished from the Libyans.
Current opinion is divided between Somalia, Eastern Arabia and Southern Arabia (Perfume Coast).
PURPLE
A coloring substance that is extracted from various species of mollusks. The ancient Tyrians used two types of them: the “Murex trunculus”, from which the bluish purple was extracted, and the “Murex brandaris”, which gave the red.
The ink of its coloring matter varies in color depending on the region in which it is fished.
Piles of murex shells, artificially opened, have been discovered in Minet el-Beida, port of ancient Ugarit (Ras Shamra), which gives evidence of the great antiquity of the use of this purple dye (see UGARIT).
Due to its high price, only the rich and magistrates wore purple (Est. 8:15, cf. the exaltation of Mordecai, v. 2, Pr. 31:22; Dan. 5:7; 1 Mac. 10 :20, 62, 64; 2 Mac. 4:38; cf. v 31; Luke 16:19; Rev. 17:4).
The rulers adorned themselves in purple, even those of Midian (Judg. 8:26). Jesus was mocked with a purple robe (Mark 15:17).
Great use had been made of purple-dyed fabrics for the Tabernacle (Ex. 25:4; 26:1, 31, 36) and for the high priest’s vestments (Ex. 28:5, 6, 15, 33; 39: 29). The Jews gave symbolic value to purple (Wars 5:5, 4).
PURIM
(Heb., plural of “luck”).
Haman cast lots to determine a day of good omen for the destruction of the Jews.
As Haman’s designs were undone, the liberation of the Jews was marked by an annual festival (Est. 3:7; 9:24-32) on the fourteenth and fifteenth days of the month of Adar.
This festival is not mentioned by name in the NT, although there are exegetes who assume that it is the one referred to in Jn. 5:1.
This festival continues to be celebrated within Judaism: the book of Esther is read, and curses are pronounced on Haman and his wife, blessings are pronounced on Mordecai and the eunuch Harbonah (Est. 1:10; 7: 9).
PURIFICATION, PURITY
In the Mosaic Law four ways to purify oneself from contamination were indicated:
(a) Purification of contamination contracted by touching a dead person (Num. 19; cf. Num. 5:2, 3),
(b) Purification from impurity due to bodily emissions (Lev. 15; cf. Num. 5:2, 3).
(c) Purification of the woman in labor (Lev. 12:1-8; Luke 2:21-24).
(d) Purification of the leper (Lev. 14).
To this, the scribes and Pharisees added many other purifications, such as washing hands before eating, washing vessels and dishes, showing great zeal in these things, while inside they were full of extortion and iniquity (Mark 7: 2-8).
In Christianity the necessary purification extends:
to the heart (Acts 15:9; James 4:8),
to the soul (1 Pet. 1:22), and
to the conscience through the blood of Christ (Heb. 9:14).
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BETHEL
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