New Testament 28

John 3:22

A really short reading today.  Just a single verse.  Which I’ll give here, in its entirety:

“After these things came Jesus and his disciples into the land of Judæa; and there he tarried with them, and baptized.”

Jesus and his disciples don’t seem to be in Jerusalem, because their being in the holy city would have been mentioned as significant.  They’re probably not in any major town or city, for the same reason.

Which means that these baptisms were almost certainly performed down in the Jordan River.  It’s the only serious stream in the area.  The most reasonable place to find “much water” (John 3:23) out in the countryside of that arid region.

And — look at the map — that probably means southward on the Jordan River, toward Jericho.  They were in Judea, not in Galilee.

Which means that the Yardenit baptismal site that’s located just south of the Sea of Galilee and that’s quite popular with tourists and Christian pilgrims is — notwithstanding its large gift shop, its relatively lush and cool vegetation, its fine facilities, and the eager attentions of the Israeli kibbutzniks who own and run it — almost certainly not the place of John’s and Jesus’ baptisms.  (John probably wasn’t far away from where Jesus was, as is implied in tomorrow’s reading, John 3:23-36.)

There is a much more likely site to the south, in much drier territory.  In Judea.  (Or so close to Judea — just across the “mighty” Jordan — that the difference is minuscule.)  So far as I can recall, I first visited it a number of years ago with BYU’s then-president Merrill J. Bateman and the president of the University of Jordan.  The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan is really pushing the site, and I think their location has a great deal to recommend it.  Of course, you can also see the site, more or less, from the Israeli side, since the River Jordan is the border between the two countries.

Learn more about the Jordanian site here.