{"id":70261,"date":"2019-02-10T21:15:18","date_gmt":"2019-02-11T04:15:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?p=70261"},"modified":"2019-02-17T19:44:23","modified_gmt":"2019-02-18T02:44:23","slug":"new-testament-notes-29-30","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2019\/02\/new-testament-notes-29-30.html","title":{"rendered":"New Testament Notes 29-30"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"John<\/a>
A rare color photograph of John the Baptist in the Jordan River \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0(LDS Media Library)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

John 3:23-36<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Just a few quick remarks about this passage.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

1.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve already noted the reference to John\u2019s having chosen his baptismal site (\u201cat Aenon near Salim,\u201d almost certainly on the Jordan River) \u201cbecause there was much water there\u201d (3:23). \u00a0This strongly suggests baptism by immersion rather than by sprinkling.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

2.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Madaba<\/a>
This portion of the sixth-century AD \u201cMadaba Map\u201d (named after the Jordanian town in which it\u2019s located on the floor of an ancient church) shows Bethabara (\u0392\u03ad\u03b8\u03b1\u03b2\u03b1\u03c1\u03ac \u03c4\u03bf \u03c4\u03bf\u03cd \u03ac\u03b3\u03af\u03bf\u03c5 \u0399\u03c9\u03ac\u03bd\u03bd\u03bf\u03c5 \u03c4\u03bf\u03cd \u03b2\u03b1\u03c0\u03c4\u03af\u03c3\u03bc\u03b1\u03c4\u03bf\u03c2: \u201cBethabara, the place of St. John\u2019s baptizing\u201d) as very close to the Dead Sea, much further south than the Galilee\u2019s Yardenit. \u00a0\u00a0(Bethabara is written here just below the River Jordan, near the center of the map. \u00a0\u201cAenon\u201d is also placed at about the middle of the image, directly above the Jordan River. \u00a0 \u00a0(Wikimedia Commons public domain image)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

The word Aenon<\/em>\u00a0reflects an underlying Aramaic term\u00a0for a \u201cspring\u201d (similar in Hebrew and Arabic). \u00a0The famous Madaba Map in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, which describes it as \u201cAenon, where Sapsaphas now is,\u201d and suggests a location for it:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

3.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Note that Jesus is said in 3:26 to have been with John \u201cbeyond the Jordan\u201d (\u03c0\u03ad\u03c1\u03b1\u03bd \u03c4\u03bf\u1fe6 \u1f38\u03bf\u03c1\u03b4\u03ac\u03bd\u03bf\u03c5) which seems to support\u00a0the Jordanian claim<\/a> to have the site on their side of the river. \u00a0So, too, does the Madaba Map, shown above: \u00a0The large body of water on the right of the image is the Dead Sea. \u00a0The Jordan River flows into the northern end of the Dead Sea, which means that the Dead Sea is toward the south. \u00a0With that orientation in mind, the site identified as \u201cAenon\u201d seems to be on the eastern side of the Jordan River \u2014 which is to say, in what is today the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, not Israel.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

4.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

The word \u1f04\u03bd\u03c9\u03b8\u03b5\u03bd, which is<\/span>\u00a0translated as \u201cfrom above\u201d in 3:31, is the very word that\u2019s translated \u201cagain\u201d or \u201canew\u201d (as in \u201cborn again\u201d) in John 3:1-21. \u00a0I told<\/em> you<\/a> that it could mean both \u201cagain\u201d and \u201cfrom above.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

***<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Matthew 4:12<\/a><\/p>\n

Mark 1:14<\/a><\/p>\n

Luke 4:14<\/a><\/p>\n

John 4:1-3<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

These are simple passages. \u00a0In Mark, Jesus \u201ccame into Galilee.\u201d \u00a0In Luke, Jesus \u201creturned . . . into Galilee.\u201d \u00a0In John, Jesus \u201cdeparted . . . to Galilee.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

The language that interests me, though, is in Matthew: \u00a0\u201cNow when he heard that John had been arrested, he withdrew (\u1f00\u03bd\u03b5\u03c7\u03ce\u03c1\u03b7\u03c3\u03b5\u03bd)<\/span>\u00a0into Galilee.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

That word \u2014 from the same Greek verb that gives us the English word anchorite<\/em> (= \u201chermit\u201d) \u2014 suggests a tactical move, designed to avoid being swept up in the government action that ended\u00a0John\u2019s ministry. \u00a0After all, Jesus was related to John and had \u00a0been associated with John, receiving baptism at his hands. \u00a0Moreover, John was pointing to Jesus, and describing himself as Jesus\u2019 forerunner. \u00a0It would have been reasonable, on those grounds, for the authorities to try to seize Jesus, too.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

I presume that Jesus could miraculously have fended off any attempt to arrest or kill him before it was his time to be arrested and crucified. \u00a0\u201cNo man taketh it from me,\u201d John 10:18 represents him as saying about his own life, \u201cbut I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again.\u201d \u00a0But there seems little need to invoke miraculous power when simple prudence will do the job. \u00a0Not even for the Savior.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cBehold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves,\u201d he told his disciples. \u00a0\u201cBe ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.\u201d \u00a0(Matthew 10:16)<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

So, too, for us. \u00a0Giving up smoking can help us to avoid emphysema long before there\u2019s an urgent necessity for supernatural healing. \u00a0Doing regular homework might spare us the desperate need for last-minute divine intervention on a final exam. \u00a0Training children up in the way they should go isn\u2019t foolproof \u2014 children retain their agency \u2014 but it can certainly reduce the percentage of youth who will turn to delinquency, crime, and drug addiction.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 \u00a0 John 3:23-36 \u00a0 Just a few quick remarks about this passage. \u00a0 1. \u00a0 I\u2019ve already noted the reference to John\u2019s having chosen his baptismal site (\u201cat Aenon near Salim,\u201d almost certainly on the Jordan River) \u201cbecause there was much water there\u201d (3:23). \u00a0This strongly suggests baptism by immersion rather than by sprinkling. 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