The Immerser: John the Baptist Within Second Temple Judaism

One can hardly ask for a more thorough study of the Baptist and his relationship to Jesus. Taylor refutes (once and for all, hopefully) theories which associate John with the Essenes. He lived in the wilderness himself, but he sent people home after baptizing them; he was an ascetic, but the particular foods he rejected were accepted by the Essenes; he wore camel hair sackcloth, the Essenes wore white garments; he lived in the lower Jordan, they lived on the western shores of the Dead Sea. About the Pharisees, Taylor concludes that they were probably not overly hostile to John. They may have disagreed with the belief that a purification rite like baptism needed prior repentance, but they certainly wouldn't have been offended by a prophet who was turning sinners back to righteousness. Her chapter dealing with John's execution is very helpful, probably the best in the book. She notes that unlike other wilderness prophets of the first century (whose followers were also rounded up and slaughtered), John did not gather people in order to march on Jerusalem. He believed the kingdom was coming -- and thus that the powers-that-be would soon "get their due" -- but his methods were less seditious, as he sent people home to await the kingdom after they were baptized. But Antipas no doubt worried that the Baptist movement could flower into the more popular form of prophetic revolution, and so John's criticism of his marriage was the excuse he needed to do away with him. Finally, Taylor explores the relationship between John and Jesus, suggesting that Jesus counted himself among the followers of the Baptist who needed repentance, and who upon immersion had a prophetic calling, went out into the wilderness himself...and then began his own movement, in which he continued the practice of baptizing.