A Voice Crying

How to cite this article: David N. Bivin and Joshua N. Tilton, “A Voice Crying,” The Life of Yeshua: A Suggested Reconstruction (Jerusalem Perspective, 2020) [https://www.jerusalemperspective.com/30118/].

Matt. 3:1-6; Mark 1:1-6; Luke 3:1-7a

(Huck 1; Aland 13; Crook 16)^[287]

Updated: 15 January 2025

וּבִשְׁנַת חֲמֵשׁ עֶשְׂרֵה לְמֶמְשֶׁלֶת טִיבִירְיוֹס קֵיסַר בִּמְשֹׁל פּוֹנְטִיּוֹס פִּילָטוֹס בִּיהוּדָה וּבִמְלֹךְ הֵרוֹדֵיס בַּגָּלִיל וּבִמְלֹךְ פְּלִיפּוֹס אָחִיו בִּיטוּר וּטְרָכוֹן וּבִמְלֹךְ לוּסַנְיָה בָּאֲבֵילִין וּבְכַהֵן חָנָן כֹּהֵן גָּדוֹל וְקַיָּפָא הָיָה דְּבַר אֱלֹהִים עַל יוֹחָנָן בֶּן זְכַרְיָה בַּמִּדְבָּר וַיָּבֹא אֶל כָּל כִּכַּר הַיַּרְדֵּן וַיִּקְרָא טְבִילַת תְּשׁוּבָה לִשְׁמִטַּת עֲוֹנוֹת כַּכָּתוּב בְּסֵפֶר דִּבְרֵי יְשַׁעְיָה הַנָּבִיא קוֹל קוֹרֵא בַּמִּדְבָּר פַּנּוּ דֶּרֶךְ יי [וְהִנֵּה אֻכְלוּסִים גְּדוֹלִים יֹצְאִים אֵלָיו לִטְבּוֹל לְפָנָיו]

Now in the fifteenth year of the imperial rule of Emperor Tiviryos, during the governorship of Pontiyos Pilatos in Yehudah, and during the reign of Herodes in the Galil, and during the reign of his brother Pelipos in Yetur and Trachon, and during the reign of Lusanyah in the Avelin, and during the high priesthood of Hanan and Kayafa, the word of God came to Zecharyah’s son, Yohanan the Immerser, who was in the desert. So Yohanan went into the whole Yarden Valley and proclaimed a repentance immersion for the cancellation of Israel’s debt of sin, as it is written in Yeshayah the prophet’s book of oracles, A voice cries, “Prepare the LORD’s way in the desert” [Isa. 40:3].

Large crowds went out to Yohanan the Immerser to be purified under his supervision.^[288]

Reconstruction

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• ^[1] See Burnett Hillman Streeter, “The Original Extent of Q,” in Studies in the Synoptic Problem (ed. W. Sanday; Oxford: Clarendon, 1911), 184-208, esp. 186; Taylor, 156; Bundy, 45 §1; Beare, Earliest, 38 §1; Marshall, 132; Bovon, 1:118. ↩
• ^[2] See especially Catchpole, 70-76. ↩
• ^[3] See Streeter, “The Original Extent of Q,” 186; Beare, Earliest, 38 §1; Luz, 1:133-134; Witherington, 77. ↩
• ^[4] See Fitzmyer, 1:452, 461; Frans Neirynck, “The First Synoptic Pericope: The Appearance of John the Baptist in Q?” Ephemerides Theologicae Lovanienses 72 (1996): 41-74. ↩
• ^[5] Guelich (21) suggested that the description of the Baptist’s diet in Mark 1:6 answers to Jesus’ statement in Like Children Complaining (Luke 7:33; cf. Matt. 11:18) that John did not eat bread or drink wine, but the correspondence is not very close, since Mark 1:6 describes John’s attire and diet (i.e., what John did eat), whereas Like Children Complaining claims that the Baptist neither ate (bread) nor drank (wine). ↩
• ^[6] If Mark’s description of the Baptist’s diet is a response to Yeshua’s Words about Yohanan the Immerser, then it must be to Luke’s version that the author of Mark was responding, since it is more likely that Matthew’s version, which omits the reference to τρυφή (“luxury”), preserves the wording of Anth. See Yeshua’s Words about Yohanan the Immerser, Comment to L15. ↩
• ^[7] This is the least significant of the Lukan-Matthean minor agreements in A Voice Crying, since it is only natural that the authors of Luke and Matthew would omit a title at this point in their narrative, having opened their Gospels with accounts of the circumstances surrounding Jesus’ birth. Nevertheless, it is noteworthy that Mark’s title has not left a trace in Matthew’s version of A Voice Crying. ↩
• ^[8] The author of Luke tended to copy large blocks of material from a single source. See, for example, Luke’s block of material on John the Baptist in Luke 7:18-35, most of which was taken from Anth. (See our introduction to the “Yohanan the Immerser and the Kingdom of Heaven” complex.) Likewise, compare Luke’s block of material on prayer (Luke 11:1-13), nearly all of which was taken from Anth. (See our introduction to the “How to Pray” complex). ↩
• ^[9] Boring enumerated as many as eleven different ways of breaking Mark 1:1-4 into independent syntactical units. See M. Eugene Boring, “Mark 1:1-15 and the Beginning of the Gospel,” Semeia 52 (1990): 43-81, esp. 48-50. ↩
• ^[10] Taylor (152) expressed his preference for regarding Mark 1:1 as the title of the first section of Mark’s Gospel. ↩
• ^[11] For a defense of the view that Mark 1:2-3 should be regarded as a parenthetical aside, see C. H. Turner, “A Textual Commentary on Mark I,” Journal of Theological Studies 28 (1927): 145-158, esp. 150. ↩
• ^[12] See Bundy, 42-43 §1; Boring, “Mark 1:1-15 and the Beginning of the Gospel,” 50-53. ↩
• ^[13] See Robert L. Lindsey, “From Luke to Mark to Matthew: A Discussion of the Sources of Markan ‘Pick-ups’ and the Use of a Basic Non-canonical Source by All the Synoptists,” under the subheading “Mark’s Editorial Method: An Examination of Mark Chapter 1”; cf. LHNS, 9 §. Other scholars have also noted the similarity between Mark 1:1 and Hos. 1:2. See Swete, 1; Boring, “Mark 1:1-15 and the Beginning of the Gospel,” 71 n. 18. ↩
• ^[14] See Peter J. Tomson, “The Core of Jesus’ Evangel: ΕΥΑΓΓΕΛΙΣΑΣΘΑΙ ΠΤΩΧΟΙΣ (Isa 61),” in The Scriptures in the Gospels (ed. C. M. Tuckett; Leuven: Peeters, 1997), 647-658; idem, “‘To Bring Good News to the Poor’: The Core of Jesus’ Gospel,” in his Studies on Jews and Christians in the First and Second Centuries (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2019), 223-233. ↩
• ^[15] On allusions to Isa. 61 in Jesus’ Beatitudes, see David Flusser, “Blessed are the Poor in Spirit...” (Flusser, JOC, 102-114). ↩
• ^[16] On the allusion to Isa. 61 in Jesus’ reply to John the Baptist, see Yohanan the Immerser’s Question. ↩
• ^[17] Text according to Wilhelm Dittenberger, ed., Orientis Graeci Inscriptiones Selectae (2 vols; Leipzig: S. Hirzel, 1903-1905), 2:53-55. Translation (slightly adapted) according to Craig A. Evans, “Mark’s Incipit and the Priene Calendar Inscription: From Jewish Gospel to Greco-Roman Gospel,” Journal of Greco-Roman Christianity and Judaism 1 (2000): 67-81, esp. 69. ↩
• ^[18] In addition to Evans, “Mark’s Incipit and the Priene Calendar Inscription: From Jewish Gospel to Greco-Roman Gospel,” see Boring-Berger-Colpe, 169; Marcus, 1:146. ↩
• ^[19] On the textual evidence for and against υἱοῦ θεοῦ, see Turner, “A Textual Commentary on Mark I,” 150; Metzger, 73. ↩
• ^[20] Marcus (1:141) rejected the title “son of God” in Mark 1:1 on the grounds that it is inconceivable that a Christian scribe would have omitted it. ↩
• ^[21] Pace Bundy (42 §1) et al., who maintain that the title “son of God,” as applied to Jesus, originated in Gentile Christianity from pagan roots. On the “son of God” concept in ancient Judaism, see Adela Yarbro Collins, “Mark and His Readers: The Son of God among Jews,” Harvard Theological Review 92.4 (1999): 393-408; Serge Ruzer, “Son of God as Son of David: Luke’s Attempt to Biblicize a Problematic Notion,” Babel und Bible 3 (2006): 321-352. ↩
• ^[22] On the “son of God” concept in the imperial cult, see Adela Yarbro Collins, “Mark and His Readers: The Son of God among Greeks and Romans,” Harvard Theological Review 93.2 (2000): 85-100. ↩
• ^[23] Translation according to H. Rushton Fairclough, trans., Virgil (2 vols.; New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1916), 1:560-563. ↩
• ^[24] On Roman pretensions to worldwide domination, see P. A. Brunt, “Roman Imperial Illusions,” in his Roman Imperial Themes (Oxford: Clarendon, 1990), 433-480. ↩
• ^[25] See Marcus, 1:142. ↩
• ^[26] Cf., e.g., Beare, Earliest, 37 §1; Fitzmyer, 1:461; Neirynck, “The First Synoptic Pericope,” 58. ↩
• ^[27] For the view that the quotation in Mark 1:2 is a later interpolation, see Taylor, 153; Bundy, 43 §1; John A. T. Robinson, “Elijah, John and Jesus: An Essay in Detection,” in his Twelve New Testament Studies (London: SMC Press, 1962; repr. from New Testament Studies 4 [1958]: 263-281), 28-52, esp. 34 n. 14. Cf. Mann, 195. ↩
• ^[28] See Taylor, 153. ↩
• ^[29] For the hypothesis that “Q” was the source of the quotation in Mark 1:2, see Burnett Hillman Streeter, “Mark’s Knowledge and Use of Q,” in Studies in the Synoptic Problem (ed. W. Sanday; Oxford: Clarendon, 1911), 165-183, esp. 168; Catchpole, 71. ↩
• ^[30] See Yeshua’s Words about Yohanan the Immerser, Comment to L23-27. ↩
• ^[31] Cf. William Lockton, Certain Alleged Gospel Sources: A Study of Q, Proto-Luke and M (London: Longmans, Green and Co., 1927), 5-7. ↩
• ^[32] See Yeshua’s Words about Yohanan the Immerser, Comment to L23. ↩
• ^[33] Robinson (“Elijah, John and Jesus: An Essay in Detection,” 34) referred to Mark’s combination of the composite Mal. 3:1/Exod. 23:20 quotation with Isa. 40:3 as “a very botched affair.” ↩
• ^[34] Scholars who regard the synchronism at the opening of Luke’s version of A Voice Crying as a Lukan composition include Manson (Luke, 24), Marshall (132), Fitzmyer (1:452) and Bovon (1:119). ↩
• ^[35] On the similarity of Luke’s synchronism to the style of dating found in prophetic books, see A. B. Bruce, 481; Bundy, 46 §1; Henry J. Cadbury, “Some Lukan Expressions of Time (Lexical Notes on Luke-Acts VII),” Journal of Biblical Literature 82.3 (1963): 272-278, esp. 272; Bovon, 1:118, 119, 120; Nolland, Luke, 1:140. And see also Comment to L15. ↩
• ^[36] On the composition dates of the Synoptic Gospels and the pre-synoptic sources, see LOY Excursus: The Dates of the Synoptic Gospels. ↩
• ^[37] Nolland (Matt., 135) suggested that “in those days” (Matt. 3:1) should be understood as referring to the days of Jesus’ residence in Nazareth, which lasted from his childhood until his baptism. ↩
• ^[38] Aside from Matt. 3:1 and Matt. 3:13 the only other instance of the verb παραγίνεσθαι (“to come by”) occurs in Magi Seek the King of the Jews (Matt. 2:1), a pericope unique to the Gospel of Matthew. Probably all three instances of the verb are due to Matthean redaction. ↩
• ^[39] Cf. Davies-Allison, 1:288; Luz, 1:134. ↩
• ^[40] It should be noted that although Matthew’s phrase ἐν δὲ ταῖς ἡμέραις ἐκείναις reverts easily to Hebrew as וּבַיָּמִים הָהֵם, in MT this Hebrew phrase occurs only in Judg. 18:1, where the LXX translators rendered it as καὶ ἐν ταῖς ἡμέραις ἐκείναις. ↩
• ^[41] See Hatch-Redpath, 1:565-568. ↩
• ^[42] See Dos Santos, 213-214. ↩
• ^[43] Cf. 2 Chr. 15:10, where ἐν τῷ πεντεκαιδεκάτῳ ἔτει τῆς βασιλείας Ασα (“in the fifteenth year of the reign of Asa”) is the translation of לִשְׁנַת חֲמֵשׁ עֶשְׂרֵה לְמַלְכוּת אָסָא (“of the fifteenth year of the reign of Asa”). ↩
• ^[44] See the discussions in A. B. Bruce, 480; Creed, 48; Marshall, 133; Fitzmyer, 1:455; Nolland, Luke, 1:139; Bovon, 1:120. See also Harold W. Hoehner, “Chronological Aspects of the Life of Christ Part II: The Commencement of Christ’s Ministry,” Bibliotheca Sacra 131.1 (1974): 41-54, esp. 41-48; Ben Zion Wacholder, “Chronomessianism: The Timing of Messianic Movements and the Calendar of Sabbatical Cycles,” Hebrew Union College Annual 46 (1975): 201-218, esp. 213-215; Brian Messner, “‘In the Fifteenth Year’ Reconsidered: A Study of Luke 3:1,” Stone-Campbell Journal 1.2 (1998): 201-211. ↩
• ^[45] Some scholars have advanced arguments in favor of beginning the count from 11 C.E., when Tiberius was granted power in the provinces equal to that of Augustus. But although this method of counting would seem to harmonize with Luke’s estimate that Jesus was about thirty years old at the time of his baptism (Luke 3:23), there is no precedent for such a method of counting, and the aim is clearly apologetic rather than historical. For critiques of this view, see Creed, 48; Hoehner, “Chronological Aspects of the Life of Christ,” 43; Messner, “‘In the Fifteenth Year’ Reconsidered: A Study of Luke 3:1,” 201-211. ↩
• ^[46] See Wacholder, “Chronomessianism: The Timing of Messianic Movements and the Calendar of Sabbatical Cycles,” 214. ↩
• ^[47] J. Duncan M. Derrett (“The Baptist’s Sermon: Luke 3,10-14,” Bibbia e Oriente 37.3 [1995]: 155-165, esp. 163) similarly suggested that John the Baptist’s public proclamation coincided with a Sabbatical Year, but the year Derrett indicated (33/34 C.E.) is (nearly) a full Sabbatical cycle later than that which is indicated by the chronological notice in Luke 3:1. Unfortunately, Derrett provided no basis for his calculation of the Baptist’s chronology. We are therefore left to wonder why Derrett would date the Baptist’s ministry to the final year of Philip the tetrarch’s life. According to the Gospels of Mark and Matthew, Herodias used her daughter as a pawn to have her revenge on John the Baptist. This took place before Herodias’ daughter (Salome) was married to Philip, since she is portrayed as living at home with her mother and stepfather Herod Antipas. We must conclude, therefore, that Derrett either rejected the Markan and Matthean accounts of the Baptist’s execution as unhistorical, or he espoused an extremely compressed timeline in which Salome is used to secure the beheading of the Baptist, is married to Philip, and is then widowed, all in the span of a year. ↩
• ^[48] See Plummer, Mark, 54; Taylor, 154; Rudolf Bultmann, “ἀφίημι, ἄφεσις, παρίημι, πάρεσις,” TDNT, 1:509-512. ↩
• ^[49] Cf. m. Avot 5:9. ↩
• ^[50] On the sin-as-debt metaphor that developed in the Second Temple period, see Gary A. Anderson, “From Israel’s Burden to Israel’s Debt: Towards a Theology of Sin in Biblical and Early Second Temple Sources,” in Reworking the Bible: Apocryphal and Related Texts at Qumran (ed. Esther Chazon, Devorah Dimant, and Ruth Clements; Leiden: Brill, 2005), 1-30. ↩
• ^[51] The noun ἡγεμονία occurs only 7xx in LXX (Gen. 36:30 [= אַלוּף]; Num. 1:52 [= דֶּגֶל]; 2:17‎ [= דֶּגֶל]; 4 Macc. 6:33; 13:4; Sir. 7:4; 10:1). The Hebrew equivalents of ἡγεμονία in Genesis and Numbers are not suitable for HR. The LXX translators usually rendered מֶמְשָׁלָה as ἐξουσία (exousia, “authority”) or ἀρχή (archē, “rule”). See Dos Santos, 114. ↩
• ^[52] On the identification of the Kittim in DSS, see Hanan Eshel, “The Kittim in the War Scroll and in the Pesharim,” in Historical Perspectives: From the Hasmoneans to Bar Kokhba in Light of the Dead Sea Scrolls (ed. David Goodblatt, Avital Pinnick, and Daniel R. Schwartz; Leiden: Brill, 2001), 29-44; Brian Schultz, “Not Greeks but Romans: Changing Expectations for the Eschatological War in the War Texts from Qumran,” in The Jewish Revolt Against Rome: Interdisciplinary Perspectives (ed. Mladen Popović; Leiden: Brill, 2011), 107-127. ↩
• ^[53] Wacholder mentions the Murabba‘at Papyrus in Ben Zion Wacholder, “The Calendar of Sabbatical Cycles During the Second Temple and Early Rabbinic Period,” Hebrew Union College Annual 44 (1973): 153-196, esp. 169. ↩
• ^[54] See Jastrow, 331. An example of הֶגְמוֹנְיָה, appearing with the alternate spelling הֶגְמוֹנְיָא (hegmōnyā’), is found in the following parable, which aims to explain why the heavenly visitors in the book of Genesis were called “men” when they appeared to Abraham, but “angels” when they appeared to Lot:

  אמר ר′ תנחומא לאחד שנטל הגמוניא מן המלך עד שלא הגיע לבית אוריאן שלו היה מהלך כפגן כך עד שלא עשו שליחותן אנשים וכיון שעשו שליחותן לבשו מלאכות

  Rabbi Tanhuma said, “[It may be compared] to someone who took the governorship [הֶגְמוֹנְיָא] from the king. Prior to his arrival at the place of office he would go about as a commoner. So [too with the angels]: prior to doing their mission they were men, but as soon as they began doing their mission, they appeared in angelic form.” (Gen. Rab. 50:2 [ed. Theodor-Albeck, 2:518])

  ↩

• ^[55] The name אמליוס is attested in 4Q333 in reference to Marcus Aemilius Sacurus, the governor of Syria, appointed by Pompey in 66 C.E. See Hanan Eshel, The Dead Sea Scrolls and the Hasmonean State (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2008), 138. ↩
• ^[56] The name קִיפּוֹנוֹס is attested in the Mishnah (m. Mid. 1:3) with referece to one of the gates on the western side of the Temple Mount. It is likely that this gate was named after the Roman governor Coponius. See Lee I. Levine, Jerusalem: Portrait of the City in the Second Temple Period (538 B.C.E.—70 C.E.) (Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 2002), 230 n. 49; R. Steven Notley, Jerusalem City of the Great King (Jerusalem: Carta, 2015), 84. ↩
• ^[57] See Hatch-Redpath, 3:85. ↩
• ^[58] The chronological issues pertaining to Pilate’s governorship are discussed by Daniel R. Schwartz, “Pontius Pilate’s Appointment to Office and the Chronology of Josephus’ Antiquities, Books 18-20,” in his Studies in the Jewish Background of Christianity (Tübingen: Mohr [Siebeck], 1992), 182-201, and in the same volume, “Pontius Pilate’s Suspension from Office: Chronology and Sources,” 202-217. ↩
• ^[59] See Jastrow, 121 (אַרְכוֹנְטוֹס), ‎122 (אַרְכָן). ↩
• ^[60] See Jastrow, 528, 530-531. ↩
• ^[61] Also, such a loanword would more likely be a noun, but here we have a participle, which probably needs to be reconstructed with a verb. ↩
• ^[62] The suggestion that the authors of Luke and Matthew independently made the same correction to Mark is difficult to accept. While we can easily imagine the author of Luke changing “king” to “tetrarch,” it is hard to understand why the author of Matthew would have done so here, since in the very next pericope he accepted Mark’s designation of Herod as “king.” Why would he reject “king” in Matt. 14:1 only to accept “king” in Matt. 14:9? The most probable explanation is that the author of Matthew read “tetrarch” in Anth.’s Herodes Wonders about Yeshua pericope, but read “king” in Anth.’s version of Yohanan the Immerser’s Execution. In other words, it was the author of Mark who homogenized the vocabulary in these pericopae, writing “king” in both although Anth. had “tetrarch” in the one and “king” in the other. ↩
• ^[63] On the midrash on Psalm 2 in Acts, see David Flusser, “An Early Jewish-Christian Document in the Tiburtine Sibyl” (Flusser, JOC, 359-389, esp. 376); Huub van de Sandt, “The Quotations in Acts 13, 13-52 as a Reflection of Luke’s LXX Interpretation,” Biblica 75.1 (1994): 26-58, esp. 32; Brad H. Young, “A Fresh Examination of the Cross, Jesus, and the Jewish People” (JS1, 191-209, esp. 204-205). ↩
• ^[64] Since, according to Luke, the midrash preserved in Acts 4:25-28 originated with the apostles in Jerusalem, there is every reason to believe that it was originally formulated in Hebrew. Referring to Antipas as “king” might simply be a reflection of colloquial Hebrew usage. ↩
• ^[65] On the incorporation of a Hebrew Life of Yohanan the Immerser into the Hebrew Life of Yeshua, see Yohanan the Immerser’s Execution, under the subheading “Story Placement.” ↩
• ^[66] Other possible Hebrew forms of “tetrarch” include טִיטְרַרְכוֹן (ṭiṭrarchōn), טֶטְרַרְכוֹנְטוֹס (ṭeṭrarchōnṭōs) or טִיטְרַרְכוֹנְטוֹס (ṭiṭrarchōnṭōs), and טֶטְרַרְכֵיס (ṭeṭrarchēs) or טִיטְרַרְכֵיס (ṭiṭrarchēs). ↩
• ^[67] Compare our וּבִמְלֹךְ הֵרוֹדֵיס (“and during Herod’s being king”) to the biblical phrase עַד מְלֹךְ דָּוִיד (“until David’s being king”; 1 Chr. 4:31). ↩
• ^[68] On the tetrarch Herod Antipas, see F. F. Bruce, “Herod Antipas, Tetrarch of Galilee and Peraea,” Annual of Leeds University Oriental Society 5 (1966): 6-23; Harold W. Hoehner, Herod Antipas: A Contemporary of Jesus Christ (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1972; repr., Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1980). ↩
• ^[69] According to Braund, “Antipas is named simply ‘Herod’—not ‘Antipas’ or ‘Herod Antipas’—in Josephus,” but he is mistaken. Josephus refers to Herod Antipas simply as “Antipas” in, e.g., J.W. 1:562, 646, 668; 2:20, 23, 94. Josephus refers to Ἡρώδης ὁ κληθεὶς Ἀντίπας (“Herod, the one called Antipas”) in J.W. 2:167. Josephus does, however, refer to Herod Antipas simply as “Herod” in J.W. 2:178, 181. See David C. Braund, “Herod Antipas,” ABD, 3:160. ↩
• ^[70] See Schwartz’s comments with respect to Agrippa I, who also is consistently called “Herod” but never “Agrippa” in Acts. Unlike Herod Antipas, who is known to have used the name “Herod,” no other ancient source refers to Agrippa by the name “Herod.” See Daniel R. Schwartz, Agrippa I: Last King of Judaea (Tübingen: Mohr [Siebeck], 1990), 120. ↩
• ^[71] On the portrayal of Herod in rabbinic sources, see Daniel R. Schwartz, “Herod in Ancient Jewish Literature,” in The World of the Herods: Volume 1 of the International Conference The World of the Herods and the Nabataeans held at the British Museum, 17-19 April 2001 (ed. Nikos Kokkinos; Stuttgart: Franz Steiner, 2007), 45-53. ↩
• ^[72] On the spelling הוֹרְדוֹס see the comments of Malcolm Lowe and David Flusser, “Evidence Corroborating A Modified Proto-Matthean Synoptic Theory,” New Testament Studies 29.1 (1983): 25-47, esp. 44 n. 48. ↩
• ^[73] Delitzsch also adopted the spelling הוֹרְדוֹס in his Hebrew translation of the New Testament. ↩
• ^[74] We also encounter the spelling הוֹרוֹדוֹס in Seder Olam, chpt. 30 (ed. Guggenheimer, 260). ↩
• ^[75] For this reference we are indebted to Wacholder, “The Calendar of Sabbatical Cycles During the Second Temple and Early Rabbinic Period,” 177. Josephus notes that King Herod had bestowed his name upon his fortress. Whereas in Greek the name of the man and the name of the fortress were differentiated, in the Hebrew of the Second Temple period the names were indistinguishable. See J. T. Milik, “Textes Hébreux et Araméens,” in Discoveries in the Judaean Desert (ed. Emanuel Tov et al.; Oxford: Clarendon, 1955-2008), 2:67-205, esp. 126. ↩
• ^[76] Ilan made note of a pre-135 C.E. ostracon from Murabba‘at (Mur 77) that bears the name Herod, spelled הרדיס. Perhaps this spelling, too, should be vocalized as הֵרֹדֵיס (hērodēs), as Ilan states that this spelling is closer to the Greek vocalization than that found in the Babylonian Talmud. The identity of this Herod is unknown. See Tal Ilan, Lexicon of Jewish Names in Late Antiquity: Part I Palestine 330 BCE-200 CE (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2002), 282-283. ↩
• ^[77] Γαλιλαία occurs as the translation of הַגָּלִיל in Josh. 20:7; 21:32; 3 Kgdms. 9:11; 4 Kgdms. 15:29; 1 Chr. 6:61 (cf. Isa. 8:23). Γαλιλαία is also the spelling adopted in the writings of Josephus. ↩
• ^[78] Note that in the case of Herod (L18) and Lysanias (L22) we find the conjunction καί. Only in the case of Philip (L19) do we find the conjunction δέ. ↩
• ^[79] Avi-Yonah (“Archaeological Sources,” in Safrai-Stern, 1:46-62, esp. 58) mentioned an inscription “dedicated to Philip tetrarch of Iturea and Trachonitis,” which, therefore, “illustrate[s] the statement in Luke 3:1.” However, the inscription, which is in Nabatean, does not mention Iturea or Trachonitis, but reads as follows:

  בשנת XXXIII למרנא פלפס עבדו ותרו בר בדר וקציו בר שדי וחנאל בר משכאל ומנע ב[ר] גרמו בומס צלם גלשו בר בנתו אנעם בר עצבו אמנא שלם

  In the year 33 of our lord Philippos; there was made by Witr son of Budar (?) and Kasiu son of Sudai and Hann’ēl son of Masak’ēl and Nuna (?) son of Garm, this altar of the statue of Galis the son of Banat (?) ’An‘am son of Asb (was) the sculptor. Peace!

  Text and translation according to Joseph Offord, “A Nabataean Inscription Concerning Philip, Tetrarch of Auranitis,” Palestine Exploration Fund Quarterly Statement 51.2 (1919): 82-85. ↩

• ^[80] See George Adam Smith, The Historical Geography of the Holy Land (25th ed.; London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1931), 544-547; Offord, “A Nabataean Inscription Concerning Philip, Tetrarch of Auranitis,” 85; E. A. Speiser, Genesis (AB1; Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1964), 188. The Itureans are also mentioned in the writings of Eupolemus (second cent. B.C.E.) as having fought with the Israelites in the time of King David. See Schürer, 1:561. ↩
• ^[81] See Smith, The Historical Geography of the Holy Land, 545 n. 3. ↩
• ^[82] On the Rehov Synagogue Inscription, see Ze’ev Safrai, “The Rehov Inscription,” Immanuel 8 (1978): 48-57; Jacob Sussmann, “The Inscription in the Synagogue at Reḥob,” in Ancient Synagogues Revealed (ed. Lee I. Levine; Jerusalem: Israel Exploration Society, 1981), 146-151. ↩
• ^[83] Josephus referred to Trachonitis by the name Trachon in J.W. 1:398 (2xx), 400, 668; 2:95; Ant. 13:427; 15:343, 344, 345, 360; 16:130, 271, 273, 276, 347; 17:319. The first-century geographer Strabo (Geogr. 16:2 §20) mentions two geological formations called the Trachons, for which Trachon or Trachonitis was named. See Smith, The Historical Geography of the Holy Land, 542-544. ↩
• ^[84] Delitzsch rendered Τραχωνῖτις in Luke 3:1 as טַרְכוֹנָה (ṭarchōnāh), and this spelling is maintained in MHNT. Undoubtedly, Delitzsch was guided in his translation by the name טְרָכוֹנָא (ṭ^erāchōnā’) for Trachonitis, which occurs in t. Shev. 4:11 and Sifre Deut. §51 (ed. Finkelstein, 118) in a tradition parallel to that which is preserved in the Rehov Synagogue Inscription. In t. Shev. 4:11 and Sifre Deut. §51, however, the name טְרָכוֹנָא appears in an Aramaic context. In any case, Delitzsch’s vocalization of the name as טַרְכוֹנָה remains odd. ↩
• ^[85] See BDAG, “Τραχωνῖτις, ιδος,” 1014; Marshall, 134. ↩
• ^[86] Cassius Dio (Roman hist. 49:32 §5) likewise referred to this Lysanias as a "king." See Schürer, 1:565. ↩
• ^[87] As Burnett et al. state, “It is surprising that the portrait has a diadem, as neither Ptolemy nor Lysanias had the rank of king.” See Andrew Burnett, Michael Amandry, and Pere Pau Ripollès Alegre, Roman Provincial Coinage Volume 1: From the Death of Caesar to the Death of Vitellius (44 BC-AD 69): Part 1: Introduction and Catalogue (London: British Museum Press; Paris: Bibliothèque Nationale, 1992), 662. ↩
• ^[88] In J.W. 2:247 Josephus distinguished between Chalcis and the “kingdom of Lysanias,” i.e., Abila (or Abilene). ↩
• ^[89] See Schürer, 1:565. ↩
• ^[90] See Schürer, 1:566-568; Samuel Sandmel, “Lysanias,” in The Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible (5 vols.; ed. George Buttrick et al.; Nashville: Abingdon, 1962), 3:193; Schwartz, Agrippa I, 59-60. ↩
• ^[91] See Creed, 309; Schürer, 1:568; Kenneth W. Clark, “Abilene,” in The Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible (5 vols.; ed. George Buttrick et al.; Nashville: Abingdon, 1962), 1:9; Scott T. Carroll, “Lysanias,” ABD, 4:425; Jerry A. Pattengale, “Abilene,” ABD, 1:20. ↩
• ^[92] Pococke described the inscription as follows:

  ...a Greek inscription which I saw on a stone about four feet wide, and three deep, that was fixed on the inside of the church, but some of it has been broke off; so that the latter part of the lines are lost; it seems to consist of verses in honour of the builder, and to run in the first person, beginning with the year, and afterwards makes mention of Lysanias, tetrarch of Abilene; and by the last line it seems to be the devotion of a lady of the name Eusebia.

  See Richard Pococke, A Description of the East and Some Other Countries (2 vols.; London: W. Bowyer, 1743-1745), 2a:116.
  The inscription, which Pococke transcribed, appears in the Corpus Inscriptionum Graecarum (no. 4521) and in Orientis Graeci Inscriptiones Selectae (no. 606), where it was reconstructed as follows:

  Ὑπὲρ (τ)ῆ(ς) τῶν κυρίων Σε[βαστῶν] | σωτηρίας καὶ τοῦ σύμ[παντος] | αὐτῶν οἴκου Νύμφαιος Ἀέ[του], | Λυσανίου τετράρχου ἀπελε[ύθερος] || τὴν ὁδὸν κτίσας ἄστε[ι]π[τ]ο[ν οὖσαν καὶ] | τὸν ναὸν οἰκο[δομ]ή[σας τὰς περὶ αὐτὸν] | φυτείας πάσας ἐφύ[τευσεν ἐκ | τ]ῶν ἰδίων ἀναλ[ωμάτων θεῷ] | Κρόνῳ κυρίῳ κα[ὶ --------------- || ------------] Εὐσεβία γυνή.

  For the safety of the lords Augusti and their whole house; Nymphaeus...freedman of Lysanias the tetrarch, who built the road where there was none and erected the temple and planted all the orchards around it at his own expense for the divine Cronus, lord, and ... Eusebia, his wife.

  Text according to Wilhelm Dittenberger, ed., Orientis Graeci Inscriptiones Selectae (2 vols.; Leipzig: S. Hirzel, 1903-1905), 2:302-303. Translation according to David C. Braund, Augustus to Nero: A Sourcebook on Roman History 31 BC-AD 68 (Totowa, N.J.: Barnes & Noble, 1985), 232. ↩

• ^[93] Text according to Raphaël Savignac, “Texte complet de l’inscription d’Abila relative à Lysanias,” Revue Biblique 9.4 (1912): 533-540 (for an English translation of this article, click here). ↩
• ^[94] See Creed, 309; Schürer, 1:568. ↩
• ^[95] See Creed, 309. Cf. Schürer, 1:569. ↩
• ^[96] See Ilan, Lexicon of Jewish Names, 277. ↩
• ^[97] See Ilan, Lexicon of Jewish Names, 301. ↩
• ^[98] On the use of the adjectival form as a noun, see Moulton-Howard, 359. ↩
• ^[99] See John Hogg, “On the City of Abila, and the District Called Abilene near Mount Lebanon, and on a Latin Inscription at the River Lycus, in the North of Syria,” Journal of the Royal Geographical Society of London 20 (1850): 38-48; Pattengale, “Abilene,” ABD, 1:20. ↩
• ^[100] See W. Harold Mare, “Ablia of the Decapolis,” ABD, 1:19-20. ↩
• ^[101] See Mordecai Margulies, ed., Midrash Wayyikra Rabbah: A Critical Edition Based on Manuscripts and Genizah Fragments with Variants and Notes (2 vols.; New York and Jerusalem: Jewish Theological Seminary of America, 1993), 1:379 (in Hebrew). ↩
• ^[102] See H. S. Cronin, “Abilene, the Jewish Herdos and St Luke,” Journal of Theological Studies 18 (1917): 147-151, esp. 151. ↩
• ^[103] See Cronin, “Abilene, the Jewish Herdos and St Luke,” 150. ↩
• ^[104] Cf. Manson, Luke, 24-25. ↩
• ^[105] The verb ἀρχιερατεύειν occurs once in LXX: 1 Macc. 14:47. ↩
• ^[106] The term ἀρχιερωσύνη occurs in 1 Macc. 7:21; 11:27, 57; 14:38; 16:24; 2 Macc. 4:7, 24, 25, 29; 11:3; 14:7; 4 Macc. 4:1, 16. It also occurs several times in the writings of Philo and Josephus. Another term for expressing “high priesthood” in Greek is ἀρχιερατεία (archierateia), but unlike ἀρχιερωσύνη, ἀρχιερατεία is not attested in LXX, Philo or Josephus. ↩
• ^[107] In LXX books with counterparts in MT ἀρχιερεύς occurs only 3xx: Lev. 4:3 (= הַכֹּהֵן הַמָּשִׁיחַ); Josh. 22:13 (הַכֹּהֵן); 24:33 (no Heb. equivalent). Contrast this scarcity to the numerous occurrences of ἀρχιερεύς in 1 Esd. (4xx), 1 Macc. (20xx) and 2 Macc. (13xx). ↩
• ^[108] In LXX ὁ ἱερεὺς ὁ μέγας occurs as the translation of הַכֹּהֵן הַגָּדוֹל in Lev. 21:10; Num. 35:25, 28 (2xx); 4 Kgdms. 12:11; 22:4, 8; 23:4; 2 Esd. 13:1, 20; 23:28; 2 Chr. 34:9; Hag. 1:1, 12, 14; 2:2, 4; Zech. 3:1, 8; 6:11. In short, with the sole exception of one occurrence in Josh. 20:6, a verse that has no counterpart in LXX, every instance of הַכֹּהֵן הַגָּדוֹל in MT was translated as ὁ ἱερεὺς ὁ μέγας. ↩
• ^[109] See Jastrow, 615. ↩
• ^[110] Cf. Ant. 18:26, 34, 95; 19:297, 313; 20:197-198. On the identity of the NT Annas with Josephus’ Ananus, see Menahem Stern, “Aspects of Jewish Society: The Priesthood and other Classes” (Safrai-Stern, 2:561-630, esp. 607); James C. VanderKam, From Joshua to Caiaphas: High Priests after the Exile (Fortress: Minneapolis, 2004), 420-424. ↩
• ^[111] See Foakes Jackson-Lake, 4:41; VanderKam, From Joshua to Caiaphas, 422-423. ↩
• ^[112] The Mishnah mentions a high priest named Hanamel (m. Par. 3:5). Is this the same priest as (El)Hanan? ↩
• ^[113] The information presented in the following table was obtained from the National Library of Israel’s Rabbinics Manuscripts Online. ↩
• ^[114] The name חָנָן occurs in Gen. 36:38, 39; 1 Kgs. 4:9; Jer. 35:4; Ezra 2:46; Neh. 7:49; 8:7; 10:11, 23, 27; 13:13; 1 Chr. 1:49, 50; 4:20; 8:23, 38; 9:44; 11:43; 27:28. ↩
• ^[115] The LXX translators rendered חָנָן as Αναν in 1 Chr. 4:20; 8:23, 38; 9:44; 11:43; 2 Esd. 2:46; 17:49; 20:11, 23; 23:13. ↩
• ^[116] In MH the title of the high priest always appears as כֹּהֵן גָּדוֹל, even when definite. See Segal, 180 §374, 184 §378. ↩
• ^[117] On this ossuary and its inscription, see Dan Barag and David Flusser, “The Ossuary of Yehoḥanah Granddaughter of the High Priest Theophilus,” Israel Exploration Journal 36.1 (1986): 39-44. ↩
• ^[118] Delitzsch rendered Caiaphas’ name as קַיָּפָא in Luke 3:2. Cf. Foakes Jackson-Lake, 4:42. ↩
• ^[119] On this ossuary inscription, see Ronny Reich, “Ossuary Inscriptions from the Caiaphas Tomb”; idem, “Ossuary Inscriptions from the ‘Caiaphas’ Tomb,” ‘Atiqot 21 (1992): 72-77; idem, “Ossuary Inscriptions of the Caiaphas Family from Jerusalem,” in Ancient Jerusalem Revealed (ed. Hillel Geva; Jerusalem: Israel Exploration Society, 1994), 223-225. ↩
• ^[120] On this inscription, see Boaz Zissu and Yuval Goren, “The Ossuary of ‘Miriam Daughter of Yeshua Son of Caiaphas, Priests [of] Ma‘aziah from Beth ’Imri’” Israel Exploration Journal 61.1 (2011): 74-95; Richard Bauckham, “The Caiaphas Family,” Journal for the Study of the Historical Jesus 10.1 (2012): 3-31. We have accepted Bauckham’s reading of the inscription. Determining whether the language of the inscription is Hebrew or Aramaic is problematic, since the use of the Aramaic forms בר/ברת (“son of”/ “daughter of”) occur in Hebrew as well as Aramaic inscriptions. See Rahmani, 201 no. 571; Guido Baltes, “The Use of Hebrew and Aramaic in Epigraphic Sources of the New Testament Era” (JS2, 35-65, esp. 47-48). ↩
• ^[121] On the rabbinic tradition relating to the high priests of the house of Kayapha, see Ben-Zion Rosenfeld, “The Settlement of Two Families of High Priests during the Second Temple Period,” in Historical-Geographical Studies in the Settlement of Eretz-Israel (2 vols.; ed. Yose Katz, Yehoshua Ben-Arieh, and Y. Kaniel; Jerusalem: Yad Yitzhaq ben Zvi, 1991), 2:206-218 (in Hebrew). For an English translation of Rosenfeld’s article, click here. ↩
• ^[122] See y. Maas. 5:7 [26a]; Ilan, Lexicon of Jewish Names, 408. ↩
• ^[123] See Creed, 49; Foakes Jackson-Lake, 4:41. ↩
• ^[124] On Matthew’s use of the historical present, see LOY Excursus: Mark’s Editorial Style, under the subheading “Mark’s Freedom and Creativity.” ↩
• ^[125] See Luz, 1:134; Witherington, 78. ↩
• ^[126] Lindsey (LHNS, 9 §1) indicated that the reconstruction of ἐγένετο in Luke 3:2 should be הָיָה. ↩
• ^[127] In Exod. 24:3 ῥῆμα θεοῦ occurs as the translation of דְּבַר יי (“the word of the LORD”). In 1 Kgdms. 9:27 and Isa. 40:8 ῥῆμα θεοῦ occurs as the translation of דְּבַר אֱלֹהִים (“the word of God”). In Jer. 1:1, where the LXX translators wrote τὸ ῥῆμα τοῦ θεοῦ, ὃ ἐγένετο ἐπὶ Ιερεμιαν (“The word of God, which was upon Jeremiah”), MT simply reads דִּבְרֵי יִרְמְיָהוּ (“Words of Jeremiah”). The phrase דְּבַר אֱלֹהִים is itself quite rare in MT, occurring in Judg. 3:20; 1 Sam. 9:27; Isa. 40:8; Jer. 23:36; Ezra 9:4; 1 Chr. 17:3. In half of these instances (Judg. 3:20; Ezra 9:4; 1 Chr. 17:3) the LXX translators rendered דָּבָר (dāvār, “word”) as λόγος (logos, “word”). ↩
• ^[128] The phrase (ὁ) λόγος (τοῦ) θεοῦ occurs in Judg. 3:20; 2 Kgdms. 16:23; 1 Chr. 15:15; 25:5; 2 Esd. 9:4; Prov. 30:5; 31:8; Jer. 1:2; 9:19. ↩
• ^[129] The phrase (ὁ) λόγος (τοῦ) κυρίου occurs in Exod. 4:28; 1 Kgdms. 15:24; 2 Kgdms. 12:9; 14:17; 24:11; 3 Kgdms. 12:22, 24; 13:1, 2, 5, 9, 17, 20, 32; 16:1; 21:35; 4 Kgdms. 7:1; 9:36; 15:12; 20:16, 19; 24:2; 1 Chr. 10:13; 11:3, 10; 12:24; 17:3; 22:8; 2 Chr. 11:2, 4; 12:7; 18:18; 19:11; 30:12; 34:21; 35:6; 36:5, 21; 2 Esd. 1:1; Ps. 32:4, 6; Hos. 1:1, 2; 4:1; Amos 5:1; 7:16; 8:11, 12; Mic. 1:1; 4:2; 6:1; Joel 1:1; Jonah 1:1; 3:1; Zeph. 1:1; 2:5; Hag. 1:1, 3; 2:10, 20; Zech. 1:1, 7; 4:6, 8; 6:9; 7:1, 4, 8; 8:1, 18; 9:1; 11:11; 12:1; Mal. 1:1; Isa. 1:10; 2:3; 28:14; 38:4; 39:5, 8; Jer. 1:4, 11, 13; 2:4, 31; 5:13; 7:2; 8:9; 10:1; 13:2, 3, 8; 14:1; 17:15, 20; 18:5; 19:3; 20:8; 21:11; 22:2, 29; 23:17; 24:4; 27:1; 34:18; 35:7, 12; 36:30; 38:10; 39:6, 8, 26; 40:1; 41:4, 12; 42:12; 43:1, 4, 8, 11, 27; 44:2, 6; 45:20, 27; 46:15; 49:7, 15; 50:1, 8; 51:24, 26; Ezek. 1:3; 3:16; 6:1, 3; 7:1; 11:14, 25; 12:1, 8, 17, 21, 26; 13:1, 2; 14:2, 12; 15:1; 16:1, 35; 17:1, 11; 18:1; 20:2; 21:1, 3, 6, 13, 23; 22:1, 17, 23; 23:1; 24:1, 15, 20; 25:1, 3; 26:1; 27:1; 28:1, 11, 20; 29:1, 17; 30:1, 20; 31:1; 32:1, 17; 33:1, 23; 34:1, 7; 35:1; 36:1, 4, 16; 37:4, 15; 38:1. ↩
• ^[130] See Four Soils Interpretation, Comment to L21. ↩
• ^[131] This example was noted by Plummer (Luke, 85). ↩
• ^[132] When examples were abundant, we restricted ourselves to the Pentateuch. ↩
• ^[133] We encounter (genitive) Α τοῦ Β primarily as the translation of construct + name + בֶּן + name. ↩
• ^[134] Cf. Bundy, 46 §1. ↩
• ^[135] In the Didache, a late first- or early second-century document, the title ὁ βαπτίζων is used for anyone who administers baptism to newly admitted Christians (Did. 7:4). Was the author of Mark attempting to emphasize continuity between John’s immersions and Christian baptism when he applied the title ὁ βαπτίζων to John the Baptist? ↩
• ^[136] On the textual variants in Mark 1:4, see Turner, “A Textual Commentary on Mark I,” 150; J. K. Elliott, “An Eclectic Textual Commentary on the Greek Text of Mark’s Gospel,” in New Testament Textual Criticism: Its Significance for Exegesis. Essays in Honour of Bruce M. Metzger (ed. Eldon Jay Epp and Gordon D. Fee; Oxford: Clarendon, 1981), 47-60, esp. 49-50; France, Mark, 61. ↩
• ^[137] See Hatch-Redpath, 3:66. ↩
• ^[138] See Ilan, Lexicon of Jewish Names, 90-93. ↩
• ^[139] See Ilan, Lexicon of Jewish Names, 92 n. 20 and n. 21, 262. ↩
• ^[140] See Ilan, Lexicon of Jewish Names, 91 n. 15; Richard Bauckham, Jesus and the Eyewitnesses: The Gospels as Eyewitness Testimony (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2006), 78. At first glance there would seem to be no connection between the names זְכַרְיָה (z^echaryāh, “the LORD remembered”) and זַכַּאי (zaka’y, “innocent”), but names were sometimes shortened to the first two consonants plus an אי- ending. For instance, that the name יַנַּאי (yana’y, “Yannai”) is a shortened form of יוֹנָתָן (yōnātān, “Yonatan”) is confirmed by references to Alexander Yannai in rabbinic sources that refer to the same Hasmonean monarch who issued bilingual coins with the inscriptions ΑΛΕΞΑΝΔΡΟΥ ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ (“of King Alexander”) on one side and יהונתן המלך (“Yehonatan the king”) on the other. Other names with אי- endings include עַזַּאי (“Azzai”), probably a shortened form of עֲזַרְיָה (“Azariah”); יוֹחַאי (“Yohai”), probably a shortened form of יוֹחָנָן (“Yohanan”); and נִתַּאי (“Nitai”), probably a shortened form of נְתַנְיָה (“Netanyah”). On shortened names with אי- endings, see Ilan, Lexicon of Jewish Names, 23-24. ↩
• ^[141] See Daniel R. Schwartz, האם היה רבן יוחנן בן זכאי כהן? סיני 88 (1981): 32-39. For an English translation of this article on WholeStones.org, click here. ↩
• ^[142] See Mendel Nun, “The ‘Desert’ of Bethsaida”; David N. Bivin, “‘The “Desert” of Bethsaida’: Is Midbar Akin to Village Common?” ↩
• ^[143] On a possible Galilean setting for John’s baptizing activity, see Flusser, Jesus, 43-45; Rainey-Notley, 350-351; R. Steven Notley, In the Master’s Steps: The Gospels in the Land (Jerusalem: Carta, 2014), 15-19. ↩
• ^[144] See Nolland, Luke, 1:140. ↩
• ^[145] Cf. Nolland, Matt., 136. ↩
• ^[146] See LHNS, 9 §1. ↩
• ^[147] See Harnack, 41; Streeter, “The Original Extent of Q,” 186; McNeile, 26; Knox, 2:4 n. 2; Marshall, 135; Luz, 1:134 n. 1; Bovon, 1:118 n. 6. See also Lindsey, “From Luke to Mark to Matthew,” under the subheading “Mark’s Editorial Method: An Examination of Mark Chapter 1”; idem, “The Major Importance of the 'Minor' Agreements,” under the subheading “From Non-Hebraisms to the Synoptic Problem.” ↩
• ^[148] Pace Bovon (1:118 n. 6), who opined that Matthew preserves the original “Q” position of “all the surrounding region of the Jordan.” ↩
• ^[149] See Catchpole, 74-75. ↩
• ^[150] On reconstructing πᾶς (pas, “all,” “every”) with כָּל (kol, “all,” “every”), see Demands of Discipleship, Comment to L32. ↩
• ^[151] LOY segments in which we have used בָּא אֶל in HR include Demands of Discipleship, L8; Persistent Widow, L9; Friend in Need, L6-7. ↩
• ^[152] Cf. our discussion regarding the name Ἰουδαία in Comment to L17. ↩
• ^[153] See Karl Heinrich Rengstorf, “ποταμός, ποταμοφόρητος, Ἰορδάνης,” TDNT, 6:595-623, esp. 609. ↩
• ^[154] See Oscar J. F. Seitz, “Praeparatio Evangelica in the Markan Prologue,” Journal of Biblical Literature 82.2 (1963): 201-206, esp. 204-205. Cf. H. H. Rowley, “The Baptism of John and the Qumran Sect,” in New Testament Essays: Studies in Memory of Thomas Walter Manson 1893-1958 (ed. A. J. B. Higgins; Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1959), 218-229. Rowley claimed in that essay (222) that “the baptism of John was a rite of initiation and only a rite of initiation,” which seems to imply that ritual purity played no role in John’s baptism. Rowley, however, does not bring m. Par. 8:10 into the discussion. ↩
• ^[155] Quotation from Guelich, 20. ↩
• ^[156] See Abrahams, 1:33 n. 1; Blackman, 6:443; Rengstorf, “ποταμός, ποταμοφόρητος, Ἰορδάνης,” TDNT, 6:612. Rengstorf (600) cited an anecdote in b. Ber. 22a as proof that the Jordan River could, in fact, be used for ritual immersion. Presumably the anecdote to which Rengstorf referred is the following:

  מעשה ברבי יהודה שראה קרי והיה מהלך על גב הנהר אמרו לו תלמידיו רבינו שנה לנו פרק אחד בהלכות דרך ארץ ירד וטבל ושנה להם אמרו לו לא כך למדתנו רבינו שונה הוא בהלכות דרך ארץ אמר להם אף על פי שמיקל אני על אחרים מחמיר אני על עצמי

  An anecdote concerning Rabbi Yehudah, who had a ritually defiling emission, and he was walking along a [lit., “the”] river. His disciples said to him, “Rabbi! Recite to us a chapter of halachot pertaining to proper conduct.” He went down and immersed and recited to them. They said to him, “Rabbi, did you not teach us thus, ‘[A man who had a ritually defiling emission] may recite halachot pertaining to proper conduct’?” He said to them, “Although I am lenient toward others, I am strict toward myself.” (b. Ber. 22a)

  Unless Rengstorf knew of a variant reading of which we are unaware, there is no explicit reference to the Jordan in this story, and we must leave open the possibility that the story took place at a river other than the Jordan. ↩

• ^[157] According to m. Par. 8:11, the sources of the Jordan River at Panias are valid for mixing with the ashes of the red heifer. ↩
• ^[158] See Rainey-Notley, 351. ↩
• ^[159] See Hatch-Redpath, 2:763. ↩
• ^[160] There are other examples in which the proclamation of a fast was expressed with the verb קָרָא (1 Kgs. 21:9, 12; Isa. 58:5; Jer. 36:9; Ezra 8:21), but in these instances the LXX translators did not render קָרָא as κηρύσσειν. ↩
• ^[161] In MH it is more usual to find גָּזַר תַּעֲנִית (gāzar ta‘^anit, “decree a fast”), but since we prefer to reconstruct narrative in a biblicizing style, our observations regarding the use of קָרָא for proclaiming a fast remain valid. In addition, we have found one instance of קָרָא תַּעֲנִית in Pirke de-Rabbi Eliezer, chpt. 46 (ed. C. M. Horowitz, 167), where we read וקראו תענית בכל ישראל מגדול ועד קטן (“And they proclaimed a fast in all Israel, from the great unto the small”). ↩
• ^[162] See Bundy, 45 §1; Hartwig Thyen, “ΒΑΠΤΙΖΜΑ ΜΕΤΑΝΟΙΑΣ ΕΙΣ ΑΦΕΣΙΝ ΑΜΑΡΤΙΩΝ,” in The Future of our Religious Past (ed. James M. Robinson; trans. Charles E Carlston and Robert P. Scharlemann; New York: Harper & Row, 1971), 131-168, esp. 138-139; John P. Meier, “John the Baptist in Matthew’s Gospel,” Journal of Biblical Literature 99.3 (1980): 383-405. Meier (388) opines that the omission of εἰς ἄφεσιν ἁμαρτιῶν in Matthew’s version of A Voice Crying was theologically motivated: “For Matthew, forgiveness of sins comes only through the sacrificial death of Christ, and so the phrase eis aphesin hamartiōn is transposed from John’s baptism to the word over the cup at the Last Supper (26:28).” ↩
• ^[163] Cf. Thyen, “ΒΑΠΤΙΖΜΑ ΜΕΤΑΝΟΙΑΣ ΕΙΣ ΑΦΕΣΙΝ ΑΜΑΡΤΙΩΝ,” 133 n. 2. ↩
• ^[164] See Dos Santos, 73; Hatch-Redpath, 1:190. ↩
• ^[165] On the authenticity of this passage and its interpretation, see John P. Meier, “John the Baptist in Josephus: Philology and Exegesis,” Journal of Biblical Literature 111.2 (1992): 225-237; Hermann Lichtenberger, “The Dead Sea Scrolls and John the Baptist: Reflections on Josephus’ Account of John the Baptist,” in The Dead Sea Scrolls: Forty Years of Research (ed. Devorah Diman and Uriel Rappaport; Leiden: Brill, 1992), 340-346. We find it surprising that Nir has concluded that Josephus’ account of John the Baptist must be a Christian interpolation on the very grounds that Ant. 18:116-119 describes baptism in terms of the Essene understanding of the ritually defiling force of sin. See Rivka Nir, “Josephus’ Account of John the Baptist: A Christian Interpolation?” Journal for the Study of the Historical Jesus 10.1 (2012): 32-62. Might not the same grounds upon which Nir based her opinion lead to the opposite conclusion, namely that Josephus’ information on John the Baptist came from a reliable first-century source? ↩
• ^[166] On the distinction between ritual and moral purity, see Jonathan Klawans, “The Impurity of Immorality in Ancient Judaism,” Journal of Jewish Studies 48.1 (1997): 1-16. ↩
• ^[167] There are only two opposite situations in which a person’s ritual status is not morally neutral, namely on occasions when ritual purity or impurity is obligatory. Ritual purity is obligatory when a person is in contact with holy objects (e.g., sacrifices) or present in a holy place (e.g., the Temple). In such a situation being ritually impure is not morally neutral, because it is in violation of the biblical commandments. Becoming ritually impure is obligatory when the performance of certain commandments, such as consummating a marriage or burying a corpse, is biblically mandated. Refusing to perform such activities in order to remain pure would not be morally neutral, since it would involve refusing to obey a biblical commandment. ↩
• ^[168] For a basic introduction to the ancient Jewish concept of ritual purity, see Joshua N. Tilton, “A Goy’s Guide to Ritual Purity.” ↩
• ^[169] Cf. David Flusser, Jewish Sources in Early Christianity (trans. John Gluker; Tel Aviv: MOD Books, 1989), 46. For a critique of Flusser’s oversimplification of the purity issues connected with John’s baptism, see Kazen, 233-235. For a different perspective, see Peter J. Tomson, “‘Devotional Purity’ and Other Ancient Jewish Purity Systems,” in his Studies on Jews and Christians in the First and Second Centuries (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2019), 107-139, esp. 130-135. ↩
• ^[170] Cf. Flusser, Jewish Sources in Early Christianity, 46; Kazen, 237. ↩
• ^[171] See Plummer, Mark, 54; Taylor, 155; Bundy, 44 §1. These scholars suggested that “remission of sins” is a distinctively Christian usage, but since ἄφεσις ἁμαρτιῶν (“release of sins”) appears to reflect the concept of a divine amnesty taking place at the eschatological Jubilee in which God proclaims a release from the debt of sin, it is more likely that this vocabulary reflects a Second Temple Jewish context. ↩
• ^[172] Moulton-Milligan, 96; Mann, 196. ↩
• ^[173] See Moshe Weinfeld, Social Justice in Ancient Israel and in the Ancient Near East (Jerusalem: Magnes; Minneapolis: Fortress, 1995), 75-96, 140-151. ↩
• ^[174] Text and translation according to A. S. Hunt and C. C. Edgar, trans., Select Papyri (3 vols.; Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1932-1941), 2:58-61. ↩
• ^[175] See Dos Santos, 45 (דְּרוֹר),‎ 78 (יוֹבֵל),‎ 212 (שְׁמִטָּה). ↩
• ^[176] See Hatch-Redpath, 1:182. ↩
• ^[177] For a devotional reflection on the concept of amnesty and its relation to the Christian faith, see Joshua N. Tilton, “Amnesty or Amnesia? A Christian Dilemma in the United States of America,” at WholeStones.org. ↩
• ^[178] On the unusual usage of עָזַב (‘āzav, “forsake”) as a term for forgiveness, see Anderson, “From Israel’s Burden to Israel’s Debt,” 17-18. ↩
• ^[179] See Lev. 25:8-12. ↩
• ^[180] Cf. Daniel R. Schwartz, “On Quirinius, John the Baptist, the Benedictus, Melchizedek, Qumran and Ephesus,” Revue de Qumran 13 (1988): 635-646, esp. 640-641; R. Steven Notley, “The Kingdom of Heaven Forcefully Advances,” in The Interpretation of Scripture in Early Judaism and Christianity: Studies in Language and Tradition (ed. Craig A. Evans; Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 2000), 279-322, esp. 308-309. ↩
• ^[181] Opinions differed in the ancient sources as to whether the Jubilee Year coincided with the seventh Sabbatical Year of a Jubilee cycle, or whether the Jubilee Year followed the seventh Sabbatical Year. See Wacholder, “Chronomessianism,” 204. ↩
• ^[182] Scholars who view John’s baptism as an alternative to Temple sacrifices include Thyen, “ΒΑΠΤΙΖΜΑ ΜΕΤΑΝΟΙΑΣ ΕΙΣ ΑΦΕΣΙΝ ΑΜΑΡΤΙΩΝ,” 150-151; Fitzmyer, 1:460; Fredriksen, From Jesus, 97; Witherington, 109. According to Webb, John the Baptist was not opposed to the Temple and its rites per se, but only against the corrupt priests who defiled it. Thus, John’s immersions were a temporary substitute for the Temple. See Robert L. Webb, John the Baptizer and Prophet: A Socio-Historical Study (Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1991), 192-193, 203-205. ↩
• ^[183] Cf. Kazen, 238. ↩
• ^[184] So Delitzsch in Luke 3:3 and Lindsey in Mark 1:4 (HTGM, 87). Similarly, Jones equated ἄφεσις with סְלִיחָה in Luke 1:77. See Douglas Jones, “The Background and Character of the Lukan Psalms,” Journal of Theological Studies 19.1 (1968): 19-50, esp. 37 n. 6. ↩
• ^[185] The noun סְלִיחָה occurs in Ps. 130:4 (= ἱλασμός); Dan. 9:9 (= ἔλεος); Neh. 9:17 (= ἐλεήμων). In Hebrew MSS of Ben Sira (MS A and MS C) סְלִיחָה occurs opposite ἐξιλασμός in Sir. 5:5. ↩
• ^[186] See Dos Santos, 212. Cf. Schwartz, “On Quirinius, John the Baptist, the Benedictus, Melchizedek, Qumran and Ephesus," 640. ↩
• ^[187] See Hatch-Redpath, 1:62-64. ↩
• ^[188] See Lindsey, HTGM, 87. ↩
• ^[189] Jastrow (429) indicates that the plural of חוֹב is חוֹבִין, but חוֹבוֹת is found in tannaic sources (Sifre Num. Zuta, BeHa‘alotecha 10:30 [ed, Horowitz, 265]; Mechilta de-Shimon ben Yohai, Yitro 18:27 [ed. Epstein-Melamed, 134]). On the use of חוֹב (“debt”) in the sense of debt caused by sin, see Lord’s Prayer, Comment to L19. ↩
• ^[190] On the use of רָצָה (rātzāh) in the sense of “repay” in Isa. 40:2, see Anderson, “From Israel’s Burden to Israel’s Debt,” 19-24. ↩
• ^[191] Cf. Mechilta de-Rabbi Ishmael, Baḥodesh chpt. 10 (ed. Lauterbach, 2:345). ↩
• ^[192] See Dos Santos, 152. ↩
• ^[193] Examples of transferring John’s words to Jesus include Matt. 7:19 (cf. Matt. 3:10; Luke 3:9) and Matt. 23:33 (cf. Matt. 3:7; Luke 3:7). On the author of Matthew’s placement of John’s sayings on Jesus’ lips, and vice versa, see Cadbury, Making, 44; Bundy, 45 §1; Meier, “John the Baptist in Matthew’s Gospel,” 388; David Flusser, “Two Anti-Jewish Montages in Matthew” (Flusser, JOC, 552-560); idem, Jesus, 46. ↩
• ^[194] See Bundy, 45 §1; Flusser, Jesus, 49 n. 21. ↩
• ^[195] See David Flusser, “Jewish Messianism Reflected in the Early Church” (Flusser, JSTP2, 258-288, esp. 259-260 n. 3). Cf. Lindsey, “From Luke to Mark to Matthew,” under the subheading “Mark’s Editorial Method: An Examination of Mark Chapter 1”; LHNS, 9 §1. ↩
• ^[196] Cf. Manson, Teaching, 127; Davies-Allison, 1:292. ↩
• ^[197] Cf. Neirynck, “The First Synoptic Pericope,” 58. ↩
• ^[198] Cf. Fitzmyer, 1:460. ↩
• ^[199] Cf. Nolland, Matt., 138. ↩
• ^[200] Hawkins (33) noted that ῥηθέν/ῥηθείς are distinctively Matthean terms. ↩
• ^[201] See R. Steven Notley, “Jesus’ Jewish Hermeneutical Method in the Nazareth Synagogue,” in Early Christian Literature and Intertextuality: Volume 2: Exegetical Studies (ed. Craig A. Evans and H. Daniel Zacharias; Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 2009), 46-59, esp. 49; idem, “Non-Septuagintal Hebraisms in the Third Gospel: An Inconvenient Truth” (JS2, 320-346, esp. 332). See also R. Steven Notley and Jeffrey P. García, “The Hebrew Scriptures in the Third Gospel,” in Searching the Scriptures: Studies in Context and Intertextuality (ed. Craig A. Evans and Jeremiah J. Johnson; London: Bloomsbury, 2015), 128-147, esp. 132. ↩
• ^[202] Examples of סֵפֶר יְשַׁעְיָה in rabbinic sources include:

  הרואה ספר מלכים בחלום יצפה לגדולה ולעשירות ישעיה יצפה לנחמה

  The one who sees the book [סֵפֶר] of Kings in a dream can expect greatness and wealth. [The one who sees the book of] Isaiah [יְשַׁעְיָה] can expect consolation. (Avot de-Rabbi Natan, Version A, 40:10 [ed. Schechter, 128])

  אמר להם הביאו לי ספר ישעיה

  He said to them, “Bring me the book of Isaiah [סֵפֶר יְשַׁעְיָה].” (Song Rab. 3:4 §2 [ed. Etelsohn, 138])

  אמר ר′ יהושע בן קרחה עשרים אשרי כתיב בספר תהלים, כנגד עשרים הוי שכתוב בספר ישעיה

  Rabbi Yehoshua ben Korhah said, “Twenty ‘blessed’s are written in the Psalms, corresponding to twenty ‘woe’s that are written in the book of Isaiah [בְּסֵפֶר יְשַׁעְיָה].” (Midrash Tehillim 1:1 §8 [ed. Buber, 9])

  ↩

• ^[203] See Hatch-Redpath, 1:219. ↩
• ^[204] See Dos Santos, 144. ↩
• ^[205] The spelling Ἠσαΐας (Ēsaias, “Isaiah”), with the smooth breathing mark, occurs in critical editions of NT, but Ἡσαΐας (Hēsaias), with the rough breathing mark, occurs in modern editions of the works of Josephus. In our reconstruction we have followed the spelling conventions of printed NT texts. ↩
• ^[206] In LXX Ησαιας is the equivalent of יְשַׁעְיָהוּ in 4 Kgdms. 19:2, 5, 6, 20; 20:1, 4, 8, 9, 11, 14, 16, 19; 2 Chr. 32:20, 32; Isa. 1:1; 2:1; 7:3; 13:1; 20:2, 3; 37:2, 5, 6, 21; 38:1, 4, 21; 39:3, 5, 8. ↩
• ^[207] See A. Cowley, ed. and trans., Aramaic Papyri of the Fifth Century B.C. (Oxford: Clarendon, 1923), no. 5, line 16 (ed. Cowley, 11); no. 8, line 33 (ed. Cowley, 23); no. 9, line 21 (ed. Cowley, 26). ↩
• ^[208] Note that in DSS, which often affected an archaic style, the shortened form of Isaiah’s name is used even when quoting a biblical verse that has the long form of the name (3QpIsa [3Q4] 1 I, 1; cf. Isa. 1:1). ↩
• ^[209] See Creed, 49; Knox, 2:5 n. 2; Bundy, 46 §1; Beare, Earliest, 38 §1; Fitzmyer, 1:452; Nolland, Luke, 1:138. ↩
• ^[210] On the use of LXX by the Greek translator of the Hebrew Life of Yeshua, see Yohanan the Immerser’s Question, Comment to L43. ↩
• ^[211] The Greek translator of the Hebrew Life of Yeshua followed LXX, except in places where the Greek and Hebrew versions of a verse diverged from one another in a way that might obscure the meaning of the quotation as it was understood in the Hebrew Life of Yeshua. ↩
• ^[212] See Hatch-Redpath, 2:1447-1450. ↩
• ^[213] See Dos Santos, 181. ↩
• ^[214] See Hatch-Redpath, 1:222. Cf. Dos Santos, 185, where we learn that the LXX translators usually rendered קָרָא with καλεῖν (kalein, “to call”) and its compounds. But after these, βοᾶν is among the more common translations of קָרָא. ↩
• ^[215] See Plummer, Mark, 53; Abbott, Fourfold, 2:42. ↩
• ^[216] See David Flusser, “The Apocryphal Book of Ascensio Isaiae and the Dead Sea Sect” (Flusser, JOC, 3-20, esp. 9-10 n. 19); idem, Jesus, 37-38 n. 2. ↩
• ^[217] See Marshall, 137; Nolland, Luke, 1:138. ↩
• ^[218] In LXX πεδίον (pedion, “plain”) occurs as the translation of בִּקְעָה (biq‘āh, “valley,” “plain”) in Gen. 11:2; Deut. 8:7; Josh. 11:8, 17; 12:7; 2 Chr. 35:22; 2 Esd. 16:2; Ps. 103[104]:8; Amos 1:5; Zech. 12:11; Isa. 40:4; 41:18; 63:14; Ezek. 3:22, 23; 8:4; 37:1, 2. ↩
• ^[219] Cf. Bovon, 1:119 n. 9. ↩
• ^[220] Cf. Harnack, 40; LHNS, 10 §2. ↩
• ^[221] See Yohanan the Immerser Demands Repentance, Comment to L4. ↩
• ^[222] At other times, וְהִנֵּה + subject + יֹצֵא was translated as καὶ ἰδού + subject + ἐξῆλθεν (cf., e.g., Judg. 9:43; 1 Kgdms. 9:14). ↩
• ^[223] See Call of Levi, L28. ↩
• ^[224] See Hatch-Redpath, 1:439-440. ↩
• ^[225] See Dos Santos, 83. ↩
• ^[226] See Rainey-Notley, 350; Notley, In the Master’s Steps, 15. On the other hand, Lindsey believed that Mark’s reference to Judea and Jerusalem was picked up from Acts 26:20. See LOY Excursus: Catalog of Markan Stereotypes and Possible Markan Pick-ups, under the entry for Mark 1:5. ↩
• ^[227] On the translation of the toponym יְהוּדָה as Ιουδαία in LXX, see above, Comment to L17. ↩
• ^[228] According to Smith, in LXX Ιερουσαλήμ is best vocalized with a smooth breathing mark affixed to the initial letter, i.e., Ἰερουσαλήμ (Ierousalēm). See George Adam Smith, “The Name Jerusalem and its History,” in his Jerusalem: The Topography, Economics, and History from Earliest Times to A.D. 70 (2 vols.; London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1907-1908), 1:250-265, esp. 260. Cf. Hatch-Redpath, 3:81. ↩
• ^[229] On יְרוּשָׁלֵם as the more ancient pronunciation, see Smith, “The Name Jerusalem and its History,” 252. ↩
• ^[230] In Philo’s works the transliterated spelling Ἰερουσαλήμ occurs only once (Somn. 2:250), and in that context Philo took care to explain that Jerusalem is called Ἰερουσαλήμ “by the Hebrews” (ὑπὸ Ἑβραίων). The transliterated spelling Ἰερουσαλήμ never occurs in the writings of Josephus, although the form Ἰερουσαλήμη (Ierousalēmē) occurs once (Apion 1:179) in a quotation from the works of Clearchus of Soli (ca. 300 B.C.E.). In that quotation Clearchus comments on the awkwardness of the foreign name. Note that although the name is spelled with the rough breathing mark (Ἱερουσαλήμην) in the Loeb edition of Josephus, the smooth breathing is closer to the Hebrew pronunciation with which Clearchus seems to have been familiar. See Smith, “The Name Jerusalem and its History,” 260. On Clearchus and the quotation in Josephus, see Stern, 1:47-52. ↩
• ^[231] On the pseudo-etymology of the Hellenistic spelling Ἱεροσόλυμα, see Thackeray, 168; James A. Montgomery, “Paronomasias on the Name Jerusalem,” Journal of Biblical Literature 49:3 (1930): 227-282. ↩
• ^[232] While N-A gives the Hellenized spelling Ἱεροσόλυμα in Luke 13:22 and Luke 19:28, Codex Bezae has the Hebraic form Ἰερουσαλήμ in both verses. See Josep Rius-Camps, “The Spelling of Jerusalem in the Gospel of John: The Significance of Two Forms in Codex Bezae,” New Testament Studies 48.1 (2002): 84-94. ↩
• ^[233] See Dennis D. Sylva, “Ierosalēm and Hierosoluma in Luke-Acts,” Zeitschrift für die neutestamentliche Wissenschaft und die Kunde der älteren Kirche 74.3-4 (1983): 207-221; J. M. Ross, “The Spelling of Jerusalem in Acts,” New Testament Studies 38.3 (1992): 474-476. ↩
• ^[234] Although the apostle Paul occasionally used the Hellenistic spelling Ἱεροσόλυμα (Gal. 1:17, 18; 2:1), the Hebraic spelling Ἰερουσαλήμ occurs with greater frequency in his writings (Rom. 15:19, 25, 26, 31; 1 Cor. 16:3; Gal. 4:25, 26). Thus we can assume that the Hebraic spelling would have been familiar to Luke’s audience, which makes Luke’s willingness to accept Ἰερουσαλήμ from his Hebraic-Greek sources (Anth. and FR) easier to understand. ↩
• ^[235] Cf. Harnack, 41; Catchpole, 75 n. 53. ↩
• ^[236] Note, however, that Codex Bezae contains a textual variant in Luke 3:7, according to which the people were not baptized ὑπ᾿ αὐτοῦ (“by him”) but ἐνώπιον αὐτοῦ (enōpion avtou, “in front of him”), in other words, in John’s presence. Could ἐνώπιον αὐτοῦ be the original reading in Luke 3:7 and ὑπ᾿ αὐτοῦ in Codex Vaticanus and other MSS be due to assimilation to the text of Matthew and Mark? Cf. Creed, 51; Jeremias, Theology, 51; Fitzmyer, 1:467. See the discussion in George E. Rice, The Alteration of Luke’s Tradition by the Textual Variants in Codex Bezae (Ph.D. dissertation, Case Western Reserve University, 1974), 46-49. ↩
• ^[237] See Lachs, 42. ↩
• ^[238] Note the absence of ὑπ᾿ αὐτοῦ (“by him”) in Luke 3:12 (Yohanan the Immerser’s Exhortations, L7) and Luke 3:21 (Yeshua’s Immersion, L2). ↩
• ^[239] It is likely that בלוריא is an attempt to represent in Hebrew the Latin name Valeria, a plausible name for a proselyte woman. On this incident see Tal Ilan, Mine and Yours are Hers: Retrieving Women's History from Rabbinic Literature (Leiden: Brill, 1997), 284-285. ↩
• ^[240] On reconstructing ὁ βαπτιστής as הַמַּטְבִּיל, see Yohanan the Immerser’s Question, Comment to L21. ↩
• ^[241] Cf. LHNS, 10 §1. ↩
• ^[242] See the LOY Excursus: Mark’s Editorial Style, under the subheading “Mark’s Freedom and Creativity.” ↩
• ^[243] See Robert L. Lindsey, “Measuring the Disparity Between Matthew, Mark and Luke,” under the subheading “Further Proof of Mark’s Dependence on Luke”; idem, “From Luke to Mark to Matthew,” under the subheading “Mark’s Editorial Method: An Examination of Mark Chapter 1”; LHNS, 10 §1. ↩
• ^[244] See Bundy, 44 §1. ↩
• ^[245] See Catchpole, 74. ↩
• ^[246] Cf. Allen, 23-24; Bundy, 45 §1. ↩
• ^[247] See Bundy, 47 §1. ↩
• ^[248] Cf. Allen, 23; McNeile, 26. ↩
• ^[249] Edmondo Lupieri, “‘The Law and the Prophets Were Until John’: John the Baptist Between Jewish Halakhot and Christian History of Salvation,” Neotestamentica 35.1 (2001): 49-56, esp. 52. ↩
• ^[250] The Essene principle that an animal’s skin has the same ritual status as the animal’s flesh is stated in the Temple Scroll as follows:

  כי כטהרת בשרו כן יטהרו העורות

  For according to the purity of its flesh, so will be the purity of the skins. (11QT^a [11Q19] XLVII, 15)

  However, as Qimron noted, this statement is made with respect to animal offerings. See Elisha Qimron, “The Chicken and the Dog and the Temple Scroll,” Tarbiz 54 (1995): 473-476 (in Hebrew; click here to read an English translation of Qimron’s article).
  The Essene prohibition against using the hides of impure animals is articulated in the following passage from the Halakhic Letter known as 4QMMT:

  ואפ על עור[ות ועצמות הבהמה הטמאה אין לעשות] [מן עצמותמה] ומן ע[ו]ר[ות]מה ידות כ[לים]

  And also concerning the sk[ins and bones of a non-kosher animal]: tools and ve[ssels] [are not to be made] [from their bones] or from their s[k]in[s]. (4QMMT^d [4Q397] 1-2 I, 1-2)

  Pharisaic and Sadducean halachah permitted the use of the bones of impure animals in the making of vessels (cf. m. Yad. 4:6). ↩

• ^[251] As noted in Meier, Marginal, 2:48. ↩
• ^[252] Pace Guelich, 21. ↩
• ^[253] See Lindsey, HTGM, 79 n. 1. ↩
• ^[254] See James A. Kelhoffer, “Did John the Baptist Eat Like a Former Essene? Locust-Eating in the Ancient Near East and at Qumran,” Dead Sea Discoveries 11.3 (2004): 293-314, esp. 294. ↩
• ^[255] Allen, 23; McNeile, 26. ↩
• ^[256] For a critique of the view that John’s diet marks him as an Essene, see Kelhoffer, “Did John the Baptist Eat Like a Former Essene?” 293-314. The references to eating locusts in Let. Aris. §145 and Philo, Leg. 2:105 are commentaries on the Torah’s dietary commandments and do not necessarily reflect upon contemporary Hellenistic Jewish practice. ↩
• ^[257] See J. Rendel Harris, Fragments of the Commentary of Ephrem Syrus upon the Diatessaron (London: C. J. Clay and Sons, 1895), 17; F. I. Andersen, “The Diet of John the Baptist,” Abr-Nahrain 3 (1961-1962): 60-74, esp. 64. ↩
• ^[258] Quotation from France, Mark, 69; cf. Andersen, “The Diet of John the Baptist,” 64. ↩
• ^[259] In LXX ἀκρίς is more often the translation of אַרְבֶּה (’arbeh, “locust”) than of חָגָב (see Hatch-Redpath, 1:50-51), but it appears that in MH חָגָב became the more commonly used term for locust. In the Mishnah, for instance, אַרְבֶּה occurs only once, whereas חָגָב occurs over 20xx. ↩
• ^[260] Cf. Zohary, 63. ↩
• ^[261] See James A. Kelhoffer, “John the Baptist’s ‘Wild Honey’ and ‘Honey’ in Antiquity,” Greek, Roman, and Byzantine Studies 45.1 (2005): 59-73. ↩
• ^[262] See Kelhoffer, “Did John the Baptist Eat Like a Former Essene?” 295. ↩
• ^[263] The Philo quotation reads:

  Εἰσὶ γὰρ αὐτῶν οἱ μὲν γεηπόνοι, τῶν περὶ σπορὰν καὶ φυτουργίαν ἐπιστήμονεσ, οἱ δ᾽ ἀγελάρχαι, παντοδαπῶν θρεμμάτων ἡγεμόνες・ ἔνιοι δὲ σμήνη μελιττῶν ἐπιτροπεύουσιν. Ἄλλοι δὲ δημιουργοὶ τῶν κατὰ τέχνας εἰσίν

  There are farmers among them [i.e., the Essenes—DNB and JNT] expert in the art of sowing and cultivation of plants, shepherds leading every sort of flock, and beekeepers. Others are craftsmen in divers trades. (Eusebius, Praep. ev. 8:11)

  Text according to E. H. Gifford, Evangelicae Praeparationis (4 vols.; Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1903), 1:483. Translation according to Geza Vermes and Martin D. Goodman, The Essenes According to the Classical Sources (Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1989), 26-27. ↩

• ^[264] Flusser, on the other hand, was skeptical that the Essenese were bee keepers. He presumed that there was confusion in the ancient sources between bee honey and date honey. See David Flusser, The Spiritual History of the Dead Sea Sect (trans. Carol Glucker; Tel Aviv: MOD Books, 1989), 30. ↩
• ^[265] Cf., e.g., Plummer, Mark, 53. ↩
• ^[266] Since eating that which grew of its own accord during a Sabbatical Year was permitted (cf. Exod. 23:11; Lev. 25:6-7), the prohibition against reaping סָפִיחַ apparently refers to harvesting the entire crop of spontaneous growth at once and placing it in storage for personal use. See Jacob Milgrom, Leviticus (3 vols.; Anchor Yale Bible; New Haven: Yale University Press, 1991-2001), 3:2160. ↩
• ^[267] See Lupieri, “‘The Law and the Prophets Were Until John’: John the Baptist Between Jewish Halakhot and Christian History of Salvation,” 54. ↩
• ^[268] According to Brownlee, “The fare of John the Baptist...represents that which grows by itself in nature, without cultivation or breeding.” See W. H. Brownlee, “John the Baptist in the New Light of Ancient Scrolls,” in The Scrolls and the New Testament (ed. Krister Stendahl; New York: Crossroad, 1992), 33-53, 252-256, esp. 33. ↩
• ^[269] Davies believed that John’s diet could be accounted for by the Baptist’s status as an Essene or former Essene who regarded his oath to abide by Essene practice, including the rejection of the food of non-members, as binding. See Stevan L. Davies, “John the Baptist and Essene Kashruth,” New Testament Studies 29.4 (1983): 569-571. We do not believe that there is sufficient evidence to prove that John the Baptist had ever been a member of the Essene sect; he may simply have belonged to a group that shared certain affinities with the Essenes. Therefore, we cannot assume that he had taken an oath to abstain from the food of non-Essenes. ↩
• ^[270] On τότε as an indicator of Matthean redaction, see Jesus and a Canaanite Woman, Comment to L22. ↩
• ^[271]

  A Voice Crying
  Luke’s Version		Anthology’s Wording (Reconstructed)
  ἐν ἔτει δὲ πεντεκαιδεκάτῳ τῆς ἡγεμονίας Τιβερίου Καίσαρος ἡγεμονεύοντος Ποντίου Πειλάτου τῆς Ἰουδαίας καὶ τετραρχοῦντος τῆς Γαλειλαίας Ἡρῴδου Φιλίππου δὲ τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ αὐτοῦ τετραρχοῦντος τῆς Ἰτουραίας καὶ Τραχωνείτιδος χώρας καὶ Λυσανίου τῆς Ἀβειληνῆς τετραρχοῦντος ἐπὶ ἀρχιερέως Ἅννα καὶ Καϊάφα ἐγένετο ῥῆμα θεοῦ ἐπὶ Ἰωάνην τὸν Ζαχαρίου υἱὸν ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ καὶ ἦλθεν εἰς πᾶσαν περίχωρον τοῦ Ἰορδάνου κηρύσσων βάπτισμα μετανοίας εἰς ἄφεσιν ἁμαρτιῶν ὡς γέγραπται ἐν βιβλίῳ λόγων Ἠσαΐου τοῦ προφήτου φωνὴ βοῶντος ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ ἑτοιμάσατε τὴν ὁδὸν κυρίου εὐθείας ποιεῖτε τὰς τρίβους αὐτοῦ πᾶσα φάραγξ πληρωθήσεται καὶ πᾶν ὄρος καὶ βουνὸς ταπεινωθήσεται καὶ ἔσται τὰ σκολιὰ εἰς ἐυθεῖας καὶ αἱ τραχεῖαι εἰς ὁδοὺς λείας καὶ ὄψεται πᾶσα σὰρξ τὸ σωτήριον τοῦ θεοῦ ἔλεγεν οὖν τοῖς ἐκπορευομένοις ὄχλοις βαπτισθῆναι ὑπ᾿ αὐτοῦ		ἐν ἔτει δὲ πεντεκαιδεκάτῳ τῆς ἡγεμονίας Τιβερίου Καίσαρος ἡγεμονεύοντος Ποντίου Πιλάτου τῆς Ἰουδαίας καὶ βασιλεύοντος Ἡρῴδου τῆς Γαλιλαίας καὶ βασιλεύοντος Φιλίππου τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ αὐτοῦ τῆς Ἰτουραίας καὶ Τραχωνίτιδος χώρας καὶ βασιλεύοντος Λυσανίου τῆς Ἀβιληνῆς ἐπὶ ἀρχιερέως Ἅννα καὶ Καϊάφα ἐγένετο ῥῆμα θεοῦ ἐπὶ Ἰωάννην τὸν Ζαχαρίου υἱὸν ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ καὶ ἦλθεν εἰς πᾶσαν περίχωρον τοῦ Ἰορδάνου κηρύσσων βάπτισμα μετανοίας εἰς ἄφεσιν ἁμαρτιῶν ὡς γέγραπται ἐν βίβλῳ λόγων Ἠσαΐου τοῦ προφήτου φωνὴ βοῶντος ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ ἑτοιμάσατε τὴν ὁδὸν κυρίου [καὶ ἰδοὺ ὄχλοι πολλοὶ ἐκπορευόμενοι πρὸς αὐτὸν βαπτισθῆναι]
  Total Words:	122	Total Words:	80 [88]
  Total Words Identical to Anth.:	76 [77]	Total Words Taken Over in Luke:	76 [77]
  Percentage Identical to Anth.:	62.30 [63.11]%	Percentage of Anth. Represented in Luke:	95.00 [87.50]%

  ↩

• ^[272]

  A Voice Crying
  Mark’s Version		Anthology’s Wording (Reconstructed)
  ἀρχὴ τοῦ εὐαγγελίου Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ υἱοῦ θεοῦ καθὼς γέγραπται ἐν τῷ Ἠσαΐᾳ τῷ προφήτῃ ἰδοὺ ἀποστέλλω τὸν ἄγγελόν μου πρὸ προσώπου σου ὃς κατασκευάσει τὴν ὁδόν σου φωνὴ βοῶντος ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ ἑτοιμάσατε τὴν ὁδὸν κυρίου εὐθείας ποιεῖτε τὰς τρίβους αὐτοῦ ἐγένετο Ἰωάνης ὁ βαπτίζων ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ κηρύσσων βάπτισμα μετανοίας εἰς ἄφεσιν ἁμαρτιῶν καὶ ἐξεπορεύετο πρὸς αὐτὸν πᾶσα ἡ Ἰουδαία χώρα καὶ οἱ Ἱεροσολυμεῖται πάντες καὶ ἐβαπτίζοντο ὑπ᾿ αὐτοῦ ἐν τῷ Ἰορδάνῃ ποταμῷ ἐξομολογούμενοι τὰς ἁμαρτίας αὐτῶν καὶ ἦν ὁ Ἰωάνης ἐνδεδυμένος τρίχας καμήλου καὶ ζώνην δερματίνην περὶ τὴν ὀσφὺν αὐτοῦ καὶ ἔσθων ἀκρίδας καὶ μέλι ἄγριον		ἐν ἔτει δὲ πεντεκαιδεκάτῳ τῆς ἡγεμονίας Τιβερίου Καίσαρος ἡγεμονεύοντος Ποντίου Πιλάτου τῆς Ἰουδαίας καὶ βασιλεύοντος Ἡρῴδου τῆς Γαλιλαίας καὶ βασιλεύοντος Φιλίππου τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ αὐτοῦ τῆς Ἰτουραίας καὶ Τραχωνίτιδος χώρας καὶ βασιλεύοντος Λυσανίου τῆς Ἀβιληνῆς ἐπὶ ἀρχιερέως Ἅννα καὶ Καϊάφα ἐγένετο ῥῆμα θεοῦ ἐπὶ Ἰωάννην τὸν Ζαχαρίου υἱὸν ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ καὶ ἦλθεν εἰς πᾶσαν περίχωρον τοῦ Ἰορδάνου κηρύσσων βάπτισμα μετανοίας εἰς ἄφεσιν ἁμαρτιῶν ὡς γέγραπται ἐν βίβλῳ λόγων Ἠσαΐου τοῦ προφήτου φωνὴ βοῶντος ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ ἑτοιμάσατε τὴν ὁδὸν κυρίου [καὶ ἰδοὺ ὄχλοι πολλοὶ ἐκπορευόμενοι πρὸς αὐτὸν βαπτισθῆναι]
  Total Words:	98	Total Words:	80 [88]
  Total Words Identical to Anth.:	21 [24]	Total Words Taken Over in Mark:	21 [24]
  Percentage Identical to Anth.:	21.43 [24.50]%	Percentage of Anth. Represented in Mark:	26.25 [27.27]%

  ↩

• ^[273] Cf. Bundy, 44 §1. ↩
• ^[274]

  A Voice Crying
  Matthew’s Version		Anthology’s Wording (Reconstructed)
  ἐν δὲ ταῖς ἡμέραις ἐκείναις παραγείνεται Ἰωάνης ὁ βαπτιστὴς κηρύσσων ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ τῆς Ἰουδαίας λέγων ἤγγικεν γὰρ ἡ βασιλεία τῶν οὐρανῶν οὗτος γάρ ἐστιν ὁ ῥηθεὶς διὰ Ἠσαΐου τοῦ προφήτου λέγοντος φωνὴ βοῶντος ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ ἑτοιμάσατε τὴν ὁδὸν κυρίου εὐθείας ποιεῖτε τὰς τρίβους αὐτοῦ αὐτὸς δὲ ὁ Ἰωάνης εἶχεν τὸ ἔνδυμα αὐτοῦ ἀπὸ τριχῶν καμήλου καὶ ζώνην δερματίνην περὶ τὴν ὀσφὺν αὐτοῦ ἡ δὲ τροφὴ ἦν αὐτοῦ ἀκρίδες καὶ μέλι ἄγριον τότε ἐξεπορεύετο πρὸς αὐτὸν Ἱεροσόλυμα καὶ πᾶσα ἡ Ἰουδαία καὶ πᾶσα ἡ περίχωρος τοῦ Ἰορδάνου καὶ ἐβαπτίζοντο ἐν τῷ Ἰορδάνῃ ποταμῷ ὑπ᾿ αὐτοῦ ἐξομολογούμενοι τὰς ἁμαρτίας αὐτῶν		ἐν ἔτει δὲ πεντεκαιδεκάτῳ τῆς ἡγεμονίας Τιβερίου Καίσαρος ἡγεμονεύοντος Ποντίου Πιλάτου τῆς Ἰουδαίας καὶ βασιλεύοντος Ἡρῴδου τῆς Γαλιλαίας καὶ βασιλεύοντος Φιλίππου τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ αὐτοῦ τῆς Ἰτουραίας καὶ Τραχωνίτιδος χώρας καὶ βασιλεύοντος Λυσανίου τῆς Ἀβιληνῆς ἐπὶ ἀρχιερέως Ἅννα καὶ Καϊάφα ἐγένετο ῥῆμα θεοῦ ἐπὶ Ἰωάννην τὸν Ζαχαρίου υἱὸν ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ καὶ ἦλθεν εἰς πᾶσαν περίχωρον τοῦ Ἰορδάνου κηρύσσων βάπτισμα μετανοίας εἰς ἄφεσιν ἁμαρτιῶν ὡς γέγραπται ἐν βίβλῳ λόγων Ἠσαΐου τοῦ προφήτου φωνὴ βοῶντος ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ ἑτοιμάσατε τὴν ὁδὸν κυρίου [καὶ ἰδοὺ ὄχλοι πολλοὶ ἐκπορευόμενοι πρὸς αὐτὸν βαπτισθῆναι]
  Total Words:	100	Total Words:	80 [88]
  Total Words Identical to Anth.:	20 [22]	Total Words Taken Over in Matt:	20 [22]
  Percentage Identical to Anth.:	20.00 [22.00]%	Percentage of Anth. Represented in Matt.:	25.00 [25.00]%

  ↩

• ^[275] Lichtenberger (“The Dead Sea Scrolls and John the Baptist,” 340) pointed to John’s general summons to all Israel to repent as evidence that John the Baptist could not have been an Essene, at least not at the time that he proclaimed his baptism. ↩
• ^[276] On the ideological-religious spectrum current in first-century Israel, see Joshua N. Tilton, “Locating Jesus’ Place on the Political-Ideological Spectrum of Second Temple Jewish Society,” WholeStones.org. ↩
• ^[277] See Manson, Sayings, 41; H. H. Rowley, “Jewish Proselyte Baptism and the Baptism of John,” Hebrew Union College Annual 15 (1940): 313-334; Boring-Berger-Colpe, 194; Witherington, 109; France, Matt., 108. ↩
• ^[278] See Brownlee, “John the Baptist in the New Light of Ancient Scrolls,” 36-41. ↩
• ^[279] Cf., e.g., J. Green, 164; France, Mark, 68-69. ↩
• ^[280] Cf., e.g., Guelich, 17-18. ↩
• ^[281] See John A. T. Robinson, “The Baptism of John and the Qumran Community: Testing a Hypothesis,” in his Twelve New Testament Studies (London: SCM Press, 1962), 11-27, esp. 17; Albright-Mann, 26; Fitzmyer, 1:453-454; Meier, Marginal, 2:51. Nevertheless, Meier argued that the one-time character of John’s baptism should be inferred from the facts that 1) John’s baptism had to be administered by the Baptist, with the result that repeated immersions were at least highly inconvenient, and 2) John’s acute eschatology left no time for repeat immersions. ↩
• ^[282] See Rowley, “Jewish Proselyte Baptism and the Baptism of John,” 322. ↩
• ^[283] Although Josephus mentions the conversion of certain individuals to Judaism which took place during the Second Temple period, he does not indicate that immersion was part of the conversion process. Does his silence imply that proselyte immersion did not exist or that it was not observed by these converts, or did Josephus simply take proselyte immersion for granted? The Mishnah refers to a debate between the schools of Hillel and Shammai over proselyte immersion (m. Edu. 5:2), which suggests that, at least within Pharisaic Judaism, proselyte immersion was observed prior to the destruction of the Temple, but how much prior is uncertain.
  On the paucity of early attestations to proselyte immersion in Jewish sources, see Shaye Cohen, “Conversion to Judaism in Historical Perspective: From Biblical Israel to Postbiblical Judaism,” Conservative Judaism 36.4 (1983): 31-45, esp. 37-38. For arguments in favor of a pre-70 C.E. date for proselyte immersion, see Rowley, “Jewish Proselyte Baptism and the Baptism of John,” 316-320; Sandt-Flusser, 277-278. ↩
• ^[284] While DSS indicate that the Essenes did allow גֵּרִים (gērim, “strangers,” “sojourners”) to join their sect, DSS also indicate that these persons who adopted the Jewish religion remained Gentiles. From the Essenes' priestly point of view, neither a person’s religious convictions nor a rite of initiation (circumcision, immersion) could change the facts of his or her birth. Accordingly, we do not hear about rites of conversion such as circumcision or immersion in DSS. On differing attitudes toward conversion in Second Temple Judaism, see Daniel R. Schwartz, “Yannai and Pella, Josephus and Circumcision,” Dead Sea Discoveries 18 (2011): 339-359; idem, “Ends Meet: Qumran and Paul on Circumcision,” in The Dead Sea Scrolls and Pauline Literature (ed. Jean-Sébastien Rey; Leiden: Brill, 2014), 295-307. ↩
• ^[285] If John did not believe in the possibility of conversion, then it goes without saying that his baptism did not—pace Hagner (1:49), Keener (121), Witherington (109), France (Matt., 109) et al.—imply that his fellow Jews were no better than Gentiles. See Robinson, “The Baptism of John and the Qumran Community: Testing a Hypothesis,” 19; Sandt-Flusser, 275. ↩
• ^[286] This view is vigorously rejected by Rowley (“The Baptism of John and the Qumran Sect,” 218-229). Cf. Adela Yarbro Collins, “The Origin of Christian Baptism,” Studia Liturgica 19.1 (1989): 28-46, esp. 31-32; Kazen, 239-243. ↩
• ^[287] For abbreviations and bibliographical references, see “Introduction to ‘The Life of Yeshua: A Suggested Reconstruction.’” ↩
• ^[288] This translation is a dynamic rendition of our reconstruction of the conjectured Hebrew source that stands behind the Greek of the Synoptic Gospels. It is not a translation of the Greek text of a canonical source. ↩