Luke-Acts attests to the connection of the movements of John the Baptist and Jesus to ancient Jewish hopes of sabbatical redemption.
Yohanan the Immerser’s Eschatological Discourse
John the Baptist anticipated the coming of an Elijah-like priestly messiah who would purify the Temple on an eschatological Day of Atonement.
A Goy’s Guide to Ritual Purity
The concept of ritual purity is perhaps one of the most difficult concepts in the Bible for people to grasp today. Whereas in many “traditional” societies the concept of ritual purity was (and is) taken for granted in daily life, the whole framework for the concept of ritual purity is totally foreign to the secular western mindset.