The Baptist
by
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After a short walk, John and Tavarius reached the central mikveh. Each attendant was required to perform the purification ritual himself before he could oversee the community immersion. There were a dozen other mikveh stewards preparing for the rite. John followed Tavarius into the alcove, where they removed their outer tunics, known as mantels or himation in Greek, and placed them on pegs. Walking to the mikveh steps, John wore only his kethōnet, an inner tunic that covered his loins and upper legs, also known as a chiton. The other attendants stood in groups of three or four, speaking quietly among themselves. John and Tavarius joined two men who were discussing the rites of the red heifer. “There has not been a red heifer in Jerusalem for untold years,” one man said. “True, there have been pretenders, but none passed the tests of purity,” the other said. “Without the red heifer, we can never be truly purified.” Tavarius joined the conversation. “We are all impure at times, as we have to care for and bury our own dead. We have the water and ashes of the red heifer, which have been delivered to us by the Righteous Teacher and renewed by blessings from later priests arriving from the Jerusalem Temple. They provide purification for the impurity of the dead, which cannot be erased by the mikveh.” “But what will happen if the red heifer does not arrive?” asked the second man. “How would we remove the impurity of the corpses? We must purify ourselves to attend the mikveh, just as the chevra kadisha must be purified after performing their duties by sprinkling water with ashes of the red heifer.” “We cannot abandon the dead or leave them fallen in the fields or in their beds,” John said. “Eventually, we would all be impure if the priests were gone, or if we could not perform the sprinkling of water. God commands us to perform tahara, to make the dead pure, so he must give us a way to remove the impurity we acquire. Even the chevra kadisha who perform the rites of purifying the corpses require purification for seven days and the sprinkling of water. If God denies us the red heifer, it must be his will that we all become impure. Or he must send us another means of purification.” The group grew quiet, pondering the mysteries of God’s commandments. There was a rustling behind them as Hozai arrived to oversee the attendant’s mikveh.
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About the Book
Researchers have discovered a number of Jewish and early Christian sects that were not fully known for thousands of years. Along with Saducees, Pharisees, and Zealots—which are well-known—Essenes, Mandaeans, and the monastery at Qumran have enriched the understanding of religious communities in the first century. In this book, you’ll learn about these sects through the eyes of John, who begins an eight-hour walk from Jerusalem to Qumran. While he’d visited the library in Qumran many times to read the scrolls available only to the Essenes and to hear the teachings handed down from the righteous teacher and other leaders of the desert community, this trip is different. John had turned away from the Sadducees, who focused their religion on the Torah and the temple. He had also spurned the Pharisees, who built rhetorical shrines to the oral Torah traditions, openly praising their own purity above other Judaic traditions. Even more vehemently, John abhorred the Herodians, who ruled over Judea. Having reached the age of thirty, his plan is to seek admission to the monastery of Qumran. He does not know when, if ever, he’ll return to Jerusalem.
About the Author
David Anthony earned a bachelor’s degree in Writing from Michigan State University, and an MA in the history of Christianity from the Graduate Theological Union. He grew up in Michigan and served in the U.S. Air Force. He has written three previous books: Entangled Christianities, Christian Conversions, and Out of the Blue. He and his wife, Claudia, live in San Francisco, CA.