Yet,
even the
less reliable Gospel
of Yochanan [3:24] knows
that "Yochanan the Baptist had not yet been put in prison"
[KI OD LO-NITAN YOCHANAN EL-BEIT HASOHAR]!
Lucky Luke and his sources,
too, never do report that Yeshu appeared only after Yochanan had disappeared.
Having now removed the secondary distortions,
we can proceed to tell the story of the beginning of Yehoshua's public ministry. Baptist Yochanan
certainly had a circle of disciples, but obviously most of the men whom he baptized in the Yardeen
left him after their baptism and went home or stayed in "Essene" communities
more or less like Qumran
etcetera?
Yochanan
did not want
to found just another sect;
he thought it better to send each man back to his own trade
according Luke 3:10
WAYISHLEHU HAMON HA'AM LE'EMOR MAH EEFO NA'ASEH: WAYA'AN WAYOMER!
On the other hand,
Yeshu did not return to his own former lifestyle
as far as we know after the voice at his baptism announced his 'election'
as far as he himself was concerned?
"From that time Yehoshua began to preach, saying,
'REPENT, FOR THE KINGDOM OF G D IS AT HAND'!"
in Matai 4:17
MIN-HAEET HAHI HEECHEEL YESHUA LIKRO KARO WEAMOR SHUVU KI HIGIYAH MALCHOET HASHAMAYIM! He did
call his disciples,
taught in different synagogues
and all kinds of valleyfields & mountainsides between the
Great Sea & the Sea of Galilee:
"and they brought him all the sick ...
and he healed them"
It is possible
that Yochanan the Baptist
believed himself to be the prophet
who was to come at
'the end of time'!
The people saw him
as the biblical prophet Eliyah
who was to precede the coming
'final' Messiah
...?
He himself
preached that one would soon come
who was stronger than he, and who would inaugurate G d's
judgment! When Yochanan heard of the excitement over Yeshu
in the villages around the Sea of Galilee
- so the sources tell us -
[Matai 11:2-6;
Luke 7:18-23]
WAYEHI KECHALOT YESHUA LETSA'UT ET-SHENEIM ASAR TALMIDAW WAYELECH MISHAM LELAMEED WELIKRO BEAREIHEM WEASHREI ASHER LO-YIKASHEEL BI!
WETALMIDEI YOCHANAN HIGIDU LO ET-KAL-EELEH: WAYIKRA ELEW YOCHANAN SHNEIM MITALMIDAW WA-YISHLACHEM EL-YESHUA LE'EMOR LO HA'ATAH HU HABA IM-NECHAKEH LEACHEER?
He
sent two
of his disciples
to inquire
of Yeshu.
In
those days
it was a
Jewish custom to
send not one but
two men on
a commis-
sion.
Yehoshua,
too, sent his own disciples
out in pairs in Mark 6:7 & Luke 10:1,
and Christians did continue
this custom on their
early missionary
journeys.
That
was the way
the world was won
up till
now?