JOHN THE BAPTIST
“There is something uniquely sinister about murdering primarily for the sake of an oath—without some deeper emotional interest in the act. The use of the phrase in conjunction wit Herod Antipas recalls Cain and his descendants who bound themselves by oath to Satan. The execution of John the Baptist becomes thereby a death of epic status, like one of the earliest known murders among the fallen race of men.”
“John is the last representative of the pre-Christian relationship between God and man and of the order of the priesthood that administered it. His death symbolizes the end and the ultimate insufficient nature of that order and of that relationship.
This is not to undervalue the mission and greatness of John the Baptist, the ‘outstanding bearer of the Aaronic priesthood in all of history and the one entrusted with its most noble mission,’ of who Jesus said, ‘Among them that are born of women there hath not risen one greater than John the Baptist.’ John did not, after all, chose the nature of his death, nor did he himself intend it as a mock feast. His fate was imposed upon him by sinful men and women. But his death, like his birth and his life, prepared the way for the one foretold, and that death informs the reader to whom one must finally look for salvation— namely to the Christ of God that ‘giveth life unto the world.’”
Cecilia M. Peek, The Death of John the Baptist, The Life and Teachings of Jesus Christ, pg. 225
HEALING AT THE POOL OF BETHESDA
“The Pool of Bethesda was a multilevel in-ground pool, banked by broad landings and stairs that led into the water. Four column-lined covered walkways surrounded the rectangular enclosure, and one divided the upper tank from the lower, giving the pool five colonnades. During Jesus’s time, a large crowd of disabled people would regularly gather at the pool and wait for the opportunity to be healed. They believed that at certain seasons an angel would come down and ‘stir’ the water, giving it healing properties. Legend had it that healing was available to anyone who was able to enter the pool first after an angel stirred the water (John 5:4, KJV).
Before this massive structure became known as a place of healing, the pool was simply used as a rainwater reservoir for ritual cleansing.
Located just outside Jerusalem’s walls near the Sheep Gate, the pool provided a perfect venue for purification. After the ceremonial sheep were thoroughly washed in the pool, they were taken through the Sheep Gate to the Temple for sacrifice. Some biblical experts believe the pool was also as a Mikveh, a bath for Jewish worshipers to achieve ritual purity.”
https://www.christianity.com/wiki/bible/did-the-waters-at-the-pool-of-bethesda-heal-or-does-jesus.html
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