Portal:Bible/Featured article/January, 2007

John the Baptist (also called John the Baptizer, or Yahya the Baptizer) is regarded as a prophet by four religions: Christianity, Islam, Mandaeanism, and the Baháʼí Faith. This is asserted in the Synoptic Gospels, the Qur'an and the Baháʼí Writings. He is also commonly referred to as John the Forerunner/Precursor because Christians (but not Mandaeans) consider him as the forerunner of Christ. In Mandaic he is called Yihja jahane. The Gospel of Luke provides the sole account of his infancy. According to Luke, John the Baptist was the son of Zecharia and Elisabeth; his birth, name, and office, were foretold by the angel Gabriel to Zecharia, while Zecharia was performing his functions as a priest in the temple of Jerusalem. Zecharia was a priest of the course of Abijah, and his wife, Elisabeth, was of the Daughters of Aaron; consequently John automatically held the priesthood of Aaron, which, to the Jews' eyes, gave him authority to baptize in the name of God. Luke states that John was born about six months before Jesus, and that Zecharia's unbelief over the birth of his son led to him losing his power of speech, which was only restored on the occasion of John's circumcision. According to the Canonical Gospels, John the Baptist's public ministry was suddenly brought to a close, probably about six months after he had baptized Jesus. According to these Gospel narratives, Herod Antipas jailed him, with the Gospel of Luke arguing that Herod was punishing John for condemning Herod's marriage to Herodias, the former wife of Herod Philip, Herod's own brother. The narrative states that although Herod himself respected John's authority and the clout of his following, to the extent that he would do John no further harm, Herod's bloodthirsty wife had other ideas, and persuaded her daughter, Salome, to trick Herod. At a party for Herod, Salome danced so beautifully that, according to the Canonical Gospels, Herod foolishly offered her anything she requested. She asked for John's head on a silver platter, and so John was beheaded. His disciples, after consigning his headless body to the grave, told Jesus all that had occurred.

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