Where was John baptizing when he announced his mission to the Jews?
John (New Ver.): “In Bethany beyond Jordan” ([i, 28]).
Bethany was a suburb of Jerusalem and was not beyond Jordan.
The Authorized Version reads “Bethabara,” conceded to be an interpolation, regarding which Geikie says: “The most ancient MSS. read Bethany instead of Bethabara, but no site of that name is now known on the Jordan. Bethabara was introduced into the text by Origen” (Life of Christ, vol. i, p. 566).
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How old was Jesus when John began his ministry?
Luke: “About thirty years of age” ([iii, 2, 3], [23]).
Matthew: “In those days [when Jesus’ parents brought him out of Egypt and settled in Nazareth, he being then about two years of age] came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judea” ([ii, 19–23]; [iii, 1]).
Matthew, it is claimed, was written only ten or twenty years after Jesus’ baptism. If so, the phrase “in those days” clearly implies that he was but a child when John began his ministry. If the phrase was intended to comprehend a period of thirty years this gospel, it must be admitted, was written at least one hundred years after the event described.