Jeremy M. Hutton, «'Bethany beyond the Jordan' in Text, Tradition, and Historical Geography», Vol. 89 (2008) 305-328
Origen selected e0n Bhqabara|~ in John 1,28 as the superior reading in his Comm. Jo., an assessment challenged by modern critics. Although the text-critical data seem to indicate e0n Bhqani/a|~ as the preferable reading, this claim may be
questioned on literary and redactional grounds. Those same observations provide evidence for intentional literary commemoration of John’s ministry at the Jordan. Origen’s gloss of Bhqabara|~ as “House of Preparation” (oi]koj kataskeuh~j) leads to an examination of Mk 1,2-3, and its lexical divergence from LXX Mal 3,1.22-23 [=MT vv. 23-24]; Isa 40,3. Mark anomalously uses the verb kataskeua/zw, the nominal counterpart of which (kataskeuh~) renders Heb. hdfbo(j “work, preparation” (LXXAB Exod 35,24), which is graphically similar to hrb( tyb. When combined with historical-geographical study of the area surrounding Jericho,
these data allow us to trace the process of textual and traditional development whereby the toponym hbr( tyb (Josh 15,6.61; 18,22), preserved at the modern H}. ( E!n el-G.arabe, served as the toponymic antecedent of both Bhqabara|~ and Beth Barah (Judg 7,24). This process of development provides additional defense
for the traditional localization of John’s ministry in the southern Jordan River Valley near the el-Mag.tas and H9ag]la fords.
318 Jeremy M. Hutton
directly east of Jericho (44). This site has the advantage both of a long
history of traditional recognition (over against the tepid recognition of
Bashan) (45), and of providing a rationale for John’s enigmatic textual
transfer of Jesus’ baptism from its original location in the Signs Source
at Aenon to a site compatible with that named by the Synoptic Gospels.
Finally, we have seen that the traditional data preserved — perhaps
even unintentionally — by Origen suggest a location in the Jordan
Valley, near the biblical hbr[hAtyb.
ˇ
Of the el-Magμtas or H˘agla ford as the historical referent of the
baptismal site named in John 1,28, Riesner concludes only that the
information available in the textual witness to the reading Bhqabara/'
“speaks for the acceptance of a local tradition. But when we attempt to
discover the place referred to in John 1,28 on the basis of the
statements of Origen, we find that more problems emerge than a
solution†(46). Riesner is undoubtedly correct in his assessment that
Origen’s solution is replete with problems, but a historical-
geographical study of biblical and post-biblical data points the way
toward a more firm location of the Baptist’s ministry.
III. Biblical and Post-biblical Traditions
on the Location of Bethabara
Although Origen did not specify the exact location of Bethabara in
his Commentary on John, early Christian pilgrim and geographic
literature contains a few indications that the traditional site of the town
ˇ
was to be located near the el-Magμtas and H˘agla fords. In 333 CE the
Pilgrim of Bourdeaux claimed to have been shown at a site on the
Jordan five miles above the river’s outlet into the Dead Sea “the place
where the Lord was baptized by John, and above the far bank at the
same place is the hillock from which Elijah was taken up to heavenâ€(47).
(44) I do not discount the possible validity of the tradition locating the site
ca. 2 km from the Jordan River in the WËdi el-HarrËr; see, e.g., RIESNER,
â‰
Bethanien, 21, 23; H. GESE, “Der Johannesprologâ€, Zur Biblischen Theologie.
Alttestamentliche Vorträge (BET 78; Munich 1977) 152-201, here 198 n. 29.
Such a location would not significantly affect the argument made here.
(45) For a representative bibliography of those who locate the Bethany of
John 1,28 at the el-Magμtas and H˘agla fords, see RIESSNER, Bethanien, 40 n. 95.
ˇ
(46) RIESNER, “Bethanyâ€, 33-34.
(47) Itinerarium Burdigalense in Itineraria et alia geographica (CCSL 175;
Tournhout 1965) 19: Inde ad Iordane, ubi Dominus a Iohanne baptizatus est,
milia quinque. Ibi est locus super flumen, monticulus in illa ripa, ubi raptus est
FOLLOW US