Was John the Baptist ethnically Jewish?

[Guy355]

Hello I have a question and I’m not trolling I just really don’t know… I’m still not Catholic but I’m planning to start the initiation very soon after reading the bible etc. Now my question is: Was John the Baptist ethnically Jewish? I guess he is because he was the cousin of Jesus and I know Jesus came to this world through Mary and Mary was Jewish. So I just wanted to confirm so can anyone please answer me? Much appreciated, thanks and God bless.

 

[TheDoctor]

Yes, he was. No reason to think he would be anything else.

 

[Nita]

Hello I have a question and I’m not trolling I just really don’t know… I’m still not Catholic but I’m planning to start the initiation very soon after reading the bible etc. Now my question is: Was John the Baptist ethnically Jewish? I guess he is because he was the cousin of Jesus and I know Jesus came to this world through Mary and Mary was Jewish. So I just wanted to confirm so can anyone please answer me? Much appreciated, thanks and God bless.

Yes, John the Baptist was Jewish.
John the Baptist’s father, Zechariah, was a Jewish priest - which means he belonged to the tribe of Levi. Only members of that lineage could be priests.

Luke 1:5-9 In the days of Herod, king of Judea, there was a priest named Zechari’ah, of the division of Abi’jah; and he had a wife of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless. But they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren, and both were advanced in years. Now while he was serving as priest before God when his division was on duty, according to the custom of the priesthood, it fell to him by lot to enter the temple of the Lord and burn incense.

 

[rucatholic]

Yes, John the Baptist was Jewish.
John the Baptist’s father, Zechariah, was a Jewish priest - which means he belonged to the tribe of Levi. Only members of that lineage could be priests.

Luke 1:5-9 In the days of Herod, king of Judea, there was a priest named Zechari’ah, of the division of Abi’jah; and he had a wife of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless. But they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren, and both were advanced in years. Now while he was serving as priest before God when his division was on duty, according to the custom of the priesthood, it fell to him by lot to enter the temple of the Lord and burn incense.

it’s funny was john the baptist jewish? haha-- no he was not from the tribe of jura,

but as you said he was from the tribe of Levi–

and because he was a priest that is why Jesus went to him for a mikveh

John the Baptist was not a Baptist, nor was his name John—

his name was Yohannan ben Zechariah, the son of an Aaronic priest.

He did not invent some “new thing”, but was performing that of which every Israelite was intimately familiar—yet of which the average Christian is clueless.

He was “mikveh-ing” Israelites in the Jordan River when he first met the promised Messiah, Yahshua.

Every Israelite understood what Yochannan was doing in the Jordan, but the religious leaders could not understand why he was performing the Mikveh outside of their authorized religious system.

yet in the Christian world very little is known about baptism. What is known is filtered through a Greek mind-set and ignorance of the Hebrew practice of the “mikveh” from which “baptism” is loosely translated.

 

[Nita]

it’s funny was john the baptist jewish? haha-- no he was not from the tribe of jura,
.

I’m not sure when the word “Jewish” came into use, but it came to mean the whole Israelite people - not just “Judahites”, descendants of Judah.

Eg. Jesus being addressed or referred to as “king of the Jews”. It was never meant as being king of only those who belonged to the tribe of Judah.

 

[Evan]

I’m not sure when the word “Jewish” came into use, but it came to mean the whole Israelite people - not just “Judahites”, descendants of Judah.

Eg. Jesus being addressed or referred to as “king of the Jews”. It was never meant as being king of only those who belonged to the tribe of Judah.

I thought it may have come from the name of the region in the Roman Empire: Judea. Those who lived there were ‘Jews’ with Jesus as their king.

 

[DaveBj]

it’s funny was john the baptist jewish? haha-- no he was not from the tribe of jura,

but as you said he was from the tribe of Levi–

snip

Umm, St. Paul was from the tribe of Benjamin, not Judah, and yet he referred to himself as a Jew.

The bottom line is that by this time in history all descendants of Jacob/Israel were considered Jews, regardless of their tribal affiliation, and just as they are today. So, yes, the man whom we know as John the Baptist was Jew.

 

[chosen_people]

I’m not sure when the word “Jewish” came into use, but it came to mean the whole Israelite people - not just “Judahites”, descendants of Judah.

Eg. Jesus being addressed or referred to as “king of the Jews”. It was never meant as being king of only those who belonged to the tribe of Judah.

You can find out what happened to ten of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel before the first century of the common era in the Jewish scriptures.

 

[oneGODoneCHURCH]

You can find out what happened to ten of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel before the first century of the common era in the Jewish scriptures.

thank you for the you tube links I really Loved the last one the music video What a great song.