John the Baptist

El Greco, St. John the Baptist, c. 1600

John the Baptist (Greek: Ἰωάννης ὁ βαπτιστὴς Io[h]annes Baptista; Hebrew: יוֹחָנָן הַמַּטְבִּיל or יוחנן בן-זכריה Jochanan ben Zechariah) is one of the central figures of Christianity, but also has great significance for Islam and Mandaeism. The Hebrew name Jochanan (יוחנן) means "the LORD (YHWH) is gracious" and is understood in Judaism as an expression of a birth given as a divine gift. According to the account of Luke's Gospel, John was born as the son of the priest Zechariah and Elizabeth from the family of Aaron (Luke 1:5). To commemorate the birth of the Baptist, the Roman Catholic Church established 24 June as St John's Day.

Earlier and later incarnations

According to the New Testament account, John the Baptist is regarded as the reborn prophet Elijah, according to Christ's own words. Thus it is said in the Gospel of Matthew:

„10 And the disciples asked him, “Then why do the scribes say that first Elijah must come?” 11 He answered, “Elijah does come, and he will restore all things. 12 But I tell you that Elijah has already come, and they did not recognize him, but did to him whatever they pleased. So also the Son of Man will certainly suffer at their hands.” 13 Then the disciples understood that he was speaking to them of John the Baptist.“

– Matthew 17:10–13

Elijah, considered the second most important prophet after Moses, was to come again according to the [[w:Old Testament|}} prophecy in the Book of Malachi to be the last prophet before the end to call for repentance.

„23 Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and terrible day of the LORD comes. 24 He shall turn the heart of the fathers to the sons, and the heart of the sons to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.“

– Malachi 3:23–24

These statements are confirmed by Rudolf Steiner and he gives further incarnations of the Baptist. Elijah had previously been incarnated as Pinchas ben Eleazar (Hebrew: פִּֽינְחָס֙ בֶּן- אֶלְעָזָ֔ר, also Pinhas, Phineas or Phinehas) from the tribe of Levi. Phinehas is mentioned in the 4th Book of Moses and was the son of Eleazar and the grandson of the high priest Aaron, Moses' eldest brother. After his incarnation as Elijah, he was reborn as John the Baptist.

„And this secret doctrine and the more recent occult research say that the same soul lived in Phinehas' body that was later present in Elijah. Thus we have a continuous line, which we have already described for certain points. In the grandson of Aaron we have the soul that is important to us; it works there, in Phinehas. We then have it again in Elias-Naboth, then in John the Baptist, and we know how it then makes its further way through the evolution of humanity.“ (Lit.:GA 139, p. 155f)

According to Rudolf Steiner, later incarnations in post-Christian times are the Renaissance painter Raphael and the poet Novalis. This is probably the line of reincarnation most thoroughly investigated by Rudolf Steiner, about which he has also repeatedly spoken at length {{LZ||GA 114, p. 122ff; GA 120, p. 162ff; [[G|126|110ff}}; GA 139, p. 49ff}}.

Literature

• Rudolf Steiner: Das Markus-Evangelium, GA 139 (1985), ISBN 3-7274-1390-5 English: rsarchive.org German: pdf pdf(2) html mobi epub archive.org

References to the work of Rudolf Steiner follow Rudolf Steiner's Collected Works (CW or GA), Rudolf Steiner Verlag, Dornach/Switzerland, unless otherwise stated. Email: verlag@steinerverlag.com URL: www.steinerverlag.com. Index to the Complete Works of Rudolf Steiner - Aelzina Books A complete list by Volume Number and a full list of known English translations you may also find at Rudolf Steiner's Collected Works Rudolf Steiner Archive - The largest online collection of Rudolf Steiner's books, lectures and articles in English. Rudolf Steiner Audio - Recorded and Read by Dale Brunsvold steinerbooks.org - Anthroposophic Press Inc. (USA) Rudolf Steiner Handbook - Christian Karl's proven standard work for orientation in Rudolf Steiner's Collected Works for free download as PDF.