Did John the Baptist eat like a former Essene? Locust-eating in the Ancient Near East and at Qumran

Abstract

John the Baptist's and the Essenes' eating of locusts/grasshoppers in Mark 1:6c//Matt. 3:4c and CD 12:11b-15a belongs to a cultural heritage shared for centuries by many Jews, other peoples of the Ancient Near East, and Islamic traditions from Muhammed (allegedly) to al-Damīrī at the turn of the fifteenth century CE., and beyond. That certain Jews ate locusts/grasshoppers is attested by not only Lev. 11:20-23 but also - and closer to the time of the Essenes and the Baptist - the Letter of Aristeas and Philo. One point of contrast between certain Jewish witnesses and the depictions of John the Baptist in the NT Gospels is enlightening. Different from the Damascus Document, the Mishnah and the mid-rashim, conspicuously absent in Mark 1:2-8 and Matt. 3:1-6 is an attempt to show that John the Baptist ate of prescribed locusts/grasshoppers and in a 'proper' way, that is, in accordance with some interpretation of kashrut. This suggests that Mark 1:6c//Matt. 3:4c is not intended primarily for an audience that was concerned with the finer details of kashrut. Especially in light of Mark 7:1-23//Matt. 15:1-20, which dispense with such requirements, this observation may come as no surprise. That John himself ate of grasshoppers/locusts from time to time is entirely plausible (so Mark 1:6c). Many Jews both before and after John and the Essenes ate such insects. What is unusual for Mark 1:6c//Matt. 3:4c is the absence of some qualification of which locusts John ate or how he ate them. Moreover, it is not extraordinary that CD 12:11b-15a mandates to Essenes certain prescriptions for the preparation of fish and locusts. If nothing else, CD 12:11b-15a and Mark 1:6c//Matt. 3:4c offer an additional indication that John and certain Essenes belonged to a common milieu and ate a particular food, locusts, that flourished in their midst. To argue for a direct connection between those described in these rather different passages, however, is an unfortunate instance of 'parallelomania.'. © Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2004.