Okay, so we know that John the Baptist ate wild locusts and honey in the wilderness, but how did he get water

Question

One of my Sunday school students asked me this the other day and I didn't really have answer for him. I figure there must be some type of water source in the Judean wilderness, since a number of monasteries were located there later on. Also, if you could cite some kind of source that would be great (in other words, I'm not looking for answers that say, "Haven't you ever heard of an Oasis???? Gosh!!").

Biran_Sefar: Your argument that religious people choose to be ignorant seems a little too much like the argument that homosexuals choose to be gay. Religious people can't go a week without having someone like you tell them they're ignorant or unthinking or uncritical. So I'd have to ask you the same question: why would anyone choose to be a social outcast?

Answer 1

Perhaps he did a rain dance or some other primitive ritual.

Actually, the point is moot as there is no credible evidence to demonstrate that John the Baptist is a historical figure. It's just a story. Use your mind. THINK. It's the single most important thing that the religious authorities in your life DON'T want you to do.

Answer 2

While many of the wilderness regions mentioned in the Bible are today completely barren wastelands, there is evidence that some were not always so. Denis Baly, in The Geography of the Bible (1957, p. 91), says that “the nature of the vegetation pattern must have undergone very great changes since Biblical times.” The original well-balanced conditions on which soil, climate, and vegetation formed a stable environment, with little soil erosion, were thrown out of balance by destruction of forests that were never replanted. With shade gone, and roots no longer holding the soil, the burning summer heat and slashing winter rains destroyed it. The earth was baked by the sun, swept by the wind, flaked by extreme temperature variations, and washed away by the rains. Archaeological investigation shows that many areas now completely barren once “included pasture lands, plains, and oases where springs and occasional rains plus careful water conservation made possible the building of villages and the maintaining of important caravan routes.” (The Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible, edited by G. Buttrick, 1962, Vol. 1, p. 828) Even today many of such wilderness areas are covered with a heavy green turf in the spring, though by the end of summer they have been burned bare by heat and drought.

Answer 3

The wild honey is what he drank. The nabateans are a tribe that lived in the wilderness they used wild honey as a drink. check out this website and do a search for drink it is on page 12

Answer 4

During this time, he was baptising people in the Jordan River, so I guess he could have gotten a drink while standing in the water. I think your SS teacher needs to focus on something with a little more meat to it.

Answer 5

He was called "The Baptist" because he baptized people in the Jordan River, so he naturally drank river water like a lot of the people who lived near the river [or near any river].

Answer 6

There is many mentions of water sources in the OT and NT. I would imagine his wandering kept him close to those sources, including the river.

Answer 7

Sounds like an episode of Survivor

Answer 8

the bible dont metion that he did drunk water but he did, i guess they just metion because they just want ous to know what he eta beside the water. you know what was it important