For the above Luke was indebted to the biographer of Samson. "Both [Samson and John] were to be consecrated to God from the womb, and the same diet was prescribed for both."--Strauss. 77 When the conception of John was announced what punishment was inflicted upon Zacharias for his doubt? Luke: "And the angel answering said unto him, I am Gabriel, that stand in the presence of God; ... And behold, thou shalt be dumb, and not able to speak, until the day that these things be performed" (i, 19, 20). This was evidently suggested by a passage in Daniel: "And when he [Gabriel] had spoken such words unto me, I set my face toward the ground, and I became dumb" (x, 15). 78 Where was John baptizing when he announced his mission to the Jews? John (New Ver.): "In Bethany beyond Jordan" (i, 28). Bethany was a suburb of Jerusalem and was not beyond Jordan. The Authorized Version reads "Bethabara," conceded to be an interpolation, regarding which Geikie says: "The most ancient MSS. read Bethany instead of Bethabara, but no site of that name is now known on the Jordan. Bethabara was introduced into the text by Origen" (Life of Christ, vol. i, p. 566). 79 How old was Jesus when John began his ministry? Luke: "About thirty years of age" (iii, 2, 3, 23). Matthew: "In those days [when Jesus' parents brought him out of Egypt and settled in Nazareth, he being then about two years of age] came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judea" (ii, 19-23; iii, 1). Matthew, it is claimed, was written only ten or twenty years after Jesus' baptism. If so, the phrase "in those days" clearly implies that he was but a child when John began his ministry. If the phrase was intended to comprehend a period of thirty years this gospel, it must be admitted, was written at least one hundred years after the event described. 80 Were Jesus and John related? Luke: They were, their mothers being cousins (i, 36). Mary had visited the mother of John, and each was acquainted with the character of the other's child. John before his birth is declared to have recognized and acknowledged the divinity of the unborn Jesus (Luke i, 41-44). Yet, according to the Fourth Gospel, at the beginning of Jesus' ministry John said, "I know him not" (i, 33). 81 When Jesus desired John to baptize him, what did the latter do? Matthew: "John forbade him saying, I have need to be baptized of thee" (iii, 14). According to Matthew, John was not only acquainted with Jesus, but cognizant of his divine mission, which cannot be harmonized with his statement in the Fourth Gospel. Dr. Geikie admits that John and Jesus were strangers to each other. He says: "Though cousins, the Baptist and the Son of Mary had never seen each other" (Life of Christ, vol. i, p. 389).