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All evangelists write about John the Baptist. Luke about his birth, and all of them about his appearance and death.
His birth is announced by Gabriel (Luke 1:5-25), his parents being old. He was born a half year ahead of Jesus.
As an adult he appeals to the people to convert and baptizes them in the river Jordan
In Matt. 3:4 I read: “And the same John had his raiment of camel's hair and a leathern girdle about his loins; and his meat was locusts and wild honey”
That raiment of camel's hair is rather remarkable. A camel was unclean (Lev. 11:4): you were not allowed to eat anything of a camel. So if John got a hair of his rainment in his mouth he was unclean. So why take the risk.
Elijah also wore a raiment of hair (II Kings 1:8). Maybe also of a camel.
Maybe it was the general dress of prophets: in Zech. 13:4 I read:
“And it shall come to pass in that day, that the prophets shall be ashamed every one of his vision, when he hath prophesied; neither shall they wear a rough garment to deceive.”
John also baptizes Jesus.
He was taken prisoner by Herod Antipas, who had taken away Herodias of his brother. That was considered to be incest. (Lev. 18:16).
In prison he let Jesus ask (Matt. 11:3): "Art thou he that should come, or do we look for another"?
Not long afterwards Salome, the daughter of Herodias, danced for Herod Antipas, and when she could choose anything she liked she chose the head of John the Baptist, and got it. The Bible does not mention Salome by name. The story is the subject of many paintings. Strauss composed an opera about her.<= Painting by Moreau
When you read the stories in the Bible on John the Baptist, you might think all John's disciples went to Jesus, or maybe went home, but that is not true.
In Acts 18:24-28 we find Apollos, and in Acts 19:1-7 a few more people who knew only "the baptism of John".
They are converted by Paul to Christianity.
It appears that many more people were baptized in the baptism of John, and many of them were not converted to Christianity.
Little is known about their history.
John-Christians they are called, or Mandaeans. John is their greatest prophet, and Adam and Noah are prophets as well.
n the Qur'an they are called Sabians, and belong to the people of the Book. They are not heathens and do not have to be prosecuted. They live in Iraq and Iran, but were prosecuted, and many fled, mostly to the U.S.A. Their number is diminishing, maybe some 50.000 these days.
Probably the adherents of John the Baptist have joined other groups with a comparable faith, and they formed together the Mandaeans.
They have a number of holy scriptures, who differ a lot from the Bible. They are close to Gnosticism. It contains the story of John baptizing Jesus, but Jesus is an apostate to them. They will have none of Muhammad either. Of course baptism if for them a very important ritual.
WikiCommons devoted a category to John the Baptist. The following images are derived from it.
Biblical illustration
Biblical ilustration
Fransesc Comes(1390)
Pluschow
Salome with the head of John the Baptist.
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