John 1:28

John 1:28. These things were done in Bethany beyond Jordan. There can be no doubt that Bethabara is not the true reading in this verse. Origen, writing in the third century, states that he found Bethany in almost all copies of the Gospel. This statement is decisive. It cannot be set aside, nor indeed is it even lessened in weight, by the fact that Origen himself, owing to his inability to identify Bethany, believed Bethabara to be the place intended. The existence of another Bethany, near Jerusalem, presents no difficulty, as it was not uncommon for two places to bear the same name. The instances of Bethsaida (Luke 9:10; Mark 6:45), Carmel, Cæsares, etc., are well known. It is even possible that the two names, though alike written Bethania in Greek, may in their original Hebrew form have been different words; just as, for instance, the ‘Abel' of Genesis 1:2 is altogether different in actual form from the ‘Abel' of 2 Samuel 20:14. This Bethany may have been small and unimportant; Bethabara, on the other hand, seems to have been so well known, that the addition of the words ‘beyond Jordan' would have been less natural. Of the situation of Bethany we know no more than we are told in this verse (comp. chap. John 2:1). It has been variously placed, near Jericho, near Scythopolis (a few miles south of the Sea of Galilee), and by one recent writer, Caspari, a little to the north of that sea. The last opinion seems the least probable of the three. The second testimony of the Baptist is now presented to us.