Jewish culture and Messianic expectations are the crucial backdrop needed to understand baptism as it was first proclaimed. All too often the Jewish origin of the Good News is ignored by many well-meaning Christians.
Nevertheless it is impossible to account for the tremendous success of John, son of Zechariah, whom the Jewish people called, "Ho Baptistees" unless we understand the Jewish culture and the expectations of the Jewish people to whom he was sent.
In the first century Israel was a seething pot of boiling Messianic ideas inflamed by an oppressive foreign ruler. The Messianic ideas divided the Jewish people into a range of beliefs.
Neither John's nor Yeshua's success among the Jewish people can be understood unless we have a basic idea of what the Jewish people were anticipating. This section provides a foundation to that end.