It is doubtful whether Jesus and
John were sent into Egypt for their education, or were taught by the
Essenes, and then sent into Palestine as ambassadors of that sect, with
secret support and according to arranged plan.... The indications of the
Messiah in the Old Testament had produced great effect on Jesus and John
who were both hot-heads, such as destiny raises for some great purpose.
We are in danger, therefore, of judging them unjustly, especially from
the great mixture of high and low, clear and obscure in them."
Becker had the modesty to say that he would not undertake to fix the
character of Jesus, but merely collect the fragments of it from his
_wretched_ biographers. The friends had great mutual esteem, but John
saw in Jesus a higher spirit than his own. Both had the same hatred of
the priests, their pride and hypocrisy; both thought the Mosaic law no
longer fit for the time, and that the notion of a national God was the
source of all the evil in Judea. After long meditation they decided that
Jesus must be the Messiah; and John found the part of a precursor fixed
for himself.
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