It was as if an unseen force turned his head and caused his eyes to gaze upon their stunning nudity.

In creating her, Yaweh must have exhausted his creative resources. Why might he have done that?

If sexual feelings are so wicked, so evil, how is it that the Creator himself formed their compulsion?

How is it that the masterpiece of God's creative genius is the central, the essential core and essence of sexual provocation?

He knew that there is no satisfactory answer to these questions. Apart from his devotion to God, never had he felt such compulsion. But now, his feet refused to move. He felt as though he were invading something private and precious. Guilt and a sense of twisted shame disturbed him, but he could not move. He could no longer avert his eyes and as he watched, he stood transfixed by the scene before him, unable to arrest shameful feelings, unable to stop his despicable behavior. The maidens, however, oblivious to his presence, continued to play in their innocence.

John sat on the flat rock in front of the cave that had become his home, legs folded beneath him. His hair, still wet from another of the frequent washings he gave it, dripped water on the stone around him. Grasping a handful of the red-brown strands, he combed vigorously, freeing it of persistent tangles. Nazirite! Hah! he exclaimed in silent frustration. As soon as it dried, he would oil it and once again, his waist-length hair would be the talk of all the women in Judea. But he hated it. He hated his lonely life. He hated this cave. He hated the rock on which he sat. Visions of what his eyes had seen persistently haunted his thoughts. Intruding into his dreams, he now often awoke to find that he had soiled himself in the night. Why? What was happening to him? Why would God allow it? His whole existence seemed unnatural and artificial.

His parents had died many years ago. At twelve years old, as other Jewish boys were going to the Temple in Jerusalem, John took a vow to be set apart for the Lord. He had never had wine, not so much as a cool, fresh grape. He had never touched or been near a dead body. John had no one. No friends. He had spent most of his life in this wilderness and he was sick of it.

John was not a man who enjoyed people. He was a man whose judgment of society was usually scornful. He saw others as spending their lives in consumptive living, self-serving and secular. Hence, he became a recluse. He made his way into the wilderness, where he lived in caves and learned how to survive an inhospitable environment.

He held himself aloof from others and enjoyed being alone--at first. He was eccentric. He abstained from just about everything. He was, after all, a Nazirite, dedicated and set apart to God. Although he had blinding desires, he had never, like Sampson, another Nazirite, whose sexual escapades were well known, allowed himself any sexual latitude. That is why his encounter at the river had upset him so deeply. It was a weakness in his character, he felt; not to be tolerated in others, and ten thousand times more--not in himself!

In the fifteenth year of Tiberius Caesar when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea and Herod Antipas was a mere tetrarch of Galilee, the word of God came to John in the wilderness.

One could find him in the district around the Jordan river, preaching a baptism of repentance, the symbol of a resolve to leave a dissolute life and live a righteous life. People often referred to John as "The Baptist," likely because he would baptize anyone who would get within arm's reach. "Repent and be baptized!" he shouted. "Change your way of life, stop wasting your lives in debauchery. Come, be baptized as a 'memorial,' as a 'witness' that you will henceforth live for God, for his kingdom is at your very door!" Thousands in and around Judea came to see John. Most came for the entertainment John provided. Some came out of curiosity. Some took him seriously. These, more often than not, submitted to his baptism. And some of these, among them a few scraggly fishermen, became his followers. Many thought John strange because he dressed in camel's hair and wore a leather belt around his waist. His diet included dried locusts dipped in wild honey. However he was perceived by the populace, John the Baptist could not be ignored.

Among the curious to come to see John were many of the religious leaders. Because of the Baptist's obvious popularity, they too, thought it expedient to be baptized by him. They liked John's austerity. They mistakenly thought him to be a legalist like them, but John was quickly aware that they intended to use association with him for their own ends.

While preaching one day, he noticed a group of them gathered, watching him. Unimpressed by their pretentious piety and dress, he turned upon them and shouted, "You poisonous brood of vipers! Flee from the wrath to come! Are you really interested in repentance? Then show it by living humble, godly lives. Do not suppose that you can say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham for our father.' What is that!? God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham! Listen to me! The woodsman's axe is already laid at the root of the trees. You know what that means. God will cut down every tree that does not bear good fruit and throw it into the fire."

Enraged, these religious prigs sucked in their breath, cursing the Baptist, cursing the insult. They turned away disgusted, muttering among themselves.