In addition to below, see the post with Tabor’s views here.
From Perplexity on 4/16/2026.
Q: When was the time Jesus was baptising in the north and John the Baptist in the south, and what scriptures support that, and who are the critical Bible scholars who support it?
The overlap you mean is John 3:22-24, when Jesus and his disciples were baptizing in the Judean countryside while John the Baptist was baptizing at Aenon near Salim; that places both ministries active at the same time, with John’s side likely farther north than Judea and Jesus’ side in Judea/south. The clearest scripture for this is John 3:22-26, and the baptism of Jesus itself is also described in Matthew 3:13-17, Mark 1:9-11, and Luke 3:21-22. gotquestions+3
Scripture support
John 3:22 says Jesus and his disciples went into the Judean countryside and baptized, while John 3:23 says John was also baptizing at Aenon near Salim because there was much water there. John 3:24 adds that this was before John was put in prison, which helps place the events in the same early ministry period. John 3:26 shows that people were reporting Jesus as “baptizing,” confirming that both ministries were active at once. unity+1
Where the locations were
Jesus’ baptizing in John 3:22 is explicitly in Judea, which is the southern region around Jerusalem. John’s baptizing at Aenon near Salim is not fixed with complete certainty, but many readers place it north of Judea, often near springs or water-rich areas; some traditions and scholars connect it with the region near the Jordan Valley or farther north. John 1:28 also says John was baptizing at “Bethany beyond the Jordan,” which is east of the river and commonly associated with the baptismal area of Jesus. biblehub+3
Critical scholars
Among critical scholars, Raymond E. Brown and J. Ramsey Michaels are often cited for treating John 3:22-26 as a real overlap of Jesus’ and John’s baptizing ministries, with Jesus in Judea and John still active at another location. D. A. Carson also notes the passage’s plain narrative sense: Jesus was baptizing in Judea while John was baptizing elsewhere in the area of the Jordan. On the historical Jesus side, scholars such as James D. G. Dunn and John Dominic Crossan regard Jesus’ baptism by John as a highly secure historical event. wikipedia+3
Best date range
The passage itself does not give a calendar date, but it belongs to the early public ministry of Jesus, before John’s imprisonment. Most chronologies place it shortly after Jesus’ baptism and before the Galilean ministry becomes dominant, so roughly in the early part of Jesus’ ministry, not long before John was arrested. That makes it a brief transitional period when both baptizing movements were operating at the same time. thegospelcoalition+2
One caution
The “north and south” wording is a helpful shorthand, but the Bible does not explicitly say “north” and “south” in those verses. The text more directly says Judea for Jesus and Aenon near Salim [see below] for John, so the geographic contrast is an inference based on how those places are usually located. wikipedia+1
Would you like a verse-by-verse breakdown of John 3:22-26 with the main scholarly interpretations?
If you want the most common archaeological-historical candidate, it is near Tel Shalem / south of Beit Shean in the Jordan Valley. If you want the most important alternative scholarly proposal, it is near Salim east of Shechem in the hill country of Samaria. dannythedigger+3
