<p>1:80 <i>And the child grew and became strong in spirit, and was in the desert until the day he appeared publicly to Israel</i>- The reference to &quot;spirit&quot; could be to the work of the Spirit, active in the formation of his character from his mother's womb (:15). God's Spirit and John's spirit are clearly connected here; and this is how the Holy Spirit works in our spirit / lives too, through a collaboration, a conspiracy of the willing. Presumably at some point in his youth, John left his parents, or perhaps they died, and went to live &quot;in the desert&quot;. He may have encountered the Essenes there, or even lived with them, for there are undoubted points of contact and allusion between his teaching and theirs.</p>