LXII.
HEROD ANTIPAS SUPPOSES JESUS TO BE JOHN.
aMATT. XIV. 1-12; bMARK
VI. 14-29; cLUKE IX. 7-9.
b14 And
c7 Now a1 At that season bKing
Herod [Herod Antipas, son of Herod the Great. See 8 and
by some, that Elijah had appeared; and by others, that one of the old prophets
was risen again. [The work of Jesus impressed the people as prophetic rather
than Messianic, [369] for they associated the
Messiah in their thoughts with an earthly kingdom of great pomp and grandeur.
Jesus, therefore, did not appear to them to be the Messiah, but rather
the prophet who should usher in the Messiah. Their Scriptures taught them
that Elijah would be that prophet. But the Apocrypha indicated that it
might be Isaiah or Jeremiah (I. Macc. xiv. 41). Hence the many opinions
as to which of the prophets Jesus was. If he was Elijah, he could not be
properly spoken of as risen from the dead, for Elijah had been translated.]
9 And Herod said, aunto his servants, cJohn I beheaded
[For the imprisonment of John, see pages
138, 139. The mission of the twelve probably lasted several weeks,
and the beheading of John the Baptist appears to have taken place about
the time of their return. See page
374]: but who is this, about whom I hear such things? aThis
is John the Baptist; {bthe Baptizer} ahe is risen
from the dead; and therefore do these powers work in him. [John had
wrought no miracle while living (Matt. x. 41), but there was a prevalent
idea among the ancients that departed spirits were endowed with superhuman
powers, and Herod therefore supposed that the risen John had brought these
powers with him from the spirit world.] cAnd he sought to
see him. [Jesus purposely kept out of the reach of Herod, knowing the
treacherous cunning of his nature (Luke xiii. 32), and Herod's curiosity
was not gratified until the day of Christ's crucifixion (Luke xxiii. 8-12),
and then its gratification was without sanctification.]
b15 But others said, It is Elijah. And others said, It is
a prophet, even as one of the prophets.
16 But Herod, when he heard thereof, said, John, whom I beheaded,
he is risen. [Some thought that Elijah might have returned, as the
Scripture declared, or that Jesus might be a prophet just like the great
prophets of old. Matthew, by introducing what follows with the word "for,"
gives us the reason why Herod clung to this singular opinion of Jesus.
He did so because this opinion was begotten in the morbid musings of a
conscience stained with the blood of John.]
17 For Herod himself had sent forth [370] and
laid hold upon John, aand bound him, and put him in prison the
sake of Herodias, his brother Philip's wife. bfor he had married
her. [Herodias was the daughter of Aristobulus, who was the half-brother
of Herod Philip I. and Herod Antipas, and these two last were in turn half-brothers
to each other. Herodias, therefore, had married her uncle Herod Philip
I, who was disinherited by Herod the Great, and who lived as a private
citizen in Rome. When Herod Antipas went to Rome about the affairs of his
tetrarchy, he became the guest of his brother Herod Philip I., and repaid
the hospitality which he received by carrying off the wife of his host.]
18 For John said unto Herod, It is not lawful for thee to have thy brother's
wife. [The marriage was unlawful of three reasons: 1. The husband of
Herodias was still living; 2. The lawful wife of Antipas (the daughter
of Aretas, king or emir of Arabia) was still living; 3. Antipas and Herodias,
being nephew and niece, were related to each other within the forbidden
degrees of consanguinity.] 19 And Herodias
set herself against him, and desired to kill him; but she could not:
20 for Herod feared John, knowing that he was a righteous and holy man,
and kept him safe. And when he heard him, he was much perplexed, and he
heard him gladly. a5 And when
he would have put him to death, he feared the multitude, because they counted
him as a prophet. [Herod feared both John and his influence. His fear
of the man as a prophet caused him to shelter John against any attempts
which his angry wife might make to put him to death, and led him to listen
to John with enough respect to become perplexed as to whether it were better
to continue in his course or repent. At other times, when the influence
of Herodias moved him most strongly, and he forgot his personal fear of
John, he was yet restrained by fear of John's influence over the people.]
6 But when Herod's birthday came, b21
And when a convenient day was come [A day suited to the purposes of
Herodias. The phrase refers to verse 19], that Herod on his birthday
made a supper to his lords, and the high captains, and [371] the
chief men of Galilee; 22 and when the
daughter of Herodias herself [the language seems to indicate that others
had first come in and danced] came in and danced, ain the
midst, bshe pleased Herod and them that sat at meat with him
[This dancer was Salome, daughter of Herod Philip and niece of Herod Antipas.
The dancing of the East was then, as now, voluptuous and indecent, and
nothing but utter shamelessness or inveterate malice could have induced
a princess to thus make a public show of herself at such a carousal];
a7 Whereupon he promised with an oath to give her whatsoever
she should ask. band the king said unto the damsel, Ask of me
whatsoever thou wilt, and I will give it thee.
23 And he sware unto her, Whatsoever thou shalt ask of me, I will give
it thee, unto the half of my kingdom. [The rashness of the king's promise
is characteristic of the folly of sin. Riches, honors, kingdoms, souls
are given for a bauble in the devil's market.]
24 And she went out, and said unto her mother, What shall I ask? [She
may have known beforehand what to ask. If so, she retired and asked her
mother that the brunt of the king's displeasure might fall upon her mother.]
And she said, The head of John the Baptist.
a8 And she, being put forward by her mother, bcame
in straightway with haste unto the king [she wished to make her request
known before the king had time to put limitations upon her asking],
and asked, saying, {asaith} bI will that thou
forthwith give me ahere on a platter the head of John the Baptist.
[She asked for the prophet's head that she and her mother might have the
witness of their own eyes to the fact that he was dead, and that they might
not be deceived about it.]
9 And the king was grieved; bwas exceeding sorry [because
the deed went against his conscience and his sense of policy as above stated];
but for the sake of his oaths, and of them that {awhich}
sat at meat, bhe would not reject her. ahe commanded
it to be given [The oath alone would not have constrained Herod to
grant Salome's request, for if left alone [372] he
would rightly have construed the request as not coming within the scope
of the oath. The terms of his oath looked to and anticipated a pecuniary
present, and not the commission of a crime. But Herod's companions, being
evil men, joined with the evil women against the man of God, and shamed
Herod into an act which committed him forever to a course of guilt. Thus,
a bad man's impulses are constantly broken down by his evil companions];
b27 And straightway the king forth a soldier of his guard, aand
beheaded John in the prison. band commanded to bring his head:
and he went and beheaded him in the prison,
28 and brought his head {ahis head was brought} bon
a platter, and gave it {aand given} bto the damsel:
and the damsel abrought it bgave it to her mother.
[To the anxious, unrestful soul of Herodias this seemed a great gift, since
it assured her that the voice of her most dangerous enemy was now silent.
But as Herod was soon filled with superstitious fears that John had risen
in the person of Christ, her sense of security was very short-lived. The
crime stamped Herod and Herodias with greater infamy than that for which
John had rebuked them.]
29 And when his disciples heard thereof, they came and took up his
{athe} corpse, band laid it in a tomb. aand
buried him; and went and told Jesus. [Herod had feared that the death
of John would bring about a popular uprising, and his fears were not mistaken.
As soon as they had decently buried the body of the great preacher, John's
disciples go to Jesus, expecting to find in him a leader to redress the
Baptist's wrongs. They knew the friendship of John for Jesus, and, knowing
that the latter intended to set up a kingdom, they believed that this would
involve the overthrow of Herod's power. They were ready now to revolt and
make Jesus a king. See Matt. xii. 13; John vi. 1, 2, 15. But Jesus would
not aid them to seek the bitter fruits of revenge, nor did he intend to
set up such a kingdom as they imagined.]
[FFG 369-373]
