Matthew 14:11

Mat 14:11. Τῇ μητρὶ αὐτῆς, to her mother) who without doubt treated it cruelly.

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Mat 14:11 . ἠνέχθῃ , not expressly said “there and then,” but all points to immediate production of the head on a platter in the banqueting hall before the guests; gruesome sight! ἐδόθη , ἤνεγκε : what a nerve the girl must have had! her mother’s nature in her; the dancing and the cool acceptance of the horrible gift well matched. κορασίῳ : not to be taken strictly; a young unmarried woman, say, of twenty (Holtz., H. C.). The dancing of a mere girl would have been no entertainment to the sensual revellers. The treat lay in the indecency.

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Verse 11. His head was given to the damsel: and she brought it to her mother.] There is no person so revengeful as a lascivious woman when reproved and blamed. A preacher of the Gospel has most to fear from this quarter: - the first of this profession lost his life for the sake of truth and chastity; and others, especially those who have any thing to do with men in power who are profligates, may learn what they are to expect in return for a faithful discharge of their duty.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(11) She brought it to her mother.—A glance at the after-history of those who were accomplices in the deed of blood will not be out of place. Shortly after the new society, for which John had prepared the way, had started upon its great career, when her brother, the young Agrippa, had obtained the title of king, through the favour of Caligula, Herodias, consistent in her ambition, stirred up her husband to seek the same honour. With this view she accompanied him to Rome; but they were followed by complaints from the oppressed Galileans, and the result was that he was deposed from his tetrarchy, and banished to Lugdunum (the modern Lyons) in Gaul. Thither she accompanied him, faithful to his fallen fortunes, in spite of overtures from her brother to return to Judæa, and there they died (Jos. Ant. xviii. 7, § 2). A tradition or legend relates that Salome’s death was retributive in its outward form. She fell upon the ice, and in the fall her head was severed from the body. Josephus, however, simply records the fact that she married first her great-uncle Philip, the Tetrarch of Trachonitis, and afterwards her first cousin, Aristobulus (Ant. xviii. 5, § 4).

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

11. brought it to her mother] The revenge of Herodias recalls the story of Fulvia, who treated with great indignity the head of her murdered enemy Cicero, piercing the tongue once so eloquent against her. Both are instances of “furens quid femina possit.”

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

By the executioner that cut it off, to Herod, whilst he and his guests were at table; by which it should seem, that the prison was very near; and it is not improbable, that it was the castle of Macheerus that Herod made this entertainment in:

and given to the damsel; the daughter of Herodias, who, by her mother's instigation, had asked it, and who received it out of the hands of Herod himself; or however, it was delivered to her by his orders:

and she brought it to her mother; who had put her upon it, than which, nothing could be a more agreeable dish to her; and who, as Jerome says (c), because she could not bear truth, that tongue which spoke truth; she plucked out, and pierced it through and through with a needle, as Fulvia did Cicero's: but this triumph over the faithful reprover of her, and Herod's vices, did not last long; for quickly after this, they were stripped of their honours and riches, and deprived of the kingdom, and banished to Lyons in France, where they died (d). A Jewish chronologer says (e), Herod was driven out of the land by Tiberius, and fled to Spain, and died there.

(c) Adv. Ruffin. Tom. 2. fol. 82. K. (d) Joseph. Antiqu. l. 18. c. 8. (e) Ganz. Tzemach David, par. 1. fol. 25. 2.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

11 And his head was brought in a charger, and given to the damsel: and she brought it to her mother.

Ver. 11. And his head was brought, &c.] This was merces mundi, the world’s wages to John for all his pains in seeking to save their souls. Surely as Caesar once said of Herod the Great (this man’s father), it were better to be Herod’s swine than his son; so (saith one) many ministers have, through the corruption of the time, cause to think, it were better to be Herod’s minstrel than minister, player than preacher, dancer than doctor.

And given to the damsel] The Romans condemned it for a detestable cruelty in Quintus Flaminius, that to gratify his harlot Placentina he beheaded a certain prisoner in her presence at a feast. This Livy calleth facinus saevum atque atrox, a cursed and horrid act: and Cato the censor cast him out of the senate for it. Neither was it long ere this tyrant Herod had his payment from heaven. For Aretas, king of Arabia (offended with him for putting away his daughter, and taking to wife Herodias), came upon him with an army, and cut off all his forces. Which loss all men interpreted, saith Josephus, xviii. 7, as a just vengeance of God upon him, for his unjust usage of the Baptist. And within a while after, being accused at Rome by his brother Agrippa, and convicted that he had 70,000 arms in readiness against the emperor, he was banished into France (as is above said) together with his Herodias, where he became his own deathsman.

And she brought it to her mother] As a most welcome present, and pleasant dish at this Thyestean supper. Whether it was carried about the table for a merry sight (as Aretius thinks), or whether she pricked his tongue with needles, as Josephus saith (as they did Cicero’s, setting up his head in the pleading place, ubi iis concionibus multorum capita servarat, as Seneca hath it), I have nothing to affirm. But we want not examples of some tigers and tigresses, that have taken pleasure in such unrighteousness; witness Hannibal’s O formosum spectaculum! O goodly bloody sight! when he saw a pit full of man’s blood; Valesas, his O rem regiam, when he had slain 300; Stokesly, his glorying on his death bed, that he had been the death of 50 herewigs, heretics he meant; Story, his vaunting that he tossed a faggot at Denly the martyr’s face, as he was singing a psalm, and set a wine bush of thorns under his feet, a little to prick him, &c. This he spake in the parliament in Queen Elizabeth’s days, whom he usually cursed in his grace before meat, and was therefore worthily hanged, drawn, and quartered. Whereunto we may add that queen (another Herodias) who, when she saw some of her Protestant subjects lying dead and stripped upon the earth, cried out, The goodliest tapestry that she ever beheld.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

His head was brought. How wonderful are the ways of the Almighty towards his servants! He permits them in this life to be afflicted, and to be given up to the will of the impious, because he knows this is good for them, and beneficial to their eternal salvation. We behold here St. John, the precursor of the Messias, who is declared by our Saviour to be the most distinguished personage ever born of woman, cast into prison, and, after a year’s confinement, slain at the request of an impious vile adulteress. How can any one be heard to complain of the small trials to which he may be exposed for the faith of Christ, when he beholds so eminent a servant of God suffering so much in the same cause. (Denis the Carthusian)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

11. Brought it to her mother — A dutiful present from a murderess daughter to a murderess mother! Herod Antipas and Herodias were, as we have already stated, subsequently banished by the Roman emperor to Lyons, in France, where they passed the remainder of their lives in disgrace. It does not appear that justice ever overtook Salome.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

11. She brought it to her mother. The first Elijah had his Jezebel, who sought his life; the second Elijah had his Jezebel, the not less inhuman Herodias, who obtained his life.

B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.

11. ἤνεγκεν τῇ μητρὶ αὐτῆς. The revenge of Herodias recalls the story of Fulvia, who treated with great indignity the head of her murdered enemy Cicero, piercing the tongue once so eloquent against her. Both are instances of ‘furens quid femina possit.’ The perpetration of the deed on the occasion of a birthday feast would heighten the atrocity of it in the eyes of the ancient world: it was an acknowledged rule, ‘ne die qua ipsi lumen accepissent aliis demerent.’

The great Florentine and other mediæval painters have delighted to represent the contrasts suggested by this scene at Machærus. The palace and the prison—Greek refinement and the preacher’s simplicity—Oriental luxury and Oriental despotism side by side—the cause of the world and the cause of Christ. In all this the ‘irony’ of the Greek dramatists is present. The real strength is on the side that seems weakest.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

11. And his head was brought upon a dish, and given to the girl, and she brought it to her mother.] For the passives, see on 4:1, and Introduction, p. xxiii.

(M)

International Critical Commentary — older volumes (1896–1929), various authors — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

To the damsel [τω κορασιω] . Diminutive, the little girl. Luther gives magdlein, little maid.

Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (1887–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.