Matthew 14:3

Mat 14:3-7. For Herod had laid hold on John — Had formerly seized him; and put him in prison for Herodias’s sake — On account of the reproof which John gave him for marrying Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife — Who was still living. For John said to him — Probably in some private conference he had with him, It is not lawful for thee to have her — Indeed it was not lawful for either of them to have her. For her father, Aristobulus, was their own brother. John’s words were rough, like his raiment. He would not break the force of truth by using soft words even to a king. And when he would have put him to death — In a fit of passion; he feared the multitude — He knew his abuse of his power had already rendered him odious to the people, and as their resentments were much excited already, he was afraid if he should proceed to put a prophet to death, they would break out into a flame which he could not quench. He was then restrained by fear of the multitude; and afterward by the reverence he had for John, Mar 6:19, &c. But when Herod’s birthday was kept — Some think, that by γενεσια, here rendered birthday, the day of Herod’s accession to his tetrarchy is meant: and the word may perhaps be sometimes used with this latitude; but, unless where there is positive evidence that it has that meaning, the safer way is to prefer the customary interpretation. The daughter of Herodias — Whose name was Salome, and who was afterward infamous for a life suitable to this beginning, danced before them — Doubtless in consequence of a previous plan laid by her mother. For “in ancient times, it was so far from being the custom for ladies of distinction to dance in public, that it was reckoned indecent if they were so much as present at public entertainments. Queen Vashti thought it so dishonourable, that, rather than submit to it, even when commanded by King Ahasuerus, she forfeited her crown. Est 1:12. It may, therefore, be believed, that this dancing of Herodias’s daughter in such a large company of men, at a public entertainment, was a very extraordinary circumstance, and must have been brought about by some contrivance of her mother.” And pleased Herod — And also his guests, Mar 6:22, whereupon, being delighted with her dancing and heated with wine, he promised with an oath — Profanely and foolishly sware unto her, and that, it seems, more than once, both the evangelists using the plural, ορκους, oaths, (see Mat 14:9, and Mar 6:26;) to give her whatsoever she would ask, even to the half of his kingdom, Mar 6:23. “Thus profusely would he reward a worthless dance; while a prison and death were the recompense of the man of God who honestly sought the salvation of his soul?” — Scott.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

ARREST & IMPRISONMENT OF JOHN THE BAPTIST

Mat 14:3-5; Mar 6:17-20; Luk 3:19-21. Mark: “For Herod himself, having sent, arrested John, and bound him in prison, on account of Herodias, the wife of his brother Philip, because he married her. For John said to Herod, It is not lawful for thee to have the wife of thy brother. And Herodias hated him, and wished to kill him; and was not able. For Herod revered John, knowing him to be a righteous and holy man; and he continued to hold him in prison, and hearing him, continued to do many things, and he was hearing him delightfully.” Matthew: “And wishing to kill him, he feared the multitude, because they had him as a prophet.” Luke: “And Herod the tetrarch, being convicted by him concerning Herodias, the wife of Philip, his brother, and concerning all those wicked things which Herod did, added also this to all, he also shut up John in prison.” We see from the concurrent histories of this dark tragedy, as given by Matthew, Mark, and Luke, that John the Baptist extended no royal courtesy whatever to the king and queen; but, looking them in the face, thus boldly and fearlessly exposed them in the presence of all the people, pronouncing his withering condemnation against their unlawful matrimony, Herodias, being the legal wife of his brother Philip — not the Philip who was at that time tetrarch of Iturea and Trachonitis (Luk 3:1), but of another Philip, who was his half-brother. Here we see a notable case of an honest preacher going into prison and to the executioner’s block, losing all his liberties, and even his life, rather than withhold a solitary item of the truth. If the preachers nowadays were to expose and condemn all of the unlawful marriages in their congregations, thousands of them would lose their pastoral heads, especially in the wealthy city churches. O how the present age needs preachers having the backbone of John the Baptist! This illustrates the absolute necessity of entire sanctification on the part of the clergy, as nothing but this grace can qualify the preacher to tell the truth under all circumstances, regardless of his reputation, financial interest, and his ecclesiastical head. In this whole transaction, Herod shows up a better spirit than Herodias. You see plainly from Mark that Herod imprisoned John, and kept him in prison nearly two years, to keep Herodias from killing him. If he had not been protected by those impregnable prison-walls, and kept night and day under lock and key, the queen would have hired an assassin to go and murder him. Machaerus, a city and strong fortification, which our dragoman pointed out to us, on the east bank of the Dead Sea, where Herod also had a palace and spent a portion of his time, was the place of John’s imprisonment. During these twenty months, which wound up with his decapitation through the stratagem of Herodias, Herod frequently heard John preach. Mark says: “Knowing him to be a righteous and holy man.” We become righteous in regeneration, and holy in sanctification. Hence you see that King Herod, an intelligent, unconverted Church-member, had gumption enough to believe in the two works of grace — i.e., regeneration and sanctification — and see them both in John the Baptist. Mark here informs us that John’s preaching had a powerful effect on Herod, who, like multiplied thousands of unsaved Church-members, wanted to be good. “And hearing him, he continued to do many things, and he continued to hear him delightfully.” All this took place during those twenty months of his imprisonment at Machaerus, where Herod had a palace, and spent much of his time, meanwhile holding John in prison to keep his haughty wife from having him killed, she, of course, being too mad at him to ever hear him any more, though her royal husband heard him very frequently, ever and anon, and was delighted with the wonderful truth so ably and faithfully dispensed by his prisoner. “He continued to do many things;” i.e., he was very religious, and obeyed John in many things, being literally carried away by the red-hot truth which he preached; yet he never made the final surrender and got saved; finally permitting his diabolical wife to constrain him to imbue his hands in the innocent blood of the preacher under whose ministry he had been delighted these two years, shed many a tear, and made many a holy vow.

William B. Godbey, Commentary on the New Testament (1896–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

14:3-12 The popular appeal of John’s message posed a political threat (see Josephus, Antiquities 18.5.2). Years after John’s execution, the Jews viewed Herod’s military defeat at the hands of Aretas (AD 36) as a just recompense for putting an innocent man to death.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Connecting Statement:

Here the author begins to tell about how Herod had executed John the Baptist. These events occur some time before the event in the previous verses. (See: Order of Events)

General Information:

Matthew recounts the story of John the Baptist's death in order to show why Herod reacted the way he did when he heard about Jesus.

For Herod ... as your wife

If needed, you can present the events of Mat 14:3-4 in the order that they happened, as in the UDB. (See: Order of Events)

Herod had arrested John, bound him, and put him in prison

It says that Herod did these things because he ordered others to do them for him. AT: "Herod ordered his soldiers to arrest and bind John the Baptist and put him in prison" (See: Metonymy)

Philip's wife

Philip was Herod's brother. Herod had taken Philip's wife to be his own wife. (See: How to Translate Names)

For John had said to him, "It is not lawful for you to have her as your wife."

This can be expressed as an indirect quote, if needed. AT: "For John had said to Herod that it was not lawful for Herod to have Herodias as his wife." (See: Direct and Indirect Quotations)

For John had said to him

"For John had kept saying to Herod"

It is not lawful

Philip was still alive when Herod married Herodias. (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)

he feared

"Herod feared"

they regarded him

"they regarded John"

translationWords

Herod Antipas

John (the Baptist)

prison

Herodias

lawful

die

fear

prophet

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

Mat 14:3. Ἡρωδιάδα, Herodias) This princess was hostile to the latter Elias, as Jezebel to the former.—τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ αὐτοῦ, his brother) Most authorities[662] prefix Φιλίππου from St Mark, who is known not to have taken all things from St Matthew by his being the only one who names this brother of Herod. The shorter reading of St Matthew has been preserved intact by the Vulgate, ‘fratris,’ of his brother, alive, and not childless, as we learn from Josephus, 18. 7; but it was sufficient for the Evangelist to say that he was his brother. Herodias[663] was also the niece of both, being the daughter of their brother Aristobulus.

[662] Such is the reading of E. M. In his App. Crit. Bengel writes,—“(Φιλίππου) Lat. plerique, et inde Cant. Angl. Mag. Augustin. sed habet Sax. Φιλίππου, præmittunt plerique ex Marco. Brevior,” etc., as in Gnomon.—(I. B.)

[663] See Genealogical Table, p. 120.—(I. B.)

Lachm. with BZ Orig. 3, 470b. reads Φιλίππου—αὐτοῦ. b has αὐτιὺ Φιλίππου. Tischend. omits Φιλίππου with Da (?) c Vulg. Φιλίππου looks like a gloss of the harmonies from Mar 6:17. However, the omission might also come similarly from Luk 3:19.—ED.

The marg. of both Editions agree with the Gnomon. But Vers. Germ. retains Φιλίππου in this passage.—E. B.

Mat 14:3-12. Ὁ γάρ Ἡρώδης, κ.τ.λ., for Herod, etc.) It was not necessary that the death of John should be foretold in the Old Testament, or be described professedly and in order; because he did not die for us. The mention of him, however, is gracefully resumed when our Lord was now in the zenith of His career.

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

Mat_14:3. Herodias was the daughter of Aristobulus, son of Herod the Great, and of Berenice. She married Herod Antipas, who had become so enamoured of her that he put away his wife, the daughter of the Arabian king Aretas. Joseph. Antt. xviii. 5. 1, 4. The brother of this Herod, Herod Philip (Mar_6:17), called by Josephus simply Herod, a son of Herod the Great and Mariamne, the high priests daughter, and not to be confounded[451] with Philip the tetrarch, who was Cleopatras son, had been disinherited by his father, and was living privately at Jerusalem in circumstances of considerable wealth. Joseph. Antt. xvii. 1. 2, 8. 2. The aorists are not to be taken in the sense of the pluperfect, but as purely historical. They relate, however (Chrysostom: διηγούμενος οὕτως φήσιν), a statement that has been already made in a previous passage (Mat_4:12), namely, that Herod, in order to give a more minute account of the last (and now completed, see on Mat_14:13) destiny of the Baptist, seized John, bound him, and so on. Buttmann, neut. Gr. p. 173 [E. T. 200].

ἐν τῇ φυλακῇ] Comp. Mat_11:2; for the pregnant use of the ἘΝ, see Kühner, II. 1, p. 385 f.; Buttmann, p. 283 [E. T. 329]. What Josephus, Antt. xviii. 5. 2, says about Machaerus being the place of imprisonment, is not to be regarded as incorrect (Glöckler and Hug, Gutachten, p. 32 f.); but see Wieseler, p. 244 f., to be compared, however, with Gerlach as above, p. 49 f. On the date of Johns arrest (782 U.C., or 29 Aer. Dion.), see Anger, rat. temp. p. 195; Wieseler, p. 238 ff.; and in Herzogs Encycl. XXI. p. 548 f., also in his Beitr. p. 3 ff. Otherwise, Keim, I. p. 621 ff. (Aer. Dion. 3435), with whom Hausrath substantially agrees. For ἀπέθετο (see critical notes), comp. 2Ch_18:26; Polyb. xxiv. 8. 8 (ΕἸς ΦΥΛΑΚΉΝ).

[451] Ewald, Gesch. Chr. p. 51, thinks that Mark has fallen into this error, and that the omission of the name Philip in Matthew and Luke (Luk_3:19) should be regarded as intended to correct it. Comp. also Hase, Bleek, Volkmar, Keim. No doubt it is strange that the two sons of Herod the Great should have borne the name Philip. But then this was only a surname, while it is to be remembered that Herod had also two sons, both of whom were called Antipater. Besides, the two Philips were only half-brothers. See Gerlach also in the Luther. Zeitschr. 1869, p. 32 f.; Wieseler, Beitr. p. 7.

Meyer — Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament — English translation by Peter Christie, edited by Frederick Crombie (T&T Clark, 1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Mat 14:3 . γὰρ implies that the following story is introduced to make the king’s theory intelligible. “Risen” implies previous death, and how that came about must be told to show the psychological genesis of the theory. It is the superstitious idea of a man who has murder on his conscience. κρατήσας , etc.: fact referred to already in Mat 4:12 , Mat 11:2 ; here the reason given. Of course Herod seized, bound, and imprisoned John through his agents. διὰ Ἡρωδιάδα : a woman here, as so often, the cause of the tragedy. γυναῖκα φ .: vide on Mk.

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

Verse 3. For Herodias' sake] This infamous woman was the daughter of Aristobulus and Bernice, and grand-daughter of Herod the Great. Her first marriage was with Herod Philip, her uncle, by whom she had Salome: some time after, she left her husband, and lived publicly with Herod Antipas, her brother-in-law, who had been before married to the daughter of Aretas, king of Arabia Petraea. As soon as Aretas understood that Herod had determined to put away his daughter, he prepared to make war on him: the two armies met, and that of Herod was cut to pieces by the Arabians; and this, Josephus says, was supposed to be a judgment of God on him for the murder of John the Baptist. See the account in Josephus, Antiq. lib. xviii. c. 7.

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

(3) Put him in prison.—Josephus (Ant. xviii. 5, § 2) gives Machærus, in Peræa, as the scene of the imprisonment and death of the Baptist.

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

3. in prison] At Machærus, in Peræa, on the eastern side of the Dead Sea, near the southern frontier of the tetrarchy. Here Antipas had a palace and a prison under one roof, as was common in the East. Cp. Neh_3:25, “The tower which lieth out from the king’s high house that was by the court of the prison.” It was the ordinary arrangement in feudal castles. At Machærus, now M’khaur, remains of buildings are still visible. These are probably the ruins of the Baptist’s prison. Herod was living in this border fortress in order to prosecute the war with his offended father-in-law, Aretas. He was completely vanquished—a disaster popularly ascribed to his treatment of John the Baptist.

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.

For Herod had laid hold on John,.... By his servants, whom he sent to apprehend him:

and bound him; laid him in chains, as if he was a malefactor;

and put him in prison, in the castle of Machaerus (d),

for Herodias's sake; who was angry with him, had a bitter quarrel against him, and by whose instigation all this was done; who was

his brother Philip's wife. This Herodias was the daughter of Aristobulus, son to Herod the Great (e), and brother to Philip, and to this Herod; so that she was niece to them both; and first married the one, and then the other, whilst the former was living. Philip and this Herod were both sons of Herod the Great, but not by the same woman; Philip was born of Cleopatra of Jerusalem, and Herod Antipas of Malthace, a Samaritan (f); so that Philip was his brother by his father's side, but not by his mother's; the Evangelist Mark adds, "for he had married her": the case was this, Herod being sent for to Rome, called at his brother Philip's by the way, where he fell into an amorous intrigue with his wife, and agreed, upon his return, to take her with him and marry her; as he accordingly did, and divorced his own wife, who was daughter of Aretas, king of Arabia Petraea; which occasioned a war between Herod and his wife's father, in which the former was beaten (g),

(d) Joseph. Antiqu. 1. 18. c. 7. (e) Ib. c. 6. (f) Joseph. Antiqu. 1. 18. c. 6. de Bello Jud. l. 1. c. 28. sect. 7. (g) Joseph. Antiqu. 1. 18. c. 6.

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

3 For Herod had laid hold on John, and bound him, and put him in prison for Herodias’ sake, his brother Philip’s wife.

Ver. 3. For Herod had laid hold on John] If John touch Herod’s white sin (and who will stand still to have his eyes picked out?) John must to prison, without bail or mainprize; {a} and there not only be confined, but bound as a malefactor, as a stirrer up of sedition ( Unicum crimen eorum qui crimine vacabant, as Lipsius noteth upon Tacitus). Neither bound only, but beheaded without any law, right, or reason, as though God had known nothing at all of him, as that martyr expresseth it. All this befell the good Baptist, for telling the truth, Veritas odium parit. If conscience might but judge, how many of our hearers would be found to have a Herod’s heart towards their faithful ministers? Were there but a sword (of authority) in their hand, as he said to his ass, they would surely slay them, Num 22:29. They would deal by them no better than Saul did by David, 1Sa 18:10, while he was playing upon his harp to ease Saul’s distracted mind, he cast a spear at him. The most savoury salt (if they can do withal) must be cast out, and trodden underfoot; as Calvin and other faithful ministers were driven out of Geneva at the first; whereupon he uttered these gracious words: Truly, if I had served men, I had been ill rewarded, {b} but it is well for me that I have served him who never faileth his, but will approve himself a liberal paymaster, a rich rewarder.

And put him in prison] Having first laid hold upon all the principles in his own head that might any way disturb his course in sin, and locked them up in restraint, according to that, Rom 1:18, wicked men detain the truth, that is, the light of their own consciences (which is as another John Baptist, a prophet from God), this they imprison in unrighteousness, and become fugitives from their own hearts, as Austin hath it. {c}

For Herodias’ sake, his brother] Quam vulpinando fratri eripuerat, as one phraseth it. {d} And he had her not only for his wife, but for his mistress; for she ruled him at her pleasure, as Jezebel did Ahab, of which wretched couple it is said, that Regina erat Rex, Rex vero Regina. The Queen was the king, and the king was truly the queen. But it never goes well when the hen crows. How many have we known, whose heads have been broken with their own rib? Satan hath found this bait to take so well, that he never changed it since he crept into Paradise. And it is remarkable, that in that first sentence against man, this cause is expressed, Because thou obeyedst the voice of thy wife, Gen 3:17.

{a} The action of procuring the release of a prisoner by becoming surety (‘mainpernor’) for his appearance in court at a specified time. ŒD

{b} Certe si hominibus servivissem, male mihi merces persolveretur, &c. Beza in Vita Salv.

{c} Facti sunt a corde suo fugitivi.

{d} Pareus Eccles. Hist.

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.

For Herod had laid hold on John ... - See Mar 6:17-20; Luk 3:19-20. This Herodias was a granddaughter of Herod the Great. She was first married to Herod Philip, by whom she had a daughter, Salome, probably the one that danced and pleased Herod. Josephus says that this marriage of Herod Antipas with Herodias took place while he was on a journey to Rome. He stopped at his brother’s; fell in love with his wife; agreed to put away his own wife, the daughter of Aretas, King of Petraea; and Herodias agreed to leave her own husband and live with him. They were living, therefore, in adultery; and John, in faithfulness, though at the risk of his life, had reproved them for their crimes. Herod was guilty of two crimes in this act:

Of “adultery,” since she was the wife of another man. Of “incest,” since she was a near relation, and such marriages were expressly forbidden, Lev 18:16.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Because of Herodias, his brother’s wife. In the common Greek copies we read, his brother Philip’s wife, as it is in the Latin in St. Mark, vi. 17. (Witham) --- He is a different person from Philip the tetrarch, mentioned in St. Luke. iii. 1. (Bible de Vence)

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).

Mark saith, Mar 6:17, for he had married her. Whether this Philip was Herod’s brother both by father and mother, is argued by some, as also whether he married her during the life of his brother: the Scripture satisfieth us not in these things, but it is most probable that Philip was his own brother, and that he at least lived in adultery with her during the life of her husband, contrary to the express law of God, Lev 18:16.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

3. For Herod had — The evangelist proceeds to explain the remark of Herod by recapitulating the history of John’s martyrdom. Herodias’ sake — She had in vain endeavoured to induce Herod to perpetrate the deed; and so finally availed herself of the opportunity here afforded. The oath fairly entrapped Herod into an obligation to do what she required; and eager for revenge, as well as to put an end to John’s dangerous influence over the king’s conscience against her, she perseveringly refused to let the monarch free from her snare.

Herodias was daughter of the young Aristobulus, one of the accomplished but unfortunate sons of Herod by the beautiful Mariamne; and she belonged therefore to the noble line of Asmonean princes. She seems to have possessed the beauty and accomplishments of that princess, without many of her virtues. Her brother Agrippa, a prince of singular talent and fascinating address, passed through a variety of fortunes, in which he was befriended by her, and he ultimately succeeded Herod Philip in the eastern tetrarchy, under the title, from the Emperor Caius Caligula, of king. Compare note on Mat_2:1. Herodias became the wife (not of Herod Philip the tetrarch, but) of her uncle, Herod Philip, another son of Herod the Great, whose mother was Mariamne, the daughter of Simon the High Priest. See Herod’s family tree, p. 33.

The account of John’s death given by Josephus varies from that of Matthew by making Herod’s fear of John the motive for his execution.

This was doubtless true, though the evangelist’s minuter narrative furnishes the actual occasion. Josephus confirms the Gospel narrative in many points, He says:

“Now some of the Jews thought that the destruction of Herod’s army came from God, and that very justly, as a punishment of what he did against John that was called the Baptist; for Herod slew him, although he was a good man, and commanded the Jews to exercise virtue both as to righteousness one toward another, and piety toward God, and so to come to baptism. Now when others came in crowds about him — for they were greatly moved by hearing his words — Herod, who feared lest the great influence John had over the people might put it into his power and inclination to raise a rebellion, (for they seemed ready to do anything he should advise,) thought it best, by putting him to death, to prevent any mischief he might cause, and not bring himself into difficulties by sparing a man who might make him repent of it when it should be too late. Accordingly he was sent a prisoner, out of Herod’s suspicions, to Macherus, the castle I before mentioned, and was there put to death.”

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

For Herod had laid hold on John, and bound him. Although had simplifies the meaning to the English reader, as definitely marking what must have been the case, that John"s imprisonment began some time before, yet in the Greek only the aorist is used to commence a vivid narrative. And put him in prison; " put him away in prison (en fulakh apeyeto)." So of Micaiah by Ahab. (2Ch_18:26, LXX, but not Lucian"s text) Probably here in allusion to the distance of Machaerus from Herod"s usual residence at Tiberius. Possibly, also, a reference to John being safer there from the designs of Herodias. (Mar_6:19, 20) Anyhow, notice the stages in Herod"s action capture, binding, imprisonment in a place where he was quite out of the way. For Herodias" sake. John was imprisoned, according to the New Testament,

(1) as a punishment for his rebuke of Herod;

(2) to protect him from Herodias" vengeance.

(On the statement by Josephus, that it was for political reasons, see Mat_3:1, note)

His brother Philip"s wife. According to Josephus ("Ant.," 18:5. 4), the first husband of Herodias was "Herod," son of Herod the Great by Mariamne the high priest"s daughter, and the daughter of Herodias, Salome, married Philip the tetrarch, who was also the son of Herod the Great by Cleopatra of Jerusalem. Hence many critics (e.g. Ewald; Schurer, I 2:22) suppose the account in Matthew and Mark to be mistaken, and due to a confusion of Herodias with her daughter. But, although it is curious that two sons of Herod the Great should have been called Philip, yet, in view of their being by different mothers, it cannot be pronounced impossible ("Antipas" and "Antipater" are not precisely identical). Besides, Herod the son of Mariamne would probably have had some other name than that of his father alone. It is noticeable that, in the same context, Josephus speaks also of Antipas by the name Herod only.

Vers. 3-12. The murder of John the Baptist.

This is introduced quite incidentally to account for the superstitious terror of Herod; but the story is so graphic that we seem to be carried into the midst of the scene of dissipation and crime. It is a hideous picture, and its chief lessons are of warning, and yet its gloom is not utterly unrelieved, for the portrait of the Baptist stands out in grand contrast to its vicious surroundings.

I THE PROPHET"S FIDELITY. John the Baptist was a prophet of repentance. His was a difficult task, because he aimed at making it effective. It is easy to denounce sin in the general; no one will be affected. It is safe to accuse the weak of their wickedness; they cannot retaliate on their censor. Therefore the temptation is to take one or the other of these courses; but the first is useless, and the second mean and cowardly.

1. John denounced particular sins. He did so with the various classes who came to his baptism. The animus of Herodias" hatred springs from the fact that his shaft went home to one great and shameful act of wickedness.

2. John fearlessly accused the great. He was not stern with the miserable outcast, and meek with the sinner in high places. Pharisees could rail at the weeping penitent and be silent about the sin of the harlot-queen. John preached to the court; but he was no court preacher. The faithful prophet must denounce the sins of princes as well as those of peasants.

II THE PRINCESS"S SHAME. In the flush and splendour of her youth, the highest-born maiden of the land lowers herself to perform a disgraceful dance under the gloating gaze of a company of half-drunken men of pleasure. The sin of the guilty mother is already bearing bitter fruit in the shame of her ill-trained daughter. We are appalled at the contrast between the lofty character of the faithful prophet and the miserable state of the princess on whose young soul the bloom of innocence is so early destroyed. The ruin of natural modesty prepares for a more horrible evil callousness in brutal crime. Thus the loss of the pure simplicity of maidenhood leads to the hardened heart of unwomanly cruelty. None are so cruel as the dissolute.

III THE QUEEN"S VINDICTIVENESS. It was the king"s sin that John denounced, for that was the first evil; and the prophet was a man, and one who dared to bring a vile deed home to its true author. But naturally the queen feels the sting of the reproach most keenly. Then, instead of admitting its justice and humbling herself, she turns on the preacher like an infuriated tigress. Her very ferocity shows that her conscience has been wounded. When people will not repent at the word of a faithful admonitor, they flame out in a rage against him as though he were their mortal enemy. If they did but see the truth they would own him as their best friend.

IV THE KING"S WICKED WEAKNESS. Herod himself had some respect for the prophet. He even kept him, as he might have kept an actor or a singer, to amuse his idle hours; or perhaps be was somewhat drawn to the serious teaching of John. Yet he weakly yielded to the bloodthirsty demand of the daughter of Herodias. He was moved by two considerations.

1. His oath. But it was a gross error to suppose that his oath could be made to demand compliance with the savage request made to him under it, for the most awful oath cannot bind a man to do wrong.

2. His fear. He dreaded to be thought weak by his guests. In this he revealed the very weakness he wanted to avoid. There is no cowardice so despicable as that which does wrong from fear of ridicule. W.F.A.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

His brother Philip's wife - Who was still alive. Mark vi, 17.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

The story of John’s imprisonment:

v. 3. For Herod had laid hold on John, and bound him, and put him in prison, for Herodias’ sake, his brother Philip’s wife.

v. 4. For John said unto him, It is not lawful for thee to have her.

v. 5. And when he would have put him to death, he feared the multitude, because they counted him as a prophet.

A laconic account of sordid baseness! Herod had been legally married to the daughter of Aretas, king of Arabia. And Herodias, his niece, daughter of Aristobulus and Berenice, had been married to Philip, the brother of Herod Antipas. But Herod rejected his lawful wife and persuaded Herodias to leave her husband and live with him in an adulterous union, to which the ambitious libertine readily assented. She brought with her a daughter by legal marriage, Salome, who equaled her mother in shamelessness. John had not hesitated about taking Herod to task on account of his heinous sin. The adulterous ruler may have felt the justice of the rebuke, and might have been willing to overlook the frankness of the intrepid preacher. But Herodias resented the reflection upon her, all the more since she must admit the implication. For her sake Herod caused John to be seized, bound, and cast into prison. In the meantime, he was forced to meet the army of Aretas, who took bloody revenge upon Herod for the insult inflicted upon his daughter. If the Romans had not interfered, Herod might have paid dearly for his immoral indulgence. As it was, he was in a quandary, undecided whether he should put John to death, as Herodias urged, or set him free, because the people believed him to be a prophet, and Herod himself was rather deeply affected by John’s preaching, Mar 6:20. Whenever he came to Machaerus, the case came up anew to trouble him.

Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Observe here, 1. The person that put the holy baptist to death: It was Herod, it was Herod the king, it was Herod that invited John to preach at court, and heard him gladly.

1. It was Herod Antipas, son to that Herod, who sought Christ’s life, chap. 11. cruelty runs in the blood, Herod the murderer of John, who was the forerunner of Christ, descended from that Herod who would have murdered Christ himself.

2. It was Herod the king. Sad! that princes who should always be nursing fathers to, should at any time be the bloody butchers of, the prophets of God.

3. It was Herod that heard John gladly; John took the ear and the heart of Herod, and Herod binds the hands and feet of John. O how inconstant is a carnal heart to good resolutions; the word has oft-time an awakening influence, where it doth not leave an abiding impression upon the minds of men.

Observe, 2. The cause of the baptist’s death; it was for telling a king of his crime. Herod cut off that head whose tongue was so bold as to tell him of his faults. The persecutions which the prophets of God fall under, is usually for telling great men of their sins: men in power are impatient of reproof, and imagine their authority gives them a license to transgress.

Observe, 3. The plain-dealing of the baptist, in reproving Herod for his crime, which, in one act, was adultery, incest, and violence.

Adultery, that he took another’s wife; incest, that he took his brother’s wife; violence, that he took her in spite of her husband.

Therefore John does not mince the matter, and say, it is not the crown and sceptre of Herod that could daunt the faithful messenger of God. There ought to meet in God’s ministers, both courage and impartiality.

Courage, in fearing no faces; impartiality in sparing no sins. For none are so great, but they are under the authority and command of the law of God.

William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

3. For Herod had laid hold on John. This arrest of John the Baptist had taken place a year previous, shortly before our Lord's second visit to Galilee (Matt. 4:12; Mark 1:14), the events of which are given by John, chapter 4. The prison was the castle of Machærus. See note on Matt. 11:2. Herodias' sake. Antipas had been, while at Rome, the guest of his brother Herod Philip. Here he became entangled by the snares of Herodias, his brother Philip's wife; and he repaid the hospitality he had received by carrying her off. He had himself long been married to the daughter of Aretas, king of Arabia. This Herodias was the granddaughter of “Herod the King,” and, hence, the niece of both her lawful husband and of Herod Antipas, who now had her.

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.

3. ἀπέθετο, probably right (א B), for ἔθετο.

3. ἐν τῇ φυλακῇ. At Machærus, in Peræa, on the eastern side of the Dead Sea, near the southern frontier of the tetrarchy. Here Antipas had a palace and a prison under one roof, as was common in the East. Cp. Neh 3:25, ‘The tower which lieth out from the king’s high house that was by the court of the prison.’ It was the ordinary arrangement in feudal castles. At Machærus, now M’khaur, remains of buildings are still visible. These are probably the ruins of the Baptist’s prison. Herod was living in this border fortress in order to prosecute the war with his offended father-in-law, Aretas. He was completely vanquished—a disaster popularly ascribed to his treatment of John the Baptist.

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.

3. For Herod seized John, and bound him, and threw him into prison on account of Herodias, the wife of Philip his brother.] Mk. has: “For he, Herod, had sent and seized John, and bound him in prison on account of Herodias, the wife of Philip his brother. Because he had married her.”—ἔδησεν] The aorists throughout the section are borrowed from Mk. They are practically equivalent to the English pluperfect.—ἐν φυλακῇ] i.e. Machærus, Josephus, Ant. xviii. 119.—Φιλίππου] not the tetrarch, but a son of Herod the Great and Mariamne. Josephus, Ant. xviii. 136, calls him “Herod.”

(M)

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

Put him in prison [εν φυλακη απεθετο] . Lit., "put him away or aside" [απο] . This prison was the fortress of Machaerus on the east side of the Dead Sea, almost on a line with Bethlehem, above the gorge which divided the Mountains of Abarim from the range of Pisgah. Perched on an isolated cliff at the end of a narrow ridge, encompassed with deep ravines, was the citadel. At the other end of this ridge Herod built a great wall, with towers two hundred feet high at the corners; and within this inclosure, a magnificent palace, with colonnades, baths, cisterns, arsenals - every provision, in short, for luxury and for defence against siege. The windows commanded a wide and grand prospect, including the Dead Sea, the course of the Jordan, and Jerusalem. In the detached citadel, probably in one of the underground dungeons, remains of which may still be seen, was the prison of John. "We return through what we regard as the ruins of the magnificent castle - palace of Herod, to the highest and strongest part of the defences - the eastern keep or the citadel, on the steep slope, one hundred and fifty yards up. The foundation of the walls all around, to the height of a yard or two above the ground, are still standing. As we clamber over them to examine the interior, we notice how small this keep is : exactly one hundred yards in diameter. There are scarcely any remains of it left. A well of great depth, and a deep, cemented cistern, with the vaulting of the roof still complete, and - of most terrible interest to us - two dungeons, one of them deep down, its sides scarcely broken in, 'with small holes still visible in the masonry where staples of wood and iron had once been fixed !' As we look down into its hot darkness, we shudder in realizing that this terrible keep had, for nigh ten months, been the prison of that son of the free wilderness, the bold herald of the coming kingdom, the humble, earnest, self - denying John the Baptist" (Edersheim, " Life and Times of Jesus ").

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