Matthew 14: 1 - 12
14 At that time Herod the tetrarch heard the reports about Jesus, 2 and he said to his attendants, “This is John the Baptist; he has risen from the dead! That is why miraculous powers are at work in him.”
3 Now Herod had arrested John and bound him and put him in prison because of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife, 4 for John had been saying to him: “It is not lawful for you to have her.” 5 Herod wanted to kill John, but he was afraid of the people, because they considered John a prophet.
6 On Herod’s birthday the daughter of Herodias danced for the guests and pleased Herod so much 7 that he promised with an oath to give her whatever she asked. 8 Prompted by her mother, she said, “Give me here on a platter the head of John the Baptist.” 9 The king was distressed, but because of his oaths and his dinner guests, he ordered that her request be granted 10 and had John beheaded in the prison. 11 His head was brought in on a platter and given to the girl, who carried it to her mother. 12 John’s disciples came and took his body and buried it. Then they went and told Jesus.
Question: Why was John even there at the palace? Why say anything about Herod?
ReplyDeletehttp://www.enduringword.com/commentaries/4014.htm says
ReplyDeleteA tetrarch was lower than a king. Herod Antipas wanted to be recognized as a king, and later asked the Emperor Caligula for this title, but Caligula refused. This humiliation was part of what later sent Herod to exile in Gaul.
Barclay cites the ancient Christian writer Origen, who said that Jesus and John the Baptist closely resembled each other in appearance. If this were true, it would give more reason for Herod Antipas to believe that Jesus was John come back from the dead.
John spoke out against Herod's marriage because he had illegally divorced his previous wife and then seduced and married his brother Philip's wife named Herodias. The father of Herod's first wife was the King of Petra, and he later made successful war against Herod Antipas because of how he had disgraced the King of Petra's daughter.
In speaking out against Herod and Herodias, there is the suggestion that John did this repeatedly. "It was, moreover, perhaps more than a passing remark: said is in the imperfect tense, which may indicate a continuing 'campaign'.
The dances which these girls danced were suggestive and immoral. For a royal princess to dance in public at all was an amazing thing.
Herod had a terrible end. In order to take his brother's wife Herodias, he put away his first wife, a princess from a neighboring kingdom to the east. Her father was offended and came against Herod with an army, defeating him in battle. Then his brother Agrippa accused him of treason against Rome, and he was banished into the distant Roman province of Gaul. In Gaul, Herod and Herodias committed suicide.
My 2 cents:
ReplyDeleteThe questions to me is why did John speak out against an obviously evil man at all? What good could come of it?
In this case, the obvious answer is that God told him to do it. By speaking out, John was fulfilling a plan of God's. What that plan was? I don't know. It could have been a way to keep Herod away from Jesus (since Herod seemed to have his fill of evil actions). It could have been that John's purpose has been served. Expending John in this way fulfilled some judgement against Herod.
My conclusion: I have no idea why God told John to speak out against Herod.
The next question is should we follow John's example and speak out against our rulers (or any public figure) when they sin? If God commands us to, yes we should. However, Paul commanded us to live quiet lives and to not judge those outside of the church. My opinion is that we should not normally speak out (in a forum) against public figures, unless God commands us to or God has put us in a position of being a political analyst.
I am not sure of this opinion and welcome examples of when we should speak out.