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Home , Malthace, Philip the Tetrarch

Death of

March, 27 A.D.

Matthew 14:1-12

Mark 6:14-29

Luke 9:7-9

Herod Antipas’ Mistaken View of

Texts:

Matthew 14:1, 2, At that time Herod the tetrarch heard the reports about Jesus, 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."

Mark 6:14-16, King Herod heard about this, for Jesus' name had become well known. Some were saying, "John the Baptist has been raised from the dead, and that is why miraculous powers are at work in him." Others said, "He is Elijah." And still others claimed, "He is a prophet, like one of the prophets of long ago." But when Herod heard this, he said, "John, the man I beheaded, has been raised from the dead!"

Luke 9:7-9, Now Herod the tetrarch heard about all that was going on. And he was perplexed, because some were saying that John had been raised from the dead, others that Elijah had appeared, and still others that one of the prophets of long ago had come back to life. But Herod said, "I beheaded John. Who, then, is this I hear such things about?" And he tried to see him.

Commentary:

I. Herod the tetrarch (ruler of one-fourth of a realm), called Antipas, was a son of .

A. had inherited the rulership of Galilee and Peraea and ruled from 4 B.C. to 39 A.D., almost the complete life of Jesus on earth.

B. On a visit to Rome he had "fallen in love" with , his niece and wife of his half-brother, Herod Philip II.

C. Both Herodias and Herod Philip II were private citizens at the time.

D. seduced her and divorced his own wife. Herodias divorced Herod Philip II. Herod Antipas and Herodias were then married and Herodias became Queen!

E. What do you think of all that?

F. Herod was one evil man!

1. Matthew 14:9, The king was distressed, but because of his oaths and his dinner guests, he ordered that her request be granted.

2. :19, John rebuked Herod the tetrarch because of Herodias, his brother' wife, and all the other evil things he had done,

3. :31, 32, At that time some came to Jesus and said to him, "Leave this place and go somewhere else. Herod wants to kill you." He replied, "Go tell that fox, 'I will drive out demons and heal people today and tomorrow, and on the third day I will reach my goal.'"

I. The fame/news of the work of Jesus reached Herod Antipas who before had executed John the Baptist.

A. Herod Antipas concluded that Jesus was actually John the Baptist who had been raised from the dead.

B. Herod believed that John was a righteous man and capable of performing miracles.

C. Herod was burdened with guilt for John's murder, but not enough to repent.

Note: Are you surprised that King Herod was ready to believe that John the Baptist had been raised from the dead? [Pythagoras' theory of the transmigration of souls was in vogue at that time. Herod's guilt may also have made him susceptible to beliefs he ordinarily may not have otherwise entertained.

I. Herod's advisors had differing but similar views saying:

A. Jesus was Elijah raised from the dead.

B. Jesus was one of the great prophets of the Old Testament who had returned from the dead.

C. Herod was adamant. "John, whom I have beheaded, he is risen."

Note: Compare this interchange with the interchange between Jesus and his disciples on another occasion. Matthew 16:13, 14, When Jesus came to the region of , he asked his disciples, "Who do people say the Son of Man is?" They replied, "Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets."

I. Luke has Herod amazed at what he had learned of the works and ministry of Jesus from his advisors and the "media." Herod wanted to see Jesus.

A. Jesus was having a monumental impact on the total population.

B. Jesus was compared with only the greatest in Israel's history.

John's Imprisonment and Execution

Texts:

Matthew 14:3-12, Now Herod had arrested John and bound him and put him in prison because of Herodias, his brother Philip's wife, for John had been saying to him: "It is not lawful for you to have her." Herod wanted to kill John, but he was afraid of the people, because they considered him a prophet. On Herod's birthday the daughter of Herodias danced for them and pleased Herod so much that he promised with an oath to give her whatever she asked. Prompted by her mother she said, "Give me here on a platter the head of John the Baptist." The king was distressed, but because of his oaths and his dinner guests, he ordered that her request be granted and had John beheaded in the prison. His head was brought in on a platter and given to the girl, who carried it to her mother. John's disciples came and took his body and buried it. Then they went and told Jesus.

Mark 6:17-29, For Herod himself had given orders to have John arrested, and he had him bound and put in prison. He did this because of Herodias, his brother Philip's wife, whom he had married. For John had been saying to Herod, "It is not lawful for you to have your brother's wife." So Herodias nursed a grudge against John and wanted to kill him. But she was not able to, because Herod feared John and protected him, knowing him to be a righteous and holy man. When Herod heard John, he was greatly puzzled; yet he liked to listen to him. Finally the opportune time came. On his birthday Herod gave a banquet for his high officials and military commanders and the leading men of Galilee. When the daughter of Herodias came in and danced, she pleased Herod and his dinner guests. The king said to the girl, "Ask me for anything you want, and I'll give it to you." And he promised her with an oath, "Whatever you ask I will give you, up to half my kingdom." She went out and said to her mother, "What shall I ask for?" "The

head of John the Baptist," she answered. At once the girl hurried in to the king with the request: "I want you to give me right now the head of John the Baptist," she answered. The king was greatly distressed, but because of his oaths and his dinner guests, he did not want to refuse her. So he immediately sent an executioner with orders to bring John's head. The man went, beheaded John in the prison, and brought back his head on a platter. He presented it to the girl, and she gave it to her mother. On hearing of this, John's disciples came and took his body and laid it in a tomb.

Commentary:

I. Herod had arrested John, "handcuffed" (bound) him, and put him in prison for the sake of Herodias, his brother Philip's wife.

A. The Jews deeply resented this incestuous, adulterous marriage of Herod Antipas and Herodias.

B. Had it not been for this evil Herodias in a high place John would not have been killed.

C. John brought the hatred of Herodias upon himself by preaching the truth; viz., "It is not lawful for you (Herod) to be married to her (Herodias)."

D. Aquila and Priscilla followed in John's footsteps. Romans 16:4, They risked their lives for me. Not only I but all the churches of the Gentiles are grateful to them.

II. Herod was afraid to execute John the Baptist because he feared the multitudes who regarded John as a prophet.

A. This shows that Herod and Herodias were equally guilty of the murder of John.

B. The difference was that Herod was afraid on his own to execute John.

III. Herod's birthday was an occasion of great celebration.

A. Herodias' daughter, not Herod's daughter, , danced in the midst, among the celebrants.

B. Her dancing greatly pleased Herod.

C. Herod rashly promised with an oath to give Salome anything she wanted up to half of his kingdom. What a foolish extravagant promise!

1. Be careful what you promise.

2. Promises are meant to be kept.

4. Would Herod have been justified in breaking this promise?

IV. To Herod's great chagrin Herodias urged Salome to ask for the head of John the Baptist on a platter.

A. Salome did the evil bidding of her mother.

B. How great the influence of a godly mother! How terrible the influence of a wicked mother!

C. How was this for a grand finale to Herod's birthday party?

D. What good things might Salome have asked for?

I. Herod was grieved at this request, but kept his promise nonetheless.

A. He kept his promise:

1. to keep from being embarrassed in the eyes of his birthday guests for reneging on his promise. "What will people think" is no basis for moral and religious decisions.

2. because of his oaths.

A. John was beheaded in the Machaerus Prison some five (5) miles east of the Dead Sea. Saints suffer too!

1. John's head was brought to Salome on a platter.

2. Salome gave the head to Herodias.

3. ... and the Herods lived happily ever after? Not quite!

4. What effect did all of this have on Salome?

I. John's disciples took up the corpse, buried the body and went and told Jesus.

A. When we have problems we must also tell Jesus.

B. Telling Jesus of this evil deed, telling the eternal judge of the execution of one of God's finest was comforting for John's disciples and the last nail in Herod's coffin!

C. Had you rather be John in the prison or Herod at the eternal judgment?

I. What happened to Herod?

A. Aretas, father of Herod's first wife, invaded Herod's territory.

B. Herod and Herodias fled to Rome. Emperor Caligula banished them to Lyons in Gaul on a charge of misgovernment!

C. They died in dishonor, in obscurity in a distant land! So much for Herod Antipas and his second wife Herodias.

I. Mark's account:

A. "John said unto Herod..." He delivered his message directly to Herod.

B. Herodias more than Herod set herself against John the Baptist.

C. Herod knew John was a righteous and holy man and kept him safe.

D. Herod gladly heard John preach and was perplexed by his preaching.

E. As wicked as Herod was he retained a basic respect for John's holiness.

F. John had the courage to preach the truth in all circumstances both to kings and paupers.

G. Herod invited to his birthday party his lords, the high captains (chilliarchs, commanders of a thousand men) and the chief men of Galilee.

H. Evil Herodias recruited her own daughter as an accomplice to murder.

I. God's judgment at length found Herod. He was defeated by Aretas in a great battle and put to ignominious flight. Herodias and Herod were banished by the Roman Senate to Lyons, where

they both perished miserably. Salome fell into some treacherous ice over which she was passing in such a manner that her head was caught while the rest of her body sank into the water. She perished when her head was (practically) severed by the sharp ice. Herodias essentially lost his head too.

J. John's disciples claimed his body and laid it in a tomb.

K. What did Herodias and Salome do with John's head?

I. Herod's family:

Herod Antipas

He was the son of Herod the Great by the Samaritan , and a full brother of . He received as his share of his father's dominion the provinces of Galilee and Peraea with the title of tetrach, but he was popularly called "king." He reigned from 4 B.C. to 39 A.D. He founded Tiberias on the western shore of Galilee. This is the ruler that Jesus referred to as "that fox" (Luke 13:32); and it was to him that Pilate sent Jesus during the trials prior to the crucifixion. His first marriage was to a daughter of Aretas, the Arabian king; but on a visit to Rome he met Herodias, his brother's wife (Philip not the tetrarch), whom he seduced and married. The outrage of this union was compounded by the element of incest. Aretas took vengeance on Herod by defeating him in a war. Herod applied to Caesar for a crown but was banished to Lyons in which exile Herodias shared.

Herodias

This woman was a grand-daughter of Herod the Great and the daughter of his son Aristobulus. She married her uncle Philip, who was living as a private citizen in Rome, and by him she had Salome. When Herod Antipas was visiting Rome, she left Philip and married his brother Herod Antipas. As Barclay noted: "Herodias was the daughter of her husband's

brother and therefore his niece; and she was the wife of his brother and therefore his sister-in-law." She was a woman of ruthless ambition, no moral restraint, utter selfishness, and implacable hatred of anyone who dared to question her conduct. When John the Baptist denounced her marriage, she never rested until she had his head on a platter. The picture of her that emerges in the sacred text is one of lust, cruelty and uninhibited evil.

Salome

Herod the Great had five wives, two of them named Mariamne, and two sons named Philip, one of whom was born of Cleopatra of Jerusalem. He became a tetrarch. This Philip married Salome, who as the daughter of Herodias was his niece and his grand-niece at the same time. As Barclay said, "Seldom in history can there have been such a series of matrimonial entanglements as existed in the Herod family." No Less than ten members of the are mentioned in the , their names recurring in it like a sour note in a symphony. See below for a list of these. One can have little regard for the opinions of some who question the accuracy of Mark on the premise that a royal princess would not have performed such a dance as that attributed to Salome. Such opinions are founded in ignorance of the typical conduct of the Herods. As Barclay wrote: The daughter of Herodias danced... the fact that she did so at all is an incredible thing. Solo dances in that society were disgusting and licentious pantomimes...such dances being the art of professional prostitutes. That she did so dance is a grim commentary on the character of Salome, and of the mother who allowed and encouraged her to do it.

Herods in the New Testament

Herod the Great, the ruler when Jesus was born.

Herod Antipas, the Herod of this passage.

Herod Archelaus (Herod the Great's son by Malthace) (Matthew 2:22; :12-17).

Herod Philip I, called Herod by and Philip in the New Testament, distinguished from of Ituria and Trachonitis. This Philip was the son of Herod the Great by the second Mariamne, married Herodias who left him for Herod Antipas.

Herod Philip II, known as Philip the tetrarch, was son of Herod the Great and Cleopatra of Jerusalem (Luke 3:1). He was the best of the Herods.

Herodias. See notes above.

Herod Agrippa I was the son of Aristobulus and Bernice and a grandson of Herod the Great. He lived in Rome and was a close friend of both Caligula and Claudius. When Caligula became emperor, he gave Agrippa the tetrarchy of Philip who had died in 34 A.D.; and in 38 A.D. added the domain of Herod Antipas after the latter's banishment. In 41 A.D., in return for services given to Caligula, he received Judaea and Samaria with the title of king, thus ruling over the whole domain of Herod the Great. He persecuted the church (Acts 12). Three of his posterity are mentioned in the NT; II, Bernice and Drusilla.

Herod Agrippa II. This prince became king under Nero and lived to the year 100 A.D. He sided with the Romans in the war which ended in the destruction of the temple in 70 A.D. (Acts 25, 26). He was, like practically all of his family, of vicious character.

Bernice, sister of Herod Agrippa II (Acts 24:13).

Drusilla, sister of Bernice (Acts 24:24).

This evil family would have been little remembered except for their lives having touched those of the principal persons of the New Testament. A

knowledge of what the Herods were sheds light upon the vicious actions recorded in the .

Machaerus

The ancient fortress of Machaerus east of the Dead Sea is usually cited as the place where John the Baptist was beheaded. Josephus specified that as the place of his execution. There is some doubt, however, that Josephus was correct in this, due to the fact that he also wrote that Herod's first wife, the daughter of Aretas, escaped to this fortress because it was in the power of her father the king of Arabia. He outlined the intrigue by which Aretas' daughter, having secretly learned of Herod's intention of marrying Herodias, journeyed to Machaerus. Perhaps Josephus' apparent contradiction is resolved by supposing that the fortress, situated on the border, was controlled at one time by Herod and at another time by Aretas. There is the further consideration that there does not seem to have been any great distance between the birthday festival of Herod and the prison where John was beheaded. or Machaerus would either have provided the combination of palace and fortress suggested by the New Testament narrative.

Death of John the Baptist

Questions

1. Herod the ______(______of ______- ______of a realm), called ______, was a son of ______the ______.

2. He ruled from ______B.C. to ______A.D., almost the complete life of ______on ______.

3. On a visit to ______he had "______" with ______, his ______and ______of his ______- ______, ______II.

4. ______seduced her and ______his own ______. Herodias divorced ______II. ______and ______were then ______and ______was ______.

5. Describe Herod Antipas' character. ______

6. What did Herod Antipas and his advisors think of Jesus? ______

7. Why did Herod Antipas arrest John the Baptist? ______

8. What situation led to the issuance of the execution order for John's death? ______

9. What should Herod have done in regard to his oath? ______

10. John was ______in the ______some ______miles ______of the ______. ______came and took his ______and ______it. Then they went and ______.

Finished exam can be mailed or dropped off at:

Mason Street Church of Christ

2600 N. Mason Street

Appleton, WI 54914

920-734-0785