TEXT [Commentary]

2. The death of John the Baptist (14:1-12; cf. Mark 6:14-29; Luke 9:7-9)

1 When Herod Antipas, the ruler of Galilee,[*] heard about Jesus, 2 he said to his advisers, “This must be John the Baptist raised from the dead! That is why he can do such miracles.”

3 For Herod had arrested and imprisoned John as a favor to his wife Herodias (the former wife of Herod’s brother Philip). 4 John had been telling Herod, “It is against God’s law for you to marry her.” 5 Herod wanted to kill John, but he was afraid of a riot, because all the people believed John was a prophet.

6 But at a birthday party for Herod, Herodias’s daughter performed a dance that greatly pleased him, 7 so he promised with a vow to give her anything she wanted. 8 At her mother’s urging, the girl said, “I want the head of John the Baptist on a tray!” 9 Then the king regretted what he had said; but because of the vow he had made in front of his guests, he issued the necessary orders. 10 So John was beheaded in the prison, 11 and his head was brought on a tray and given to the girl, who took it to her mother. 12 Later, John’s disciples came for his body and buried it. Then they went and told Jesus what had happened.

NOTES

14:1 Herod Antipas, the ruler of Galilee. Lit., “Herod the tetrarch” (cf. NLT mg). “Tetrarch” describes a ruler of one fourth of Herod the Great’s former kingdom. Antipas ruled over Galilee and Perea, the area east of the Jordan, from 4 BC to AD 39 (cf. Luke 3:1). He was a minor figure of history compared to his father Herod the Great (2:1). For details see Hoehner (1972:110-171). At about the time when Jesus was rejected in Nazareth, his ministry came to the attention of Herod the Tetrarch (cf. Mark 6:14-29; Luke 9:7-9).

14:2 This must be John the Baptist raised from the dead! Antipas’s superstitious explanation for Jesus’ miraculous powers (cf. 13:54) evidently stemmed from a guilty conscience, given the story recorded in 14:3-12. But his erroneous theory for Jesus’ powerful works served Matthew’s literary purpose to link John’s mission and destiny to that of Jesus (11:18-19; 17:12). As 14:3-12 makes clear, it must have been terrifying for Antipas to think that John had been raised from the dead. Antipas was evidently not the only one to think that Jesus was John the Baptist (see 16:14).

14:3-4 Herod had arrested and imprisoned John. Matthew 14:3-12 is a flashback that fills in the grisly details of the death of John the Baptist, mentioned in 14:2.

his wife Herodias (the former wife of Herod’s brother Philip). Antipas had divorced his first wife in order to marry Herodias, who was formerly married to his half brother, Philip. This was illegal according to Lev 18:16; 20:21, which forbids sexual intercourse with one’s brother’s wife. For additional details see Josephus Antiquities 18.116-119, 136-137.

14:5 he was afraid of a riot. This interprets a clause that lit. reads, “he was afraid of the crowd.” Antipas was afraid of the crowd’s response to the execution of a man they believed to be a prophet (cf. 11:9; 21:26). However, as 14:6-9 explains, political expedience eventually gave way to something more powerful.

all the people believed John was a prophet. The mention of John’s status as a prophet and his maltreatment by Antipas links him to the previous context and Jesus’ saying about his own rejection at Nazareth (13:57). Further, Antipas’s fear of the crowd anticipates the fear of the religious leaders to arrest Jesus later in Jerusalem (21:46).

14:6-7 Antipas’s concern for political expedience was trumped by the greater concern of trying to appease his second wife. No doubt, Herodias held a grudge against John for denouncing her marriage to Antipas, and she found a way to be rid of John when her daughter’s dance at Antipas’s birthday party led to his rash promise. This unnamed daughter may have been Salome, Herodias’ daughter by her former husband Philip (Antipas’s half brother). Or, according to some manuscripts of Mark 6:22, she could have had the same name as her mother, Herodias. The girl’s dance so enthralled Antipas that he foolishly vowed to give her anything she wanted.

14:8-10 I want the head of John the Baptist on a tray! Herodias prompted her daughter to ask for a grotesque present, John’s head on a platter (cf. Mark 6:19).

because of the vow he had made in front of his guests. Antipas regretted his rash promise but granted the request because he did not want to lose face with his palace guests. So John was executed without a trial, and the macabre scene at the birthday party played out. Herodias avenged herself of John, but Antipas’s guilty conscience led him to fear that Jesus was John brought back to life. See Hoehner (1972:124-165) for a detailed discussion of Josephus and the Gospels on this matter.

14:11 his head was brought on a tray and given to the girl. The word describing Herodias’ daughter in this verse is korasion [TG2877, ZG3166], which indicates a young girl, perhaps around twelve years of age. This word and the silence of the text otherwise make it unlikely that the dance that so enthralled Antipas was erotic.

14:12 John’s disciples came for his body and buried it. John’s ignominious end was a terrible atrocity, yet his disciples maintained their loyalty to him to the bitter end, caring for his body and properly burying it. Devout Jews were extremely concerned for proper burial of corpses, as the intertestamental book of Tobit shows. After the burial, John’s disciples informed Jesus of John’s horrific demise (cf. 9:14; 11:2). This links Jesus’ withdrawal of 14:13-21 to 14:1-12. Since Jesus’ ministry began when John was imprisoned (4:12), John’s death was also significant for Jesus (17:12).

COMMENTARY [Text]

The violent history of the Herodian dynasty continues. Herod the Great’s evil deeds are well chronicled in ancient history and in Matthew 2. Here Antipas proved to be his father’s son, although he was smitten in conscience for the evil that his rash promise had caused him to do. Antipas was a weak, pathetic, despicable figure, whose evil caprice was prompted by his vengeful wife’s suggestion to her daughter. Plumptre’s (1957) oft-cited remark deserves repeating: “Like most weak men, Herod feared to be thought weak.” Instead of humbly acknowledging the error of his rash promise, he saved his own face by destroying God’s prophet. His palace guests were shown a blatant example of corrupt power in action, and Herod took his place in the list of evil rulers who have rejected and destroyed God’s messengers.

In Matthew’s narrative, the execution of John by Antipas follows the rejection of Jesus by the people at Nazareth. The two consecutive episodes stress unbelief in two different situations, but the unifying theme is the rejection of God’s messengers (11:18-19). This motif of the rejection of the prophets had been mentioned previously (5:12) and will be greatly stressed in Jesus’ woes against the religious leaders in Matthew 23. Israel’s rejection of her own prophets was well known from the Old Testament (see 2 Chr 36:16; Dan 9:6, 10), but for Matthew the rejection of the prophets culminates in the rejection of Jesus, the ultimate prophet (23:32).

As Jesus said, there was no greater human than John the Baptist (Matt 11:11). John fearlessly and faithfully fulfilled his role as the one who prepared the way for Jesus. Antipas may have been “king” at his birthday party when he ordered John’s execution, but one day he will stand before the King of kings and give account for his atrocious treatment of the King’s forerunner. Since this section of Matthew intentionally stresses how Jesus develops the faith of his disciples (this is explained in the commentary on 13:53-58), the action of John’s disciples in properly burying their master should be read as a lesson for Jesus’ disciples. John’s death anticipates the death of Jesus (17:12), and the action of John’s disciples here is exemplary for disciples of Jesus (27:57-61). Even Antipas’s reluctance to behead John may anticipate Pilate’s reluctance to crucify Jesus (14:9; 27:18-24). The similarities between John and Jesus are almost uncanny, leading Davies and Allison (1991:476) to remark that Matthew 14:1-12 is a Christological parable.