Off with His Head Pt. 6

Matthew 14:1-14

14 At that time Herod the tetrarch heard about the fame of Jesus, 2 and he said to his servants, “This is John the Baptist. He has been raised from the dead; that is why these miraculous powers are at work in him.” 3 For Herod had seized John and bound him and put him in prison for the sake of Herodias, his brother Philip's wife, 4 because John had been saying to him, “It is not lawful for you to have her.” 5 And though he wanted to put him to death, he feared the people, because they held him to be a prophet. 6 But when Herod's birthday came, the daughter of Herodias danced before the company and pleased Herod, 7 so that he promised with an oath to give her whatever she might ask. 8 Prompted by her mother, she said, “Give me the head of John the Baptist here on a platter.” 9 And the king was sorry, but because of his oaths and his guests he commanded it to be given. 10 He sent and had John beheaded in the prison, 11 and his head was brought on a platter and given to the girl, and she brought it to her mother. 12 And his disciples came and took the body and buried it, and they went and told Jesus.

This part is gonna get scandalous! There will be people who read this who are not going to like it or agree with it, and that's fine! This is where we get into the section of scripture of why this series is called Off with His Head!

We start off with Herod hearing about the fame of Jesus, but Herod couldn't believe there was another guy running doing the things John the Baptist was doing and drawing even bigger crowds. Jesus was doing more than John had done and went to even more places then John did. Everybody was hearing about Jesus, even the jealous ruler Herod. If you look at the beginning of the 14th verse, it says "at that time" which means a bit of time has passed and now we are going to continue here. You read that a lot in the four gospels. It is a fast way of telling you some time has passed. Oh,real quick, a tetrarch means there were four rulers of a Roman province, so that means there was Herod and three other guys ruling in Judea.

In verse 2 Herod thinks Jesus is the raised John the Baptist from the dead. To be honest, I can't explain why Herod thinks this, but it is an interesting thought. Did Romans believe in being raised from the dead? Had the stories of Jesus raising people from the dead gotten to Herod and he thought Jesus was John the Baptist since he was doing all the miracles? Up until John the Baptist there hadn't been a prophet in Judea in over 400 years. The people were just as astounded as Herod had been about John the Baptist and the signs and teachings he brought the people.

John the Baptist was outspoken as all prophets were, and John's outspokenness got him into a lot of trouble and put into jail. John told Herod it was wrong that he took his brother's wife, which is pretty gross. (I'll let you think about that for a second.) So Herod gets a year older and has a total raging kegger and had his niece dance for him. (Note: There is no actual clarification of whether the girl was his niece or his daughter. Since it lists the girl as Herodias' daughter, then it is presumed she was Herod's niece from when Herodias as married to Philip.) It was not uncommon for young girls to dance for the entertainment of royalty. It would be of Roman tradition she danced either naked or at least topless for Herod. Her seductive dancing pleased Herod greatly, giving her a nod by him for whatever she wanted. This was most likely a preset ploy by her mother to kill John at the girl's asking for his head on a platter. If John was out of the way, they could revel in whatever they chose and had no one publicly making an opposition about it. I would think Herodias did not appreciate her name being publicly shamed by John, since she had been passed between brothers in marriage and not that Philip had died first.

Herod made his oath to the stripper who had pleased him greatly. There would have been other girls dancing, but she danced her way into Herod's favor and he made a oath to her before his party-goers. An oath in those times was a sincere binding agreement. If someone made an oath it was set as a decree to that person. A good firm handshake went a long way back then! Herod had set himself into a dilemma at the request of having John's head on a platter. What would be the reaction of the people at the killing of the first prophet in over 400 years? Herod couldn't disappoint his guests by denying the reward the girl requested and he was bound by an oath. Herod made the command to have the deed done and John's head on a silver platter was brought to court for the viewing of the girl and his guests. The girl took the head to her mother. Imagine having someone hand you a platter with a man's head on it. Blood pooled on the platter, the hair tussled from where the wielder of the blade held John down to decapitate him, the whites of the eyes showing cold as a Roman statue, the sweat almost dried on the brow. It would have been a sight and a grand entrance would have been made at the completion of Herod's request for the girl. John lost his head at the request of a stripper and her husband-swapping mother.

Then John's disciples came to get the body and buried it. They also had to tell Jesus his cousin was killed by Herod. I have always wondered at what the reaction Jesus would have had at the news about John. We know that he wept at the time he heard Lazarus was dead, now his cousin who he had probably grown up with had been executed. Nonetheless, Jesus had to still go on with his ministry and message of repent and salvation.