For Herod had seized John, and had bound him and put him in prison on account of Herodias the wife of Philip his brother.
Matthew 14:3 turns the clock back. Before telling us how John the Baptist died, Matthew explains why he was in a cell at all. A ruler had taken his brother's wife, and the preacher who said so ended up in chains.
The wording of the verse is careful — Herodias is called the wife of Herod's brother Philip. That relationship is what put John in chains. One writer sets out how tangled it was.
John rebuked the king for the many well-known evils he had done. But perhaps his blackest crime was to marry his brother Philip's wife. The fearless prophet did not hold back from naming the incestuous adulterer to his face, even though the man sat on a throne. He condemned him by the laws of God and man (Lev. 18:16; Lev. 20:21). "It is not lawful for you to have your brother's wife" summed up his charge. The king's guilt was three times over. Herod's own wife was alive, the husband of Herodias was alive, and Herod and Herodias were uncle and niece.
The verse names the reason for the arrest: it was for the sake of Herodias. Herod was not punishing a crime. He was removing a voice.
Herod loved his own power and his own glory more than he was willing to bow to the testimony of God. A false human idea held him more firmly than his conscience did, though in many things he seems to have felt the power of the truth. He cut off the head of John the Baptist, the one sent ahead of the Messiah. He had already put him in prison, to take out of his wife's sight the man who faithfully rebuked the sin she was living in.
Removing John did not remove the problem.
But the testimony of faithful people does not improve the world. It condemns the world, and that is what the world cannot bear… The sinner cannot give up sinning, even when he is held back. He keeps on in his sin by getting rid of the witness who condemns him. So Herod has John seized, bound, and put in prison.
The arrest happened in a royal court, and one writer finds the whole character of the world in it.
In the court of Herod we get a true picture of this world marked by corruption and violence. The lust of the flesh had led the ruler of the people into a shameful union with his brother Philip's wife. He could not answer the rebukes of a godly man, and a wicked woman had his ear. So he drags justice down by throwing a righteous man into prison. Only the fear of the people holds him back from murder.
Herod was not without a conscience. It did not change what he did.
It was not only that the people were blind; among them ruled a false and reckless king. He was not afraid to imprison that blessed witness of God, and at last to kill him… Bad as Herod was, he was not completely without a conscience. John's preaching had reached it, at least far enough to make him uneasy. But the outcome is what anyone would expect who knows that an enemy stands behind the scene, hating all that is of God.
John did not adjust his message for a king. The prison was the direct result.
John was faithful not only to the lower classes, but to the highest as well. His testimony to Christ was decisive. He made nothing of his own glory, so that the Lord might be lifted high. And he suffered for it too; he was shut up in prison for righteousness.
John was sent ahead of Jesus, and he went ahead of Him in this too.
John truly went ahead of the Messiah — the righteous Servant of Jehovah — right up to the very last act of his public testimony. He bore witness to the Anointed Sufferer in the prison just as much as in the wilderness, because both he and his Master were cut off in the middle of their days.
Matthew tells this story at the point where Herod hears about Jesus. The arrest recorded here comes back to haunt him.
A bad conscience is a very active thing. It acts at once. It takes fright at the shaking of a leaf. It makes cowards of us all. So it was with king Herod. His conscience kept the image of the murdered man before him, and the thought that John had risen was something of hell itself to him.
- Cause. Herod took his brother Philip's wife while her husband and his own wife were still alive. The laws of God and man condemned that marriage.
- Chains. The arrest was not justice. Herod removed John so that the sin could go on without the voice that named it.
- Court. Herod's palace is a picture of the world — corruption, then violence, with justice bent to protect a lust.
- Cost. John spoke to the highest as freely as to the crowds, and he was shut up in prison for righteousness.
- Consequence. Herod locked the witness away, but not his own conscience. He could never hear of Jesus in peace again.
For John said to him, It is not lawful for thee to have her.
John's arrest was not about politics. He had told the king to his face that his marriage was unlawful. This verse gives the one sentence that put him in prison and cost him his head.
The wording points to a message John kept repeating. One writer reads that out of the Greek, and asks what a hearer tired of the subject would say.
Someone will perhaps say: "I wish you would change your tune, sir. Why do you keep bringing up this question of sin?" Herod no doubt said something of the same sort to John the Baptist. The king often sent for the great preacher, but he had one text: "It is not lawful for you to have your brother's wife." The imperfect tense in the Greek of Mark 6:18 shows this was John's constant theme with the wicked king... The guilt of sin is the first divine lesson every man has to learn. Until this has been learnt no other lesson is possible.
Matthew gives the charge in its shortest form. Another writer names the law it broke.
John rebuked the king for the many notorious evils he had done. Perhaps his blackest crime was to marry his brother Philip's wife. The fearless prophet did not shrink from denouncing the incestuous adulterer to his face, though he sat on a throne. He condemned him by the laws of God and man (Lev. 18:16; Lev. 20:21). "It is not lawful for you to have your brother's wife" summed up his charge. The king's guilt was three times over great. Herod's own wife was alive. The husband of Herodias was alive. And Herod and Herodias were uncle and niece. But there was no repentance.
John matched his words to his hearer. The king was no exception.
He does not talk vaguely to people about sin in the abstract, but directly and pointedly about their own sins. He says to the tax collectors, whose special mark was extortion, "Collect no more than you are authorized to do"... To Herod the king, who was no doubt used to very different language, he addresses the rebuke brief and stern, "It is not lawful for you to have your brother's wife." These last few words cost him his life.
Herod's answer to the charge was prison. One writer names what Herod loved more than the truth, and why the prison served his wife too.
Herod loved his earthly power and his own glory more than submission to the testimony of God. A false human idea bound him more than his conscience did, although in many things he seems to have acknowledged the power of the truth. He cut off the head of John the Baptist, the forerunner of the Messiah. He had already imprisoned him, to remove out of his wife's sight the faithful reprover of the sin she was living in.
A second writer shows why such words are hated, and what Herod did instead of repenting.
But the testimony of the faithful, instead of improving the world, condemns it, and this is what it cannot bear... The lust of the flesh was at work in this man's heart. To satisfy it, he went on into wickedness and pollution. The sinner cannot give up sinning even though he is under restraint. He goes on in his sin by getting rid of the witness who condemns him.
Herod silenced the preacher, but not the preaching. One writer hears the same charge in the words of Jesus.
He had removed the head of the Baptist, but the voice that spoke of righteousness and purity was not silenced. Men may kill the witness for the truth, and show his bloodied head at the wild feasts of the wicked. But no sword can put truth itself to death. And Herod was not mistaken in thinking that the Voice then preaching in Capernaum and Chorazin was saying to him, "It is not lawful for you to have her."
John spoke plainly to a king. Others in his place rarely do.
Men who are willing to rebuke sin in high places are scarce. Nathan dealt faithfully with David (2 Sam. 12). John the Baptist put his finger on the fatal spot every time he stood before Herod: "It is not lawful for you to have your brother's wife"... Sadly, professional clergy too often fit their words to the wishes of the ruling powers. They become instruments in their hands for deceiving the people.
- Said, and kept saying. The tense of the verb points to a message John repeated whenever Herod sent for him — one text, never softened.
- A named law. The charge rested on written commands about a brother's wife. Herod's guilt was threefold: his own wife living, her husband living, and the two of them uncle and niece.
- Named people. John aimed at the hearer's own sin, whether tax collector or king. The few words he spoke to Herod cost him his life.
- Silence the man, keep the sin. Herod imprisoned the reprover instead of repenting. The sinner who will not stop sinning removes the witness who condemns him.
- The voice remains. The head fell, but truth is not put to death by the sword — Herod still heard the charge in Jesus' preaching.
And [while] desiring to kill him, he feared the crowd, because they held him for a prophet.
Herod wanted John the Baptist dead, and he had the power to kill him. What held him back was not conscience or law, but the crowd. This verse shows what really stops many people from sinning — and whether that check counts for anything before God.
The last phrase turns on a Greek verb that usually means "to have." One commentator shows how it comes to mean "regard":
The Greek verb echo appears very often in senses far wider than "possession." Writers used it, especially with adverbs or with nouns after prepositions, when they meant a state of mind or feeling. The step from there to the sense of "regard," needed here and in Mark 11:32, is a natural one. Our own word "hold" is the matching case: in everyday use it means to "account," as well as, in its plain sense, to "keep" or "have."
The imprisonment in the previous verses was not the end of the matter. One writer traces the slide from Herod's sin to his wish to kill the man who named it:
The sinner cannot give up sinning, even under restraint. He goes on in his sin by getting rid of the witness who condemns him. Herod has John arrested, bound, and thrown into prison. Corruption always brings violence next. Held in check at first, it opens the door to murderous thoughts, and his conscience grows harder and harder.
Herod is stopped, but he is not changed. What is such a check worth once Satan is at work?
The people were blinded, and a false and reckless king ruled among them. He did not shrink from imprisoning that blessed witness of God, and in the end from killing him. It was not that he had no fear of the crowd (verse 5); his passions would have driven him to do the deed. Nor was he without sorrow and qualms when the moment came. But what can such restraints do against the schemes and power of Satan? Bad as Herod was, he still had some conscience, and John's preaching had reached it, at least far enough to make him uneasy.
One writer names Herod's real motive. It was not reverence for God that stayed his hand:
He does not object to the crime out of fear of God. He fears public opinion, and he selfishly does not want to lose his influence and prestige.
Fear of people can produce a kind of obedience, with the main sin left untouched:
Where one person says, "How can I do this and sin against God?" many in their hearts say, "How can I do this and anger people?" Herod feared John and did many things. Had he feared God, he would have worked to do everything.
The crowd's view of John shielded him for a time. Later it silenced the religious leaders too:
Herod hardened his heart. As the Spirit of God says, he added this to all the rest: he shut John up in prison. He would have done worse to him, but "though he wanted to put him to death, he feared the people, because they held him to be a prophet." Public opinion in favour of John was so strong that the chief priests and elders were also afraid to oppose it (Matt. 21:26).
One writer reads the whole scene as a portrait of the world:
In Herod's court we get a true picture of this world, marked by corruption and violence. He could not answer the rebukes of a godly man, and a wicked woman swayed him. So he degrades justice by throwing a righteous man into prison. Only fear of the people holds him back from murder. Then comes a day when the lust of the eyes takes over. The frivolous king finds a passing pleasure in the charms of a dancing girl, and it leads him into a rash oath. In the end the pride of life leads him to commit murder, to protect his worthless ideas of honour. Neither the country people nor the court will receive Christ, or any witness to Christ.
- Held. "Held him to be a prophet" uses a verb meaning to regard or account. The crowd's view of John was the one thing standing between him and the sword.
- Hardened. Herod's corruption bred violence. He could not stop sinning, so he moved to silence the witness, and his conscience grew harder.
- Held back. He was stopped, but not changed. Qualms and crowd pressure are no match for Satan's power once passion takes over.
- Half-obedient. He feared John, not God. So he did many things and left the one thing undone. That is the mark of anyone who asks what people will say instead of what God says.
- Handed over. The same fear of the crowd that spared John later gripped the chief priests and elders. Herod's court pictures a world that will not have Christ, or any witness to Him.
But when Herod's birthday was celebrated, the daughter of Herodias danced before them, and pleased Herod;
One evening of palace entertainment ends with the death of a prophet. Commentators read this birthday scene as more than court gossip. It shows what the world really is, and where unchecked pleasure leads.
Scripture says very little about birthday parties. One reference book gathers every mention.
Scripture records only two birthdays being kept. One is Pharaoh's, Genesis 40:20. The other is that of Herod Antipas, when John the Baptist lost his life, Matthew 14:6; Mark 6:21. We do not read that the Israelites had any such custom. And the Preacher says the day of death is better than the day of one's birth, Ecclesiastes 7:1.
One writer reads Herod's whole court through three appetites.
In the court of Herod we get a true picture of this world marked by corruption and violence. The lust of the flesh had led the ruler of the people into a shameful alliance with his brother Philip's wife. He could not answer the rebukes of a godly man, and a wicked woman influenced him. So he degrades justice and throws a righteous man into prison. Only his fear of the people holds him back from murder. Then comes a day when the lust of the eyes finds a passing pleasure in the charms of a dancing girl. It leads the frivolous king into a rash oath. Finally the pride of life leads him to commit murder to protect his cheap ideas of honour.
The same writer warns that this scene is not just ancient history.
At different times the world may express itself in different ways. The fashions of this world change, but at heart it is always the same.
The dance was not innocent party fun. One writer sees a trap Herodias had laid, with her own daughter as the bait.
It seems Herodias had plotted for this outcome. She had set a trap for Herod and baited it with her own daughter. Knowing his character, she counted on some such promise from the king once he had drunk well. And now the "convenient" moment had come. The sweetness of revenge meant more to her than half of Galilee. So she instructed her daughter to ask for the head of John the Baptist.
Herod was no hardened schemer. He was swept along by whatever was in front of him.
Herod, as seen in the Gospels, was a weak-minded, easily impressed man. So the plain speaking of the prophet impressed him. The presence of his lords and captains at his feast excited him. The daughter of Herodias danced before him and his guests, and it carried him away in a rush of excited pleasure. He had no self-control at all, and he made the most extravagant promises. "Ask me for whatever you wish, and I will give it to you," he said, adding no conditions. He backed the promise with oaths. The man who had inherited a quarter of his father's kingdom swore to the girl, "Whatever you ask me, I will give you, up to half of my kingdom."
Behind that loss of control, another writer sees a hand the guests never noticed.
Satan's hand is there, urging on his instruments to the final act. Men are blinded. They think they are carrying out their own will. They do not see that they are the devil's plaything, and that he is leading them on in war against God.
Herod was sorry, but his oath was no defence. One writer points out the honest way out that was open to him.
The king was sorry. But the pride of keeping his word outweighed the moral outrage of his conscience at murdering a servant of God. In fact he could easily have spared John without breaking his oath. He only had to admit honestly that John's life was not his to give. Instead he chose to ignore his responsibility to God.
Herod put himself at the centre of the feast and swore away half a kingdom. The Lord Jesus took the opposite place.
Instead of making Himself the centre of earth's ministry, He came to serve. He found the scope of that service in man's need, and the rule of it in His Father's will... He claims no power to give in the kingdom that He will receive in obedience to His Father's will. But in grace He will join those He loves to Himself in His path of suffering and rejection.
- The day — Scripture records only two birthdays kept, Pharaoh's and Herod's. At Herod's, John lost his life.
- The dance — a dancing girl brings in the lust of the eyes, and a court already ruled by the lust of the flesh gives way.
- The oath — a man with no self-control swears away half a kingdom, and pride will not let him take it back.
- The excuse — Herod could have said John's life was not his to give. He kept his word to men and ignored his duty to God.
- The contrast — Herod promised what was not his to give. Christ took the servant's place and claimed no power to give in His Father's kingdom.