Bibelkommentare

Mr 6:1-6.

CHRIST REJECTED AT NAZARETH. ( =

Mt 13:54-58; Lu 4:16-30).

See on

Lu 4:16-30.

Mr 6:7-13.

MISSION OF THE TWELVE APOSTLES. ( =

Mt 10:1, 5-15; Lu 9:1-6).

See on

Mt 10:1;

Mt 10:5-15.

Mr 6:14-29.

HEROD THINKS JESUS A RESURRECTION OF THE MURDERED BAPTIST--ACCOUNT OF HIS DEATH. ( =

Mt 14:1-12; Lu 9:7-9).

Herod's View of Christ

(Mr 6:14-16).

14. And King Herod--that is, Herod Antipas, one of the three sons of Herod the Great, and own brother of Archelaus

(Mt 2:22),

who ruled as ethnarch over Galilee and Perea.

heard of him; (for his name was spread abroad); and he said--"unto his servants"

(Mt 14:2),

his councillors or court ministers.

That John the Baptist was risen from the dead--The murdered prophet haunted his guilty breast like a specter, and seemed to him alive again and clothed with unearthly powers, in the person of Jesus.

15. Others said, That it is Elias. And others, That it is a prophet, or as one of the prophets--(See on

Mt 16:14).

16. But when Herod heard thereof, he said, It is John, whom I beheaded; he is risen from the dead--"Himself has risen"; as if the innocence and sanctity of his faithful reprover had not suffered that he should lie long dead.

Account of the Baptist's Imprisonment and Death

(Mr 6:17-29).

17. For Herod himself had sent forth, and laid hold upon John, and bound him in prison--in the castle of Machærus, near the southern extremity of Herod's dominions, and adjoining the Dead Sea [JOSEPHUS, Antiquities, 18.5,2].

for Herodias' sake--She was the granddaughter of Herod the Great.

his brother Philip's wife--and therefore the niece of both brothers. This Philip, however, was not the tetrarch of that name mentioned in

Lu 3:1

(see on

Lu 3:1),

but one whose distinctive name was "Herod Philip," another son of Herod the Great--who was disinherited by his father. Herod Antipas' own wife was the daughter of Aretas, king of Arabia; but he prevailed on Herodias, his half-brother Philip's wife, to forsake her husband and live with him, on condition, says JOSEPHUS [Antiquities, 18.5,1], that he should put away his own wife. This involved him afterwards in war with Aretas, who totally defeated him and destroyed his army, from the effects of which he was never able to recover himself.

18. For John had said unto Herod, It is not lawful for thee to have thy brother's wife--Noble fidelity! It was not lawful because Herod's wife and Herodias' husband were both living; and further, because the parties were within the forbidden degrees of consanguinity (see

Le 20:21);

Herodias being the daughter of Aristobulus, the brother of both Herod and Philip [JOSEPHUS, Antiquities, 18.5,4].

19. Therefore Herodias had a quarrel against him--rather, as in the Margin, "had a grudge against him." Probably she was too proud to speak to him; still less would she quarrel with him.

and would have killed him; but she could not.