Mark 6:21, commentary and pictures

Herod on his birthday made a supper in his royal banqueting-room for his lords, high captains and chief estates of Galilee, his officials and military commanders and leading men.
It was a planned entertainment for the officers of state and nobles that Herodias deliberately used as the convenient day, sending her daughter to dance before the king when he was feasting and drinking amid revelry until he promised her whatever she asked.
Feasting and drunkenness weakened reason, judgment, self-control and the sense of justice and mercy, so Herod in that intoxicated state made a rash oath and, from concern for reputation before his guests, treated keeping it as more binding than God's commandment not to kill.
The revel ended with John's beheading in prison to please Herodias and gratify her revenge for his faithful denunciation of Herod's unlawful marriage to his brother's wife, and his head was brought in before the horrified guests.
The supper therefore warns against self-indulgence and intemperance in eating and drinking, which can cloud the mind and lead to unjust and destructive decisions, while showing that faithful reproof will not be softened to save life even to the point of death.

The Feast's Setting

The birthday supper took place in the royal banqueting-room of Herod's Galilean court, where Herod entertained his lords, high captains, and chief estates of Galilee, that is his officials and military commanders and leading men of Galilee. It was a scene of wicked dissipation whose guilt afterward tormented him, an occasion of indulgence and display where drinking and entertainment weakened judgment and prepared the way for a rash promise and for execution. In intoxication and concern for reputation Herod and his guests were left unable to act with sound judgment, so Herod ordered the execution rather than appear to break his rash oath, and the guests failed to object. The rash oath gave opportunity to demand death, for keeping an oath made amid revelry was wrongly treated as more binding than refusing an inhuman demand, and murder was chosen over what was feared would be called perjury. The late notice taken of Jesus' preaching and miracles reflects the general religious indifference and ignorance of people in high rank, who often remain unaware of religious movements even where they live.

The feast belongs to the imprisonment of John the Baptist by Herod Antipas after John faithfully denounced as unlawful Herod's marriage to his brother's wife. Herodias sought revenge for the reproof and induced Herod to imprison and punish him, and through her influence John was later beheaded. Herod had married his brother's wife despite warning that the marriage was unlawful, and had punished the prophet for reproving him.

At this time John was shut in prison after active labor, with gloom, inaction, and week after week with no change weighing heavily and bringing despondency and doubt. His disciples still had access to him and brought tidings of the works of Jesus and the crowds flocking to Him, while questioning why Jesus did nothing to effect his release. John did not understand the nature of Christ's kingdom and expected Jesus to take the throne of David, and he was perplexed and troubled because the Saviour made no claim to kingly authority.

The convenient day was a planned entertainment for the officers of state and nobles of the court, which Herodias deliberately used by stratagem to gain consent to John's death that she could never win by direct measures. She used the feast to indulge appetite with feasting and drinking and with gluttony and intoxication in order to throw Herod off his guard, weaken his judgment, and influence him according to her will in pursuit of revenge. When the day arrived the king was feasting and drinking with his lords amid revelry, and in that condition Herodias sent her daughter into the banqueting hall to dance for the guests. Herod after drinking promised her whatever she asked, and the promise resulted in the order to kill John, whose head when brought before the guests horrified them, a sight Herod could not bear.

How John Was Killed

Herodias could never have won Herod's consent to John's death by direct measures, so she used this birthday banquet by stratagem to gain it and to pursue her revenge. The convenient day was a planned entertainment for the officers of state and nobles of the court, for his officials and military commanders and leading men of Galilee. She deliberately used the feast to indulge appetite with feasting and drinking in order to throw Herod off his guard, weaken his judgment and self-control, and make him able to be influenced according to her will. When the day arrived the king was feasting and drinking with his lords, and in that condition Herodias sent her daughter into the banqueting hall to dance for the guests.

The luxurious food, gluttony, drinking, and drunken revelry weakened the reason, judgment, self-control, and sense of justice and mercy of Herod and his guests. They became intoxicated and ruled by passion and sensual appetites rather than sound judgment, driven by sensual passions and unable to judge justly or mercifully. That indulgence and display prepared the way for Herod's rash promise and left them vulnerable to Herodias's influence, leading to a decision that cost a prophet his life.

In that intoxicated state Herod made a rash oath after drinking and promising whatever was asked, and concern for reputation before his guests left him unable to act with sound judgment. He wrongly treated keeping the oath made amid feasting and revelry as more binding than God's commandment not to kill and than refusing an inhuman demand, choosing murder over what he feared would be called perjury. The men of high authority present had their judgment and sense of right and wrong impaired by intemperance, and their failure to object helped bring about the death. Calm, sound reason would have recoiled from killing an innocent prophet, but eating and drinking to excess had clouded the mind and weakened moral judgment unto grave sin.

The birthday revel ended with Herod's command to kill and behead John in prison to please the wicked Herodias and to gratify her revenge, which she clung to until she had destroyed him. He had been deeply impressed by John's teaching, knew him as a true prophet, and nearly became his disciple, but he did not turn from intemperance and sin. Turning from the truth he had received, his heart grew harder and his conscience grew less sensitive, so that his sins came to seem trivial until he ordered John's death. When John's head was brought before the guests they were horrified, and Herod could not bear the sight.

Warning and Aftermath

Herod's birthday supper stands as a warning against self-indulgence, pleasure-seeking, and intemperance in eating and drinking. Luxurious food, gluttony, overeating, and drunkenness at the feast weakened reason and judgment, clouded the mind, and left Herod and his high guests intoxicated and ruled by passion and sensual appetite rather than sound judgment. In that state their sense of justice and mercy and of right and wrong was distorted and impaired, they were driven by sensual passions and unable to judge justly or mercifully, they became vulnerable to Herodias's influence, and their failure to object helped bring about death. Herod made a rash oath amid feasting, drinking, and revelry and wrongly treated keeping it as more binding than God's commandment not to kill and than refusing an inhuman demand, so a decision that cost a prophet his life was made and John's life was condemned. The event teaches that excess can weaken moral judgment and lead to grave, unjust, destructive sin, it warns those who love pleasure and calls them to Christian temperance, for calm, sound reason would have recoiled from killing an innocent prophet.

Herod had been deeply impressed by John's teaching, knew him as a true prophet, nearly became his disciple, and felt remorse, but he did not turn from intemperance and sin and turned from the truth he had received. After choosing against the truth his heart grew harder until he ordered John's death to please the wicked Herodias and gratify her revenge, he became morally hardened, his conscience grew less sensitive, and his sins came to seem trivial. The birthday revel ended with his command to kill and behead John in prison, and when John's head was brought before the guests they were horrified and Herod could not bear the sight. The feast is remembered as a royal banqueting-room scene of wicked dissipation, and Herod's guilt over what he did there later tormented him.

Herod later remembered that he had beheaded John and feared that Jesus was John risen from the dead. His late attention to Jesus' preaching and miracles is explained by the general religious indifference and ignorance of people in high rank, who often remain unaware of what is happening in religion even when they live where it occurs.

John's death at Herod's hand in prison, which Jesus left him to die there, was reported to Jesus and the disciples just after the disciples returned filled with joy from their first missionary tour as heralds of the Gospel. It brought bitter sorrow and disappointment and severely tested the faith of the disciples. Jesus felt the sorrow with them with tears in His own eyes and voice and with pitying tenderness called them apart into a desert place to rest awhile.

The birthday supper provided the convenient occasion for John's death because he gave a pointed message and would not soften reproof to save himself. Faithful warning grows more and more pointed under opposition even to the point of death so that the people are not deceived. Though his witness for reproving Herod for sin led to imprisonment and execution, his enemies could not destroy his hope or take away eternal life.