Mark 6:27, commentary and pictures

Immediately the king sent an executioner with command to bring John's head, and he went and beheaded him in the prison and brought his head before the king and his guests. The killing followed a night of birthday feasting and revelry in which Herod and his guests were partly intoxicated, with reason and moral sense clouded by intemperance and sensual indulgence. Herodias, who had held her grievance against John for condemning her unlawful marriage and sought his death, seized the moment of Herod's impaired judgment and used her daughter's enthralling dance to secure the order for his death in revenge. Herod kept his rash oath to the daughter rather than spare the prophet, fearing to break his word before his guests more than to break God's commandment not to kill, while the guests by their silence left the innocent without defense. The death silenced the voice that had called Herod and sinners to repentance, and it stands as proof that faithful reproof of sin may cost the messenger's life and as a warning of the deadly result of intemperance in those entrusted with authority.

The Prison Execution

John had been shut in prison under Herod Antipas for faithfully condemning Herod's unlawful marriage to Herodias, his brother's wife still living. Herodias sought revenge for that rebuke and persuaded Herod to imprison him. Herod himself had intended to release John, yet through his wife's influence the prophet remained bound and was at last beheaded.

After a life of active labor John lay shut in gloom and inaction, with week after week passing and bringing no change until despondency and doubt crept over him. His disciples did not forsake him but were allowed access, bringing tidings of the works of Jesus and how the people were flocking to Him, while questioning why if Jesus was the Messiah He did nothing to effect John's release and permitted His faithful herald to be deprived of liberty and perhaps of life. Those questions suggested doubts that otherwise would never have arisen, bruising John's soul to Satan's rejoicing, showing how those who think themselves friends prove most dangerous enemies when their words depress and dishearten instead of strengthening faith. Like the Saviour's disciples, John did not understand the nature of Christ's kingdom but expected Jesus to take the throne of David, and became perplexed and troubled as the Saviour made no claim to kingly authority. He had declared that every valley must be filled, mountains and hills made low, crooked places straight, and rough places plain, looking for the high places of human pride and power to be cast down, pointing to the Messiah as the One whose fan was in His hand to thoroughly purge His floor, gather the wheat into His garner, and burn the chaff with unquenchable fire, and like Elijah in whose spirit and power he had come, looking for the Lord to reveal Himself by fire.

Immediately Herod sent an executioner and commanded John's head to be brought, and John was beheaded in prison. The command was carried out in the prison, and his head was brought before the king and his guests. The order carried out the demand made at the feast after Herod reluctantly chose to honor his pledge rather than spare John.

The execution followed a night of birthday feasting, frivolity, dissipation and revelry in which Herod and his guests were partly intoxicated and overindulged in food and drink. Intemperance in eating and drinking, together with revelry and sensual pleasure, weakened reason and judgment, clouded moral sense, distorted justice and mercy, and left conscience dormant. The intoxicating cup and indulgence of appetite led to this terrible crime and cost the life of one of God's eminent prophets.

Herodias, holding her grievance until she destroyed John, secured the opportunity through Herod's indulgence and exploited his impaired judgment. By prompting her daughter, whose dance enthralled Herod, she gained her end, so that Satan gained control of his mind. Herod, hardened by sin and under the influence of wine, ordered John's death during the revel to please Herodias and gratify her revenge. Herod made a rash oath and promise to the daughter and then, though reluctant and waiting in vain to escape it, honored it rather than spare John. He feared to appear to break his oath before his guests and treated the oath as more binding than God's commandment not to kill, taking the life of an innocent prophet in violation of the commandment against murder. The guests failed to speak for John and their silence helped leave the innocent prophet without defense and without anyone to save his life.

The death silenced the voice that had warned Herod to turn from sin and called him to reform and sinners to repentance. John's bleeding head was brought before the guests to their horror and was more than Herod, who had heard John preach, could endure. A year later Herod was with his unlawful wife observing the Passover ceremonies.

Herod's Guilt and Disciples' Grief

Herod afterward remembered his command and its execution with terror, and his guilty conscience troubled him with fear of punishment. When he heard of the works of Jesus he concluded that John had risen from the dead. That conclusion shows he had not known of Jesus before, and it reflects the religious ignorance common among people of high rank.

Herod regretted the act and was tormented by a guilty conscience and fear, regretting it for the rest of his life. Yet his remorse faded as he continued in sinful living, until conscience and moral judgment grew dull and degraded. He had nearly become John's disciple, yet he rejected the truth and killed a prophet he knew was true. Having done so he became hardened in sin, his conscience once pierced with remorse becoming hardened and his moral sense degraded. Later he even boasted to Jesus of the punishment he had inflicted on John for reproving him.

The tidings of the beheading became known to the disciples just after they returned filled with joy over their success as heralds of the gospel on their first missionary tour. The news brought bitter sorrow and disappointment, and the fact that Jesus had left the Baptist to die in prison severely tested their faith. They recalled John's violent death and questioned why Jesus, despite all His power, had not saved him and had done nothing to save him. With pitying tenderness and tears in His own eyes and voice, Jesus met their sorrowful, tear-stained faces by calling them apart into a desert place to rest awhile. He took them by boat across the lake to a lonely retreat near Bethsaida for fellowship and instruction apart from the multitude and the Pharisees.

Warning and Faithful Witness

The beheading in prison stands as the recorded outcome of intemperance among those entrusted with great authority, warning pleasure-seekers and teaching Christian temperance. Those who enforce laws must themselves obey them in order to be fit to judge fairly. The frivolity and dissipation of that night, with the intoxicating cup and overindulgence in food and drink, led to the terrible crime that cost the life of one of God's eminent prophets. Intemperance and revelry weakened reason and judgment until Herod treated his rash oath at the drunken feast as more binding than God's commandment not to kill, and the execution resulted from sensual indulgence and failure to choose justice and duty. His decision, made to preserve his reputation, brought lasting dishonor instead, while his guests failed to speak for John and left the prophet without defense to serve Herodias's revenge. The maiden's dance so enthralled Herod that Satan gained control of his mind and led him through the rash promise to order the death of one of the greatest prophets, illustrating the destructive consequences of corrupting influence and choices that draw people toward ruin.

John lost his life in prison because his message became more and more pointed in reproof of sin. His beheading proves that faithful reproof can cost the messenger's life. That same pointedness must continue and grow more pointed even though it costs life, so that the people shall not be deceived. His imprisonment and death show that God's servants may suffer and die for their witness, yet their enemies cannot destroy their souls or take away their hope of eternal life. Herod later regretted the act for the rest of his life.

The ordering of an executioner to behead John the prophet in prison is recalled as the precedent for the later Herod's killing of James. Another Herod ordered John to be beheaded by an executioner, and this is presented as the pattern for Herod Agrippa's order to have James killed with the sword. Herod Agrippa's execution of James by the sword thus followed the earlier Herod's execution of John by beheading.