Herod's Feast and the Demand for John's HeadBible World
14:8Matthew 14:8
And she, being before instructed of her mother, said, Give me here John Baptist’s head in a charger.
Herodias coached her daughter beforehand to ask for John the Baptist's execution, and after the dancing captivated Herod at his birthday feast he made a rash drunken oath, prompting the daughter to demand his head brought at once on a platter. John had rebuked Herod for his unlawful marriage to Herodias, which fixed her in vengeful determination to silence him by strategy, while Herod himself honored and feared John as a true prophet and had nearly become his disciple. The demand was the fruit of intemperance, for gluttony, wine and revelry beclouded reason, perverted justice and mercy, and left Herod and his guests unable to defend an innocent prophet as they otherwise would have recoiled with horror. Herod trembled yet treated his oath as binding above God's commandment, Thou shalt not kill, and ordered the beheading, to Herodias's exultation and his own lifelong remorse that dulled as he persisted in sin. John was the greatest of prophets whose straight testimony exposing wrong cost him his life, proving faithful reproof will be hated yet must still be given whether men hear or refuse.
The Plot and Murder
John had rebuked Herod for his unlawful marriage to Herodias, who was his brother's wife while that brother was still living and still married to her, and at Herodias's persuasion Herod shut John in the fortress prison of Herod Antipas, the great-uncle of Agrippa. The demand for John's head belongs to that imprisonment and beheading, with Herodias using her influence over Herod to bring it about after the faithful reproof of the marriage. The daughter who asked for the head as instructed by her mother is identified with the murder of John by Antipas.
Herodias formed a settled, vengeful determination to put John to death to silence his faithful reproofs of her corrupt and licentious life and his call to repentance and reform, fearing his remonstrances might persuade her husband and disturb Herod's conscience. She had tried by direct request to gain Herod's consent to have John slain and failed, because while his intelligence controlled him under ordinary circumstances she could not obtain it. She therefore covered her hatred, waited, and planned by strategy to accomplish her purpose. Her satanic and inhuman revenge was carried out through her daughter, and Herod had the prophet beheaded to gratify it.
Herod honored and feared John as a true prophet of God, and John's laying open the secrets of his heart and life struck terror to his guilty conscience. In many things Herod had reformed his dissolute life, designed to release John from prison, had nearly become his disciple, and delayed the release only through fear of displeasing Herodias. Though deeply impressed by John's teaching, he did not turn fully from intemperance and sin, and his heart grew harder until the feast.
Herodias knew Herod's character and weak points, his love of luxurious food and wine and of pleasure and amusement, and chose his birthday feast as her occasion. Costly preparations were made for feasting and voluptuous dissipation, an occasion of gluttony and intoxication, counting on indulgence of appetite to throw him off his guard. She knew this gratification of intemperate appetite would arouse passion and the lower passions, enervate and deaden the moral and physical powers, lower the tone of mental and moral character, becloud the senses, remove the fear of God, and lower the sensibilities so holy impulses and earnest appeals of the Spirit could not affect the heart. In that deadened state he could not see facts and evidences clearly nor make right decisions nor meet the nobler demands of effort and duty.
Herodias instructed her daughter Salome beforehand what to ask, and after the daughter's dancing made a powerful and captivating impression on Herod and his guests, Herod when his senses were debased with wine made an indulgent, rash promise and oath during drinking and revelry. The daughter was at first shocked but obeyed when her mother pressed her, and demanded John Baptist's head here in a charger, on a platter. That scene shows how entertainment and flattery can make a harmful impression and draw toward ruin.
Herod trembled with horror at the request, yet was under the delusion that his rash oath made under excitement of feasting, dancing and revelry must be kept. He was brought to the test whether he would exalt his oath to preserve his honor and dignity as king above God's commandment, Thou shalt not kill, by sacrificing an innocent man, or humble himself to ask his guests to release him from it. He wrongly treated the oath as binding and chose murder over what he thought would be the shame of breaking it, falling at the point of decision into Satan's snare. He commanded the beheading, and when the bleeding head was brought in before the guests they felt horror at the sight, while Herodias received it with fiendish satisfaction and exultation that she had her revenge and insulted him.
Herod felt sharp remorse and the keen stings of conscience for the terrible act and regretted the vow as long as he lived. Who had heard John's preaching could not endure the sight and could not close his vision to it, and even after a year had passed, while living with his unlawful wife Herodias and going through formal ceremonies as a Jew observing the annual Passover, he still had to consider his own life and character under that sight. Yet as he persisted in licentious sin and turned from truth his conscience grew less sensitive and his moral perceptions were degraded until his sins appeared as trifles and his moral sense grew dull.
Herodias's satanic conduct did not silence the influence of John's reproofs, which was to extend down through every generation to the close of time. It enshrined the good and self-sacrificing prophet in the hearts not only of his disciples but of very many who had been aroused and convinced by his teachings yet had not moral courage to stand openly as his disciples, while it made her own name notorious, abhorred and infamous on the page of sacred history. John's death filled the disciples with grief and fear that their Master might also suffer at the hands of enemies, and led some who had accepted Christ through John's preaching to doubt John's mission and whether Jesus was the Messiah. Though Jesus possessed power to work mighty miracles and to assert His authority as king and to prevent that violent death, the disciples became dissatisfied and impatient, murmuring that their way was painful and that they were reviled as deceivers and followers of a false prophet, thinking He should have exalted Himself as king, revealed Himself in His true character, made their way less painful by saving John, and questioning whether He was an impostor; their love of honor blinded them, unbelief took possession of mind and heart, and brought great spiritual darkness on themselves.
Temperance and Faithful Witness
The demand for the head on a platter was the direct result of intemperance in eating and drinking at the birthday feast. Herod and his guests gorged like beasts on luxurious food and added drunkenness to surfeiting until they were partly intoxicated and their minds were in animal excitement. Reason was made servant to baser passions, mental powers were enervated by sensual pleasure, ideas of justice and mercy were perverted, and intellect and manhood were sacrificed to sensual indulgence. Herodias had counted on exactly this, knowing that love of luxurious food and wine and of pleasure and amusement would throw Herod off guard, arouse the lower passions, becloud the senses, deaden moral power, remove the fear of God, and make right decision and calm reason impossible. Under that excitement of feasting, dancing and revelry, when nothing was too sacred to profane, Herod made his rash oath and fell under the delusion that it must be kept even when the life of one of the greatest prophets God ever sent hung in the balance. If vigor of intellect had remained, calm reason would have ruled and he and his guests would have recoiled with horror from beheading an innocent man and an exalted prophet of God, and would have spoken in his defense instead of pronouncing sentence of death. At the start of the feast Herod would have denied he could do such a deed, but under wine he was brought to the test whether to exalt his oath to preserve honor and dignity as king above God's commandment, Thou shalt not kill, or to humble himself and ask release from his rash vow.
That test stands as a warning to lovers of pleasure against self-indulgence and a call to Christians to faithful temperance. It warns especially people in authority, since impaired judgment and perverted sense of justice can bring grave injustice such as sentencing to death one of the greatest prophets God ever sent. Herod himself, though deeply impressed by John's teaching, did not turn from intemperance and sin but let his heart grow harder until during a drunken feast he ordered John killed to please Herodias.
John was the greatest prophet that ever lived, a noble and bold messenger whose straight and proving testimony about sin cut the fleshly heart even to joints and marrow. His pointed message exposing wrong and reproving unlawful life cost him his life at the banquet, when the daughter, instructed beforehand by her mother, demanded his head. His death proves that those who reprove in the gate are hated and that a pointed message of truth may bring deadly opposition. Yet the message must still be given so the people will not be deceived, whether men will hear or refuse to hear, and God's work will go forward without those who refuse. All who voice the third angel's message with heart and soul will triumph with that triumphant message.
The dancing that led to the ruinous demand shows how an action witnessed by others can make a powerful impression. Entertainment and flattery made a harmful, alluring impression on Herod and drew toward ruin, just as amusement and foolish talk allure people and lead them toward ruin. In the same way cheap common talk, words of flattery, and foolish witticism spoken to create a laugh impress hearers and move them, and such speech is the merchandise of Satan by which those who indulge in it trade in his goods and spread his alluring, deceptive working to lead others into the broad road and the wide gate that opens to ruin. All these transactions are recorded in the books of heaven, and at the last great day and final judgment they will appear in their true light before the guilty.
Herodias coached her daughter beforehand to ask for John the Baptist's execution, and after the dancing captivated Herod at his birthday feast he made a rash drunken oath, prompting the daughter to demand his head brought at once on a platter. John had rebuked Herod for his unlawful marriage to Herodias, which fixed her in vengeful determination to silence him by strategy, while Herod himself honored and feared John as a true prophet and had nearly become his disciple. The demand was the fruit of intemperance, for gluttony, wine and revelry beclouded reason, perverted justice and mercy, and left Herod and his guests unable to defend an innocent prophet as they otherwise would have recoiled with horror. Herod trembled yet treated his oath as binding above God's commandment, Thou shalt not kill, and ordered the beheading, to Herodias's exultation and his own lifelong remorse that dulled as he persisted in sin. John was the greatest of prophets whose straight testimony exposing wrong cost him his life, proving faithful reproof will be hated yet must still be given whether men hear or refuse.
The Plot and Murder
John had rebuked Herod for his unlawful marriage to Herodias, who was his brother's wife while that brother was still living and still married to her, and at Herodias's persuasion Herod shut John in the fortress prison of Herod Antipas, the great-uncle of Agrippa. The demand for John's head belongs to that imprisonment and beheading, with Herodias using her influence over Herod to bring it about after the faithful reproof of the marriage. The daughter who asked for the head as instructed by her mother is identified with the murder of John by Antipas.
Herodias formed a settled, vengeful determination to put John to death to silence his faithful reproofs of her corrupt and licentious life and his call to repentance and reform, fearing his remonstrances might persuade her husband and disturb Herod's conscience. She had tried by direct request to gain Herod's consent to have John slain and failed, because while his intelligence controlled him under ordinary circumstances she could not obtain it. She therefore covered her hatred, waited, and planned by strategy to accomplish her purpose. Her satanic and inhuman revenge was carried out through her daughter, and Herod had the prophet beheaded to gratify it.
Herod honored and feared John as a true prophet of God, and John's laying open the secrets of his heart and life struck terror to his guilty conscience. In many things Herod had reformed his dissolute life, designed to release John from prison, had nearly become his disciple, and delayed the release only through fear of displeasing Herodias. Though deeply impressed by John's teaching, he did not turn fully from intemperance and sin, and his heart grew harder until the feast.
Herodias knew Herod's character and weak points, his love of luxurious food and wine and of pleasure and amusement, and chose his birthday feast as her occasion. Costly preparations were made for feasting and voluptuous dissipation, an occasion of gluttony and intoxication, counting on indulgence of appetite to throw him off his guard. She knew this gratification of intemperate appetite would arouse passion and the lower passions, enervate and deaden the moral and physical powers, lower the tone of mental and moral character, becloud the senses, remove the fear of God, and lower the sensibilities so holy impulses and earnest appeals of the Spirit could not affect the heart. In that deadened state he could not see facts and evidences clearly nor make right decisions nor meet the nobler demands of effort and duty.
Herodias instructed her daughter Salome beforehand what to ask, and after the daughter's dancing made a powerful and captivating impression on Herod and his guests, Herod when his senses were debased with wine made an indulgent, rash promise and oath during drinking and revelry. The daughter was at first shocked but obeyed when her mother pressed her, and demanded John Baptist's head here in a charger, on a platter. That scene shows how entertainment and flattery can make a harmful impression and draw toward ruin.
Herod trembled with horror at the request, yet was under the delusion that his rash oath made under excitement of feasting, dancing and revelry must be kept. He was brought to the test whether he would exalt his oath to preserve his honor and dignity as king above God's commandment, Thou shalt not kill, by sacrificing an innocent man, or humble himself to ask his guests to release him from it. He wrongly treated the oath as binding and chose murder over what he thought would be the shame of breaking it, falling at the point of decision into Satan's snare. He commanded the beheading, and when the bleeding head was brought in before the guests they felt horror at the sight, while Herodias received it with fiendish satisfaction and exultation that she had her revenge and insulted him.
Herod felt sharp remorse and the keen stings of conscience for the terrible act and regretted the vow as long as he lived. Who had heard John's preaching could not endure the sight and could not close his vision to it, and even after a year had passed, while living with his unlawful wife Herodias and going through formal ceremonies as a Jew observing the annual Passover, he still had to consider his own life and character under that sight. Yet as he persisted in licentious sin and turned from truth his conscience grew less sensitive and his moral perceptions were degraded until his sins appeared as trifles and his moral sense grew dull.
Herodias's satanic conduct did not silence the influence of John's reproofs, which was to extend down through every generation to the close of time. It enshrined the good and self-sacrificing prophet in the hearts not only of his disciples but of very many who had been aroused and convinced by his teachings yet had not moral courage to stand openly as his disciples, while it made her own name notorious, abhorred and infamous on the page of sacred history. John's death filled the disciples with grief and fear that their Master might also suffer at the hands of enemies, and led some who had accepted Christ through John's preaching to doubt John's mission and whether Jesus was the Messiah. Though Jesus possessed power to work mighty miracles and to assert His authority as king and to prevent that violent death, the disciples became dissatisfied and impatient, murmuring that their way was painful and that they were reviled as deceivers and followers of a false prophet, thinking He should have exalted Himself as king, revealed Himself in His true character, made their way less painful by saving John, and questioning whether He was an impostor; their love of honor blinded them, unbelief took possession of mind and heart, and brought great spiritual darkness on themselves.
Temperance and Faithful Witness
The demand for the head on a platter was the direct result of intemperance in eating and drinking at the birthday feast. Herod and his guests gorged like beasts on luxurious food and added drunkenness to surfeiting until they were partly intoxicated and their minds were in animal excitement. Reason was made servant to baser passions, mental powers were enervated by sensual pleasure, ideas of justice and mercy were perverted, and intellect and manhood were sacrificed to sensual indulgence. Herodias had counted on exactly this, knowing that love of luxurious food and wine and of pleasure and amusement would throw Herod off guard, arouse the lower passions, becloud the senses, deaden moral power, remove the fear of God, and make right decision and calm reason impossible. Under that excitement of feasting, dancing and revelry, when nothing was too sacred to profane, Herod made his rash oath and fell under the delusion that it must be kept even when the life of one of the greatest prophets God ever sent hung in the balance. If vigor of intellect had remained, calm reason would have ruled and he and his guests would have recoiled with horror from beheading an innocent man and an exalted prophet of God, and would have spoken in his defense instead of pronouncing sentence of death. At the start of the feast Herod would have denied he could do such a deed, but under wine he was brought to the test whether to exalt his oath to preserve honor and dignity as king above God's commandment, Thou shalt not kill, or to humble himself and ask release from his rash vow.
That test stands as a warning to lovers of pleasure against self-indulgence and a call to Christians to faithful temperance. It warns especially people in authority, since impaired judgment and perverted sense of justice can bring grave injustice such as sentencing to death one of the greatest prophets God ever sent. Herod himself, though deeply impressed by John's teaching, did not turn from intemperance and sin but let his heart grow harder until during a drunken feast he ordered John killed to please Herodias.
John was the greatest prophet that ever lived, a noble and bold messenger whose straight and proving testimony about sin cut the fleshly heart even to joints and marrow. His pointed message exposing wrong and reproving unlawful life cost him his life at the banquet, when the daughter, instructed beforehand by her mother, demanded his head. His death proves that those who reprove in the gate are hated and that a pointed message of truth may bring deadly opposition. Yet the message must still be given so the people will not be deceived, whether men will hear or refuse to hear, and God's work will go forward without those who refuse. All who voice the third angel's message with heart and soul will triumph with that triumphant message.
The dancing that led to the ruinous demand shows how an action witnessed by others can make a powerful impression. Entertainment and flattery made a harmful, alluring impression on Herod and drew toward ruin, just as amusement and foolish talk allure people and lead them toward ruin. In the same way cheap common talk, words of flattery, and foolish witticism spoken to create a laugh impress hearers and move them, and such speech is the merchandise of Satan by which those who indulge in it trade in his goods and spread his alluring, deceptive working to lead others into the broad road and the wide gate that opens to ruin. All these transactions are recorded in the books of heaven, and at the last great day and final judgment they will appear in their true light before the guilty.