The Pulpit Commentary — Matthew — Volume 2 — Section 60

EXPOSITION. death of the One who, by his miraelee, CHAPTER XIV. showed that he possessed greater power than Vera. 1-36.-CHRIBT's POWER TO SUPPLY John. And therefore; "because he is no A.ND PROTECT AND HEAL, PREFACED BY A ordinary man, but one risen from the de:i<l" STATEMENT OF H1m0D's RELATION TO 111111. (Meyer). Mighty works do 1how forth them- selves in him (al 6vv&µ,i1 /v,p-yourrw Iv a~'Trj,); Vers.1-12.-Herod's opinion of Jesm, and do theae powers work in 1iim (ReviAed Ver- a parenthetical account of his murder of John ~ion ). "The~e" (at, the article of reference), Parallel passages : Mauk vi. the Baptist. i.e. these which are spoken of in the report 14-29; Luke ix. 7-9; iii 19, 20. (ver. 1). Al Bvv&µm may be (1) specificaJ!y miracles (cf. eh. xiii. 58), in which case Ver. 1.-At that time; season (Revised they a.re regarded as potentially active in Version); eh. xi. 25, note. Herod the John before their completion in hi;,tory; or tetraroh ; i.e. Antipe.s, youngest son of (2) the powers of working miracles, as per- Herod the Great, and by one of his fathel''s haps in 1 Cor. xii. 28. Observe that this wills named his successor on the throne, passage confirms the statement of John x. but by the le.et will appointed only tetrarch 41, that John performed no miracle. Ob- of Galilee and Perm&. Though not legally serve that it is also an indirect witness to lcing, he sometimes received the title by the fact of onr Lord performing miracles. courtesy (ver. 9; Mark vi. 14; cf. eh. ii. For Herod's ntterance is not such as a forger 1, note). "In point of character, Antipe.s would have imAgined. was e. genuine eon of old Herod-sly, Ver. 3.-For Herod had laid hold on 1ohn, ambitious, and luxurious, only not so able and bound him. Although had simplifies as his father." He was deposed by Caligula., the meaning to the English reader, as A.D. 39, when, at the instance of Herodias, definitely marking what must have been he bad gone to Rome to try to ohte.iu the the case, that John's imprisonment began same title of king that had been granted to some time before, yet in the Greek only I.he her brother Agrippa I. (Schurer, I. ii. 18. 36). aorist is used to commence a vivid narra- Heard of the fa.me-heard the report ( Revised tive. And put him in prison; "put him Version); eh. iv. 24, note-of leans. away in prison ('v </)v>..rr.Kfi c.1re8ET0)." So Ver. 2.-And said unto his eerva.nts. Ao- of Mice.ie.h by Ahab (2 Cbron. xviii. 26, cording to Luke, the following assertion was LXX., but not Lucian's text). Probably brought forward by some, but was, it would here in Rllusion t.o the distance of Me.ch:erus seem, summarily rejected by Herod (Luke from Herod's ueue.l residence at Tiberias. ix. 7, 9); e.ccording t.o Mark ((>..•yov, West- Possibly, al8o, a reference to John being cott and Hort, tezt) it was common talk, and safer there from the designs of Herodia.s agreed to by Herod (Mark vi. 14, 16). If (Mark vi. 19, 20). Anyhow, notiee the a reconoilie.tion of so unimportant a verbal stages in Hel'od's action--capture, binding, disagreement be sought for, it may perhaps imprisonment in a place where he we.s quite lie in Luke representing Herod's first ex- out of the way. For Herod.fas' sake. John ole.mation, and Matthew, with Mark, his was imprisoned, according to the New Testa- settled belief. Clearly Herod did not ori- ment, (1) as e. punishment for his rebuke of ginate it, as the summary account in our Herod; (2) to protect him from HerodilLS' Gospel would lead us to suppose. This is vengeRnce. (On tlrn statement by Josephus, lohn the Baptist (eh. iii. I and iv. 12, notes). that it wns for political reasons, see eh. iii. (For this opinion nbout our Lord, compare, I, note.) His brother Philip's wife. Ac- besides the parallel passnges referred to in cording to Josephus (' Ant.,' xviii. 5. 4), the Inst note, also eh. xvi. 14.) He (aimls, the first husband of Herodias was "Herod," eh. i. 21, note) is risen from the dead. son of Herod the Great by MIU'iamne the The other dead still lie in He.des ( iiirb high priest's daughter, natl the daughter ,,.;;,,, 11E1cp~v). Plumptre, on Mark, add nces of Herodiae, Salome, married Philip the a curious passage from Persius, v. 180 - tetrarch, who was also the son of Herod the 188, which he thinks is based on e. story Great by Cleopatra of Jerusalem. Hence that when Herod celebrated another of m1my critioa (e.g. Ewald; Schilrer, I. ii. 22) his birthdays (of. ver. 6) in Rome, in A.D. suppose the account in Matthew e.nd Mark 39, he was terrified by a Danquo-like e.p- to be mistaken, and due to a confusion of pee.rnnoe of the murdered prophet. The Hcrodias with l,erdaughter. Dut, although superstition that alrendy suggested to Herod it is curious that two sons of Herod the the resurrection of John might well net Great should have been calle,I Philip, yet_ more strongly on the e.nniversnry of the in view of their being by different mothers, murder, and after he had connived at the it cannot be pronounced impossible (" An•  62 THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. MAT1.'llEW. [ou. xiv. 1-36, I tipa.s" and" Antipater" are not precisely could not then have been more than two identical). B~sidcs, Herod the son of years old (Schiirer, l.oo. cit.), Besides, the Mariamnc would probably have had eome trait mentioned by lllerk (vi. 25), that she other name than that of hie father alone. came back toith mute to the king, asking Ii is noticeable that, in the same oontext, for the hood of the Baptist, implies thnt she JosephUB speaks also of Antipas by U1e was more than a child, Rendel Harris name Herod only. (' Texts and Studies,' ll. i. p. 68) suggests Ver. 4.-For lohn aid unto him, n ia not tna_t the confusion is due to an early Latini- lawful (ob1< t{.,r..-.v, eh. xii. 2) for thee to zat1on of the Greek from an ambiguous eju,, have her. Herod Philip being still alive. Danoed. Probably with the same kind of Bengel remarks, " Cansas matrimoniales voluptuoUB dance as that of the Eayptie.n non possunt plane abdioa.re theologi." Was alini described by Warburton ('Crescent he thinking of Lnther's unfortn..ne.te ad vice and Crose,' chap. xiv.). But that a member to Philip of Hesse? of the roye.l family should so dance before Ver. 5.-And when he would have put a company must have been almost unheard him to death, he feared the multitude (cf. of. Before them; in . the midst (Revised Luke u:. 6), Mark has, " And Herodias set Version). Matthew only. Buch e. de.nee herself against him, a,id tDOuld haoe put him with men sitting round would be speoie.lly to death; and she oould not; for Herod abhorrent to the Jewish mind. And pleased feared John." The more deto.iled account Herod. And of conrso, as St. Mark adds, in Mark is donbtless the more exact. Per• "them that sat with him" (of. ver. 9), he.pe the facts of lhe case were that, in the Ver 7.-Whereupon he promised with an first heat of his resentment, Herod wished to oath to give her whatsoever she would ask. kill John, but feared the anger of the Ver. 8.-And she, being before instructed; people, and that afterwards, when he had being put forward (Revised Version); him in his power and Herodias still nrged "Pof3,/3an8•7..,-,. (Acts :xix. 33, Received Text; his death, Herod had himself learned to Deut. vi. 7, LXX..). The word implies that respect him. Observe (1) that it is qnite the girl herself wonld not have thought of impossible to suppose that either evangelist it, and perhaps that she had e.t first some had the words of the other in front of him. little reluctance. But if so, it was soon The di1ference does not consist merely of over, for she ea.me back "in he.ate" (Mark). addition or explanation ; (2) that these e.re Of her mother. St. Mark explains that she exactly the kind of verbe.l coincidences left the room to ask her mother. Be.id, Give which might be expected to be found in two me. This is the gift I want. :&:ere, And ore.I traditions starting from a common evidently at once. The woru excludes the basis. For they oollllted him as a prophet possibility of the feast being in Tiberias, if ( ws ..-poc/>'flfllv <WTOV •Ixov) ; 80 eh. x.x:i. 26 John was ale.in e.t Machmrns, as the passage (cf. eh. =i. 46; Mark ri 32; Phil ii 29). in Josephus states (cf. eh. iii. I, note). Ver. 6.-But when Herod's birthday was There is no very great difficnlty in supposing kept; came (Revised Version) ; -ya-•ulou lil the chief men of Ge.lilee, etc. (Mark), to have -Y•"a,,.&ois -roii 'Hpr,:lia11, dative of time (Winer, gone e.s far as Machmrua to pay their re- § mi. 9), with the addition of a participle. spects to Herod and to partake of the feast, Birthday. So "Ph.a.n.oh's birthday" (Gen. but whether the statement in JosephUB is tl 20, 1//J-Epa. -ya-EuEU1s). Thayer's Grimm accurate, a.nd how, if it be so, it is to be refers to "Alciphr. Epp. 3, 18, and 55; Dio reconciled with the preceding ste.tement Cass., 47, 18, etc.," for -ya-,u,a. being used that Machmrns belonged to Aretas, are in the same sense. The Talmudic ~CU'l questions not easily answered (see Schiirer,. (see Levy, s.,i.) apparently represents the I. ii 26). John Baptist's hee.dinacharger; same word, and (preceded by C1') ha.a the in a charger the head of John the Baptist same meaning (cf. Schiirer, L ii 27). Pos- (Revised Version). She definCB here still sibly Jews found -r•v;.,.,,. an easier word to more closely (&II• /.,,.l .,,.{.,,.,,,), and then states. prononnce tha.n the more classical -y,11,8>.,a.. her request. On the form of her demand The daughter of B'.erodiaa ; i.e. Salome, for John's death, Chrysosfom says that she daughter of Herod Philip and Herodiae; she wished to see his tongue lying there silent, afterwards married her half-nncle, Philip for she did not merely long to be freed from the tetrarch (ver. 3, note). She could not his reproachCB, but to insult and jeer him uow be l.eu than seventeen or eighteen years (J-,,,/371va, Kal ,.,,.,,,.,.,e,LO',., KE11J,l11r,,). Oltarger. old (cf. Gntschmid, in Schurer, J. ii. 28), so, A wooden t,encher. in the East, could only just be still called Ver. 9.-And the king wa1 sorry: never- a ,cap&.u,011 (ver. 11). Mark's text (like the theleBB for the oath's aake; better, and Greek of Codex Bezm here) speaks of thouyh the lting u,aa grieoed, yet for the sake her 1&S though she her,;elf wa.s called of hi, oaths (t<al ?.111n1ll•lr I, /3a.t11AfVS 11,a TVOS Herodias, and was the daughter of AD.tipa.s llp1<011s, ,c,-,.>..). That he was grieved at aud lierodias; but the issue of this wt.ion John's death ill e. verbal contradiction to 011, xiv. 1-36.J 'l'HE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. MATTHEW. 63