HEROD ANTIPAS SUPPOSES JESUS TO BE JOHN
MATT 14:1-12
MARK 6:14-29
LUKE 9:7-9
The mission of the twelve probably lasted several weeks, and the beheading of John the Baptist appears to have taken place about the time of their return.
Matthew--Herod heard about Jesus and attributed his miracles to John. John openly criticized Herod for marrying his brother's wife. Herod wanted to kill Jesus but was afraid of the people's reaction. Prompted by Herodius, his wife, his daughter requested John's head on a platter. Herod complied.
"And his disciples came and took the body and buried it, and they went and told Jesus." Matthew 14:12
"How splendid the action of John’s disciples! Reverent love and grief made them brave the king’s hatred." F.B. Meyer
History on this family of Herods:
"Herod: This was Herod Antipas, the son of Herod the Great, by Malthace, and tetrarch of Galilee and Perea, which produced a revenue of 200 talents a year. He married the daughter of Aretas, king of Arabia, whom he divorced in order to marry Herodias, the wife of his brother Philip, who was still living. Aretas, to revenge the affront which Herod had offered his daughter, declared war against him, and vanquished him after an obstinate engagement. This defeat, Josephus assures us, the Jews considered as a punishment for the death of John the Baptist. Having gone to Rome to solicit the title of king, he was accused by Agrippa of carrying on a correspondence with Artabanus king of Parthia, against the Romans, and was banished by the emperor Caius to Lyons, and thence to Spain, where he and Herodias died in exile." -TSK Cross References
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| Herod the Great's messy family tree--from Biblical Archeology.org |
and a bit more:
"Herodias was the daughter of Aristobulus, who was the half-brother of Herod Philip I. and Herod Antipas, and these two last were in turn half-brothers to each other. Herodias, therefore, had married her uncle Herod Philip I, who was disinherited by Herod the Great, and who lived as a private citizen in Rome. When Herod Antipas went to Rome about the affairs of his tetrarchy, he became the guest of his brother Herod Philip I., and repaid the hospitality which he received by carrying off the wife of his host."-Fourfold
It sounds like his life was a series of poor decisions followed by consequences that led him into brokenness. And as the Fourfold Gospel points out, sin begets worse sin:
"To the anxious, unrestful soul of Herodias this seemed a great gift, since it assured her that the voice of her most dangerous enemy was now silent. But as Herod was soon filled with superstitious fears that John had risen in the person of Christ, her sense of security was very short-lived. The crime stamped Herod and Herodias with greater infamy than that for which John had rebuked them."-Fourfold Gospel
On Jesus being viewed as a prophet, this is helpful:
"The work of Jesus impressed the people as prophetic rather than Messianic, for they associated the Messiah in their thoughts with an earthly kingdom of great pomp and grandeur. Jesus, therefore, did not appear to them to be the Messiah, but rather the prophet who should usher in the Messiah. Their Scriptures taught them that Elijah would be that prophet. But the Apocrypha indicated that it might be Isaiah or Jeremiah (I. Macc. xiv. 41). Hence the many opinions as to which of the prophets Jesus was. If he was Elijah, he could not be properly spoken of as risen from the dead, for Elijah had been translated." -Fourfold Gospel
With regard to "unfairnesses" we may suffer in life, it's good to remember the circumstances surrounding John's death. John's life was considered a trifle to this wealthy and corrupt family. His ministry holds firm in eternity, but in the moment, the circumstances of his death feel capriciously cruel.
"That he was grieved at John’s death is a verbal contradiction to verse 5, but after some weeks’ or months’ delay psychologically quite possible (cf. note there). Kubel attributes the change to his conscience recoiling when his wish had a sudden chance of being accomplished; or it may be that he still fearest the multitude (cf. verse 5), and felt anxious lest he should bring about some political disturbance." -Pulpit Commentary
This makes sense to me, that even Herod's remorse was self-centered. Herod Antipas and Herod the Great's family in general, is marked by anxiety and a fascination with superstition. I believe this is what happens to people who lack bearings---floating around trying to piece together the meaning of their lives and their fate apart from God. His family's legacy was sexual promiscuity, lack of integrity, and paranoid abuse of godly men.
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