Mark 6:14-16

‘And King Herod heard of him, for his name had become known, and he said “John the Baptiser is risen from the dead, and that is why these powers work in him”. But others said, “It is Elijah”. And others said, “It is a prophet, even as one of the prophets”. But Herod when he heard of it said, “John whom I beheaded, he is risen”.'

This Herod was Herod Antipas, son of Herod the Great. He was tetrarch of Galilee and Peraea from his father's death, the date of which is not certain, dating anywhere from 5 to 0 BC. (The date is dependent on the identifying of certain astronomical occurrences and interpretation of other evidence, and is complicated by the question as to whether coinage was issued with spurious dates on it in order to magnify royal claims. If the enrolment of Luke 2:1 was that of Augustus' twenty fifth anniversary of his reign, and the celebration that of the 750th anniversary of Rome, his father's death was after 3 BC, the year of the celebration). He ruled until 39 AD. He was not strictly a king (he was a tetrarch) but he was popularly known as one. Matthew and Luke style him correctly, Mark popularly. His attempt to be officially named ‘king' in fact led to his downfall and he was exiled to Gaul.

When Herod heard about this man Jesus Who was going around like a prophet and doing great wonders, his conscience struck him, and he was afraid, for he had reluctantly had John the Baptiser executed and now thought that he had come back from the dead. His conscience was giving him no rest.

‘Herod heard of Him.' The news about this new prophet who drew such large crowds and performed miracles, although not directly affecting Tiberias where Herod had his palace, would hardly remain hidden. His police would have drawn it to his attention, and also the fact that He was proclaiming the coming of the Kingly Rule of God.

‘For His name had become known.' Everyone was talking about Him for good or bad, especially so now that His Apostles were also going around preaching. Some were saying that He was the expected Elijah (Malachi 3:1), others that He was a great prophet like the revered prophets of old. Thus some at least were positive in their thoughts about Him. It is noteworthy that they did not at this stage think Him to be the Messiah. He was not behaving like they expected a Messiah would. But they did recognise His status as a man of God. The views of the leading Pharisees that He was of the Devil had not taken hold in Galilee, nor seemingly with most of the Herodians. But Herod was burdened down with guilt and was convinced that John the Baptiser had returned and he feared what would happen next. But why was he so afraid?