XIV.
(1) HEROD THE TETRARCH. — The son of Herod the Great by Malthace.
Under his father’s will he succeeded to the government of Galilee
and Peræa, with the title of Tetrarch, and as ruler of a fourth part
of the Roman province of Syria. His first wife was a daughter of
Aretas, an Arabian king or ch... [ Continue Reading ]
THIS IS JOHN THE BAPTIST. — In Matthew 16:14; Luke 9:7, this is
given as one of the three opinions that were floating among the people
as to our Lord’s character, the other two being, (1) that He was
Elijah, and (2) that He was one of the old prophets who had risen
again. The policy of the tetrarch... [ Continue Reading ]
PUT HIM IN PRISON. — Josephus (_Ant._ xviii. 5, § 2) gives
Machærus, in Peræa, as the scene of the imprisonment and death of
the Baptist.... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR JOHN SAID UNTO HIM. — The Jewish historian (_Ant._ xviii. 5, §
2) states more generally that Antipas was afraid lest some popular
outbreak should be the result of the preaching of the Baptist, working
on the excitable peasantry of Galilee.... [ Continue Reading ]
HE FEARED THE MULTITUDE. — St. Mark, whose narrative is here much
the fullest of the three, adds that Herod himself “feared John,”
knowing “him to be a just man and a holy,” and was much perplexed
— this, rather than “did many things” is the true reading —
and heard him gladly (Mark 6:20). There was... [ Continue Reading ]
HEROD’S BIRTHDAY. — Some critics have looked on the feast as one
commemorating Herod’s accession — his birth-day as a ruler; but
there seems no reason for not accepting the word in its simple natural
sense. Such feasts were common enough in the imperial life at Rome,
and that of Herod’s birthday had... [ Continue Reading ]
HE PROMISED WITH AN OATH. — The scandalous chronicles of the time
were not without stories of extravagant rewards paid to mimes and
dancers, and Herod might fancy that in this also he was reproducing
the magnificence of the imperial court at Rome. But he probably hardly
expected “the half of his kin... [ Continue Reading ]
BEING BEFORE INSTRUCTED OF HER MOTHER. — Better, _being prompted, or
instigated._ The word does not imply that the girl had been instructed
before she danced what to ask for, and St. Mark distinctly states
(Mark 6:24) that she went out from the banquet-hall to ask her mother
what use she was to make... [ Continue Reading ]
THE KING WAS SORRY. — It was the last struggle of conscience. In
that moment there must have come before his mind his past reverence
for the prophet, the joy which had for a time accompanied the
strivings of a better life, possibly the counsels of his
foster-brother Manaen. Had there been only the p... [ Continue Reading ]
HE SENT, AND BEHEADED JOHN IN THE PRISON. — Measured by the standard
of earthly greatness, it seems almost like a paradox to say of one who
had only been for a few short months a preacher of righteousness in
the wilderness of Judæa, as men have said of the kings and conquerors
of the world, “So pass... [ Continue Reading ]
SHE BROUGHT IT TO HER MOTHER. — A glance at the after-history of
those who were accomplices in the deed of blood will not be out of
place. Shortly after the new society, for which John had prepared the
way, had started upon its great career, when her brother, the young
Agrippa, had obtained the titl... [ Continue Reading ]
HIS DISCIPLES CAME. — Among those who thus transferred their
allegiance to their true Lord were, we must believe, the two whom John
had sent to Him from his prison. From this time they probably ceased
in Judæa to be a distinct community, though, as the instances of
Apollos (Acts 18:25) and the disci... [ Continue Reading ]
WHEN JESUS HEARD OF IT. — We may, I think reverently trace as the
motives of this withdrawal, (1) the strong personal emotion which the
death of one whom Jesus had known and loved could not fail to cause,
and (2) the wish to avoid being the centre of the popular excitement
which the death of John wa... [ Continue Reading ]
AND JESUS WENT FORTH. — The words imply that our Lord, from the
height to which He had withdrawn, saw the crowds drawing near, and
then, instead of retiring still further, went forward, moved by the
touch of pity which the sight of an eager and suffering multitude
never failed to rouse in Him (Matth... [ Continue Reading ]
AND WHEN IT WAS EVENING. — The narrative that follows is, in many
ways, one of the most important in the Gospel narratives. (1.) It is
the only miracle recorded by all the four Evangelists, and thus is
practically one of the chief data for interweaving the supplemental
narrative of St. John with tha... [ Continue Reading ]
HE COMMANDED THE MULTITUDE TO SIT DOWN ON THE GRASS. — This, too,
was done with a calm and orderly precision. They were to sit down in
companies of fifty or a hundred each, and thus the number of those who
were fed became a matter of easy calculation. St. Mark, with a vivid
picturesqueness, describe... [ Continue Reading ]
TWELVE BASKETS FULL. — The basket here is the _cophinus,_ a small
basket carried in the hand, and often used by travellers to hold their
food. So Juvenal (_Sat. iii._ 14) describes the Jews of Italy as
travelling with “their _cophinus_ and a wisp of hay,” by way of
pillow, as their only luggage. St.... [ Continue Reading ]
BESIDE WOMEN AND CHILDREN. — St. Matthew is the only Evangelist who
mentions their presence, but all the four use the word which
emphasises the fact that all the five thousand were _men._ As the
crowd had come in many cases from considerable distances, the women
and children were probably few in num... [ Continue Reading ]
STRAIGHTWAY JESUS CONSTRAINED HIS DISCIPLES. — St. John narrates
more fully the impression made by the miracle. It led those who
witnessed it to the conclusion that “this was the Prophet that
should come into the world.” They sought to seize Him and make Him a
king against His will (John 6:14), and... [ Continue Reading ]
TOSSED WITH WAVES. — Literally, _vexed,_ or _tormented.
_... [ Continue Reading ]
IN THE FOURTH WATCH OF THE NIGHT. — The Jews, since their conquest
by Pompeius, had adopted the Roman division of the night into four
watches, and this was accordingly between 3 A.M. and 6 A.M., in the
dimness of the early dawn. St. John adds, as from a personal
reminiscence, and as guarding against... [ Continue Reading ]
BE OF GOOD CHEER; IT IS I; BE NOT AFRAID. — The accuracy with which
the words are given by St. John, as well as by St. Matthew and St.
Mark, shows the impression which the incident made on the minds of the
disciples. To hear the familiar tones and the cheering words was
enough, even amid the howling... [ Continue Reading ]
AND PETER ANSWERED HIM. — The incident that follows is narrated by
St. Matthew only. It may have been one which the Apostle did not
willingly recall, and which was therefore omitted by his disciple St.
Mark and by his friend St. John, while St. Luke, writing as a
compiler, came into the circle of th... [ Continue Reading ]
WHEN HE SAW THE WIND BOISTEROUS. — The adjective is wanting in the
best MSS.
HE WAS AFRAID. — In the conflict between sight and faith, faith was
worsted, and with that came fear. The supernatural strength left him,
and the swimmer’s art would not now avail, and so the waters were
closing over him,... [ Continue Reading ]
THE WIND CEASED. — St. Mark adds that “they were above measure
astonished” at the sudden lull. For the most part these mountain
squalls died away gradually, and left the waves rough. Here the wind
ceased in a moment, and ceased as their Lord entered the boat. And he
gives a significant reason for th... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY THAT WERE IN THE SHIP. — The peculiar description was
apparently intended to distinguish them from Peter and the other
disciples, and probably indicates that they were the crew of the boat,
or some chance passengers, who had no previous knowledge of our Lord
and of His works. They too were led,... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY CAME INTO THE LAND OF GENNESARET. — The name, possibly a
corruption of the older Chinneroth (Numbers 34:11; Joshua 11:2; Joshua
12:3), belonged to the western shore of the lake to which it gave one
of its titles, and included Capernaum, to which, as we learn from John
6:17; John 6:24, the disci... [ Continue Reading ]
AND WHEN THE MEN OF THAT PLACE. — We have to remember, though not in
this place to discuss, the fact that it was here, in the synagogue of
Capernaum, that our Lord, meeting with those who had seen the miracle
of the loaves, led them into that higher region of spiritual truth
which the discourse of J... [ Continue Reading ]
THAT THEY MIGHT ONLY TOUCH THE HEM OF HIS GARMENT. — The wide-spread
belief may be noted as the natural result of the miracle already
recorded in Matthew 9:20, and as the touch implied the faith which was
the condition of receptivity, it was now also, as before, effective.... [ Continue Reading ]