Bible Study: Matthew — Chapter 14
My best friend and I have been on a journey for over a year to read the Bible and decipher it together. We only get to read a few chapters a week because our goal is to understand His word and what He is trying to tell us. Needless to say, it is my favorite day of the week.
Today, we dove into Matthew 14, here is our thoughts.
Mattew 14 — John the Baptist Beheaded
Here, we are told how John the Baptist died.
Between verse 14:1–11, the story goes that on Herods (a ruler) birthday, his wife's daughter, Salome, danced for the guests at his birthday party which pleased him so much that he promised he would give her whatever she asked for.
Verse 8 says, “promoted by her mother, Herodias, she said, give me here on a platter the head of John the Baptist.”
Because Salome asked for this in front of Herod’s peers, he felt he had to give her what she wanted even though he was “distressed” by this. But still he brought her the head of John the Baptist and she carried it to her mother.
Wait, what… Why does Salome want the head of John the Baptist, and why is she being prompted by her mother? To the blind eye, this doesn't make much sense. So, we dove deeper into this chapter.
Here is why this happened:
Herodias first and foremost is known to be a woman who was ambitious and greedy. Willingly to do anything to get what she wanted. She was married to her uncle Philip, and they had a daughter named Salome.
Philip had a brother named Herod (yes, the same ruler mentioned above). The story goes that Herod visited Philip and his family and it was love at first sight for Herod and Herodias. She saw how powerful Herod was and this was a chance for more power and wealth, for herself. She convinced Herod that they needed to divorce their significate others and marry each other and that is exactly what they did.
But Herodias brought the worst out of Herod. John the Baptist knew their story and stood up to them, saying they were living in sin. She hated John the Baptist, but Herod was fascinated by him. He liked to hear him speak and did not want to upset the people by killing a popular preacher — so he left him in prison.
BUT, on Herod’s birthday, her opportunity for revenge showed itself and she used her daughter to get what she wanted — the death of John the Baptist. Even though she knew Herod did not want to kill John, he would not embarrass himself by backing down on his offer to his stepdaughter to give her whatever she wanted, which included half of his kingdom!
He was willing to give his stepdaughter HALF OF HIS KINGDOM….
Unfortunately, Herodias resentment and anger would not be dissolved until John the Baptist was dead. So that was exactly what the daughter asked for.
True manipulation. Enough to lead her own daughter into sin as an accomplice in the murder of John the Baptist.
What are your thoughts on this? What are your thoughts regarding Herodias? Let me know in the comments!
