Mark 6:14-29

Herod and Jesus. The End of John the Baptist. Wellhausen, J. Weiss, and Klostermann would begin a new period with this section the period of constant wandering, in which Jesus is mostly outside Galilee, e.g. in the districts of Tyre and Sidon (Mark 7:24), Decapolis (Mark 7:31), Bethsaida (Mark 8:22), Cæ sarea Philippi (Mark 8:27). The restless journeying across the lake, and the avoidance of Galilee, would be explained by the fact that the suspicions of Herod have been aroused. This characterisation of the period is correct and the hint as to its cause is also probable (cf. Luke 13:32). Mark 6:14 seems to lead up to a reference to the hostility of Herod which is forgotten in the eagerness of the writer to tell the story of John's end. But Mk. does not make a sharp division here. The story of Herod and John the Baptist is intended to fill up the interval during which the apostles are away from Jesus (cf. the insertion of the discussion with the scribes (Mark 3:22) between the two parts of the story of the attempt made by the relatives of Jesus to interfere with His work). The historical worth of this section is doubtful. Lk., who seems to have fuller and more accurate information concerning Herod, corrects the saying of Mark 6:16 (see Luke 9:9) and omits the account of John's end. It is unlikely that Herod thought John to have risen again. The beheading of John is narrated in a popular form, not without inaccuracies and improbabilities. In true popular style Mk. speaks of Herod Antipas as king (Mark 6:14) instead of using the technical term tetrarch (Herod was ruler of Galilee and Peræ a). Philip was the husband of Salome not of Herodias. Salome was probably married already, and could no longer be described as a damsel, at the time of her supposed dance. Josephus assigns a political not a personal motive for the execution of John. The whole narrative is coloured perhaps by the story of Jezebel and Elijah, and certainly by the book of Esther (cf. Mark 6:23 with Esther 7:2). However, John's rebuke of Herod based on Leviticus 18:16; Leviticus 18:20 f., and the consequent enmity of Herodias may well be historical, and it is possible to combine Mk. and Josephus (see p. 654, and Schü rer, Hist. of Jewish People, I. ii. 21f.).

[Mark 6:26. reject: E. A. Abbott suggests break faith with her (Johannine Vocabulary, p. 322); this is accepted by Moulton and Milligan, Vocabulary, p. 12, and by Souter, Pocket Lexicon, p. 7. Field, Notes, p. 30, suggests disappoint. A. S. P.]