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 ]