CHAPTER 6

Mr 6:1-6. CHRIST REJECTED AT NAZARETH. ( = Mt 13:54-58; Lu 4:16-30).

See on Lu 4:16-30.

Mr 6:7-13. MISSION OF THE TWELVE APOSTLES. ( = Mt 10:1, 5-15; Lu 9:1-6).

See on Mt 10:1; Mt 10:5-15.

Mr 6:14-29. HEROD THINKS JESUS A RESURRECTION OF THE MURDERED BAPTIST--ACCOUNT OF HIS DEATH. ( = Mt 14:1-12; Lu 9:7-9).

Herod's View of Christ (Mr 6:14-16).

14. And King Herod--that is, Herod Antipas, one of the three sons of Herod the Great, and own brother of Archelaus (Mt 2:22), who ruled as ethnarch over Galilee and Perea.
- heard of him; (for his name was spread abroad); and he said--"unto his servants" (Mt 14:2), his councillors or court ministers.
- That John the Baptist was risen from the dead--The murdered prophet haunted his guilty breast like a specter, and seemed to him alive again and clothed with unearthly powers, in the person of Jesus.

15. Others said, That it is Elias. And others, That it is a prophet, or as one of the prophets--(See on Mt 16:14).

16. But when Herod heard thereof, he said, It is John, whom I beheaded; he is risen from the dead--"Himself has risen"; as if the innocence and sanctity of his faithful reprover had not suffered that he should lie long dead.

Account of the Baptist's Imprisonment and Death (Mr 6:17-29).

17. For Herod himself had sent forth, and laid hold upon John, and bound him in prison--in the castle of Machærus, near the southern extremity of Herod's dominions, and adjoining the Dead Sea [JOSEPHUS, Antiquities, 18.5,2].
- for Herodias' sake--She was the granddaughter of Herod the Great.
- his brother Philip's wife--and therefore the niece of both brothers. This Philip, however, was not the tetrarch of that name mentioned in Lu 3:1 (see on Lu 3:1), but one whose distinctive name was "Herod Philip," another son of Herod the Great--who was disinherited by his father. Herod Antipas' own wife was the daughter of Aretas, king of Arabia; but he prevailed on Herodias, his half-brother Philip's wife, to forsake her husband and live with him, on condition, says JOSEPHUS [Antiquities, 18.5,1], that he should put away his own wife. This involved him afterwards in war with Aretas, who totally defeated him and destroyed his army, from the effects of which he was never able to recover himself.

18. For John had said unto Herod, It is not lawful for thee to have thy brother's wife--Noble fidelity! It was not lawful because Herod's wife and Herodias' husband were both living; and further, because the parties were within the forbidden degrees of consanguinity (see Le 20:21); Herodias being the daughter of Aristobulus, the brother of both Herod and Philip [JOSEPHUS, Antiquities, 18.5,4].

19. Therefore Herodias had a quarrel against him--rather, as in the Margin, "had a grudge against him." Probably she was too proud to speak to him; still less would she quarrel with him.
- and would have killed him; but she could not.

20. For Herod feared John--but, as BENGEL notes, John feared not Herod.
- knowing that he was a just man and an holy--Compare the case of Elijah with Ahab, after the murder of Naboth (1Ki 21:20).
- and observed him--rather, as in the Margin, "kept" or "saved him"; that is, from the wicked designs of Herodias, who had been watching for some pretext to get Herod entangled and committed to despatch him.
- and when he heard him, he did many things--many good things under the influence of the Baptist on his conscience.
- and heard him gladly--a striking statement this, for which we are indebted to our graphic Evangelist alone, illustrating the working of contrary principles in the slaves of passion. But this only shows how far Herodias must have wrought upon him, as Jezebel upon Ahab, that he should at length agree to what his awakened conscience kept him long from executing.

21. And when a convenient day--for the purposes of Herodias.
- was come, that Herod--rather, "A convenient day being come, when Herod."
- on his birthday, made a supper to his lords, high captains, and chief estates of Galilee--This graphic minuteness of detail adds much to the interest of the tragic narrative.

22. And when the daughter of the said Herodias--that is, her daughter by her proper husband, Herod Philip: Her name was Salome [JOSEPHUS, Antiquities, 18.5,4].
- came in and danced, and pleased Herod and them that sat with him, the king said unto the damsel--"the girl" (See on Mr 5:42).
- Ask of me whatsoever thou wilt, and I will give it thee.

23. And he--the king, so called, but only by courtesy (see on Mr 6:14).
- sware unto her Whatsoever thou shalt ask of me, unto the half of my kingdom--Those in whom passion and luxury have destroyed self-command will in a capricious moment say and do what in their cool moments they bitterly regret.

24. And she said, The head of John the Baptist--Abandoned women are more shameless and heartless than men. The Baptist's fidelity marred the pleasures of Herodias, and this was too good an opportunity of getting rid of him to let slip.

25. I will that thou give me by and by--rather, "at once."
- in a charger--large, flat trencher.
- the head of John the Baptist.

26. And the king was exceeding sorry--With his feelings regarding John, and the truths which so told upon his conscience from that preacher's lips, and after so often and carefully saving him from his paramour's rage, it must have been very galling to find himself at length entrapped by his own rash folly.
- yet for his oath's sake--See how men of no principle, but troublesome conscience, will stick at breaking a rash oath, while yielding to the commission of the worst crimes!
- and for their sakes which sat with him--under the influence of that false shame, which could not brook being thought to be troubled with religious or moral scruples. To how many has this proved a fatal snare!
- he would not reject her.

27. And immediately the king sent an executioner--one of the guards in attendance. The word is Roman, denoting one of the Imperial Guard.
- and commanded his head to be brought: and he went and beheaded him in the prison--after, it would seem, more than twelve months' imprisonment. Blessed martyr! Dark and cheerless was the end reserved for thee: but now thou hast thy Master's benediction, "Blessed is he whosoever shall not be offended in Me" (Mt 11:6), and hast found the life thou gavest away (Mt 10:39). But where are they in whose skirts is found thy blood?

28. And brought his head in a charger, and gave it to the damsel: and the damsel gave it to her mother--Herodias did not shed the blood of the stern reprover; she only got it done, and then gloated over it, as it streamed from the trunkless head.

29. And when his disciples heard of it--that is, the Baptist's own disciples.
- they came and took up his corpse, and laid it in a tomb--"and went and told Jesus" (Mt 14:12). If these disciples had, up to this time, stood apart from Him, as adherents of John (Mt 11:2), perhaps they now came to Jesus, not without some secret reflection on Him for His seeming neglect of their master; but perhaps, too, as orphans, to cast in their lot henceforth with the Lord's disciples. How Jesus felt, or what He said, on receiving this intelligence, is not recorded; but He of whom it was said, as He stood by the grave of His friend Lazarus, "Jesus wept," was not likely to receive such intelligence without deep emotion. And one reason why He might not be unwilling that a small body of John's disciples should cling to him to the last, might be to provide some attached friends who should do for his precious body, on a small scale, what was afterwards to be done for His own.

Mr 6:30-56. THE TWELVE ON THEIR RETURN, HAVING REPORTED THE SUCCESS OF THEIR MISSION, JESUS CROSSES THE SEA OF GALILEE WITH THEM, TEACHES THE PEOPLE, AND MIRACULOUSLY FEEDS THEM TO THE NUMBER OF FIVE THOUSAND--HE SENDS HIS DISCIPLES BY SHIP AGAIN TO THE WESTERN SIDE, WHILE HE HIMSELF RETURNS AFTERWARDS WALKING ON THE SEA--INCIDENTS ON LANDING. ( = Mt 14:13-36; Lu 9:10-17; Joh 6:1-24).

Here, for the first time, all the four streams of sacred text run parallel. The occasion and all the circumstances of this grand section are thus brought before us with a vividness quite remarkable.

Five Thousand Miraculously Fed (Mr 6:30-44).

30. And the apostles gathered themselves together--probably at Capernaum, on returning from their mission (Mr 6:7-13).
- and told him all things, both what they had done, and what they had taught--Observe the various reasons He had for crossing to the other side. First, Matthew (Mt 14:13) says, that "when Jesus heard" of the murder of His faithful forerunner--from those attached disciples of his who had taken up his body and laid it in a sepulchre (see on Mr 6:29) --"He departed by ship into a desert place apart"; either to avoid some apprehended consequences to Himself, arising from the Baptist's death (Mt 10:23), or more probably to be able to indulge in those feelings which that affecting event had doubtless awakened, and to which the bustle of the multitude around Him was very unfavorable. Next, since He must have heard the report of the Twelve with the deepest interest, and probably with something of the emotion which He experienced on the return of the Seventy (see on Lu 10:17-22), He sought privacy for undisturbed reflection on this begun preaching and progress of His kingdom. Once more, He was wearied with the multitude of "comers and goers"--depriving Him even of leisure enough to take His food--and wanted rest: "Come ye yourselves apart into a desert place, and rest a while," &c. Under the combined influence of all these considerations, our Lord sought this change.

32. And they departed into a desert place by ship privately--"over the Sea of Galilee, which is the Sea of Tiberias," says John (Joh 6:1), the only one of the Evangelists who so fully describes it; the others having written when their readers were supposed to know something of it, while the last wrote for those at a greater distance of time and place. This "desert place" is more definitely described by Luke (Lu 9:10) as "belonging to the city called Bethsaida." This must not be confounded with the town so called on the western side of the lake (see on Mt 11:21). This town lay on its northeastern side, near where the Jordan empties itself into it: in Gaulonitis, out of the dominions of Herod Antipas, and within the dominions of Philip the Tetrarch (Lu 3:1), who raised it from a village to a city, and called it Julias, in honor of Julia, the daughter of Augustus [JOSEPHUS, Antiquities, 18.2,1].

33. And the people--the multitudes.
- saw them departing, and many knew him--The true reading would seem to be: "And many saw them departing, and knew or recognized [them]."
- and ran afoot--Here, perhaps, it should be rendered "by land"--running round by the head of the lake, and taking one of the fords of the river, so as to meet Jesus, who was crossing with the Twelve by ship.
- thither out of all cities, and outwent them--got before them.
- and came together unto him--How exceedingly graphic is this! every touch of it betokening the presence of an eye-witness. John (Joh 6:3) says, that "Jesus went up into a mountain"--somewhere in that hilly range, the green tableland which skirts the eastern side of the lake.