Death of John the Baptist

Notes

Death of John the Baptist.

Notes

1. "The Herod who killed John the Baptist was not Herod the Great who built the temple and slew the children of Bethlehem. Herod Antipas was the son of Herod the Great by Malthace, a Samaritan. His father had originally destined him as his successor in the kingdom, but by the last change of his will, appointed him 'tetrarch of Galilee and Perea' (Matt. 14:1; Luke 3:19; 9:7; Acts 13:1; Luke 3:1.) He first married a daughter of Aretas, King of Arabia Petræa, but after some time he made overtures of marriage to Herodias, the wife of his half-brother, Herod Philip I, which she received favorably. Aretas, indignant at the insult offered to his daughter, found a pretext for invading the territory of Herod, and defeated him with great loss."—"Smith's Bible Dictionary." Art. Herod.

2. "The place of John's imprisonment was the castle of Machærus, a frontier fortress between Perea and Arabia, and where all the transactions of the following narrative took place."—Dr. Adam Clarke.

3. Sinners do not like to be reproved for their wrong-doing, but John dealt faithfully with sin wherever found. He did not spare even the king.

4. "Herod's birthday—either the day on which he was born or the day on which he began to reign; for both were termed birthdays."—Dr. Adam Clarke.

5. "The word 'charger' formerly signified a large dish, bowl, or platter."—Id.

⟦6.?⟧ "For the sake of thousands who in after years must pass from prison to death, John was to drink the cup of martyrdom. As the followers of Jesus should languish in lonely cells, or perish by the sword, the rack, or the fagot, apparently forsaken by God and man, what a stay to their hearts would be the thought that John the Baptist, to whose faithfulness Christ Himself had borne witness, had passed through a similar experience."

"Not Enoch, who was translated to heaven, not Elijah, who ascended in a chariot of fire, was greater or more honored than John the Baptist, who perished alone in the dungeon."—"Desire of Ages," pages 224, 225.