One Sin Leads to Another-Part 2

“And she, being before instructed of her mother, said, Give me here John Baptist’s head in a charger.  And the king was sorry: nevertheless, for the oath’s sake, and them which sat with him at meat, he commanded it to be given her.”  Matthew 14:8-9

In the last blog, we left John the Baptist sitting in a jail cell, and likely he had been there a long time.  To be locked up and lose one’s freedom to come and go would seem like a long time even if it was only for a day or two.  As John awaited judgment in his cell, Herodias was cooking up a plot to have him annihilated.  We’ve all heard the phrase that “women are the weaker sex”, but some women, when crossed, can become as vicious as a wild animal, and this was the case with Herodias.  Perhaps she was a Jezebel “wannabe”.

Herod’s birthday arrived, and a party was thrown for him.  Instead of inviting friends and relatives, he invited dignitaries and heads of state to his party.  The entertainment provided was the daughter of Herodias, whom historians name Salome, and she danced before the guests.  Herod was very pleased with her performance and desired to reward her for pleasing him and his guests.  He promised by an oath to give her whatever she asked for.  Not a good idea.  There are other men in scripture who made similar oaths and suffered greatly for it.  In Judges 11:29-40, Jephthah, one of Israel’s judges, made a vow to the LORD that if He would give him victory over the Ammonites, then he would sacrifice as a burnt offering whatever came forth to meet him when he returned home.  However, it was his own daughter whom he met first.  It is unclear in scripture as to whether she had to die or whether she had to remain unmarried and childless for the rest of her life.  Since God doesn’t require humans to be sacrificed, I would assume it was the latter which applied to her.

In ancient times, an oath was a serious matter.  However, since Herod did respect John, knowing how much Herodias hated John, one would think that Herod would have considered that before he made his vow.  Then again, perhaps he did want John to die and saw this as a way for that to happen but not get the direct blame.  Mark 6:24 tells us that the daughter went to her mother to find out what she should ask for.  It only took a split second for Herodias to decide:  ask for the head of John the Baptist in a charger, that is, have John beheaded, place his head on a platter, and bring it here.  One would have to be a very vindictive person with basically no compassion to be able to stomach the sight of a bloody, disembodied head.  Herod was sad or at least he acted like he was sad.  He had made this oath before all of his fellow dignitaries, and he couldn’t exactly go back on it.  People do some awful things just to save face.

We wonder why at least one or more of Herod’s guests didn’t call a halt to this process to give some time to investigate.  I suppose they were either afraid to speak up, were indifferent, hated John because he may have pointed out some of their sins, or they were just bloodthirsty.  Herod called for the executioner to go into the prison, chop off John’s head, put it on a platter, and bring it to the palace.  Mark 6:27 tells us that this was done immediately.  The party was likely still in progress when John’s head was brought in and presented to Herodias’ daughter.  I don’t know how she kept from vomiting or fainting.  She took it to her mother who was likely delighted to know that John was dead.  He was the first witness for Jesus Christ to be slain.

The majority of the people of the world are really not much different than Herod and Herodias, “…lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God” (II Timothy 3:4).  Most are not as bloodthirsty and violent as Herodias, but still, we are all sinners.  How many have “killed” another’s reputation by their gossip?  How many people commit a sin and then have to commit another sin to try and cover the first one?  The more that one sins, the easier that it becomes.  Eventually, hearts are hardened, and sin becomes a way of life.  No one is immune to being tempted by sin.  It is not the temptation that is the sin; rather it is giving into the temptation that is the sin.

John did get a decent burial by his own disciples.  We don’t know what happened to his head.  God knows where it is and will give John a new body and head in the resurrection.  Going back to the first two verses of Chapter 14, Herod desired to see Jesus whom he thought was John’s ghost, but there is no record in scripture that he ever made an effort to see Jesus.  He did see Him, though, when Jesus was brought to him on the orders of Pilate when Jesus was under arrest.  Herod was excited to see Jesus, now realizing that He wasn’t John, but he wasn’t really interested in Jesus’ message, but rather just wanted to see Him perform a miracle.  When Jesus remained silent, Herod mocked him and sent Him back to Pilate.  Herod’s life was one of one sin after another, a man who let others control him rather than living a life of integrity.  He is definitely not alone in that.