Mark 6:14-29
“Notice what you notice.” Mark’s account of the death of John the Baptist…
Today I find myself wondering about Herodias, about her vendetta against John the Baptist. Earlier verses have John telling Herod, It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife (v. 18) and of Herod’s fear that Jesus was John’s “ghost” come back to life. What’s different for me today is in the following verse: For Herod himself had sent and had John arrested and bound in prison on account of Herodias, the wife of his brother Philip, because he had married her. (v. 17, NASB) My confusion stemmed from the words “on account of” (same translation in the NRSV); I had always interpreted that phrase as “in connection with”. But today I saw that the NKJV, RSV, and ESV all translate that phrase as “for the sake of”. To me, “for the sake of” has the implication of Herod responding to a request from Herodias. So I wondered at Herodias being the instigator even of John’s imprisonment, not just his death.
So today, having read a different interpretation, “for the sake of”, I saw more clearly a few verses that made me wonder more at Herodias as the mover, the one more playing the lead in this adulterous affair. The first is in verse 19, And Herodias had a grudge against him and wanted to put him to death. It’s a verse I’ve read many times before, but now with a different emphasis behind it. The next verse now also makes more sense to me in the light of this new understanding, …for Herod feared John, knowing that he was a righteous and holy man, and he kept him safe. When he heard him, he was greatly perplexed, and yet he heard him gladly. (v. 20) Herod kept John “safe”; in fact, it seems that John’s imprisonment served to keep Herod entertained.
Naturally Herodias’ vendetta comes home full force in the rest of the story when her daughter does exactly as Herodias had directed her and John is put to death.
I had to let this reading sit with me for a while before I more clearly understood what it was that had been confusing for me. And it took multiple reads of these same verses in multiple translations before I could unravel what I was thinking. That’s part of the beauty of having only a few verses a day to read. Mary Ann Duddy up in heaven must be smiling!!
Slava Bohu!