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Category: Group Study
Thread: Meanest Women of the Bible
Post Topic: Herodias
Post in Thread: #4
Previous: Marriage, Murder, Mayhem
Scripture: Mark 6:17-29
Key Verse:
Mark 6:25
At once the girl hurried in to the king with the request: “I want you to give me right now the head of John the Baptist on a platter.”
Observations
Context
- After Herod the Great died not long after Jesus was born, his kingdom was divided among his sons, two of which were Philip the Tetrarch, and Herod Antipas.
- Philip ruled in the northeast, including Caeasarea Philippi.
- Herod Antipas was given Galilee and Peraea.
- Herodias had first married Philip the Tetrarch, who was her uncle.
- She divorced Philip in order to marry Antipas.
- Antipas had to divorce his wife, a Nabatean princess.
- Jews were furious that their “king” had committed such atrocities in violation of Jewish law.
Events
- John the Baptist railed publicly against Herodias’ incestuous marriage to Herod Antipas.
- Angered, she convinced Herod Antipas to arrest John. But Herod refused to kill him because he was intrigued by John’s preaching.
- Herodias continued to plot John’s death. Antipas’ reluctance to execute John didn’t hinder her intention at all.
- Finally, she found her chance. A birthday party for her husband.
- She likely waited until Anitpas had had plenty to drink.
- She sent her daughter Salome to perform a seductive dance for the king.
- She so pleased him that Herod offered to fulfill any wish the girl requested, “up to half his kingdom.”
- Salome conferred with her mother, who whispered the evil instructions – Salome was to ask for the head of John the Baptist on a silver platter.
- Antipas had no choice. He’d promised the girl in front of many dignitaries.
- The executioner returned with John’s severed head, which he gave to Salome. She, in turn, presented it to Herodias.
Discussion
- What was the response of Herod’s guests when John’s head on a platter was brought out? End of dinner!
- Can you envision Herodias flashing a look at Herod Antipas as Salome handed her the platter? What would that look have conveyed?
Interpretation
Setting
John was killed at Machaerus, a fortress Herod the Great had built near the Dead Sea. This fortress was at the southern end of Perea, barely within the limits of the territory ruled by Herod Antipas.
Takeaways
- Herodias was so full of hate that she hounded Antipas until he relented and imprisoned John.
- Then she plotted and waited for the perfect time, as Mark 6:19 explains.
- Rather than listen to John’s rebuke and change her ways, she grew stone cold,
- Herod Antipas was missing a spine. He never should have arrested John in the first place, just to placate Herodias. He would have never been in such an awkward situation if he hadn’t gone halfway first.
Discussion
- Herodias’ grudge festered and grew, even while John languished in prison. Did she find happiness after her plot succeeded?
- What does holding a grudge do to the person who can’t let go?
- How do we let go even when the person that wronged us was not in the right?
Correlation
- Proverbs 21:19 – Better to live in a desert than with a quarrelsome and nagging wife.
- Proverbs 27:15-16 – A contentious and nagging wife is compared to a constant dripping on a rainy day. Trying to placate her is like trying to hold back the wind or to grab a handful of oil inside your fist.
Discussion
How can we deal with the drip, drip, drip of a nagging woman without being unloving?
Application
Generic Applications
What happened to Herodias?
- Josephus explains the end of Herodias. Antipas had cast off his first wife to marry her. Like Herodias, her father Aretas was also in the grudge business and knew how to get revenge. He declared war on Antipas and destroyed his army. Emperor Caligula was so incensed that he banished Herodias and Antipas to Gaul. They lost everything. See more: Herod Antipas Banished
- What we do know is found in Galatians 6:7: “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatsoever a man sows, this he will also reap.”
- That night of the party, it may have seemed like her evil won out. But this defiance did not go unnoticed by God.
John the Baptist’s Impact
- John didn’t deserve his fate. Like most prophets, he did not receive his reward on this side of heaven for his faithfulness.
- In Matthew 11:11-14, Jesus declares John to be the greatest of all the prophets born of women.
- John’s destiny was to be the voice in the wilderness prophesied in the Old Testament; the forerunner of Christ. Mission accomplished.
One small step in the wrong direction
- Antipas was actually intrigued by John before Herodias stepped in. She convinced him to take a step in the wrong direction (arrest John).
- Satan wants us to take those first small steps. Just a little wedge is all he’s looking for.
Group Discussion
- Does God always reward good and punish bad in this lifetime?
- Do you believe in Karma?
- We are fallen. We’ve all taken the first sinful step away from where God wants us. What techniques can we use to get back in line, and not let guilt move us farther away?
Bible study methodology adapted from Searching the Scriptures with permission from Tyndale House:
Swindoll, Charles, Searching the Scriptures. Tyndale House Publishers, 2016.
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