Mark 6:26-30
Mark 6:26 (KJB)
And the king was exceeding sorry; yet for his oath's sake, and for their sakes
which sat with him, he would not reject her.
The king was very grieved at this request but his hands were tied and there was
no way he could get out of the oath since he made it in front of all his guests
and no doubting the guests were those who had high standing in the community
along with political officials. If he reneged on his oath, then the word would
spread that his word was worthless and he could never be trusted, so to save
face and keep his standing among his friends and associates, he gave the order
to have it done.
Mark 6:27 (KJB)
And immediately the king sent an executioner, and commanded his head to be
brought: and he went and beheaded him in the prison,
There was no one in the room who came to John’s defense, I guess because they
all feared that if they did, then their head would come off along with John’s.
Now John was not being held in this palace but at his palace in Machaerus which
was about four days journey from Tiberias where the birthday party was being
held. John had no trial or sentence on his head, this was outright murder at the
behest of a power hungry woman and a weak king. The executioner was a guardsman,
probably a Roman guard because without Rome’s approval, no one could be put to
death.
Mark 6:28 (KJB)
And brought his head in a charger, and gave it to the damsel: and the damsel
gave it to her mother.
Now apparently the time of the celebration of Herod’s birthday was past and the
head of John the Baptist was given to Herodias sometime after the festivities
were over. The word in the Greek for “damsel” denotes that Salome was an
unmarried, young woman. She had the same evil qualities as her mother did. Here
is another parallel between Elijah and John the Baptist. Elijah contended with
the evil queen Jezebel and John the Baptist contended with the evil queen
Herodias. Now that she had the head of John the Baptist, she probably thought
that there was smooth sailing ahead and that there was no chance of her becoming
a divorcee.
Mark 6:29 (KJB)
And when his disciples heard of it, they came and took up his corpse, and laid
it in a tomb.
Once John’s disciples heard that he was beheaded in the prison, they took his
headless body and had given it a proper burial. Like Paul, it seemed that since
John had no official charges against him except telling the truth, he was
allowed to have visitors and his disciples had visited him because he dispatched
disciples to speak to Jesus and ask what was going on in His ministry,
especially if He was the one they were waiting for or if they should look for
another. Josephus, the Jewish historian, wrote that Herod never gave out the
real reason why he had John beheaded. Instead he stated that his followers were
about to instigate an armed uprising. It was probably from this time forward
that the disciples of John became followers of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Mark 6:30 (KJB)
And the apostles gathered themselves together unto Jesus, and told him all
things, both what they had done, and what they had taught.
Now the twelve Apostles completed their missionary journey and it may have been
this missionary journey which caused Herod to believe that John the Baptist was
risen from the dead. In verses 14 to 29, Mark gives the circumstances
surrounding how John was put to death by Herod. It is placed here because to
understand why Herod was worried about John rising from the dead, details would
have to be known as to how he died. Then the apostles had come unto Jesus and
reported to Him their teachings and the works which accompanied those teachings.
Those works included miracles of healing and casting out devils from possessed
people.