Why herodias head of john baptist

Why did Herodias want the head of John the Baptist? Who demanded head of John Baptiste? What did God say about John the Baptist? What was Jesus main message? What is Jesus most important teaching? What is the good news that Jesus preached? However, Herodias chose to go with her husband to exile. Herodias was a woman of political ambition. No one knows, but there is no denying the fact that Herodias was a powerful, influential woman in the early Roman empire.

Kraemer, Ross S. Christian Theological Strategy? Schalit, Abraham. Skolnik, 2nd ed. Walsh, J. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. The tetrarch explains Jesus' special powers with the assumption that John has been restored to life in the person of Jesus. That is a somewhat strange form of reincarnation, but whatever the case, it is especially important that Herod makes a connection between Jesus and John. What he hears about Jesus reminds him of John.

Jesus himself and Herod nowhere meet in the Gospel of Mark. Herod knows him only from hearing about him, and Jesus warns his followers in about 'the yeast of Herod'. This refers to his delusions. In passing, the reader has now also heard that John, who was active at the beginning of Mark and who was arrested shortly after the baptism of Jesus, was executed in the meantime.

That brings us to part B. The remark in about the beheading of John is an introduction to a long flashback, stretching to the end of the story in A flashback is a representation within a chronologically ordered story of events that took place in the past but was not narrated at that time.

This storytelling technique often occurs in contemporary literature and in movies. Modern people are well acquainted with it. The original readers of Mark may have been surprised because within the whole gospel, this is the only example of a series of events that are not listed in their chronological order. The flashback offered here includes the events between the arrest of John and his funeral.

In Mark , these events are not arranged chronologically, from the past to the narrative present, but from the narrative present to the past. We can show this as follows:.

The criticism of John is rendered in direct speech. He told Antipas: 'It is not lawful for you to have your brother's wife' Mk This critical remark is the reason for his arrest.

John was arrested and imprisoned 'on account of Herodias, his brother Philip's wife, because Herod had married her' Moreover, his brother actually a half-brother was still alive.

That fact is the real problem. In addition, the marriage of Antipas with Herodias contradicts a ban on incest in Leviticus 'You shall not take your brother's wife' see also Lv Also, according to some texts from the Dead Sea Scrolls, a marriage of an uncle with his niece is regarded as being incestuous Damascus Document ; 11 QTemple Scroll The narrator typifies Herod Antipas as a double-minded character.

He is wedged between his partner Herodias and John. As a tetrarch, he is the only one who can kill John, but he does not want to do that, while Herodias wants to kill him but she cannot do that Mk In her eyes, Herod is a weakling because he did not put John to death immediately.

According to , Herod fears John and protects him from Herodias, knowing that he is a righteous and holy man, and he likes to listen to what his prisoner has to say, even though John's words are confusing him greatly. The tetrarch listens to John without going to behave differently because of his wise instructions. In section C, Herodias gains more control over the course of events. This part takes place in one day: On the birthday of Antipas, which also becomes the day of the death of his prisoner.

In this passage, the characters are located at various quarters within the residence of the tetrarch. Antipas whose birthday it is sits in the dining room, together with his courtiers, his officers and the leaders of Galilee. Herodias is in a different room, and John is still in prison. Herodias' daughter walks up and down between the dining room and her mother.

A soldier of the guard is sent to the prison from the dining room and he comes back with the head of John. An intriguing question is of who is actually responsible for the murder of John. More precisely: Which of the three Herod, Antipas and Salome is the most guilty, who is less and who is the least guilty?

Many male exegetes blame the two women, while Herod remains out of range. This view finds little or no support in Mark's story. Herod himself says that he beheaded John Without any trial, Herod gives the order for his execution Acting rashly, he swears that he will give Salome whatever she wishes, even half of his kingdom.

Salome's bizarre wish makes him sad. Apparently, he is still standing on John's side, but he wants to keep his promise to the girl and does want to not break his oath in the presence of his guests. However, all that is no reason to speak Herod free. Of the three, he is the most guilty of the death of John. Herodias is often seen as the evil genius. For quite some time, she considered John as a nuisance, of whom she wanted to get rid of Yet, it is not true that she has staged everything that happens at her husband's birthday party.

Only when her daughter comes to ask what she will ask of Herod, Herodias sees her chance and answers: 'The head of John the Baptist'. She is a consistent character who strives for the same thing throughout the whole story. She cannot be completely cleared of guilt, but her guilt is less than her husband's guilt, because only he has the power to make come true what Herodias wants.

Finally, the young girl. Was she trying to seduce Herod with her graceful movements and her charms? Many exegetes assume that this is indeed the case. This verb means that her performance appeals to Herod and his messmates, that they are enthusiastic about it and that she pleases her audience with her dance. That she would have performed an exciting erotic dance, with which she would have tried to seduce the spectators, is an idea that more likely has sprung from the fantasy of male exegetes than from Mark's text.

In addition, the dancer is a little girl of around 12 years of age, and not a seductive young woman. The little girl is going to ask her mother how she should respond to Herod's offer. Apparently, she still sticks to the rule that her mother's will is law. Herodias, in turn, knows very well what she wants: The head of John. The daughter repeats this wish when she stands before Herod again, but she adds a few words Mk : 'I want you to give me at once the head of John the Baptist on a platter '.

Is her intention that the head of John should be served during the meal on a platter as a kind of dish? By formulating her request in this way, she makes her request immediately ridiculous. However, Herod does not seem to hear this ironic undertone and readily accepts her request.

The daughter gets the head of John, but she passes it on to her mother, who is the inventor of this gift. Salome is not completely innocent, but she is the one of the three who is the least guilty. Her fault is that she only wants what her mother wants, and perhaps even that is not the case, because she distorts what her mother has whispered to her, so that the whole idea becomes completely ridiculous. Not her dance but the oath of Herod causes the fatal outcome of the story.

The function of within Mark's gospel. The story about the end of John's life is more than a long digression in Mark's gospel. Why did he include this story in his book?

What does it add to his sketch of Jesus' ministry? To start with, there are connections with what Mark tells us about John in He lets John himself declare that after him, someone else will come who is more powerful than he is His leather belt indicates that John and not Jesus! As Elijah prepares the way for God, so does John do it for Jesus They meet only once Already in , John is arrested, and only when he is dead and buried do we hear what happened after his arrest. In Mark , Jesus only plays an indirect role.

The starting point is that all kinds of dubious ideas are circulating about him. Here, we find ideas that also occur in There are still more connections with the rest of Mark's gospel. John and Jesus are both in favour of the indissolubility of marriage ; They both collide with political leaders. In John the Baptist, the tension revives that often occurs in Biblical texts between the prophet and the king.

This may be the background to the fact that the narrator calls Antipas 'king' in Jesus also criticises the tetrarch , who is the ruler of the area in which Jesus is active in the first part of Mark. His message about God's kingdom includes criticism of the status quo, which is dominated by tyrants. Of them, he says that they oppress their own people and abuse their power The story in functions not only as a flashback but also as a form of foreshadowing to what will happen to Jesus himself later in the gospel.

The murder of John already suggests that a second murder will take place, and that is indeed the case in the passion narrative. There are many similarities between and Chapters Karakolis Here are some examples:. Herodias and the Jewish leaders must wait for a favourable opportunity to carry out their intention to get rid of their enemy ; , Both John and Jesus are put in prison and bound ; ; In both cases, the death sentence is passed by a political figure Herod or Pilate who has the power to do so but does not actually want to do it.

Initially, Herod and Pilate are convinced of the innocence of the prisoner, but under the pressure of others, they suddenly give the order to kill the prisoner. The execution is carried out by one or more soldiers ; A skull identified as the head of John the Baptist is on display at the Church of San Silvestro in Capite in Rome, built to house artifacts from the Roman catacombs.

The 13th-century cathedral in Amiens, France was built specifically to house the head of John the Baptist, which a Crusader supposedly brought back from Constantinople in In addition, museums and monasteries in Istanbul, Egypt and Montenegro, among other locations, claim to have other body parts belonging to John the Baptist, including his right arm and right hand with which he baptized Jesus.

To St John. June