the Week of Proper 12 / Ordinary 17
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THE MESSAGE
Matthew 14:7
Bible Study Resources
Concordances:
- Nave'sDictionaries:
- AmericanEncyclopedias:
- CondensedParallel Translations
So he promised with an oath to give her whatever she asked.
Whereupon he promised with an oath, to giue her whatsoeuer she would aske.
Whereupon he promised with an oath to give her whatsoever she would ask.
so that he promised with an oath to give her whatever she might ask.
so much that he promised with an oath to give her whatever she asked.
So he promised with an oath to give her anything she wanted.
so much that he promised with an oath to give her whatever she asked.
Wherefore he promised with an othe, that he would giue her whatsoeuer she would aske.
so much that he promised with an oath to give her whatever she asked.
so much that he promised with an oath to give her whatever she asked.
so much that he promised with an oath to give to her whatever she asked.
so much that he swore to give her whatever she wanted.
that he promised with an oath to give her whatever she asked.
whereupon he promised with oath to give her whatsoever she should ask.
So he promised that he would give her anything she wanted.
He therefore swore to her with oaths, that he would give her anything that she asked.
that he promised her, "I swear that I will give you anything you ask for!"
Therefore he promised with an oath to give her whatever she asked.
So then he promised with an oath to give her whatever she should ask.
Whereupon he promised with an oath to give her whatsoever she should ask.
So he gave her his word with an oath to let her have whatever she might make request for.
Whereupon he promised with an oath to give her whatever she should ask.
so much that he promised with an oath to give her whatever she asked for.
wherefore with an oath he sware to her to give her whatever she should demand.
Therefore he swore to her by an oath, that he would give her whatsoever she might ask.
Wherfore he promised with an othe, that he woulde geue her whatsoeuer she woulde aske.
Whereupon he promised with an oath to give her whatsoever she should ask.
Whereupon he promised with an oath to give her whatever she should ask.
Whereupon he promised with an oath, to give her whatever she should ask. And being before instructed by her mother,
that with an oath he promised to give her whatever she asked.
Wherfor with an ooth he bihiyte to yyue to hir, what euere thing she hadde axid of hym.
Whereupon he promised with an oath to give her whatever she should ask.
Upon which he promised with an oath to give her whatever she would ask.
so much that he promised with an oath to give her whatever she asked.
Therefore he promised with an oath to give her whatever she might ask.
so he promised with a vow to give her anything she wanted.
He promised he would give her anything she asked.
so much that he promised on oath to grant her whatever she might ask.
wherefore, with an oath, he promised to give her, whatsoever she should ask for herself;
Whereupon he promised with an oath, to give her whatsoever she would ask of him.
so that he promised with an oath to give her whatever she might ask.
Wherfore he promised wt an oth that he wolde geve hir whatsoever she wolde axe.
whereupon with an oath he professed to give her whatever she might ask.
wherfore he promysed her with an ooth, yt he wolde geue her, what soeuer she wolde axe.
that he promised her upon oath, to give whatever she should ask;
Herod told her she could have anything she wanted because she had danced so well.
Contextual Overview
Bible Verse Review
from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge
Esther 5:3, Esther 5:6, Esther 7:2
Reciprocal: Leviticus 5:4 - to do evil Numbers 22:17 - and I will do Numbers 30:2 - swear Judges 11:35 - I cannot Judges 16:25 - their hearts Proverbs 16:30 - moving Mark 6:23 - he
Cross-References
Then this: Amraphel king of Shinar, Arioch king of Ellasar, Kedorlaomer king of Elam, and Tidal king of Goiim went off to war to fight Bera king of Sodom, Birsha king of Gomorrah, Shinab king of Admah, Shemeber king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela, that is, Zoar.
That's when the king of Sodom marched out with the king of Gomorrah, the king of Admah, the king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela, that is, Zoar. They drew up in battle formation against their enemies in the Valley of Siddim—against Kedorlaomer king of Elam, Tidal king of Goiim, Amraphel king of Shinar, and Arioch king of Ellasar, four kings against five.
That's how that desert spring got named "God-Alive-Sees-Me Spring." That spring is still there, between Kadesh and Bered.
Abraham traveled from there south to the Negev and settled down between Kadesh and Shur. While he was camping in Gerar, Abraham said of his wife Sarah, "She's my sister." So Abimelech, king of Gerar, sent for Sarah and took her. But God came to Abimelech in a dream that night and told him, "You're as good as dead—that woman you took, she's a married woman." Now Abimelech had not yet slept with her, hadn't so much as touched her. He said, "Master, would you kill an innocent man? Didn't he tell me, ‘She's my sister'? And didn't she herself say, ‘He's my brother'? I had no idea I was doing anything wrong when I did this." God said to him in the dream, "Yes, I know your intentions were pure, that's why I kept you from sinning against me; I was the one who kept you from going to bed with her. So now give the man's wife back to him. He's a prophet and will pray for you—pray for your life. If you don't give her back, know that it's certain death both for you and everyone in your family." Abimelech was up first thing in the morning. He called all his house servants together and told them the whole story. They were shocked. Then Abimelech called in Abraham and said, "What have you done to us? What have I ever done to you that you would bring on me and my kingdom this huge offense? What you've done to me ought never to have been done." Abimelech went on to Abraham, "Whatever were you thinking of when you did this thing?" Abraham said, "I just assumed that there was no fear of God in this place and that they'd kill me to get my wife. Besides, the truth is that she is my half sister; she's my father's daughter but not my mother's. When God sent me out as a wanderer from my father's home, I told her, ‘Do me a favor; wherever we go, tell people that I'm your brother.'" Then Abimelech gave Sarah back to Abraham, and along with her sent sheep and cattle and servants, both male and female. He said, "My land is open to you; live wherever you wish." And to Sarah he said, "I've given your brother a thousand pieces of silver—that clears you of even a shadow of suspicion before the eyes of the world. You're vindicated." Then Abraham prayed to God and God healed Abimelech, his wife and his maidservants, and they started having babies again. For God had shut down every womb in Abimelech's household on account of Sarah, Abraham's wife.
They presented themselves before Moses and Aaron and the whole congregation of the People of Israel in the Wilderness of Paran at Kadesh. They reported to the whole congregation and showed them the fruit of the land. Then they told the story of their trip: "We went to the land to which you sent us and, oh! It does flow with milk and honey! Just look at this fruit! The only thing is that the people who live there are fierce, their cities are huge and well fortified. Worse yet, we saw descendants of the giant Anak. Amalekites are spread out in the Negev; Hittites, Jebusites, and Amorites hold the hill country; and the Canaanites are established on the Mediterranean Sea and along the Jordan." Caleb interrupted, called for silence before Moses and said, "Let's go up and take the land—now. We can do it." But the others said, "We can't attack those people; they're way stronger than we are." They spread scary rumors among the People of Israel. They said, "We scouted out the land from one end to the other—it's a land that swallows people whole. Everybody we saw was huge. Why, we even saw the Nephilim giants (the Anak giants come from the Nephilim). Alongside them we felt like grasshoppers. And they looked down on us as if we were grasshoppers."
In the first month, the entire company of the People of Israel arrived in the Wilderness of Zin. The people stayed in Kadesh. Miriam died there, and she was buried.
Then Balaam spotted Amalek and delivered an oracle-message. He said, Amalek, you're in first place among nations right now, but you're going to come in last, ruined.
Then we set out from Horeb and headed for the Amorite hill country, going through that huge and frightening wilderness that you've had more than an eyeful of by now—all under the command of God , our God—and finally arrived at Kadesh Barnea. There I told you, "You've made it to the Amorite hill country that God , our God, is giving us. Look, God , your God, has placed this land as a gift before you. Go ahead and take it now. God , the God-of-Your-Fathers, promised it to you. Don't be afraid. Don't lose heart."
Gill's Notes on the Bible
Whereupon he promised with an oath,.... On account of her fine dancing, and being extremely pleased with it himself; and the more, that it gave such pleasure to the whole court: he first promised her,
to give her whatsoever she would ask; and then repeating it, he confirmed it with an oath; adding, as Mark says, that he would give it her, even "to the half of his kingdom": a way of speaking used by princes, when they give full power to persons to ask what they will of them; and to express their great munificence and liberality; signifying, let it be ever so great, or cost what it will, though as much as half a kingdom comes to, it shall be granted; see Esther 5:3. A very foolish promise, and a rash oath these, which were made upon such a consideration, as only a fine dance. If she, as Theophylact observes, had asked for his head, would he have given it her? And if he swore by his head, which was a common form of swearing with the Jews u, she very appropriately, though unjustly, as Dr. Lightfoot observes, answers to him; as you have swore by your head, give me John Baptist's head.
u Misn. Sanhedrim, c. 3. sect 2. T. Bab. Beracot, fol. 3. 1. Derech Eretz, c. 6. fol. 18. 2.
Barnes' Notes on the Bible
See also Mark 6:21-29. But when Herod’s birthday was come Kings were accustomed to observe the day of their birth with much pomp, and commonly, also, by giving a feast to their principal nobility. See Genesis 40:20. Mark adds that this birthday was kept by making a supper to his “lords, high captains, and chief estates in Galilee;” that is to the chief men in office. “High captains” means, in the original, commanders of thousands, or of a division of 1,000 people.
The daughter of Herodias - That is, “Salome,” her daughter by her former husband. This was a violation of all the rules of modesty and propriety. One great principle of all eastern nations is to keep their females from public view. For this purpose they are confined in a particular part of the house, called the harem. See the notes at Matthew 9:1-8. If they appear in public, it is always with a veil, so closely drawn that their faces cannot be seen. No modest woman would have appeared in this manner before the court, and it is probable, therefore, that she partook of the dissolute principles of her mother. It is also probable that the dance was one well known in Greece - the lascivious and wanton dance of the Ionics.
Matthew 14:7
He promised with an oath - This a foolish and wicked oath.
To please a wanton girl, the monarch called the eternal God to witness his willingness to give her half his kingdom, Mark 6:23. It seems, also, that he was willing to shed the holiest blood it contained. An oath like this it was not lawful to make, and it should have been broken. See Matthew 14:9.
Matthew 14:8
Being before instructed of her mother - Not before she danced, but afterward, and before she made the request of Herod.
See Mark 6:24. The only appearance of what was right in the whole transaction was her honoring her mother by consulting her, but in this she only intended to accomplish the purposes of wickedness more effectively.
In a charger - The original word means a large platter on which food is placed. We should have supposed that she would have been struck with abhorrence at such a direction from her mother; but she seems to have been gratified. John, by his faithfulness, had offended the whole family, and here was ample opportunity for an adulterous mother and her dissolute child to gratify their resentment. It was customary for princes to require the heads of persons ordered for execution to be brought to them. For this there were two reasons:
- To gratify their resentment - to feast their eyes on the proof that their enemy was dead; and,
- To ascertain the fact that the sentence had been executed.
There is a similar instance in Roman history of a woman requiring the head of an enemy to be brought to her. Agrippina, the mother of Nero, who was afterward emperor, sent an officer to put to death Lollia Paulina, who had been her rival for the imperial dignity. When Lollia’s head was brought to her, not knowing it at first, she examined it with her own hands until she perceived some particular feature by which the lady was distinguished.
Matthew 14:9
And the king was sorry - There might have been several reasons for this.
1. Herod had a high respect for John, and feared him. He knew that he was a holy man, and had “observed him,” Mark 6:20. In the margin (Mark) this is “kept him,” or “saved him.” In fact he had interposed and saved John from being put to death by Herodias, who had had a quarrel with John, and would have killed him but for Herod, Mark 6:19. Herod, though a bad man, had a respect and veneration for John as a holy and just man, as wicked people often will have.
2. John was in high repute among the people, and Herod might have been afraid that his murder might excite commotion.
3. Herod, though a wicked man, does not appear to have been insensible to some of the common principles of human nature. Here was a great and most manifest crime proposed - no less than the murder of an acknowledged prophet of the Lord. It was deliberate. It was to gratify the malice of a wicked woman. It was the price of a few moments’ entertainment. His conscience, though in feeble and dying accents, checked him. He would have preferred a request not so manifestly wicked, and that would not have involved him in so much difficulty.
For the oath’s sake - Herod felt that he was bound by this oath; but he was not. The oath should not have been taken: but, being taken, he could not be bound by it. No oath could justify a man in committing murder. The true principle is, that Herod was bound by a prior obligation - by the law of God - not to commit murder; and no act of his, be it an oath or anything else, could free him from that obligation.
And them which sat with him at meat - This was the strongest reason why Herod murdered John. He had not firmness enough to obey the law of God and to follow the dictates of conscience against the opinions of wicked people. He was afraid of the charge of cowardice and want of spirit; afraid of ridicule and the contempt of the wicked. This is the principle of the laws of honor; this the foundation of dwelling. It is not so much for his own sake that one man murders another in a duel, for the offence is often a mere trifle - it is a word, or look, that never would injure him. It is because the “men of honor,” as they call themselves, his companions, would consider him a coward and would laugh at him. Those companions may be unprincipled contemners of the laws of God and man; and yet the duellist, against his own conscience, against the laws of God, against the good opinion of the virtuous part of the world, and against the laws of his country, seeks by deadly aim to murder another merely to gratify his dissolute companions. And this is the law of honor! This is the secret of duelling! This the source of that remorse that settles in awful blackness, and that thunders damnation around the duellist in his dying hours! It should be added, this is the course of all youthful guilt. Young men are led along by others. They have not firmness enough to follow the teachings of a father and of the law of God. They are afraid of being called mean and cowardly by the wicked; and they often sink low in vice and crime, never to rise again.
At meat - That is, at supper. The word “meat,” at the time the Bible was translated, meant provisions of all kinds. It is now restricted to flesh, and does not convey a full idea of the original.
Matthew 14:11
And his head was brought in a charger ... - For the sake of these wicked people, the bloody offering - the head of the slaughtered prophet was brought and given as the reward to the daughter and mother.
What an offering to a woman! Josephus says of Herodias that “she was a woman full of ambition and envy, having a mighty influence on Herod, and able to persuade him to things he was not at all inclined to.” This is one of the many proofs that we have that the evangelists drew characters according to truth.
Matthew 14:12
And his disciples ... - The head was with Herodias.
The body, with pious care, they buried.
And went and told Jesus - This was done, probably, for the following reasons:
- It was an important event, and one particularly connected with the work of Jesus. John was his forerunner, and it was important that he should be made acquainted with his death.
- It is not unreasonable to suppose that in their affliction they came to him for consolation; nor is it improper in our affliction to follow their example, and go and tell Jesus.
- Their master had been slain by a cruel king. Jesus was engaged in the same cause, and they probably supposed that he was in danger. They therefore came to warn him of it, and he Matthew 14:13 sought a place of safety.
