John the Baptist Goes to Prison

John the Baptist has shown remarkable humility and reverence toward Jesus and their respective roles in the kingdom, but true to his words that he must decrease while the Lord increases, John is arrested and imprisoned by Herod the tetrarch. Matthew and Mark both only comment that Jesus left for Galilee after John was put into prison but Luke gives a more detailed account of what happened, saying, “But Herod the Tetrarch, being reproved by him for Herodias his brother Philip’s wife, and for all the evils which Herod had done, added yet this above all, that he shut up John in prison.” JTC gives us some insight on the timeline and purpose behind John’s imprisonment saying, “Even before Jesus had returned to Galilee after His baptism and the forty days of solitude in the wilderness, John the Baptist was imprisoned by order of Herod Antipus, tetrarch of Galilee and Perea… The tetrarch had some regard for John, having found him to be a holy man; and many things had Herod done on the direct advice of the Baptist or because of the influence of the latter’s general teaching. Indeed, Herod had listened to John gladly, and had imprisoned him through a reluctant yielding to the importunities of Herodias, whom Herod claimed as a wife under cover of an illegal marriage. Herodias had been and legally was still the wife of Herod’s brother Philip, from whom she had never been lawfully divorced; and her pretended marriage to Herod Antipus was both adulterous and incestuous under Jewish law. The Baptist had fearlessly denounced this sinful association; to Herod he had said: ‘It is not lawful for thee to have thy brother’s wife.’ Though Herod might possibly have ignored this stern rebuke, or at least might have allowed it to pass without punishment, Herodias would not condone. It was she, not the tetrarch, who most hated John; she ‘had a quarrel against him,’ and succeeded in inducing Herod to have the Baptist seized and incarcerated as a step toward the consummation of her vengeful plan of having him put to death.”

There are a few points that I find interesting about this whole thing. First is that a man doesn’t just come and take his brother’s wife, especially when you consider that both Herod and Philip were Roman Rulers, that would have made a mess of the kingdom and perhaps wars against each other, because there is a large issue of pride here. Any kind of disturbance like that would have come to the attention of the emperor and even Roman rulers were afraid of displeasing the emperor. The second point is that Herodias sure seemed invested in making sure that she stayed Herod’s wife, so much so that she threw a fit against John until Herod gave in and had him arrested. A woman who was taken against her will from one man to another, might not act so enraged at the condemnation of their “marriage” because she condemns it as well, she just can’t say anything. The people fight for what they want and she wanted to be married to Herod, for whatever reason, and she fought against anyone trying to take it away from her.

It’s time for speculation on my part. The power or authority of Herod and Philip couldn’t have been equal, because if they were, Philip would have felt he had the ability to fight his brother for his wife. I’m going to take love out of the whole equation because when you get this high in power and act so cruelly, your motives usually aren’t based on love. Philip would have fought to keep Herodias just for the sake of his pride, it’s embarrassing to have your brother come and take your wife. Philip would have fought to keep Herodias as a power play against his brother, so show that he’s just as strong and powerful as he is. Philip would have fought to keep Herodias as a power play against her, putting his woman in her place. I’m not saying that any of these are right, but this is what I know human nature, especially male nature, to be. Any of these reasons would have been enough for Philip to fight for his wife, and like I said, it couldn’t have been that big of a fight though because of the repercussions from the emperor. So I think this whole transaction went down without that much fanfare because any fight would have brought problems to that area from Rome. This indicates to me that Philip was the less powerful ruler. Another indication of this is how adamant Herodias was that she stay with Herod. There was some very powerful reason that she desired to be Herod’s wife and not Philip’s, indicating again that Herod was the more powerful ruler. That whole situation is a mess.

John’s boldness in speaking out against Herod’s “marriage” to Herodias was incredibly brave, as Herod Antipus could be just as cruel as his father, the one who slaughtered all those babies to kill the Messiah. Roman rulers were exceptionally horrific, surely John knew the consequences when he spoke out, and sure enough, he went to prison for it. I can’t imagine much worse than an ancient roman prison, how terrible. And there John sits for 9-24 months, but he still accomplishes much from prison, as we will see later.

Jesus was also apparently upset by John’s imprisonment as he left for Galilee right after John’s arrest, as Matthew and Mark seem to imply. Matthew tells us “and leaving Nazareth, he came and dwelt in Capernum, which is upon the sea coast, in the borders of Zabulon and Nephthalim: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet saying, The land of Zabulon, and the land of Nephthalim, by the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles; the people which sat in darkness saw great light; and to them which say in the region and shadow of death light is sprung up.” I didn’t even think twice about this but the IM gives some really interesting insight into what this means saying, “In Matthew 4:13-16, Matthew was referring to Isaiah 9:1-2. Jesus Christ spent the majority of His life and ministry in the villages of Galilee- places like Capernum, Nain, Nazzreth, and Bethsaida. During Old Testament times this area was the inheritance of the tribes of Zebulon and Naphtali. Over the centuries, numerous battles were waged to secure control over this strategic region. Some have suggested that because so many people lost their lives in battle here, Isaiah referred to the people of this region as ‘them which say in the region and shadow of death.’ Isaiah prophesied that in this death-stricken land a ‘great light’ would spring up. That light is Jesus Christ, the Light of the World. Matthew wanted his readers to know that the Savior’s ministry in the land of Galilee was a fulfillment of this messianic prophecy.”