References (24)
At that time, Herod the tetrarch heard about Jesus.
[Herod Antipas was one of Herod the Great's three sons. He ruled over Galilee and Perea, the areas where Jesus ministered.]Herod [Antipas] had John arrested, bound in chains, and put in prison for the sake of Herodias, who was married to his brother Philip.
[According to the Jewish historian Josephus, John the Baptist was imprisoned in the basement of the fortress of Machaerus on the eastern side of the Dead Sea. He also writes that Herodias' daughter from her first marriage was named Salome.] Then Herod
[Antipas]' birthday came. Herodias' daughter
[Salome] danced before them
(in the middle in front of the entire party at the feast) and fascinated
(pleased, enchanted) Herod
King Herod
[Antipas] heard about Jesus, for his name had become widely known.
[The rumor of Jesus' activities, and now also of the twelve who preached and performed miracles in Jesus' name, had reached Herod Antipas, son of Herod the Great. Herod Antipas ruled over Galilee and Perea and lived in Tiberias, which he had built in 20 AD. Herod Antipas was not formally a king but a prince or "tetrarch," which originally designated a prince over a quarter of a kingdom. Mark, writing for the Roman world, probably in Rom, uses the word king, which is the more informal title for the rulers of the eastern part of the Roman Empire.] They said
[his officials put forward the general opinion]: “It is John the Baptist who has risen from the dead, that is why these powers are at work in him
[causing people to be healed and signs to occur].”
When Herod heard this, he said, "It is John, whom I had beheaded, who has risen from the dead."
For Herod had arrested John, bound him, and put him in prison for the sake of Herodias, the wife of his brother Philip. Herod had married her.
The reason was that John had said to him, "It is not lawful for you to have your brother's wife."
[Herodias was the unlawful wife of Herod Antipas. She was a granddaughter of Herod the Great. As a young woman, she was married off to her uncle Herod Philip in Rom. He should not be confused with the tetrarch Philip who ruled north of Galilee, see . Herodias and her first husband Philip had a daughter, Salome. During a visit to Rom, Herod Antipas became enamored with Herodias. She divorced, moved from Rom, and married Herod Antipas. He also divorced his wife, the daughter of Aretas, king of Arabia, which created political unrest in the area, leading to open war in 36 AD. John the Baptist had condemned their actions, as they violated the commandment in .]because Herod respected
(feared) John. He knew that John was a righteous and holy man and protected him
[from Herodias]. When he heard John
[speak], he was often amazed
(puzzled), but
[nevertheless] listened to him gladly
[when he was visiting the fortress of Machaerus, where John was probably imprisoned].
But then a suitable opportunity arose
[for Herodias to carry out her evil plans], when Herod, on his birthday, gave a banquet for his nobles
[his highest civil servants] and commanders
[the highest Roman military officers] and the leading men of
Galilee [other distinguished men who were not in his service].
Then [towards evening, when the guests had begun to get drunk], Herodias' daughter [Salome] came in. She danced and fascinated (pleased, enchanted) Herod and [the other male] guests [with her sensual dance], and the king said to the girl:
"Ask me now for whatever you want, and you shall have it."
Jesus warned them (repeatedly giving them the following explicit command): "Keep a watchful eye (discern, analyze) and beware of the leaven [twisted theology] of the Pharisees and the leaven [worldly laziness and evil politics] of Herod!"
[Leaven, or yeast in everyday language, is used throughout the Bible to refer to evil and false teachings. Leaven spreads slowly and quietly, affecting everything it comes into contact with. In the parallel passage in , it is clear that Jesus is referring to the distorted teachings of the Pharisees and Sadducees (including the hypocrisy of the Pharisees and the skepticism of the Sadducees toward the spiritual, see ; ). In , evil and wickedness are compared to leaven in contrast to purity and truth. Herod's leaven refers to Herod Antipas' arrogance and immorality, which led to the death of John the Baptist, among other things.]
[The normal way of indicating time in antiquity was to use the year of a king's reign. Our Western calendar was not developed until the 5th century AD, see notes on .] It was now the fifteenth year of the reign of Caesar
(Emperor) Tiberius.
[Tiberius was Roman emperor 14-37 AD. However, he was appointed co-regent of Emperor Augustus a few years earlier, around 12 AD. Most likely Luke counts from 19th of August 14 AD, when Augustus died, but it could be two to three years earlier or from the next New Year. Since there are several different calendars with different New Years, it is difficult to say exactly which year this corresponds to. Fifteen years into the reign of Tiberius, when John appears and shortly afterwards Jesus, should be around 28 AD plus or minus a year.] [At the same time as the Emperor in Rome, the following local leaders were active:] Pontius Pilate was the governor
(a verb: acted as leader and administrator – Gk. hegemoneuo) of
Judea [reigned 26-36 AD],
Herod
[Antipas] was a tetrarch
(a verb; literally: ‘rule over a quarter’ – Gk. tetrarcheo) i
Galilee [son of Herod the Great, reigned 4 BC-39 AD],
his brother Philip was tetrarch of
Iturea and
Trakonitis [son of Herod the Great, ruled north of Galileen 4 BC-34 AD],
Lysanias was the tetrarch of
Abilene.
[Little is known about this small area in the north around the city of Abilene, two miles northwest of Damascus.] But Herod the tetrarch, who had been repeatedly rebuked by John for his relationship with his brother's wife Herodias and for all the evil he had done,
Joanna, wife of Chuza, who was Herod [Antipas]' steward (responsible for family affairs – Gk. epitropos). [The gospel reached the highest echelons of society.]
Susanna
and many others [women who had been healed by Jesus]. These women supported them [Jesus and the disciples] with their own resources (possessions).
[The rumor of Jesus' activities, and now also of the twelve apostles who preached and performed miracles in Jesus' name, had reached Herod Antipas, son of Herod the Great. Herod Antipas ruled over Galilee and Perea and lived in Tiberias, which he had built in 20 AD. Herod Antipas was a prince or "tetrarch," which originally meant a prince over a quarter of a kingdom.] When Herod
[Antipas] the tetrarch heard about Jesus, he did not know what to believe. Some said that John
[the Baptist] had risen from the dead,
Herod himself said, "I beheaded John. Who then is this about whom I hear such things?" And he tried to see Jesus.
Just then some Pharisees [from Galilee or Perea, the regions over which Herod Antipas was ruler] came to him and said, "Get away from here immediately, because Herod wants to kill you."
As soon as he found out that he was from Herod's territory, he sent him to Herod, who was also in
Jerusalem during those days.
[Herod Antipas ruled over Galilee and Perea, the areas where Jesus ministered. He lived in Tiberias in Galilee. Both he and Pontius Pilate were in Jerusalem during Passover (and also Pentecost and the Feast of Tabernacles) when many people made pilgrimages to Jerusalem.]When Herod saw Jesus, he was very happy. He had long wanted to meet him, for he had heard much about him and now hoped to see him perform a sign. [Some spectacular miracle that proved he was sent by God. Herod had previously wanted to meet Jesus, see .]
Even Herod and his guards [his personal soldiers] despised him and mocked him by putting a magnificent robe on him before sending him back to Pilate.
That day Herod and Pilate became friends with each other; previously there had been enmity between them. [The reason for the enmity is not entirely known, but it may have had something to do with the massacre of Galileans mentioned in .]
Neither did Herod, for he sent him back to us. See, he has done nothing deserving of death.
Yes, this is truly what has happened among us
[David's prophecy has been fulfilled], here in this city
[Jerusalem]. Both Herod
[Antipas] and Pontius Pilate, together with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, united against your holy servant
(son) Jesus, whom you have anointed
[Barnabas and Saul had returned to Antioch after leaving the collected funds in Jerusalem, see Acts 11:29-30. They also brought with them Barnabas' cousin, John Mark, see ; . The Acts of the Apostles now shifts its focus from Peter and the church in Jerusalem to Saul (who will soon be called Paul) and his missionary journeys to the Gentiles.
About ten years earlier, the first Christians had come to Antioch because of the severe persecution in Jerusalem, see . Many had since come to faith, and Barnabas had been sent there to help, see . Due to the rapid growth, more teachers were needed, so Barnabas sought out Saul in Tarsus, see Acts 11:24-26. Eight years had passed since Saul's dramatic conversion on the road to Damascus. It is therefore in this large church in Antioch that people now gather for prayer and fasting.] But in
Antioch [in Syria], in the church that was there, there were
[active] prophets and teachers:
both
(Gk. te) Barnabas
[who had come from Jerusalem to help the new congregation, see ] and Simeon,
who was called Niger
[meaning black/dark in Latin and probably indicating that he was from North Africa – may have been the same Simeon who carried Jesus' cross, see ], and Lucius from
Cyrene [who was probably among the first to come to Antioch, see ],
[in addition] Manaen
who had grown up with
[who was foster brother/childhood friend of] the tetrarch Herod
[Herod Antipas, who had John the Baptist beheaded (), ruled over Galilee from 4-39 AD], and Saul.
[The grammar in this verse, the word for "and" (Gk. kai) between the first three and last two names, suggests that the first three were prophets and the last two were teachers. These five people from very different backgrounds formed a shared leadership in the church. Saul's Hebrew name was Saul, which means "asked for in prayer," but from onwards and throughout the rest of the New Testament, he is referred to by his Greek name Paul, which means "the little one."]
