Herodias, the Wife of Herod

Herodias was an evil, evil woman.  Of course, being married to Herod just added to her evilness.  This is one of those women that we study, knowing that she is an example of how not to behave. 

This story is divided into four sections: 

1. 1. John the Baptist came preparing the way for Jesus.  He was teaching repentance of sin. 
2. 2.  Herod got angry at John for calling him out about his and his family's sin.  Herod imprisoned John the Baptist. 
3. 3. Herod had a party, and at the request of his wife Herodias, he had John the Baptist beheaded. 
4. 4. Jesus' ministry was such that Herod thought that John the Baptist had come back to life. 

Section 1: 

Luke 3:1-18 

Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod was tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip was tetrarch of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias was tetrarch of Abilene, in the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John, the son of Zacharias, in the wilderness. And he came into all the district around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins; as it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet, 

“The voice of one crying in the wilderness, ‘Make ready the way of the Lord, Make His paths straight. ‘Every ravine will be filled, And every mountain and hill will be brought low; The crooked will become straight, And the rough roads smooth; And all flesh will see the salvation of God.’” 

So he began saying to the crowds who were going out to be baptized by him, “You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Therefore bear fruits in keeping with repentance, and do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham for our father,’ for I say to you that from these stones God is able to raise up children to Abraham.  Indeed the axe is already laid at the root of the trees; so every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.” 

And the crowds were questioning him, saying, “Then what shall we do?”  And he would answer and say to them, “The man who has two tunics is to share with him who has none; and he who has food is to do likewise.” And some tax collectors also came to be baptized, and they said to him, “Teacher, what shall we do?”  And he said to them, “Collect no more than what you have been ordered to.”  Some soldiers were questioning him, saying, “And what about us, what shall we do?” And he said to them, “Do not take money from anyone by force, or accuse anyone falsely, and be content with your wages.” 

Now while the people were in a state of expectation and all were wondering in their hearts about John, as to whether he was the Christ, John answered and said to them all, “As for me, I baptize you with water; but One is coming who is mightier than I, and I am not fit to untie the thong of His sandals; He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.  His winnowing fork is in His hand to thoroughly clear His threshing floor, and to gather the wheat into His barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.” 

So with many other exhortations he preached the gospel to the people. 

I love when God uses the Scripture to set the exact place in time that the event happened.  That is what He did at the beginning of the passage.  People can trace the history of this event to when it happened.  This is just another way that God shows us His Word is true. 

John the Baptist's message was simple: repent, and bear fruit keeping with repentance.  How will you know if people around you are truly saved? You will know because of the fruit that they show.  My actions should show that I am a Christian.   

Section 2: 

John's message was a widespread message, but some exhortations were given specifically to Herod and his family. 

Matthew 14:3-5 

For when Herod had John arrested, he bound him and put him in prison because of Herodias, the wife of his brother Philip. For John had been saying to him, “It is not lawful for you to have her.” Although Herod wanted to put him to death, he feared the crowd, because they regarded John as a prophet. 

Mark 6:17-20 

For Herod himself had sent and had John arrested and bound in prison on account of Herodias, the wife of his brother Philip, because he had married her. For John had been saying to Herod, “It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife.” Herodias had a grudge against him and wanted to put him to death and could not do so; for Herod was afraid of John, knowing that he was a righteous and holy man, and he kept him safe. And when he heard him, he was very perplexed; but he used to enjoy listening to him. 

Herod feared the crowd.  He was also afraid of John.  Herod used to enjoy listening to John's message of repentance.  But, Herod's family was so sinful that he could not get away from the sin.  Be careful about spending time with habitual sinners.  You will begin to find it easier to sin. 

The result of John the Baptist's exhortations to Herod and his family are shown in Luke 3:19-20. 

But when Herod the tetrarch was reprimanded by him because of Herodias, his brother’s wife, and because of all the wicked things which Herod had done,  Herod also added this to them all: he locked John up in prison. 

Section 3: 

Matthew 14:6-7 

But when Herod’s birthday came, the daughter of Herodias danced before them and pleased Herod, so much that he promised with an oath to give her whatever she asked. 

Mark 6:21-23 

A strategic day came when Herod on his birthday gave a banquet for his lords and military commanders and the leading men of Galilee; and when the daughter of Herodias herself came in and danced, she pleased Herod and his dinner guests; and the king said to the girl, “Ask me for whatever you want and I will give it to you.” And he swore to her, “Whatever you ask of me, I will give it to you; up to half of my kingdom.” 

This is a culmination of sin.  Herod has his daughter dance for him and all the military commanders and leaders.  I am sure that there was alcohol involved in this situation, and I am sure that Herod's daughter was not dancing the waltz.  Herod was so pleased by what he saw from his daughter that he was willing to give her anything she wanted. 

Matthew 14:8 

Having been prompted by her mother, she said, “Give me here on a platter the head of John the Baptist.” 

Mark 6:24-25 

And she went out and said to her mother, “What shall I ask for?” And she said, “The head of John the Baptist.” Immediately she came in a hurry to the king and asked, saying, “I want you to give me at once the head of John the Baptist on a platter.” 

Herodias, the wife of Herod, is the one who asked for John the Baptist to be beheaded.  There is so much evil in these few verses.  First of all, Herodias' daughter gets offered a large prize.  Instead of celebrating her daughter, Herodias uses the prize to get what she wants.  Second of all, Herodias wanted revenge for her sin being called out by John the Baptist.  She thought that she could kill John the Baptist and take away the person that called her sin out.  She thought that she could continue to live in sin, with no consequence. 

Hebrews 10:30 

For we know Him who said, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay.” And again, “The Lord will judge His people.” 

Deuteronomy 32:35-36 

‘Vengeance is Mine, and retribution, In due time their foot will slip; For the day of their calamity is near, And the impending things are hastening upon them.’ For the Lord will vindicate His people, And will have compassion on His servants, When He sees that their strength is gone, And there is none remaining, bond or free. 

Mark 6:26-28 

And although the king was very sorry, yet because of his oaths and because of his dinner guests, he was unwilling to refuse her. Immediately the king sent an executioner and commanded him to bring back his head. And he went and had him beheaded in the prison, and brought his head on a platter, and gave it to the girl; and the girl gave it to her mother. 

Herodias may have gotten her vindication in the moment, but the Lord will get His vindication for all of time. 

Section 4: 

Mark 6:12-16 

They went out and preached that men should repent.  And they were casting out many demons and were anointing with oil many sick people and healing them. 

And King Herod heard of it, for His name had become well known; and people were saying, “John the Baptist has risen from the dead, and that is why these miraculous powers are at work in Him.” But others were saying, “He is Elijah.” And others were saying, “He is a prophet, like one of the prophets of old.” But when Herod heard of it, he kept saying, “John, whom I beheaded, has risen!” 

"Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, Copyright © 1960,1962,1963,1968,1971,1972,1973,1975,1977,1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission." 

John the Baptist came to pave the way for Jesus.  Once Jesus started His ministry, He became very well known.  Herod hear of Jesus through word of mouth, but Herod thought that Jesus was John the Baptist, whom he had killed.   

And of course, we know that Herod played a part in the crucifixion of Jesus.  You can read that for yourself in Luke 23:1-25. 

As I said in the beginning, we are not studying about Herodias to become like her.  Instead, we are studying about her to see how not to act.  We have to surround ourselves with people that demonstrate fruit of repentance.  We have to be careful to not surround ourselves with people who live habitually in sin.  We will end up sinning more and more, and finding it easier to accept sin.  Herodias was that person.  She thought she was above the vengeance of God.  She thought that she could kill John the Baptist to get rid of the person that called out her sin, instead of dealing with her sin.  She was selfish, and used her daughter in such a way that caused even more sin.  Oh sisters, let's not be like Herodias.  Let us surround ourselves with people who strive to do the right thing, who show the fruit of repentance in their lives. 

The Woman of Samaria

The Woman of Samaria. We can learn so many things from her story. We could spend four weeks in this chapter of Scripture.  It is so rich and full of wisdom. I know it is a lot of verses to read, but please take the time right now to do so. 

John 4:1-42 

Therefore when the Lord knew that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John (although Jesus Himself was not baptizing, but His disciples were), He left Judea and went away again into Galilee. And He had to pass through Samaria. So He came to a city of Samaria called Sychar, near the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph; and Jacob’s well was there. So Jesus, being wearied from His journey, was sitting thus by the well. It was about the sixth hour. 

There came a woman of Samaria to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give Me a drink.” For His disciples had gone away into the city to buy food. Therefore the Samaritan woman said to Him, “How is it that You, being a Jew, ask me for a drink since I am a Samaritan woman?” (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.) Jesus answered and said to her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.” She said to Him, “Sir, You have nothing to draw with and the well is deep; where then do You get that living water? You are not greater than our father Jacob, are You, who gave us the well, and drank of it himself and his sons and his cattle?” Jesus answered and said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again; but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life.” 

The woman said to Him, “Sir, give me this water, so I will not be thirsty nor come all the way here to draw.” He said to her, “Go, call your husband and come here.” The woman answered and said, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You have correctly said, ‘I have no husband’; for you have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband; this you have said truly.” The woman said to Him, “Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet. Our fathers worshiped in this mountain, and you people say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship.” Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe Me, an hour is coming when neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers. God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” The woman said to Him, “I know that Messiah is coming (He who is called Christ); when that One comes, He will declare all things to us.” Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am He.” 

At this point His disciples came, and they were amazed that He had been speaking with a woman, yet no one said, “What do You seek?” or, “Why do You speak with her?” So the woman left her water pot, and went into the city and said to the men, “Come, see a man who told me all the things that I have done; this is not the Christ, is it?” They went out of the city, and were coming to Him. 

Meanwhile the disciples were urging Him, saying, “Rabbi, eat.” But He said to them, “I have food to eat that you do not know about.” So the disciples were saying to one another, “No one brought Him anything to eat, did he?” Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to accomplish His work. Do you not say, ‘There are yet four months, and then comes the harvest’? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look on the fields, that they are white for harvest. Already he who reaps is receiving wages and is gathering fruit for life eternal; so that he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together. For in this case the saying is true, ‘One sows and another reaps.’ I sent you to reap that for which you have not labored; others have labored and you have entered into their labor.” 

From that city many of the Samaritans believed in Him because of the word of the woman who testified, “He told me all the things that I have done.” So when the Samaritans came to Jesus, they were asking Him to stay with them; and He stayed there two days. Many more believed because of His word; and they were saying to the woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves and know that this One is indeed the Savior of the world.” 

New American Standard Bible (NASB) 

Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation 

  

My husband is a cattle farmer.  One of the ponds in the pasture is spring fed.  It is a very large pond, full of fish, turtles, snakes, and who knows what else.  It is the source of water for the cows in that pasture.  We have never had to worry about those cows having water, because that pond is always refilling itself.  This past year, a levee broke at that pond.  As quick as you could blink, the pond was empty.  All of that fresh water was gone.  Jeremy had to have someone come with a bulldozer and repair the levee. Once that levee was repaired, the pond began to refill itself.  As long as there are walls to hold the water, this pond will always be full.  There is a spring under the ground that is always flowing with water.  Even if the levee breaks again, we can repair the wall and still have a pond full of fresh water. 

Jesus talked to the woman of Samaria about the water that springs up to eternal life.  Just like the water in our pond, it will never run dry. Once we accept Jesus Christ as our Savior, we will always be full of the Holy Spirit.  He will never, ever leave us.  He will be with us until the day we go to Heaven, and then we get to live forever in His presence.  But, just as Jesus was explaining to the Samaritan woman, we have to drink the water.  We have to accept Jesus.  We have to take that step of faith. When we do, we will always have Him. We will always be full of that fresh water of salvation, and we will never thirst for Jesus again. 

Once Jesus explained that to the woman, she began to have a taste for who Jesus was, but she still didn't quite get it.  She thought that He was a prophet. She was confused because of her background as a Samaritan. The Samaritan woman said to Jesus in John that for the history of the world, people have worshipped God where she was.  But now, the Jews say that you have to go to Jerusalem to worship God. She had a bad taste in her mouth for all of this.  Jesus tells her that there will come a time – and that time is now – when it doesn’t matter where you worship.  1 Timothy 2:8 says, "Therefore I want the men in every place to pray, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and dissension."  Jesus also tells her that it does matter who you worship.  He tells her that she worships what she doesn't know – the false gods, the idols, and God the Father. To understand more about the Samaritans and their idol worship, look at 2 Kings 17:24-41. 

There is a lot we can learn about true worship from this passage of Scripture.  True worship is not just singing songs. It is an inward act of the soul, loving God so much that you are willing to do anything to show that love.  I love to worship through music.  I always have. But I have to remind myself that music is not the only way to worship. 

Jesus shared the truth with the woman of Samaria. She then took the truth and shared it with the men in the village.  The Scripture tells us that many were saved because of the woman at the well.  There is a lesson to be learned here about the harvest.  Even if the language of the Scripture is confusing in those specific verses, the message is clear.  We are to share the gospel of Jesus Christ.  We are to tell His truth to all men.  I do have a desire to share Jesus with others.  That is one of the main reasons why I write this blog.  I want others to know Jesus, and to know how to discern the truth of His Word for themselves.  I hope that you take advantage of the opportunities around you to share the truth of His Word to others.   

There is so much more in this story that we could talk about.  But for me, the two main lessons were about true worship and about sharing Jesus with the world.  I want to worship God with all of my heart and soul, and I want others to know about Him and how wonderful He is.  I hope you have those same feelings.  I hope that you can take the message of Jesus with you every day, everywhere you go.