05.33. The Death of the Forerunner
33. — The Death of the Forerunner
"And when a convenient day was come, that Herod on his birthday made a supper to his lords, and the high captains, and the chief men of Galilee; and when the daughter of Herodias herself came in and danced, she pleased Herod and them that sat at meat with him; and the king said unto the damsel, Ask of me whatsoever thou wilt, and I will give it thee. And he sware unto her, Whatsoever thou shalt ask of me, I will give it thee, unto the half of my kingdom. And she went out and said unto her mother, What shall I ask? And she said, The head of John the Baptist. And she came in straightway with haste unto the king and asked, saying, I will that thou forthwith give me in a charger* the head of John the Baptist. And the king was exceeding sorry; but for the sake of his oaths, and of them that sat at meat, he would not reject her. And straightway the king sent forth a soldier of his guard, and commanded to bring his head: and he went and beheaded him in the prison, and brought his head in a charger*, and gave it to the damsel; and the damsel gave it to her mother. And when his disciples heard thereof, they came and took up his corpse, and laid it in a tomb." (Mark 6:21-29, R.V.).
{*"dish," J.N.D., McC.} The ways of God with men are altogether removed in their nature and character from human ideas. Though we so frequently forget the truth, it is impossible for us to foretell what the end of a man’s career upon the earth will be, even though that man is an honoured servant of God. The common opinion is that the last days of the pious and upright will be days of honourable peace and prosperity.
Such a thought may have given rise to the vain wish of Balaam, that consummate hypocrite, who loved the wages of unrighteousness, when he said, "Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his" (Numbers 23:10). But the prayer of the wicked is declared to be an abomination to the Lord, and certainly the end of Balaam the soothsayer was not peaceful, but violent, for he perished by the sword of the people whom he sought to curse (Numbers 31:8).
John, the prophet of righteousness, the harbinger of the Messiah, was an utter contrast to Balaam, yet his end was one to call for serious contemplation. The Lord said of him that he was the burning and shining lamp (John 5:35), He Himself being the true Light come into the world to light every man. Hence it might well have been expected that the Old Testament principle would have been applicable in John’s case, and that his earthly testimony would have closed in a climax of brilliance. Was it not said of old that "the path of the righteous is as the shining light that shineth more and more unto the perfect day" (Proverbs 4:18)? And yet the greatest of the prophets appears to end his life in dark disaster, and is put to a violent death. And of this gloomy close he himself seemed to have had some premonition, when he said of his Master, "He must increase, and I must decrease."
John saw the salvation of God like aged Simeon, and he was, as Simeon was not, the chosen herald of the Lamb of God; yet it was not John’s like the venerable father of Israel, to depart in peace — the portion of the perfect and upright man (Psalms 37:37). The crown of martyrdom was for John, not the hoary head, the earthly crown of glory, for ’he did not live out half his days. He was slain ignominiously by a woman, like Sisera the cursed Canaanite, and like Abimelech, the murderer of seventy of his brethren. Like Elijah, in whose spirit and power he came, John too was hated by a Jezebel. Elisha saw Elijah disappear in a blaze of transcendent glory, but the disciples of John had to save the bleeding and headless corpse of their master from the vultures and the dogs. The truth explaining the seemingly contradictory facts is that God was not then vindicating the righteous in the earth, as He will yet do (Psalms 58:10-11).
Thus John the Baptist, the last of the line of the prophets to Israel, was slain by Israel’s Edomite king in Galilee. But Jesus, who was pre-eminently the Prophet of Jehovah was crucified at Jerusalem, the city so favoured of God, yet notorious for killing the prophets and stoning those who were sent to her (Luke 13:33). Not but what Herod would fain have killed Jesus as well as John; so the Pharisees said (Luke 13:31), and we may well believe it. Only it was to Zion that Messiah offered Himself, and upon her would rest the guilt of His rejection and delivery to the Gentiles for crucifixion. The Deed of Darkness The scriptural narrative touches lightly and without emphatic force of language the tragic particulars of the Baptist’s death. The circumstances are eloquent in themselves of the terrible power of sin and Satan over the human heart.
Herod, as seen in the Gospels, was a weak-minded, impressionable man. Thus, the straight talk of the prophet impressed him. The presence of his lords and captains at his feast excited him. The dancing of the daughter of Herodias before him and his guests carried him away in a whirl of exuberant pleasure. Devoid of all self-control, he gave utterance to the most extravagant promises: "Ask of me whatsoever thou wilt, and I will give it thee," he said, adding no qualifications. And to show that this was not mere Eastern hyperbole, he confirmed his promise with oaths. The man who inherited a fourth of his father’s kingdom swore to the damsel, "Whatsoever thou shalt ask of me I will give it thee unto the half of my kingdom." In such a wild impetuous way do infatuated and inebriated men sometimes speak. So Ahasuerus more than once promised Esther to grant her petition up to the half of his kingdom (Esther 5:3; Esther 5:6; Esther 7:2), and Herod may have foolishly thought to emulate the great world-emperor in this boastful pledge.
Receiving such an unlimited promise, the damsel sought advice from her mother, who according to Eastern custom was not present at the banquet. Such consultation was in itself a proper step to take. Alas, that her mother could only counsel her for evil and not for good. It would seem that Herodias had plotted for this issue. She had set a trap for Herod and baited it with her own daughter. Knowing his disposition, she counted upon some such promise from the monarch when well in his cups. And now the "convenient" moment had come. The sweets of revenge being more to her than half Galilee, she instructed her daughter to ask for the head of John the Baptist.* {*Herodias spoke of John as ’the Baptist,’ showing that he was known generally by that title.} The depraved instincts of Herodias appear also in the daughter, for returning with haste to the king, she delivered the message of her mothers with additions of her own. On comparison of the words of the mother with those of the damsel, it would seem that it was the daughter who desired that the gruesome reward should be handed to her upon a dish in the presence of all the guests. She demanded also that the hideous gift might be made to her immediately, being fearful lest the weak-minded king might repent of his rash vow, and recall his promise. Give it mehere,she said with incredible savagery (Matthew 14:8); let me have it at once on a platter. A guardsman was accordingly sent there and then on the errand of execution, and in the presence of the assembly of rank and nobility, the shameless damsel received her chosen reward, and carried the trophy of blood on the dish to her mother as her share of the feast.
David took the head of Goliath, the uncircumcised enemy of Jehovah and His people, to Jerusalem, but that was an act of retributive justice, and a witness to the deliverance of the nation. The repulsive action of Herodias and her daughter was the gratification of their private revenge on John the Baptist because he had condemned Herodias’ uncle, Herod, whose wife was still living for having his niece, Herodias, whose husband was also alive.
Herod Sorry but not Repentant
Herod was a man of extreme but superficial feeling. He heard John gladly, though the prophet, denounced the sin of which he was guilty. We also read that he was sorry, "exceeding sorry,"* when he discovered to what a cruel outrage he had committed himself. So was the rich young ruler sorry to refuse the call of Jesus, but in neither the king nor the ruler did the sorrow work repentance (Luke 18:23; 2 Corinthians 7:8; 2 Corinthians 7:10). When Pilate sent Jesus to Herod he was glad, ’exceeding glad,’ to see Him (Luke 23:8). But the result of that interview was only to demonstrate the callous ferocity of his nature. Herod "with his soldiers set him at nought and mocked him, arraying him in a gorgeous robe and sending him back to Pilate." With all his sorrow, Herod slew the servant in Galilee, and with all his gladness he derided the Master at Jerusalem.
"We have in Herod the history of a soul that had his conscience reached by the word of God, but nothing more. We know well that there is such a thing as resisting the Holy Ghost on the part of unconverted men; it is the commonest thing possible where God’s word is known, though it is not only resisting the word, but the Spirit of God. Therefore it was that Stephen said, when addressing the Jews, "Ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye." The Holy Ghost so far uses the word as to touch the conscience, and whosoever refuses this resists both the word and Spirit of God.
"In Herod’s case it was only John’s testimony, but it was a mighty one, so far as the conviction of sin was concerned. John the Baptist did not pretend to bring in redemption; his main object was to point to One who was coming. But there was a mighty work produced through him in leading men to the sense that they could not do without the Lord.
"Thus he brought before men that all was ruined in the sight of God, and that, so far from things being prosperous or happy, the axe was lying at the root of the tree, judgment was at the door And so it was, only that, first of all, the judgment that man deserved fell, by grace, upon Christ. That was the unlooked-for form in which Divine judgment took place then — in the cross. It was a most real dealing of God, but it was a judgment for the time stayed from falling upon the guilty, which fell upon the guiltless Son of God, and thereby redemption is accomplished. The whole work of Christ for the church of God has come in during the time of man’s — Israel’s — being left by the Lord to Himself. It is the time of God’s long-suffering, the world being permitted to follow its own way in the rejection of the Gospel as much as in the crucifixion of Christ. This is what the world is doing now, and is soon to consummate, when judgment will come.
"Thus [in the case of Herod] conscience is shown in a man that felt what was right, and heard the word gladly for a time. But there was no repentance, no submission of his soul to the conviction that for a moment passed before his mind of what was true, just, and of God. The consequence was that circumstances were so managed by the enemy and permitted of God that Herod should evince the worthlessness of natural conscience, even as regards the very person whom he had owned as a prophet. But at any rate all was lost now, and a guilty hour at a banquet, where the desire to gratify one as bad or worse than himself ensnared his weakness and involved his word. There is the end of natural conscience. Herod orders what he would not have conceived it possible for him to do."* {*Exposition of the Gospel of Mark, by W. Kelly.} The Disciples of John The followers of the Baptist appear to have kept in touch with him during his imprisonment. Thus John sent from the prison two of his disciples to Jesus to ask Him, "Art thou he that should come, or look we for another?" And the messengers carried back to their master the answer of Jesus (Matthew 11:1-30). At the time of John’s execution they were near enough to the place of imprisonment to learn quickly the sad fate of their master, and were able to perform for him their last loving office. They took up the poor mutilated remains, and laid them in a tomb. The Lord who buried His servant Moses and took away Elijah provided honourable interment by reverent hands for John the Baptist. The disappearance of the body being noted by the servants of the king may have given rise to Herod’s surmise of John’s resurrection when he heard of the miracles of Jesus.
Moreover, the fact that the disciples of John carried away the body of their master may have given support to the false story circulated by the Jews to explain away the reported resurrection of Jesus (Matthew 28:13). There was no real analogy between the two cases, but the suggestion was plausible enough for those who wished to evade the truth. From the Gospel of Matthew we learn that these disciples, having buried their master, went and told Jesus (Matthew 14:12). May we not conclude that thenceforth they followed Him of whom John said, "Behold the Lamb of God"?
34. — Seeking a Short Seclusion
1914 39 "And the apostles gather themselves together unto Jesus and they told him all things whatsoever they had done and whatsoever they had taught. And he saith unto them, Come ye yourselves apart into a desert place, and rest a while. For there were many coming and going, and they had no leisure so much as to eat. And they went away in the boat to a desert place apart. Andthe peoplesaw them going, and many knewthem,and they ran there together on foot from all the cities. And he came forth and saw a great multitude, and he had compassion on them, because they were as sheep not having a shepherd: and he began to teach them many things" (Mark 6:30-34, R.V.). The execution of John the forerunner constituted an epoch in the ministry of the Blessed Lord. It showed that Israel would not receive divine testimony. From this point onwards He instructed His disciples plainly concerning His own sufferings and death which would follow at Jerusalem. In the appointed order of God John was constituted the pioneer of the Faithful and True Witness, bearing testimony to Him in a remarkable manner from his earliest history. Was it not through the son whom she had not seen that Elizabeth was first able to hail Mary as the mother of her Lord? (Luke 1:41-45). That light of witness which shone so feebly at the outset rose to the zenith of its full brilliance when John’s clarion call rang out for all who had ears to hear, "Behold the Lamb of God who taketh away the sin of the world." From that moment the lamp of prophecy waned, for John was soon delivered up to prison, and Jesus Himself came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God (Mark 1:14). And the preaching of Jesus continued up to the period to which we have arrived — some two years later.
During this lengthy period — for him — John had languished in confinement, waiting for the day to break and the shadows to flee away. The voice of the Messiah was heard in the land, throughout Judea and Galilee. When he himself had cried in the wilderness, multitudes had flocked to his preaching and to his baptism. Now One was speaking whose shoe-latchet he was not worthy to stoop down and unloose. Yet week after week, sabbath after sabbath, new moon and passover went by, and the kingdom was not restored to Israel. As we consider John’s long and dreary imprisonment, can we chide him as an impatient man because he sent disciples to Jesus, asking, Art thou he that should come, or look we for another? The Master did not upbraid him nor may we. The truth was that the lofty ideals of Messiah’s glorious kingdom were not to be realised in a human fashion, and since signs of immediate deliverance from the oppressor were wanting, many of the sons of Israel would on that account stumble at the Stone Jehovah was setting in Zion. The humble guise of the Messiah caused the thoughts of many hearts to be revealed, and the Baptist’s among others. Nevertheless the Lord said to the disciples of John, "Blessed is he whosoever shall find none occasion of stumbling in me" (Matthew 11:6).
It would seem that God in His inscrutable wisdom delayed the final removal of John from the earth until Messiah had delivered an adequate testimony to the people of Israel, and that testimony was seen to be unheeded and rejected. The martyrdom of John was in effect a public act, signifying that Israel was not ready to receive the One of whom John spake (Mark 9:12-13), just as the martyrdom of Stephen was the public act which proclaimed that the nation would not accept the crucified Messiah whom God had glorified and whom Stephen was preaching. The coincidence of the testimonies of John and Jesus, and the personal love Jesus had for the Baptist are special features of Matthew’s Gospel more than Mark. It is there noted how the news of his death affected Him. "Accomplishing in lowly service (however personally exalted above him) together with John, the testimony of God in the congregation, He felt Himself united in heart and in His work to him; for faithfulness in the midst of all evil binds hearts very closely together; and Jesus had condescended to take a place in which faithfulness was concerned (SeePsalms 40:9-10). On hearing therefore of John’s death He retired into a desert place." The kingdom which John proclaimed was not then to be set up in power, and he was therefore taken away, for the time of his public reward as a righteous prophet was deferred until the Son of man should come in His glory, and the people should say, "Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord." Thus the powers in authority wrought their evil will upon the Baptist, as they would shortly do upon Jesus. This the Lord knew, though His apostles did not. Hence we find that about this period the Lord began to withdraw Himself more from the populace, and to devote Himself to the instruction of the apostolic band in regard to the sufferings and death that awaited Him at Jerusalem. It was needful for them to know the mysteries of His person and work, and thus in measure to be equipped to become able ministers of the new covenant in the particular form in which it was soon to be introduced. A summary showing the connection referred to may be helpful. Comparing the first three Gospels, it will be observed that following immediately upon the account of the death of John the Baptist we have a record of the events named below:
(1) Jesus taking His disciples apart (Matthew 12:1-50;Mark 6:1-56;Luke 9:1-62).
(2) Jesus feeding the crowds who sought Him out, but leaving the apostles to cross the lake alone, though He eventually came to their deliverance in the storm (Matthew 14:1-35, Matthew 15:1-39;Mark 6:1-56, Mark 7:1-37;Luke 9:1-62).
(3) Jesus inquiring what men said of Him, and eliciting personal confession from the apostles (Matthew 16:1-28;Mark 8:1-38;Luke 9:1-62).
(4) Jesus speaking precisely of His sufferings and death at Jerusalem, and of the cross of discipleship.
While the general order of this sequence is found in the three Synoptists, the several events enumerated are brought into closest juxtaposition in the Gospel by Luke.
Gathering to Jesus The apostles at the bidding of their Master had gone in various directions in the service of the kingdom. That particular service being now completed they "gather themselves together unto Jesus." It is not stated that they were directed to do so. In a sense it was the natural thing to do. To assemble to Him was the instinctive act of their spirits. To whom else should they go? For them there was now but one Master upon the earth, and accordingly they spontaneously gathered themselves together to the Lord and told Him all their doings and all their sayings. The act was a simple, natural, obvious one historically; but it is often forgotten that the principle of it abides true, so long as there is service to Christ in exercise upon the earth. Are there deeds to be done, and words to be said in His Name in an unfriendly world? When the mission is ended let the report of the proceedings be made at headquarters: whether the necessity arises daily, weekly, or yearly, the principle underlying it is the same. The Master tells His servants what to do; the servants tell their Master what they have done. In a well-known promise, He Himself has shown that this practice was to be continued during the time of His absence. Laying down the general principle, He said, "Where two or three are gathered together unto my name, there am I in the midst" (Matthew 18:20).
Taken Aside On the one hand, we find that the apostles returned of their own accord to Jesus at Capernaum after their tour of service; on the other ’hand we find that the Lord upon their return took them aside for a season of privacy. This was the Lord’s own arrangement for their well-being as His servants. An Eastern house is open to any one who will enter, and meal-times form no exception to the freedom of general access which every one expects to be allowed. Jesus said therefore to the apostles, "Come ye yourselves apart into a desert place, and rest awhile. For there were many coming and going, and they had no leisure so much as to eat." They had no leisure, or rather they had no convenient opportunity to eat, on account of the incessant intrusions of the people. ’Leisure’ may be thought to imply absence of occupation, but the turn here seems to be that there was no suitable occasion even for meals, on account of persistent interruption.
It is well to note that the Great Master, who sent out these men into active enterprise, also led them apart to rest awhile. Not that their work was all finished. The harvest was as plenteous as ever: the labourers were still few. A world of need was around them. But the same voice that said on one occasion, "I must work the works of him that sent me while it is day, for the night cometh when no man can work" (John 9:4), also said to the same persons, "Come ye yourselves apart and rest awhile." Need it be said that He is the Lord, and that He will say to us ’Work’ or ’Rest,’ as He in His perfect wisdom sees best. It is ours to respond cheerfully and readily to either of these calls or to any.
"Strike, Thou the Master, we Thy keys,
The anthem of the distinies." In point of fact the apostles had been passing through a perilous experience. They had been preaching their first sermons, and performing their first miracles. They were therefore exposed to the deadly snare of the novice (1 Timothy 3:6). Is it extravagant to suppose that they, like the seventy shortly afterwards, were highly elated at the outward signs of what appeared to be their brilliant success? "The seventy returned with joy, saying, Lord, even the devils are subject to us in thy name" (Luke 10:7). But the Lord showed them how, by reason of their immature judgment, they had failed to grasp the true proportion of things. The endowments of grace far exceeded in value the equipment for service. Their names were written in heaven and not in the dust of the earth; and this enrolment for heavenly blessing was the fit subject for their rejoicing rather than their delegated power over unclean spirits. For a like reason, mayhap, the Lord said to the twelve, Come ye yourselves apart, and rest awhile. The rest would sober their spirits. The Lord had many things to say to His servants, but He could not say themtherewhere so many were coming and going. Communications that could not be made to the twelve on the seashore were made on a former occasion indoors (Matthew 13:36), but when the house became overcrowded privacy must be sought elsewhere. An individual might secure this privacy by entering into his closet, and barring his door (Matthew 6:6), but the circumstances were different in this case. There were a number of them, and the Lord turned aside to the solitudes of the wilderness with His little company.
Instances are not wanting in Scripture history which establish the necessity for seasons of retirement in the public life of men of God. In the presence of fellow-men, the manifold activities and responsibilities of mutual relationship tend to exclude the sense of the invisible and the eternal; but in privacy, faith, hope and love are quickened into exercise and strengthened for the day of conflict. It was by the river Chebar that the heavens were opened to Ezekiel the priest, and he saw visions of God. And it was while exiled in Patmos that John beheld the glorious Son of man among the seven golden candlesticks, and saw vistas of the future depicted in the gorgeous imagery of the Apocalypse. Moses found the "burning bush," not in. Egypt but in Horeb, and forty years of sheep-tending on the untenanted slopes of the mountain was a needful part of his training to become the leader and lawgiver of Israel. And so the Lord’s call, Come apart and rest awhile, was no new element in the method of divine training; but the call is the more impressive, coming as it does, from the lips of the assiduous Servant of God whom Mark portrays. Let it be the more carefully to be remembered that it is in ’seclusion that the deep-lying principles of divine life are deepened, strengthened and developed for days of activity. Apart from these seasons of silent and secret growth such fruit as may appear is likely to be unripe and untimely.
Shepherdless Sheep The Lord accordingly went away with His apostles in the boat, which, apparently, was one allotted to their use (cp.Mark 3:9;Mark 6:45; Mark 6:51). Their destination was an uninhabited district on the shores of the Sea of Galilee where the required privacy might very well be found. It was, as Luke tells us, near the town of Bethsaida (Luke 9:10). This was not the Bethsaida near Chorazin upon which the Lord’s woes were pronounced (Matthew 11:21), but is generally believed to be a town some miles to the eastward known as Bethsaida Julias.
They did not depart unnoticed. The people were too much alert. They had received many benefits through the mercy of the Master, and some seem to have kept watch upon His movements. The embarkation of the little band was observed, and many "knew Him." They recognised the Benefactor, and with characteristic impetuosity, and with some labour and fatigue, they followed on land for some ten or twelve miles the progress of the boat, being joined by many others from the neighbouring villages. Mark, with his customary graphic detail, records that the people "ran "’ — such was their earnestness; and, moreover, that they ran "afoot." And Jesus coming forth either from the boat on landing, or from the place of retirement having arrived first, saw this great multitude, and was filled with compassion. He knew their case, marked their eager and laborious pursuit of Him, appreciated their mute but eloquent prayer that He would do them some good, and as a consequence He was filled with compassion. W hat an heart of infinite capacity His was to be filled! How great the volume of pity whenHewasfilled! The multitude was a great one, but the Lord knew the burden and the need of each person present. God’s love was there below, and there is
"No creature, great or small,
Beyond His pity which embraceth all,
Nor any ocean rolls so vast that He
Forgets one wave of all that restless sea." But this occasion however was more than an illustration of His universal love. It exemplified Hisparticularconcern. In His general providence the heavenly Father feeds the birds of the air (Matthew 6:26). But this company was of more value in His eyes than they? They were not like the busily curious idlers in Capernaum from whose incessant coming and going the Lord had turned away. These persons had been seeking Him with some pains and inconvenience to themselves. They had travelled some miles to reach Him. They were now before Him, faint in body and weary in spirit. Had they not been as sheep going astray? Were they not now returning to the Shepherd and Bishop of their souls? And He was filled with compassion for them. Who was there in all the earth to care for these poor ones of the flock of Israel? A Gentile emperor at Rome ruled them with a rod of iron. An Edomite sat on the throne of David. Were Annas and Caiaphas high priests such as the people needed — men who would bear gently with the ignorant and with them that were out of the way (Hebrews 5:2)? There was no compassion in the hearts of the scribes and Pharisees who devoured widows’ houses a and loaded men’s shoulders with heavy burdens grievous to be borne. The grave had but just closed upon the mutilated corpse of the last of the line of the prophets of God. Truly Israel was without prophet, priest, or king. The people were as sheep not having a shepherd (Numbers 27:17;1 Kings 22:17;Ezekiel 34:5-6). All this the Lord saw very fully, and He was filled with compassion for them. Their own shepherds did not pity them (Zechariah 11:5), for they were but hirelings, and did not own the sheep, who were therefore afflicted because there was in point of fact no shepherd (Zechariah 10:2).
We may ask ourselves who was it there by the Galilean sea with these compassionate thoughts for Israel? Was not this Jehovah echoing what He spake of old through the prophet Isaiah? He was saying, Surely, these are my people; I will be their Saviour. He had come down to be afflicted in their affliction, to redeem them in His love and pity, to hear them and carry them as in the days of old (Isaiah 63:8-9). His arm was not shortened that it could not save; His ear was not heavy that it could not hear. The Lord’s heart of pent-up goodness needed but to find a channel, and it found a suitable channel in this indigent friendless people; so He "began to teach them many things." They were to Him the ’poor of the flock,’ and He began accordingly to feed them. He was Himself their living food, come down from heaven. As He said, "He that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst."
"Blessed Master, how lovely to have Thy character to rest on, to study, to feed on! Oh, may we feed so richly on it, that when we meet Thee, Thou mayest be to us a known Jesus, and the sympathies of Thy Spirit may be with what Thy Spirit has already matured in our hearts, and seeing Thee in glory as Thou art, all the inward springs and depths of Thy character may then be revealed to us."