Albert Barnes Commentary Matthew 14:9

"And the king was grieved; but for the sake of his oaths, and of them that sat at meat with him, he commanded it to be given;" — Matthew 14:9 (ASV)

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, that is, regarded him with respect and veneration. He had done some things in obedience to John's precepts (Mark 6:20).
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 men. 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 honour—this the foundation of duelling. 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 honour, as they call themselves, his companions, would consider him a coward, and laugh at him.

Those companions may be unprincipled scorners of the laws of God and man. And yet the duellist, against his own conscience, against the laws of God, against the good opinions 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 honour! This is the secret of duelling! This is 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 source of all youthful guilt. We are led along by others. We have not firmness enough to follow the teachings of a father, and of the law of God. Young men are afraid of being called mean and cowardly by the wicked; and they often sink low in woe, 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.