Church Fathers Commentary Matthew 14:2-5

"and said unto his servants, This is John the Baptist; he is risen from the dead; and therefore do these powers work in him. For Herod had laid hold on John, and bound him, and put him in prison for the sake of Herodias, his brother Philip`s wife. For John said unto him, It is not lawful for thee to have her. And when he would have put him to death, he feared the multitude, because they counted him as a prophet." — Matthew 14:2-5 (ASV)

Glossa Ordinaria: The Evangelist had previously shown the Pharisees speaking falsely against Christ's miracles and, just before this, his fellow citizens wondering at him, yet despising him. He now relates what opinion Herod had formed about Christ after hearing of his miracles, saying, At that time Herod the tetrarch heard the fame of Jesus.¹

St. John Chrysostom: It is not without reason that the Evangelist specifies the time here. He does so that you may understand the pride and carelessness of the tyrant, since he had not learned about the events concerning Christ at first, but only now, after a long time. Thus, those in authority, who are surrounded by great pomp, are slow to learn of these things because they do not pay them much attention.

St. Augustine of Hippo: Matthew says, At that time, not "on that day" or "in that same hour." Mark relates the same circumstances, but not in the same order. He places this event after the mission of the disciples to preach, though not implying that it necessarily follows in sequence. The same is true for Luke, who follows the same order as Mark.²

St. John Chrysostom: Observe what a great thing virtue is. Herod fears John even after he is dead and philosophizes about the resurrection, as it follows: And he saith to his servants, This is John the Baptist, he is risen from the dead, and therefore mighty works are wrought in him.

Rabanus Maurus: From this passage, we can learn how great the jealousy of the Jews was. Herod, a foreigner, declares here that John could have risen from the dead, without any witness that he had actually risen. Yet concerning Christ, whom the Prophets had foretold, the Jews preferred to believe that he had not risen but had been stolen away. This suggests that the Gentile heart is more inclined to belief than the Jewish heart.

St. Jerome: One of the ecclesiastical interpreters asks what caused Herod to think that John had risen from the dead. It is as if we had to account for the errors of a foreigner, or as if the heresy of metempsychosis—which teaches that souls pass through various bodies after a long period of years—was in any way supported by this passage. After all, the Lord was thirty years old when John was beheaded.

Rabanus Maurus: It is a common and correct thought regarding the power of the resurrection that the saints will have greater power after they have risen from the dead than they had while still weighed down by the weakness of the flesh. This is why Herod says, Therefore mighty works are wrought in him.

St. Augustine of Hippo: Luke's words are, John have I beheaded: who is he of whom I hear such things? (Luke 9:9). Since Luke has represented Herod as being in doubt, we should understand that he was later convinced by the common rumor. Alternatively, we should take what he says here to his servants as expressing a doubt, as his words can be interpreted in either of these ways.

Remigius of Auxerre: Someone might ask how it can be said here, At that time Herod heard, given that we read much earlier that Herod was dead and that, because of this, the Lord returned from Egypt. This question is answered if we remember that there were two Herods.

On the death of the first Herod, his son Archelaus succeeded him, and after ten years was exiled to Vienne in Gaul. Then Caesar Augustus commanded that the kingdom be divided into tetrarchies, and he gave three parts to the sons of Herod. Therefore, this Herod who beheaded John is the son of the elder Herod under whom the Lord was born, and this is confirmed by the Evangelist adding the title "the tetrarch."

Glossa Ordinaria: Having mentioned this speculation about John's resurrection, and since he had not yet spoken of his death, the Evangelist now returns to the topic and narrates how it happened.³

St. John Chrysostom: This account is not presented as a primary subject, because the Evangelist's only objective was to tell us about Christ, and nothing more, unless it furthered that goal. He says then, For Herod had seized John, and bound him.

St. Augustine of Hippo: Luke does not present this in the same order. Instead, when speaking of the Lord's baptism, he introduces an event that happened long afterward. For after John's saying about the Lord, that His fan is in His hand, he immediately adds this account, which, as we can gather from John's Gospel, did not follow immediately. For John's Gospel relates that after Jesus was baptized, he went into Galilee, and from there returned to Judea and baptized near the Jordan before John was cast into prison.⁴

But neither Matthew nor Mark placed John's imprisonment in the chronological order that their own writings suggest it took place. They also say that when John was handed over, the Lord went into Galilee. It is only after many things were done there, when the news of Christ reached Herod, that they relate what happened regarding the imprisonment and beheading of John.

The author shows the cause for which he had been cast into prison when he says, On account of Herodias his brother's wife. For John had said unto him, It is not lawful for thee to have her.

St. Jerome: Ancient history tells us that Philip, the son of Herod the Great and brother of this Herod, had married Herodias, the daughter of Aretas, king of the Arabs. Later, the father-in-law, having cause for a quarrel with his son-in-law, took his daughter away and, to spite her husband, gave her in marriage to his enemy, Herod.

John the Baptist, therefore, who came in the spirit and power of Elijah, rebuked Herod and Herodias with the same authority he would have used against Ahab and Jezebel. He did so because they had entered into an unlawful marriage, since it is unlawful for a man to take his brother's wife while the brother is still alive.

He preferred to put himself in danger with the king rather than neglect God's commandments by seeking the king's favor.

St. John Chrysostom: Yet he speaks not to the woman but to the husband, as he was the one principally responsible.

Glossa Ordinaria: And perhaps he observed the Jewish Law, according to which John forbade him this adultery.⁵

And desiring to kill him, he feared the people.

St. Jerome: He feared a disturbance among the people on John's account, because he knew that multitudes had been baptized by him in the Jordan. But he was overcome by his love for his wife, which had already caused him to neglect the commands of God.

Glossa Ordinaria: The fear of God corrects us, but the fear of man torments us without altering our will. Rather, it makes us more impatient to sin, precisely because it has held us back for a time from our indulgence.⁶

1. non occ.
2. De Cons. Ev., ii, 43
3. ord.
4. De Cons. Ev., ii, 44
5. ord.
6. ord.