Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary Mark 6:18

"For John said unto Herod, It is not lawful for thee to have thy brother`s wife." — Mark 6:18 (ASV)

Mark’s gospel has two “passion narratives”: the passion of John and the passion of the Messiah. Mark devotes fourteen verses to the death of John but only five to his ministry (1:4–8). John the Baptist had been arrested by Herod, who put him in prison because he had denounced Herod’s adulterous union with Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife and his own niece. The Mosaic Law prohibited marriage to one’s brother’s wife while the brother was still alive (cf. Leviticus 18:16). Josephus (a Jewish historian of the first century) emphasizes the political motives behind the action of Herod against John. In order to marry Herodias, Herod had to rid himself of the daughter of King Aretas IV, whose kingdom lay just to the east of Perea. The situation there was already sensitive, and John’s preaching had the potential to cause real trouble. Mark, on the other hand, emphasizes the moral considerations; John did not hesitate to incur the wrath of Herod in his service to God.