Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary Matthew 14:5

"And when he would have put him to death, he feared the multitude, because they counted him as a prophet." — Matthew 14:5 (ASV)

Herod Antipas’s first wife was the daughter of Aretas (cf. 2 Corinthians 11:32), Arabian king of the Nabateans, whose land adjoined Perea. To divorce her in favor of Herodias was politically explosive. She was married to Herod Philip, Herod’s half-brother. John probably did not denounce him for divorcing his former wife, an action probably judged allowable, but for incestuously marrying his half-brother’s wife (Leviticus 18:16; Leviticus 20:21); and John probably kept on repeating his rebuke. This political criticism coupled with John’s messianic message (3:1– 12) made him a dangerous man to Herod’s security.