For Herod himself had sent forth and laid hold upon John, and bound him in prison for Herodias' sake, his brother Philip's wife: for he had married her.
All Commentaries on Mark 6:17 Go To Mark 6
Cornelius a Lapide
AD 1637
For Herod himself had sent and apprehended John , and bound him in prison for the sake of Herodias, the wife of Philip his brother, because he had married her. This Herod was not the Great, who was called Herod of Ascalon, who slew the infants of Bethlehem, but his Song of Solomon , surnamed Antipas, who arrayed Christ in a white robe and mocked Him. He it was who beheaded John the Baptist.
You will say, Herod Antipas was only a tetrarch, for so Matthew calls him ( Matthew 14:1). Why, then, does Mark here call him a king? I reply, he calls him king because he was the chief potentate in his tetrarchy, equal to a king in his kingdom. Wherefore he assumed the name of king, and it was given him by others, even by S. Matthew himself ( Matthew 14:9).
In prison. Josephus adds that John was incarcerated in the fortress of Macher, on the confines of Galilee and Arabia, where he was beheaded. This prison was made famous by S. John , for the place, says Philo (lib. de Joseph.), was not so much a prison as a school of discipline. Seneca says (in Consolat. ad Albinam), "When Socrates entered his prison, he was about to deprive the very place of ignominy, for that could not seem to be a prison where Socrates was." Whence S. Cyprian (lib4 , epist1 , ad Martyr.) says, "0 blessed prison, which your presence has made illustrious: 0 darkness, brighter than the sun himself, where the temples of God have been!" The same (lib3 , epist25) says concerning the chains of the martyrs, "They are ornaments, not bonds. They do not link the feet to infamy, but glorify them for the crown." Wherefore S. Ambrose says (lib. de Joseph. c5) "Let not the innocent be distressed when they are the victims of false accusations. God visits His own, even in their prison. Then, therefore, is there the more help where is the greater peril. And what marvel is it if God visit those who are in prison, who speaks of Himself as shut up with His people in prison? I was in prison, He says, and ye visited Me not" (Matt. xxv44).
On account of Herodias. This Herodias was the daughter of Aristobulus, Herod"s brother. Herod, then, had married her who was his niece, being his brother"s daughter. So Josephus. Herodias, therefore, was the sister of Herod Agrippa, who killed James , and who was himself slain by an angel (Acts xii.). Wherefore Rufinus, and following him S. Jerome, Eusebius, and Bede, are in error, who say that she was a daughter of Aretas, a king of the Arabians. For they confound Herod"s first wife, who was the daughter of Aretas, with Herodias, his second wife. For Herod repudiated the daughter of Aretas to marry Herodias. For this reason Aretas made war upon him, and cut his army to pieces, as Josephus relates (lib. xviii. Antiq. c7), adding, "It was an opinion among the Jews that Herod"s army was destroyed by the just vengeance of God because of John the Baptist, a holy Prayer of Manasseh , whom he had slain."
His brother"s wife. You will say that Josephus (lib. xviii. Ant. c, 7 , 9) says that she was the wife of another Herod, who was the brother of Philip and Herod Antipas. I reply that Josephus is in error in this matter, as well as in many others; unless you choose to suppose that Herodias was previously married to Herod Antipas. Josephus falls into another mistake in the same place, when he says that John was put to death not because of Herodias, but because Herod was afraid lest, on account of the concourse of the people to John , an insurrection might occur.
Whether Herodias married Herod whilst her husband Philip was alive, or after his death, commentators are not agreed. But it is certain that either way it was an illicit marriage, and involved incest, to which was added adultery, if Philip were still alive. For by Leviticus (xviii16) it is forbidden for a brother to marry his brother"s wife if there were offspring of the marriage, and Philip had left this dancing daughter, whom Josepbus calls Salome. But I say that Herod did marry Herodias during his brother"s lifetime, and against his will, and so committed a threefold sin,—the first, adultery; the second, incest; the third, violence. This is proved: 1st Because Josephus expressly asserts it (lib. xviii. Ant. c7). 2nd Because the incestuous marriage took place about the fifteenth year of Tiberius Cæsar; for that was when John began to preach, as is plain from Luke 3:1; but Philip died in the twentieth year of Tiberius, as Josephus affirms (xviii6), where he praises him for his justice and modesty3Because the Fathers everywhere accuse Herod of adultery, because he took away his wife from his brother, who was of a meek disposition, whilst he was yet living. Thus Herod took advantage of his gentleness.
