Herod's Challenge

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“And Herodias had a grudge against him (John the Baptist) and wanted to put him to death. But she could not, for Herod feared John, knowing he was a righteous and holy man, and he kept him safe. When he heard him, he was greatly perplexed, and yet he heard him gladly.”      Mark 6:19-20

It’s been a few weeks since this scripture caught my eye, particularly, “When he heard him, he was greatly perplexed, and yet he heard him gladly.” There seems to me to be a contradiction in being perplexed when listening, but being glad at the same time. To be perplexed is to be tangled up in thoughts. I can’t imagine being glad to be tangled up in thoughts.

And so I began to think about it, and the person of Herod. Who was this guy?

Herod, sometimes called King Herod, was Herod Antipas, son of Herod the Great. He was a first century Client Ruler (a ruler installed and kept in power by a larger, dominant imperial power) of Galilee from 4 BC to 39 AD. He was successful in transforming the region of Galilee by promoting urbanization and by building major government centers to tighten Roman control. Major Galilean settlements were Sepphoris, Tiberias, Capernaum, and Nazareth. The Sea of Galilee was on the eastern border of Galilee with the city of Tiberias, the capital and named by Herod after the Roman Emperor, being on the western edge of the Sea of Galilee. Herod was of Idumaean (Edomite) descent. 

From this information I know that he was born into power, and on further research I see that he was considered “the fox” by being cunning and politically astute, as Jesus Himself, in Luke 13:31, calls Herod. Herod was also impulsive and morally weak as evidenced in his marriage to his brother’s wife, and his impulsive and prideful statement to his step-daughter Salome that resulted in the death of John the Baptist, Matthew 14:1-2. 

So this is all of some interest but he lived so long ago and why does who Herod was even matter to me?

It matters to me because I know that all scripture is useful to us to teach and guide us through life. So when I screeched to a halt in my reading when I read that Herod was perplexed and yet glad, I paid attention to that pause. Why was I pausing there? The words that Herod was listening to and perplexed him yet were gladly heard by him were words from John the Baptist.

 Who was John the Baptist and what were the words he was speaking?

“There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him. He was not the light but came to bear witness about the light. The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world.”            John 1:6-9

And we know that Jesus is that true light. As my footnotes state in my ESV study bible for John 1:4-5, “...Jesus as the “light” brings to this dark world true knowledge, moral purity, and the light that shows the very presence of God.” 

Jesus’s light “shows the very presence of God”. 

And so this is what I think about Herod. He recognized the divine message (gladly heard) but circumstances held him back from walking into it (perplexed). His position, his power, his lustful manner, his pride, his understanding of how the world was to be lived in…all these things made his flesh perplexed as he was being drawn to the light. John was announcing something new that was coming and Herod could sense that message to be something of great value. Hearing that message challenged him to his core, and that was not something Herod was prepared to go through. His carefully constructed, political savvy life was on the line. Herod would not change his life. Herod would not bend his knee to the words being heard. 

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word as God.” John 1:1  

God is speaking to His creation that He loves us. He gave us directions to follow when He fed the Israelites with manna in the desert so that "they would know that man does not live by bread alone but by every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD" Deuteronomy 8:3.

I am so grateful to have the scripture, the logos Word of God, yet God still speaks to us individually, as He was speaking to Herod through John the Baptist. In my daily life I can hear Him, if I am listening. I pray I will, even in the perplexing times.