Mark 6:14

And king Herod heard thereof; for his name had become known: and he said, John the Baptizer is risen from the dead, and therefore do these powers work in him.

THE BEHEADING OF JOHN THE BAPTIST

King Herod ... Of this despot, Sanner said:

Herod Antipas (popularly called king) was tetrarch (literally, one who rules the fourth part of a domain) of Galilee and Perea from 4 B.C. to A.D. 39. His reign thus spanned the life and public ministry of Jesus: From a family characterized by intrigue and violence, "he appears as a sensual, cunning, capricious, cruel, weak, unscrupulous, superstitious, despotic prince (Matthew 14:9; Luke 3:19; 13:31,32)."[18]

It may well be doubted that this Herod believed in the resurrection of the dead; but a guilty conscience is a strong persuader, and his fearfully guilty heart shuddered at the thought that perhaps our Lord was a reincarnation of John the Baptist.

Herod Antipas may have believed, erroneously, in the transmigration of souls. At that particular time, according to Bickersteth, "The views of Pythagoras respecting the transmigration of souls were current and probably influenced the troubled mind of Herod."[19] Such doctrines were rejected by Christ and the apostles. Paul's mention of "the body" (2 Corinthians 5:10) opposes the idea of the soul's having a succession of "bodies."

[18] A. Elwood Sanner, Beacon Bible Commentary (Kansas City: Beacon Hill Press, 1964), p. 320.

[19] E. Bickersteth, op. cit., p. 245.