Matthew 14:10-11

Matthew 14:10-11. And he sent and beheaded John in the prison How mysterious is the providence of God, which left the life of so holy a man in such infamous hands! which permitted it to be sacrificed to the malice of an abandoned harlot, the petulancy of a vain girl, and the rashness of a foolish, perhaps drunken prince, who made a prophet’s head the reward of a dance! But we are sure the Almighty will repay his servants in another world, for whatever they suffer in this. And his head was brought and given to the damsel. The head of the prophet, whose rebukes had awed the king in his loosest moments, and whose exhortations had often excited him to virtuous actions, was immediately brought, pale and bloody, in a charger, and given to the daughter of Herodias, in the presence of the guests; and she brought it to her mother The young lady gladly received the bloody present, and carried it to her mother, who enjoyed the whole pleasure of revenge, and feasted her eyes with the sight of her enemy’s head, now rendered silent and harmless. But the Baptist’s voice became the louder for his being murdered, filling the earth, reaching up to heaven, and publishing the woman’s adultery to all ages and to all people! St. Jerome tells us that Herodias treated the head in a very disdainful manner, pulling out the tongue, which she imagined had injured her, and piercing it with a needle. Thus they gratified themselves in the indulgence of their lusts, and triumphed in the murder of this holy prophet, till the righteous judgment of God overtook them all. For, as Dr. Whitby, with many others, observes, Providence interested itself very remarkably in the revenge of this murder on all concerned; Herod’s army was defeated in a war occasioned by his marrying Herodias, which even many Jews thought a judgment sent upon him for the murder of John. Both he and Herodias, whose ambition occasioned his ruin, were afterward driven from their kingdom in great disgrace, and died in banishment at Lyons in Gaul: and, if any credit may be given to Nicephorus, Salome, the young lady who made this cruel request, fell into the ice, as she was walking over it, which closing suddenly cut off her head. See Macknight and Doddridge.