with the protection of rome, herod antipas rules galilee with all the contempt of an auto autocrat. but herod has made his first serious miscalculation. he s turned his back on jewish law by marrying his brother s wife, herodias. this was in violation of a law in leviticus which says that a man must not uncover the nakedness of his brother s wife. herodias is the wife of your brother. john the baptist was very critical of the political regime. in particular, he was critical of herod for having married his brother s wife. and he was critical of their immorality and their treatment of the people. jews feel themselves oppressed by a foreign power that they can t do anything about. john gives them a vision of someone who can do something about it.
ignoring the peril, john openly accuses herod and his wife of violating jewish law. give up this woman! send her away! if john the baptist said out loud what everybody else was really murmuring about, then that put him in the category of someone who could be accused of sedition, of treason. he would be like a terrorist. if john the baptist is successful in his campaign against herod antipas, it could spark a political revolution. john s provocation puts him in mortal danger as he enters a duel with the jewish leader in which only one man can emerge the winner. repent or you should be punished! you know, you ve done this before. you know what you re doing. okay. well, we ll just have to see how it goes, i think.
herod antipas was absolutely the worst kind of leader that you could hope for. he really needed to prove himself to rome. and because of that, he was a little bit overzealous, let s say. with the protection of rome, herod antipas rules galilee with all the contempt of an auto accurate. but herod has made his first serious miscalculation. he s turned his back on jewish law by marrying his brother s wife, herodias. this was in violation of a law in leviticus which says that a man must not uncover the nakedness of his brother s wife. herodias is the wife of your brother. john the baptist was very critical of the political regime. in particular, he was critical of herod for having married his
like a comforting balm to john the baptist, filling him with courage for what lies ahead. he believes that this really is the messiah and that all of the injustice that john has witnessed in the world is about to be righted. confess your sins. god will see who you truly are. john s stinging attack on herod s immoral marriage to his brother s wife humiliates herod at court. even with john in jail, herodias is still not satisfied. she seeks revenge and demands herod deals with the outspoken prophet once and for all. he had criticized herod for divorcing his wife and then
brother s wife. and he was critical of their immorality and their treatment of the people. jews feel themselves oppressed by a foreign power that they can t do anything about. john gives them a vision of someone who can do something about it. ignoring the peril, john openly accuses herod and his wife of violating jewish law. give up this woman! send her away! if john the baptist said out loud what everybody else was really murmuring about, then that put him in the category of someone who could be accused of sedition of treason. he would be like a terrorist. if john the baptist is successful in his campaign against herod antipas, it could spark a political revolution. john s provocation puts him in mortal danger as he enters a duel with the jewish leader in which only one man can emerge the winner.