Three-year Bible reading plan for 5 May 2004

La Bibbia (it)

La Bibbia (it)

Marco, Capitolo 6, versi 14-29

¹⁴Il re Erode sentì parlare di Gesù , poiché intanto il suo nome era diventato famoso. Si diceva: «Giovanni il Battista è risuscitato dai morti e per questo il potere dei miracoli opera in lui».

¹⁵Altri invece dicevano: «E' Elia»; altri dicevano ancora: «E' un profeta, come uno dei profeti».

¹⁶Ma Erode, al sentirne parlare, diceva: «Quel Giovanni che io ho fatto decapitare è risuscitato!».

¹⁷Erode infatti aveva fatto arrestare Giovanni e lo aveva messo in prigione a causa di Erodì ade, moglie di suo fratello Filippo, che egli aveva sposata.

¹⁸Giovanni diceva a Erode: «Non ti è lecito tenere la moglie di tuo fratello».

¹⁹Per questo Erodì ade gli portava rancore e avrebbe voluto farlo uccidere, ma non poteva,

²⁰perché Erode temeva Giovanni, sapendolo giusto e santo, e vigilava su di lui; e anche se nell'ascoltarlo restava molto perplesso, tuttavia lo ascoltava volentieri.

²¹Venne però il giorno propizio, quando Erode per il suo compleanno fece un banchetto per i grandi della sua corte, gli ufficiali e i notabili della Galilea.

²²Entrata la figlia della stessa Erodì ade, danzò e piacque a Erode e ai commensali. Allora il re disse alla ragazza: «Chiedimi quello che vuoi e io te lo darò ».

²³E le fece questo giuramento: «Qualsiasi cosa mi chiederai, te la darò , fosse anche la metà del mio regno».

²⁴La ragazza uscì e disse alla madre: «Che cosa devo chiedere?». Quella rispose: «La testa di Giovanni il Battista».

²⁵Ed entrata di corsa dal re fece la richiesta dicendo: «Voglio che tu mi dia subito su un vassoio la testa di Giovanni il Battista».

²⁶Il re divenne triste; tuttavia, a motivo del giuramento e dei commensali, non volle opporle un rifiuto.

²⁷Subito il re mandò una guardia con l'ordine che gli fosse portata la testa.

²⁸La guardia andò , lo decapitò in prigione e portò la testa su un vassoio, la diede alla ragazza e la ragazza la diede a sua madre.

²⁹I discepoli di Giovanni, saputa la cosa, vennero, ne presero il cadavere e lo posero in un sepolcro.

Read more:Marco, Capitolo 6

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6

6:14 Matteo 14:1; Luca 9:7.

6:15 A prophet, as one of the prophets - Not inferior to one of the ancient prophets.

6:16 But Herod hearing thereof - Of their various judgments concerning him, still said, It is John.

6:20 And preserved him - Against all the malice and contrivances of Herodias. And when he heard him - Probably sending for him, at times, during his imprisonment, which continued a year and a half.He heard him gladly - Delusive joy! While Herodias lay in his bosom.

6:21 A convenient day - Convenient for her purpose. His lords, captains, and principal men of Galilee - The great men of the court, the army, and the province.

6:23 To the half of my kingdom - A proverbial expression.

6:26 Yet for his oath's sake, and for the sake of his guests - Herod's honour was like the conscience of the chief priests, Matteo 27:6. To shed innocent blood wounded neither onenor the other.

NOTES

Into his account of Christ's deeds, Mark inserts the story of the murder of John the Baptist by King Herod. It might seem no more than a historical note were it not so instructive. This story of Herod is a good example of how much harm can be caused by a person's stubborn desire to live in his own way rather than...

The preaching of Jesus Himself and His apostles led to His name becoming known throughout Galilee, eventually reaching even its ruler, Herod. Herod was not, of course, an independent ruler—he was a vassal of the Roman emperor, for...

The preaching of Jesus Himself and His apostles led to His name becoming known throughout Galilee, eventually reaching even its ruler, Herod (v. 14). Herod was not, of course, an independent ruler—he was a vassal of the Roman emperor, for in Gospel times Galilee, like all Palestine, was part of the Roman Empire. Meanwhile, all kinds of rumors about Jesus circulated among the people. Some regarded Him as a prophet like one of the ancient prophets whose preaching became part of the prophetic books of the Old Testament, which were well known to all believing Jews and regularly read in synagogues during worship. To others He was Elijah returned from heaven (v. 15); the Old Testament says that Elijah did not die but was taken alive into heaven (2 Kings 2:11–12). This book was well known, as were the other three Books of Kings, the Book of Joshua, and the Book of Judges: in Judaism they are counted among the prophetic books and are called the “Former Prophets.” Believing Jews of that age held that shortly before the coming of the Messiah-Christ, Elijah would return from heaven to earth to remind people of His imminent appearance.

Herod, however, took Jesus for John the Baptist risen from the dead, whom he had had executed not long before (v. 14). The execution had been preceded by John's arrest after he denounced Herod for marrying his own brother's wife in defiance of the Law (vv. 17–18). It should be noted that the king generally paid little attention to religious and moral norms and was also marked by immoderate sensuality. Yet he did not dare execute the prophet at once: despite his moral corruption, Herod still respected him (v. 20). It is not surprising that Herodias, formerly the wife of Herod's brother Philip, hated John more than Herod himself did (v. 19).

At last a suitable moment for the reprisal came: during a ceremonial banquet, Herodias's daughter performed an inflaming Eastern dance before Herod and his guests, perhaps something like the belly dance still well known in the East today (vv. 21–22). Inflamed by wine and lust, he solemnly swore to grant the girl any wish. At her mother's prompting, she seized the opportunity to be rid of John (vv. 22–25). Herod evidently did not want John to die at all, but driven by vanity and unwilling to lose face before those around him or break his own solemn oath, he nevertheless ordered the execution, which naturally became known at once to many people, including the apostles (vv. 26–29).

In every age and among every people, an oath bound the person who had to fulfill it, otherwise consequences would fall on his head that he would have cause to regret. It is no accident that the ancients...

In every age and among every people, an oath bound the person who had to fulfill it, otherwise consequences would fall on his head that he would have cause to regret. It is no accident that the ancients, including adherents of Yahwism, swore by the names of their gods. In Yahwism too it was customary to swear by the name of God, the name of Yahweh. In this way a person called as witnesses and guarantors of what had been promised those whom it was either simply impossible, or at least mortally dangerous, to deceive.

At the same time, however, a natural question arose: did every promise please those who, according to the intention of the one swearing, were supposed to guarantee its fulfillment? Take Herod's oath, for example. Most likely, he too swore by the name of Yahweh, in whom perhaps he did not truly believe. But does this mean that Yahweh really became the guarantor of Herod's oath? The question is rhetorical: an oath by the name of any god, not to mention the One God, presupposed involvement in deep relations with the one by whose name you swear. This cannot be said of Herod and Yahweh: their relations were the most superficial kind, if they existed at all.

But there was something else: false pride, which at times makes a person, out of a desire to appear "tough," do something he will most likely regret deeply afterward. That is what happened with Herod. He hated and feared John, and at the same time involuntarily respected him, so much that, while holding him in prison for especially dangerous criminals, Herod nevertheless came more than once to speak with him. He hardly wanted John's death. He only wanted John to be silent, so that his denunciations of Herod's sins and crimes would not sound publicly.

Things happened differently, however: a rash oath and the unwillingness to "lose face" in the eyes of those around him made Herod a murderer. Of course, this murder was not the first in his life and not the last, but here it was the murder of a prophet, a man of God, whom Herod moreover had not wanted to kill. So pride and false ideas of honor take a person captive, forcing him to do what otherwise he would never have done. It is a terrible case, but for the fallen world, alas, entirely characteristic.

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