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.

When King Herod heard about Jesus, he immediately remembered John the Baptist. It seems to him that the great prophet has "risen from the dead" and is again walking through Judea, preaching repentance. What Herod learned about Jesus' identity somehow touched his hardened heart. Evidently there was something in the Lord's words that was addressed personally to him, something that forced him to look again at the crime he had once committed.

The evangelist Mark notes especially that while John the Baptist was alive, Herod "did many things, listening to him, and heard him gladly." Therefore the execution of John became for the king a departure from the ideals he had formerly held; it was a kind of apostasy.

When we open the Gospel, we often encounter words of the Lord that are addressed precisely to us. Behind two lines an entire life situation rises before us, sometimes a very painful one for us. And just as Herod did, we have a choice between correcting it, rethinking our life in God, or going farther down the path of apostasy.

The preaching of Jesus Himself and His apostles led to His name becoming known throughout Galilee, eventually reaching its ruler Herod (v. 14). Herod, who ruled Galilee, was not, of course, an independent ruler; he was a vassal of the Roman emperor, since Galilee, like all Palestine, was part of the Roman Empire in gospel times. At the same time, all kinds of rumors about Jesus spread among the people. Some considered Him a prophet, like one of those ancient prophets whose preaching became part of the prophetic books of the Old Testament, well known to all believing Jews and read regularly in the synagogues during worship. For others He was Elijah returned from heaven (v. 15), of whom the Old Testament says that he did not die but was taken up to heaven alive (2 Kings 2:11-12). This book was well known, as were the other three Books of Kings, as well as Joshua and Judges, for in Judaism they are counted among the prophetic books and are called the "Former Prophets." Believing Jews of gospel times believed that shortly before the coming of the Messiah-Christ, Elijah would return from heaven to earth in order to remind people of His imminent appearance.

Meanwhile, Herod took Jesus for John the Baptist risen from the dead, whom he had had executed by his order shortly before (v. 14). The execution had been preceded by an arrest connected with John's accusations against Herod for marrying his own brother's wife contrary to the Law (vv. 17-18). It should be noted that Herod paid little attention in general to religious and moral norms, and was also marked by immoderate sensuality. Yet he did not dare execute John 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 convenient moment for reprisal came: during a ceremonial feast, Herodias's daughter performed a passionate Middle 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, Herod solemnly swore to fulfill any wish of the girl, who, at her mother's prompting, used the opportunity to get rid of John (vv. 22-25). Herod clearly did not want John's death at all, but, moved by vanity and unwilling to lose face before his circle by breaking his own solemn oath, he nevertheless gave the order for the execution, which, of course, at once became known to many, including the apostles (vv. 26-29).