§ 48 The execution of John the Baptist
We here take under our examination, by way of appendix, all that has been transmitted to us concerning the tragic end of the Baptist. According to the unanimous testimony of the synoptical Evangelists and Josephus,80 he was executed, after a protracted imprisonment, by order of Herod Antipas, tetrarch of Galilee; and in the New Testament accounts he is said to have been beheaded. (Matt. xiv. 3 ff.; Mark vi. 17 ff.; Luke ix. 9.)
But Josephus and the Evangelists are at variance as to the cause of his imprisonment and execution. According to the latter, the censure which John had pronounced on the marriage of Herod with his (half) brother’s81 wife, was the cause of his imprisonment, and the revengeful cunning of Herodias, at a court festival, of his death: Josephus gives the fear of disturbances, which was awakened in Herod by the formidable train of the Baptist’s followers, as the cause at once of the imprisonment and the execution.82 If these two accounts be considered as distinct and irreconcilable, it may be doubted which of the two deserves the preference. It is not here as in the case of Herod Agrippa’s death, Acts xii. 23, viz., that the New Testament narrative, by intermixing a supernatural cause where Josephus has only a natural one, enables us to prejudge it as unhistorical; on the contrary, we might here give the palm to the evangelical narrative, for the particularity of its details. But on the other hand, it must be considered that that very particularity, and especially the conversion of a political into a personal motive, corresponds fully to the development of the legendary spirit among the people, whose imagination is more at home in domestic than in political circles.83 Meanwhile it is quite possible to reconcile the two narratives. This has been attempted by conjecturing, that the fear of insurrection was the proper cabinet motive for the imprisonment of the Baptist, while the irreverent censure passed on the ruler was thrust forward as the ostensible motive.84 But I greatly doubt whether Herod would designedly expose the scandalous point touched on by John; it is more likely, if a distinction is to be here made between a private and ostensible cause, that the censure of the marriage was the secret reason, and the fear of insurrection disseminated as an excuse for extreme severity.85 Such a distinction, however, is not needed; for Antipas might well fear, that John, by his strong censure of the marriage and the whole course of the tetrarch’s life, might stir up the people into rebellion against him.
But there is a diversity even between the evangelical narratives themselves, not only in this, that Mark gives the scene at the feast with the most graphic details, while Luke is satisfied with a concise statement (iii. 18–20, ix. 9), and Matthew takes a middle course; but Mark’s representation of the relation between Herod and the Baptist differs essentially from that of Matthew. While according to the latter, Herod wished to kill John, but was withheld by his dread of the people, who looked on the Baptist as a prophet (v. 5); according to Mark, it was Herodias who conspired against his life, but could not attain her object, because her husband was in awe of John as a holy man, sometimes heard him gladly, and not seldom followed his counsel (v. 19).86 Here, again, the individualizing characteristic of Mark’s narrative has induced commentators to prefer it to that of Matthew.87 But in the finishing touches and alterations of Mark we may detect the hand of tradition; especially as Josephus merely says of the people, that they gave ear to the sound of his words, ἤρθησαν τῇ ἀκροάσει τῶν λόγων, while he says of Herod, that having conceived fears of John, he judged it expedient to put him to death, δείσας κρεῖττον ἡγεῖται (τὸν Ἰωάννην) ἀναιρεῖν. How near lay the temptation to exalt the Baptist, by representing the prince against whom he had spoken, and by whom he was imprisoned, as feeling bound to venerate him, and only, to his remorse, seduced into giving his death-warrant, by his vindictive wife! It may be added, that the account of Matthew is not inconsistent with the character of Antipas, as gathered from other sources.88
The close of the evangelical narratives leaves the impression that the dissevered head of John was presented at table, and that the prison was consequently close at hand. But we learn from the passage in Josephus above cited, that the Baptist was confined in Machærus, a fortress on the southern border of Peræa, whereas the residence of Herod was in Tiberias,89 a day’s journey distant from Machærus. Hence the head of John the Baptist could only be presented to Herod after two days’ journey, and not while he yet sat at table. The contradiction here apparent is not to be removed by the consideration, that it is not expressly said in the Gospels that John’s head was brought in during the meal, for this is necessarily inferred from the entire narrative. Not only are the commission of the executioner and his return with the head, detailed in immediate connexion with the incidents of the meal; but only thus has the whole dramatic scene its appropriate conclusion;—only thus is the contrast complete, which is formed by the death-warrant and the feast: in fine, the πίναξ, on which the dissevered head is presented, marks it as the costliest viand which the unnatural revenge of a woman could desire at table. But we have, as a probable solution, the information of Josephus,90 that Herod Antipas was then at war with the Arabian king, Aretas, between whose kingdom and his own lay the fortress of Machærus; and there Herod might possibly have resided with his court at that period.
Thus we see that the life of John in the evangelical narratives is, from easily conceived reasons, overspread with mythical lustre on the side which is turned towards Jesus, while on the other its historical lineaments are more visible.
| Joh. iii. 11 (Jesus to Nicodemus): ἀμὴν, ἀμὴν, λέγω σοι, ὅτι ὃ οἴδαμεν, λαλοῦμεν, καὶ ὃ ἑωράκαμεν, μαρτυροῦμεν· καὶ τὴν μαρτυρίαν ἡμῶν οὐ λαμβάνετε. | Joh. iii. 32 (the Baptist): καὶ ὃ ἑώρακε καὶ ἤκουσε, τοῦτο μαρτυρεῖ· καὶ τὴν μαρτυρίαν αὐτοῦ οὐδεὶς λαμβάνει. |
| V. 18: ὁ πιστεύων εἰς αὐτὸν οὐ κρίνεται· ὁ δὲ μὴ πιστεύων, ἤδη κέκριται, ὅτι μὴ πεπίστευκεν εἰς το ὄνομα τοῦ μονογενοῦς υἱοῦ τοῦ Θεοῦ. | V. 36: ὁ πιστεύων εἰς τὸν υἱὸν ἔχει ζωὴν αἰώνιον· ὁ δὲ ἀπειθῶν τῷ υἱῷ, οὐκ ὄψεται ζωὴν, ἀλλ’ ἡ ὀργὴ τοῦ Θεοῦ μένει ἐπ’ αὐτόν. |
Comp. also the words of the Baptist v. 31, with Joh. iii. 6. 12 f. viii. 23; v. 32 with viii. 26; v. 33 with vi. 27; v. 34 with xii. 49, 50; v. 35 with v. 22, 27, x. 28 f. xvii. 2.
וְדָוִד הֹלֵךְ וְחָזֵק
וּבֵית שָׁאוּל הֹלְכִם וְדַלּים:
ἐκεῖνον δεῖ αὐξάνειν.
ἐμὲ δὲ ἐλαττοῦσθαι.
Notes
1 Exeget. Handbuch. 1 a, s. 46. Schneckenburger agrees with him, über den Ursprung des ersten kanon. Evang., s. 30.
2 Vermischte Aufsätze, s. 76 ff. Compare Schneckenburger, ut sup.
3 De Wette and Fritzsche, in loc.
4 See Paulus, ut sup., s. 336.
5 I here collect all the passages in Josephus relative to Lysanias, with the parallel passages in Dion Cassius. Antiq. xiii. xvi. 3, xiv. iii. 2, vii. 8.—Antiq. xv. iv. 1. B. j. i. xiii. 1 (Dio Cassius xlix. 32). Antiq. xv. x. 1–3. B. j. i. xx. 4 (Dio Cass. liv. 9). Antiq. xvii. xi. 4. B. j. ii. vi. 3. Antiq. xviii. vi. 10. B. j. ii. ix. 6 (Dio Cass. lix. 8). Antiq. xix. v. 1. B. j. ii. xi. 5. Antiq. xx. v. 2, vii. 1. B. j. ii. xii. 8.
6 Süskind, vermischte Aufsätze, s. 15 ff. 93 ff.
7 Tholuck thinks he has found a perfectly corresponding example in Tacitus. When this historian, Annal. ii. 42 (A.D. 17), mentions the death of an Archelaus, king of Cappadocia, and yet, Annal. vi. 41 (A.D. 36), cites an Archelaus, also a Cappadocian, as ruler of the Clitæ, the same historical conjecture, says Tholuck, is necessary, viz., that there were two Cappadocians named Archelaus. But when the same historian, after noticing the death of a man, introduces another of the same name, under different circumstances, it is no conjecture, but a clear historic datum, that there were two such persons. It is quite otherwise when, as in the case of Lysanias, two writers have each one of the same name, but assign him distinct epochs. Here it is indeed a conjecture to admit two successive persons; a conjecture so much the less historical, the more improbable it is shown to be that one of the two writers would have been silent respecting the second of the like-named men, had such an one existed.
8 Michaelis, Paulus, in loc. Schneckenburger, in Ullmann’s und Umbreit’s Studien, 1833, 4 Heft, s. 1056 ff. Tholuck, s. 201 ff.
9 For, on the authority of a single manuscript to erase, with Schneckenburger and others, the second τετραρχοῦντος, is too evident violence.
10 Compare with this view, Allgem. Lit. Ztg., 1803, No. 344, s. 552: De Wette, exeg. Handbuch, in loc.
11 See Paulus, s. 294.
12 See Schleiermacher, über den Lukas, s. 62.
13 Bengel was also of this opinion. Ordo temporum, s. 204 f. ed. 2.
14 Antiq. xviii. v. 2.
15 So Cludius, über die Zeit und Lebensdauer Johannis und Jesu. In Henke’s Museum, ii. iii. 502 ff.
16 Cludius, ut sup.
17 Stäudlin, Geschichte der Sittenlehre Jesu, 1, s. 580. Paulus, exeg. Handb. 1 a, s. 136. Comp. also Creuzer, Symbolik, 4, s. 413 ff.
18 Ut sup. p. 347.
19 Bell. jud. iii. x. 7.
20 See Winer, bibl. Realwörterbuch, A. Wüste. Schneckenburger, über den Ursprung des ersten kanonischen Evangeliums, s. 39.
21 Schneckenburger, ut sup., s. 38 f.
22 Winer, ut sup., s. 691.
23 Paulus, ut sup., s. 301.
24 Schneckenburger, über das Alter der Jüdischen Proselytentaufe.
25 Sanhedr. f. xcvii. 2: R. Elieser dixit: si Israëlitæ pœnitentiam agunt, tunc per Goëlem liberantur; sin vero, non liberantur. Schöttgen, horæ, 2, p. 780 ff.
26 Antiq. xviii. v. 2.
27 Thus Paulus, ut sup., s. 314 and 361, Anm.
28 Fragment von dem Zwecke Jesu und seiner Jünger, herausgegeben von Lessing, s. 133 ff.
29 So thinks Semler in his answer to the above Fragments, in loc.; so think most of the moderns; Plank, Geschichte des Christenthums in der Periode seiner Einführung, 1, K. 7. Winer, bibl. Realwörterbuch, 1, s. 691.
30 Let the reader judge for himself whether Neander’s arguments be not forced: “Even if the Baptist could have expected” (say rather must necessarily have known) “from the circumstances of the birth of Jesus, that he was the Messiah, the divine witness in his own mind would eclipse all external testimony, and compared with this divine illumination, all previous knowledge would seem ignorance.” p. 68.
31 Lücke, Commentar zum Evang. Johannis 1, s. 362.
32 Osiander, in despair, answers, that the heavenly communications themselves might contain directions for—keeping the two youths apart! s. 127.
33 Hess, Geschichte Jesu, 1, s. 117 f. Paulus, ut sup., s. 366.
34 Comp. the Fragmentist, ut sup.
35 Hæres, xxx. 13: Καὶ ὡς ἀνῆλθεν ἀπὸ τοῦ ὕδατος, ἡνοίγησαν οἱ οὐρανοὶ, καὶ εἶδε τὸ πνεῦμα τοῦ Θεοῦ τὸ ἅγιον ἐν εἴδει περιστερᾶς κ.τ.λ. καὶ φωνὴ ἐγένετο κ.τ.λ. καὶ εὐθὺς περιέλαμψε τὸν τόπον φῶς μέγα· ὃν ἰδών, φησὶν, ὁ Ἰωάννης λέγει αὐτῷ· σύ τὶς εἶ, Κύριε; καὶ πάλιν φωνὴ κ.τ.λ. καὶ τότε, φησὶν, ὁ Ἰωάννης παραπεσὼν αὐτῷ ἔλεγε· δέομαι σοῦ Κύριε, σύ με βάπτισον. And when he came from the water, the heavens were opened, and he saw the holy spirit of God in the form of a dove, etc., and a voice was heard, etc., and immediately a great light illuminated the place; seeing which, John said to him, Who art thou, Lord? and again a voice, etc. And then, John falling at his feet, said to him, I beseech thee, Lord, baptize me.
36 Schneckenburger, über den Ursprung des ersten kanonischen Evangeliums, s. 121 f.; Lücke, Comm. z. Ev. Joh., 1, s. 361. Usteri, über den Täufer Johannes u. s. w., Studien, 2, 3. s. 446.
37 Tertull. adv. Marcion, iv. 18. Comp. Bengel, historico-exegetical remarks in Matt. xi. 2–19, in his Archiv. 1, iii. p. 754 ff.
38 See Paulus, Kuinöl, in loc. Bengel, ut sup., p. 763.
39 Calvin, Comm. in harm. ex. Matth., Marc. et Luc. in loc.
40 We agree with Schleiermacher, (über den Lukas, s. 106 f.) in thus designating the narrative of the third evangelist, first, on account of the idle repetition of the Baptist’s words, ver. 20; secondly, on account of the mistake in ver. 18 and 21, of which we shall presently treat, and to which ver. 29, 30, seem to betray a similar one.
41 Compare Calvin in loc. and Bengel ut sup., s. 753 ff.
42 Thus most recent commentators: Paulus, Kuinöl, Bengel, Hase, Theile, and even Fritzsche.
43 This difficulty occurred to Bengel also, ut sup., p. 769.
44 The gospel writers, after what they had narrated of the relations between Jesus and the Baptist, of course understood the question to express doubt, whence probably v. 6 (Matt.) and v. 23 (Luke) came in this connection. Supposing these passages authentic, they suggest another conjecture; viz. that Jesus spoke in the foregoing verses of spiritual miracles, and that the Baptist was perplexed by the absence of corporeal ones. The ἀκούσας τὰ ἔργα τ. Χ. must then be set down to the writer’s misapprehension of the expressions of Jesus.
45 Gabler and Paulus.
46 De Wette, de morte Christi expiatoria, in his Opusc. theol., s. 77 ff. Lücke, Comm. zum Ev. Joh. 1, s. 347 ff. Winer, bibl. Realwörterb. 1, s. 693, Anm.
47 Gabler and Paulus. De Wette.
48 De Wette, ut sup., p. 76.
49 Paulus, Leben Jesu, 2 a, die Übers., s. 29. 31.
50 Tholuck and Lücke, in loc.
51 Lücke, ut sup.
52 See Bertholdt, Christologia Judæorum Jesu apostolorumque ætate, § 23–25.
53 Probabilia, p. 41.
54 See Gfrörer, Philo und die Alexandr. Theosophie, part ii. p. 180.
55 Lücke, ut sup., p. 500.
56 Compare especially:
57 Bibl. Comm. 2, p. 105.
58 Paulus, Olshausen, in loc.
59 E.g. here, v. 32, it is said: τὴν μαρτυρίαν αὐτοῦ οὐδεὶς λαμβάνει, but in the Prolog. v. 11: καὶ οἱ ἴδιοι αὐτὸν οὐ παρέλαβον. Comp. Lücke, s. 501.
60 Ut sup.
61 De Wette, de morte Christi expiatoria, in s. Opusc. theol. p. 81; biblische Dogmatik, § 209; Winer, bibl. Realwörterbuch 1, s. 692.
62 Neander, p. 75. This author erroneously supposes that there is an indication of the Baptist having directed his disciples to Jesus in Acts xviii. 25, where it is said of Apollos: ἐδίδασκεν ἀκριβῶς τὰ περὶ τοῦ Κυρίου, ἐπιστάμενος τὸ βάπτισμα Ἰωάννου. For on comparing the following chapter, we find that Paul had to teach the disciples of John, that by the ερχόμενος announced by their master, they were to understand Jesus; whence it is clear that the things of the Lord expounded by Apollos, consisted only in the messianic doctrine, purified by John into an expectation of one who was to come, and that the more accurate instruction which he received from the Christians, Aquila and Priscilla, was the doctrine of its fulfilment in the person of Jesus.
63 Gesenius, Probeheft der Ersch und Gruber’schen Encyclopädie, d. A. Zabier.
64 Bretschneider, Probab., s. 46 f.; comp. Lücke, s. 493 f.; De Wette, Opusc a. a. O.
65 Greiling, Leben Jesu von Nazaret, s. 132 f.
67 Schulz, die Lehre vom Abendmahl, s. 145. Winer, Realwörterbuch, 1, s. 693.
68 Commentar, s. 380.
69 The passage above quoted from the Acts gives us also some explanation, why the fourth Evangelist of all others should be solicitous to place the Baptist in a more favourable relation to Jesus, than history allows us to conceive. According to v. 1 ff. there were persons in Ephesus who knew only of John’s baptism, and were therefore rebaptized by the Apostle Paul in the name of Jesus. Now an old tradition represents the fourth gospel to have been written in Ephesus (Iræneus adv. hær. iii. 1). If we accept this (and it is certainly correct in assigning a Greek locality for the composition of this Gospel), and presuppose, in accordance with the intimation in the Acts, that Ephesus was the seat of a number of the Baptist’s followers, all of whom Paul could hardly have converted; the endeavour to draw them over to Jesus would explain the remarkable stress laid by the fourth Evangelist on the μαρτυρία Ἰωάννου. Storr has very judiciously remarked and discussed this, über den Zweck der Evangelischen Geschichte und der Briefe Johannis, s. 5 ff. 24 f. Compare Hug, Einleitung in das N. T., s. 190 3te Ausg.
70 Antiq. xviii. v. 2.
71 Ueber den Lukas, s. 109.
72 Ibid. p. 106.
73 Ueber den Ursprung u. s. w. s. 79.
74 The expression οἱ Ἰουδαῖοι is thus interpreted by the most learned exegetists. Comp. Paulus, Lücke, Tholuck in loc.
75 Lücke, Commentar, s. 327.
76 Lücke, s. 339.
77 Whether the dialogue between John and his complaining disciples (John iii. 25 ff.) be likewise a transmutation of the corresponding scene, Matt. ix. 14 f., as Bretschneider seeks to show, must remain uncertain. Probab., p. 66 ff.
78 That Jesus, as many suppose, assigns a low rank to the Baptist, because the latter thought of introducing the new order of things by external violence, is not to be detected in the gospels.
79 For a different explanation see Schneckenburger, Beiträge, s. 48 ff.
80 Antiq. xviii. v. 2.
81 This former husband of Herodias is named by the Evangelists, Philip, by Josephus, Herod. He was the son of the high priest’s daughter, Mariamne, and lived as a private person. V. Antiq. xv. ix. 3; xviii. v. 1. 4. B. j. i. xxix. 2, xxx. 7.
82 Antiq. xviii. v. 4.
83 Hase, Leben Jesu, s. 88.
84 Fritzsche, Comm. in Matth. in loc. Winer, bibl. Realwörterb. 1, s. 694.
85 Paulus, exeg. Handb. 1, a, s. 361; Schleiermacher, über den Lukas, s. 109.
86 Vergl. Fritzsche, Comm. in Marc., p. 225.
87 E.g. Schneckenburger, über den Ursprung des ersten kanonischen Evangeliums, s. 86 f. That the ἐλυπήθη of Matthew, v. 9, is not contradictory to his own narrative, see Fritzsche, in loc.
88 S. Winer, b. Realwörterb. d. A. Herodes Antipas.
89 Fritzsche, Commentar. in Matt., p. 491.
90 Antiq. xviii. v. 1.