And said unto his servants, This is John the Baptist; he is risen from the dead; and therefore mighty works do show forth themselves in him.
2. he ] The Greek is emphatic, “he himself,” “in his own person.”
risen from the dead ] A proof that Herod did not hold the Sadducean doctrine, that there is no resurrection.
and therefore ] In consequence of having risen from the dead he is thought to be possessed of larger powers. Alford remarks that this incidentally confirms St John’s statement (ch. Mat 10:41), that John wrought no miracle while living.
mighty works do shew forth themselves ] Literally, works of power are active in him.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
This is John the Baptist – Herod feared John. His conscience smote him for his crimes. He remembered that he had wickedly put him to death. He knew him to be a distinguished prophet; and he concluded that no other one was capable of working such miracles but he who had been so eminent a servant of God in his life, and who, he supposed, had again risen from the dead and entered the dominions of his murderer. The alarm in his court, it seems, was general. Herods conscience told him that this was John. Others thought that it might be the expected Elijah or one of the old prophets, Mar 6:15.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 2. This is John the Baptist] , Whom I beheaded. These words are added here by the Codex Bezae and several others, by the Saxon, and five copies of the Itala. – See the power of conscience! He is miserable because he is guilty; being continually under the dominion of self-accusation, reproach, and remorse. No need for the Baptist now: conscience performs the office of ten thousand accusers! But, to complete the misery, a guilty conscience offers no relief from God – points out no salvation from sin.
He is risen from the dead] From this we may observe:
1. That the resurrection of the dead was a common opinion among the Jews; and
2. That the materiality of the soul made no part of Herod’s creed.
Bad and profligate as he was, it was not deemed by him a thing impossible with God to raise the dead; and the spirit of the murdered Baptist had a permanent resurrection in his guilty conscience.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
2. And said unto his servantshiscounsellors or court-ministers.
This is John the Baptist: heis risen from the dead, c.The murdered prophet haunted hisguilty breast like a specter and seemed to him alive again andclothed with unearthly powers in the person of Jesus.
Account of the Baptist’sImprisonment and Death (Mt14:3-12). For the exposition of this portion, see on Mr6:17-29.
Mt14:12-21. HEARING OF THEBAPTIST’S DEATH,JESUS CROSSESTHE LAKE WITHTWELVE, AND MIRACULOUSLYFEEDS FIVETHOUSAND. ( = Mar 6:30-44Luk 9:10-17; Joh 6:1-14).
For the exposition of thissectionone of the very few where all the four Evangelists runparallelsee on Mr 6:30-44.
Mt14:22-26. JESUSCROSSES TO THE WESTERNSIDE OF THE LAKEWALKING ON THESEAINCIDENTSON LANDING. ( =Mar 6:45; Joh 6:15-24).
For the exposition, see on Joh6:15-24.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And said unto his servants,…. Those of his household, his courtiers, with whom he more familiarly conversed; to these he expressed his fears, that it might be true what was suggested by the people, and he was ready to believe it himself;
this is John the Baptist: some copies add, “whom I have beheaded”, as in Mr 6:16 the guilt of which action rose in his mind, lay heavy on him, and filled him with horror and a thousand fears:
he is risen from the dead; which if he was a Sadducee, as he is thought to be, by comparing Mt 16:6 with Mr 8:15 was directly contrary to his former sentiments, and was extorted from him by his guilty conscience; who now fears, what before he did not believe; and what he fears, he affirms; concluding that John was raised from the dead, to give proof of his innocence, and to revenge his death on him:
and therefore mighty works do show themselves in him, or “are wrought by him”; for though he wrought no miracles in his lifetime, yet, according to a vulgar notion, that after death men are endued with a greater power, Herod thought this to be the case; or that he was possessed of greater power, on purpose to punish him for the murder of him; and that these miracles which were wrought by him, were convincing proofs of the truth of his resurrection, and of what he was able to do to him, and what he might righteously expect from him.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
His servants ( ). Literally “boys,” but here the courtiers, not the menials of the palace.
Work in him (). Cf. our “energize.” “The powers of the invisible world, vast and vague in the king’s imagination” (Bruce). John wrought no miracles, but one redivivus might be under the control of the unseen powers. So Herod argued. A guilty conscience quickened his fears. Possibly he could see again the head of John on a charger. “The King has the Baptist on the brain” (Bruce). Cf. Josephus (War, I. xxx. 7) for the story that the ghosts of Alexander and Aristobulus haunted the palace of Herod the Great. There were many conjectures about Jesus as a result of this tour of Galilee and Herod Antipas feared this one.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
1) “And said unto his servants,” (kai eipen tois paisin autou) “And he said to his servants,” directly told his servants at his side, the courtier attendants who did his bidding, the counselors and court ministers.
2) “This is John the Baptist;” (houtos estin loannes ho baptistes) “This one (of fame) is John the Baptist;” Herod was both superstitious and stricken with a guilty, accusing conscience, the monitor of the soul, Joh 8:9; Rom 2:15; Tit 1:15.
3) “He is risen from the dead;” (autos egerthe apo ton nekron) “He is raised from the dead,” from among dead corpses, where his disciples buried him, Mat 14:12: Mr 6:14.
4) “And therefore mighty works do shew forth themselves in him.” (kai dia touto hai dunameis energousin en auto) “And on account of this (resurrection) dynamic deeds are worked by him,” Luk 9:9.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
2. And said to his servants. From the words of Luke it may be inferred, that Herod did not of his own accord adopt this conjecture, but that it was suggested to him by a report which was current among the people. And, indeed, I have no doubt that the hatred which they bore to the tyrant, and their detestation of so shocking a murder, gave rise, as is commonly the ease, to those rumors. It was a superstition deeply rooted, as we have formerly mentioned, in the minds of men, that the dead return to life in a different person. Nearly akin to this is the opinion which they now adopt, that Herod, when he cruelly put to death the holy man, was far from obtaining what he expected; because he had suddenly risen from the dead by the miraculous power of God, and would oppose and attack his enemies with greater severity than ever.
Mark and Luke, however, show that men spoke variously on this subject: some thought that he was Elijah, and others that he was one of the prophets, or that he was so eminently endued with the gifts of the Spirit, that he might be compared to the prophets. The reason why they thought that he might be Elijah, rather than any other prophet, has been already stated. Malachi having predicted (Mal 4:5) that Elijah would come to gather the scattered Church, they misunderstood that prediction as relating to the person of Elijah, instead of being a simple comparison to the following effect: “That the coming of Messiah may not be unknown, and that the people may not remain ignorant of the grace of redemption, there will be an Elijah to go before, like him who of old raised up that which was fallen, and the worship of God which had been overthrown. He will go before, by a remarkable power of the Spirit, to proclaim the great and dreadful day of the Lord.” The Jews, with their usual grossness of interpretation, had applied this to Elijah the Tishbite, (1Kg 17:1,) as if he were to appear again and discharge the office of a prophet. Others again conjecture, either that some one of the ancient prophets had risen, or that he was some great man, who approached to them in excellence.
It was astonishing that, amidst the diversity of views which were suggested, the true interpretation did not occur to any one; more especially as the state of matters at that very time directed them to Christ. God had promised to them a Redeemer, who would relieve them when they were distressed and in despair. The extremity of affliction into which they had been plunged was a loud call for divine assistance. The Redeemer is at hand, who had been so clearly pointed out by the preaching of John, and who himself testifies respecting his office. They are compelled to acknowledge that some divine power belongs to him, and yet they fall into their own fancies, and change him into the persons of other men. It is thus that the world is wont, in base ingratitude, to obliterate the remembrance of the favors which God has bestowed.
With respect to Herod himself, as I hinted, little ago, the conjecture that John had risen did not at first occur to himself; but as bad consciences are wont to tremble and hesitate, and turn with every wind, he readily believed what he dreaded. With such blind terrors God frequently alarms wicked men; so that, after all the pains they take to harden themselves, and to escape agitation, their internal executioner gives them no rest, but chastises them with severity.
And therefore miracles work in him. We naturally wonder what reasoning could have led them to this conclusion. John had performed no miracle during the whole course of his preaching. There appears to be no probability, therefore, in the conjecture, that it was John whom they saw performing extraordinary miracles. But they imagine that miracles are now performed by him for the first time, in order to prove his resurrection, and to show that the holy prophet of God had been wickedly put to death by Herod, and now came forward with a visible and divine protection, that no man might afterwards venture to assail him. They think that miracles work ( ἐνεζγοῦσιν ) in him; that is, are powerfully displayed, so as to give him greater authority, and make it evident that the Lord is with him.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(2) This is John the Baptist.In Mat. 16:14, Luk. 9:7-9, this is given as one of the three opinions that were floating among the people as to our Lords character, the other two being, (1) that He was Elijah, and (2) that He was one of the old prophets who had risen again. The policy of the tetrarch connected him with the Sadducean priestly party rather than with the more popular and rigid Pharisees, and a comparison of Mat. 16:6 with Mar. 8:15 at least suggests the identity of the leaven of Herod with that of the Sadducees. On this supposition, his acceptance of the first of the three rumours is every way remarkable. The superstitious terror of a conscience stained with guilt is stronger than his scepticism as a Sadducee, even though there mingled with it, as was probable enough, the wider unbelief of Roman epicureanism. To him the new Prophet, working signs and wonders which John had never worked, was but the re-appearance of the man whom he had murdered. It was more than a spectre from the unseen world, more than the metempsychosis of the soul of John into another body. It was nothing less than John himself.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
2. Said unto his servants Why Herod should thus express himself to his servants, so likely to have been skeptical and dissolute men, seems at first view difficult to say. But one or two apparently accidental allusions elsewhere in the Gospels afford, perhaps, some explanation. We learn from Luk 8:3, that among those who administered to Jesus of their substance was Joanna, the wife of Chuza, Herod’s steward. And again in Act 13:1, we are told that among other distinguished converts was Manaen, which had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch; that is, was his foster brother. We see then, that as at a later period there were saints in Cesar’s household, so there were also believers in the household of Herod. Through these the solemn reports of the deeds and teachings of Jesus doubtless reached the guilty king. Consequently “he was desirous of seeing him, because he had heard many things of him.” And to such servants he could doubtless express the believing sentiments attributed to him.
This is John the Baptist Herod Antipas did not identify Jesus as the newborn King of the Jews announced to his father’s house by the Magi. That fear had long since been dismissed and forgotten. Nor did he seem distinctly to understand that Jesus claimed Messiahship. Antipas was king by descent from his Herodian paternity, and maternally from the more noble Asmonean line; but how feebly could both these compare with an heirship like that of Jesus from the ancient line of David and Solomon. Herod was Edomite; but purely national was the blood of the family of Nazareth.
Jesus did at last appear before Herod, (Luk 23:6-12😉 sent in bonds by Pilate to Herod as the subject of his jurisdiction. Herod was at first interested to see Jesus, in hopes of beholding some display of that miraculous power by which he is at the present time so much perplexed and harrowed in conscience. But when Jesus maintained an impenetrable silence, the irritated Antipas arrayed him in tawdry robes in mockery of his royalty, and remanded him to Pilate. Risen from the dead His conscience seemed to conjure up the murdered John from his grave. Luke adds that the tyrant was “perplexed;” and when it was rumoured that Jesus was the risen John, and one courtier suggested that he was Elias, and another that he was some one of the ancient prophets reappearing, Herod Antipas finishes with: “John have I beheaded, but who is this of whom I hear such things?” These conjectures imply, not a belief in a transmigration of souls, but simply in extraordinary resurrections. The whole account furnishes a vivid picture of a profligate set of men, interrupted in the midst of their riot and wickedness by supernatural rumours and horrors of conscience. A comparison of Mar 8:15, with Mat 16:6. furnishes reason to suppose that Herod was a Sadducee. For in the one passage the leaven or doctrine of Herod appears to be the same as the leaven of the Sadducees, and Luke tells us (Luk 9:7) that he was “perplexed because it was said of some that John was risen from the dead; and of some that Elias had appeared; and of others that one of the old prophets was risen again.” So thickly did these rumours come that he seems to have given in the point that the murdered John had reappeared from the grave. Though a Sadducee, yet guilt made him a cowardly sort of a believer. So true it is that irreligious men are often tremblingly superstitious. Being unconsoled by the truths of religion, they are exposed to be frightened by any form of horror suggested to the imagination by a guilty conscience. Therefore mighty works The implication is that John had acquired a miracle-working power after rising from the dead. This is a striking incidental confirmation of Joh 10:41, that John wrought no miracles while living.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘And he said to his servants, “This is John the Baptist. He is risen from the dead, and therefore do these powers work in him.”
Surely the only explanation for this new figure with these amazing powers was that it was John, come back from the dead. That alone explained the source of His unusual powers. This could only bode ill for Herod because of his previous treatment of John. And when a Herod was disturbed, no one knew quite what he would do.
There is a deliberate irony in that Herod is here seen as believing in the resurrection of the dead, but only as a kind of tool that God can use against him to punish him. Later Israel would have the same kind of experience through the resurrection of Jesus. Because of their unbelief His resurrection could only bring them harm as God reached out to judge them, for He was raised not only as Saviour but as judge. But there is in this belief of Herod a hint of what will actually happen to Jesus, and this is expanded on in the parallel incident in the chiasmus of the section, where we will learn that Jesus will rise from the dead (Mat 17:23).
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Mat 14:2. This is John the Baptist From Luk 9:7 we learn that Herod and his courtiers were strangely perplexed respecting the fame of Jesus, which occasioned manyspeculations among them. Some supposed that it wasJohn risen from the dead, others, that it was Elias, and others, one of the old prophets; but Herod declared it to be his opinion that it was John; and therefore, says he, mighty works do shew forth themselves in him, that is to say, extraordinary and miraculous powers were exerted by him. Erasmus indeed thinks, that as Herod was of the sect of the Sadducees, who denied the immortality of the soul, (compare ch. Mat 16:6. Mar 8:15.) he might say this by way of irony to his servants, ridiculing the notions of the lower people, and those who joined in that opinion; and this solution might have passed, had not Herod been perplexed on this occasion, Luk 9:7. The image of the Baptist whom he wrongfully put to death, presented itself often to his thought, and tormented him; therefore, when it was reported that he was risen from the dead, and was working miracles, Herod, fearing some punishment would be inflicted on him for his crime, in the confusion of his thoughts said, that John was risen from the dead, notwithstanding he was a Sadducee. Nay, he might say this, although he had heard of Jesus and his miracles before, there being nothing more common than for persons in vehement perturbations to talk inconsistently. Besides, it is no easy matter to arrive at a steady belief of so great an absurdity as the annihilation of the human mind. The being of God, the immortality of the soul, the rewards and punishments of a future state,with the other great principles of natural religion; often obtrude themselves upon unbelievers, in spite of all their efforts to banish them; and leave a sting behind them in the conscience, whose pain, however it may be concealed, cannot easily be allayed. Of this, Herod is a remarkable example; for, notwithstanding he was a king, his conscience made itself heard and felt, amidst all the noise, the hurry, the flatteries, and the debaucheries of a court.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Mat 14:2 . ] to his slaves (comp. note on Mat 8:6 ), who, according to Oriental ideas, are no other than his courtiers . Comp. 1Sa 16:17 ; Mal 1:6Mal 1:6 ; Mal 1:8Mal 1:8 ; Mal 1 Maccabees 3 Esdr. Mat 2:17 ; Diod. Sic. xvii. 36.
] indicating by its emphasis the terror-stricken conscience: He, the veritable John .
] from the dead , among whom he was dwelling in Hades. The supposition of Wetstein and Bengel, that Herod was a Sadducee (erroneously founded upon Mar 8:15 , comp. Mat 16:6 ), is no less inconsistent with what he here says about one having risen from the dead, than the other supposition that he believed this to be a case of metempsychosis (Grotius, Gratz, von Clln); for he assumes that not merely the soul, but that the entire personality of John, has returned. Generally speaking, we do not meet with the doctrine of transmigration among the Jews till some time after; see Delitzsch, Psychol. p. 463 f. [E. T. 545 f.]. Herod’s language is merely the result of terror, which has been awakened by an evil conscience, and which, with the inconsistency characteristic of mental bewilderment, believes something to have happened though contrary to all expectation which, in ordinary circumstances, was looked upon as theoretically impossible; while, again, the opinions that were circulating respecting Jesus (Luk 9:7 f.) would suggest, in the case before us, the particular idea to which Herod here gives expression. The Pharisaic belief in the resurrection, which was not unknown to Herod, became, in spite of himself, the psychological starting-point.
] on this account , because he is no ordinary man, but one risen from the dead.
] the powers manifesting themselves in his miracles.
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
2 And said unto his servants, This is John the Baptist; he is risen from the dead; and therefore mighty works do shew forth themselves in him.
Ver. 2. And said unto his servants ] So seeking a diversion of his inward terrors and torments. Perplexed he was and could find no way out, as St Luke’s word Luk 9:7 importeth. ( , de iis dicitur qui ita perplexi, et impediti quasi in luto tenentur, ut , exitum non inveniant, Beza.) Conscience will hamper a guilty person, and fill him often with unquestionable conviction and horror. As those that were condemned to be crucified, bare their cross, that should soon after bear them: so God hath laid upon evildoers the cross of their own consciences, that thereon they may suffer afore they suffer; and their greatest enemies need not wish them a greater mischief. For assuredly, a body is not so torn with stripes, as a mind with the remembrance of wicked actions. And here Cain runs to building of cities, Saul to the delight of music, Belshazzar to quaffing and carousing, Herod to his minions and catamites; a so to put by, if possible, that melancholy dumps and heartqualms, as they count and call inward terrors. But conscience will not be pacified by these sorry anodynes of the devil. Wicked men may skip and leap up and down for a while, as the wounded deer doth; sed haeret lateri lethalis arundo, the deadly dart sticks fast in their sides, and will do without true repentance, till it hath brought them, as it did Herod, to desperation and destruction, so that he laid violent hands upon himself at Lyons in France, whither he and his courtezan were banished by Augustus. b
This is John the Baptist ] Herod had thought to have hugged his Herodias without control when once the Baptist was beheaded; but it proved somewhat otherwise. Indeed so long as he played alone, he was sure to win all. But now conscience came in to play her part, Herod is in a worse case than ever; for he imagined still that he saw and heard that holy head shouting and crying out against him, staring him also in the face at every turn; as that tyrant thought he saw the head of Symmachus, whom he had basely slain, in the mouth of the fish that was set before him on the table. And as Judge Morgan, who gave the sentence of condenmation against the Lady Jane Grey, shortly after he had condemned her, fell mad, and in his raving cried out continually to have the Lady Jane taken away from him, and so ended his life.
a , to his boys, which haply were his serious loves.
b Nam non multo post haec, secutum est tyranni exilium et exitium. Joseph. lib. 18, cap. 9.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
2. ] = .
] emphatic; equivalent in English to “ it is he, that ” In Luk 9:7 it is said that Herod . . . . . There is no inconsistency in these accounts: the report originated with others: but if Herod concerning it, he, in the terrors of a guilty conscience, doubtless gave utterance to these words himself. There is no evidence that Herod was a Sadducee, or a disbeliever in the resurrection as then held by the Pharisees. See also note on Mar 8:14 .
There is no allusion here to metempsychosis, but to the veritable bodily resurrection, and supposed greater power acquired by having passed through death. This is an incidental confirmation of Joh 10:41 , where we read that John wrought no miracle while living .
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Mat 14:2 . : not his sons, but his servants, i.e. , the courtiers, great men in their way, not the menials in the palace. The king would propound his odd theory in familiar talk, not in solemn conclave. , etc. It is this theory we have to thank for the narrative following, which in itself has no special connection with the evangelic history, though doubtless Christians would naturally read with interest the fate of the forerunner of Jesus. The king has the Baptist on the brain; and remarkable occurrences in the religious world recall him at once to mind. It is John! he ( ) is risen; theory begotten of remorse; odd enough, but better than Pharisaic one begotten of malevolence; both witnessing to the extraordinary in Christ’s career. : the living John did no miracles, but no saying what a dead one redivivus can do? , not: he does the mighty works, but: the powers ( ) work in him, the powers of the invisible world, vast and vague in the king’s imagination.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
servants = young men or courtiers. Greek. pais. App-108.
the dead. With Art. See App-139.
therefore = on this account. Greek. dia touto.
mighty works. See note on Mat 13:54, above.
in. Greek. en.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
2.] = .
] emphatic; equivalent in English to it is he, that In Luk 9:7 it is said that Herod . . … There is no inconsistency in these accounts: the report originated with others: but if Herod concerning it, he, in the terrors of a guilty conscience, doubtless gave utterance to these words himself. There is no evidence that Herod was a Sadducee, or a disbeliever in the resurrection as then held by the Pharisees. See also note on Mar 8:14.
There is no allusion here to metempsychosis, but to the veritable bodily resurrection, and supposed greater power acquired by having passed through death. This is an incidental confirmation of Joh 10:41, where we read that John wrought no miracle while living.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Mat 14:2. , servants) The friends of princes are for the most part yonng.[655] In time of fear, the great speak promiscuously with the small.-, this) Herod was tormented by his conscience.[656] It was not consistent with the character of such a king to arrive at an absolute decision. He concluded, but with doubt; see Luk 9:7; Luk 9:9. Herod was a Sadducee; but Sadduceeism wavers when anything strange occurs. Reason [mere human reason] prefers ascribing marvellous circumstances to ancient, or at least departed saints, rather than to those who are alive; and to those whom it has once begun to esteem highly rather than to others.[657]-, John) Herod had not heard of the works of Jesus before the death of John. John had not performed any miracles during his life; but because he had been a holy man, men now suppose that he must nevertheless have possessed miraculous power; cf. ch. Mat 16:14. So great power has the reputation of holiness even with those who are themselves unholy. Moreover, as the actions of Christ were ascribed to John even when dead, it was necessary that he should decrease in order that Christ might increase. The Greeks speak much and often of the things which our Lords forerunner, slain before Him, announced and preached to the dead; see Leo Allatius,[658] de libris ecclesiast. Gr. pp. 303, 304; and Wetstein[659] on the dialogue against the Marcionites, p. 33. So do the Latins also, quoted by Ittigius[660] in his dissertation on the gospel preached to the dead, xi.; see also Ambrose on Luk 1:17, and Gersons[661] second lecture on St Mark.- , the Baptist) This surname is given to John even by Herod, even by the daughter of Herodias, even by Josephus, so celebrated was it.-, he) himself.- , mighty works) He speaks of them as objective realities.- in Him) sc. in Jesus.
[655] Alluding to two of the meanings of , the one implying youth, the other attendance on a superior.-(I. B.)
[656] So far was he from speaking thus in jest.-E. B.
[657] John most speedily attained the consummation of his course; but those who had deprived him of life, subsequently atoned most dearly for it.-V. g.
[658] LEO ALLATIUS (or ALLACCI). A laborious and indefatigable writer, of a vast memory, whose writings display great reading. Born in the Isle of Chios, of Greek parents, 1586. Having been admitted into the Greek College at Rome, he embraced the Roman Catholic religion, and was eventually appointed keeper of the Vatican library by Pope Alexander VII. Died 1669.-(I. B.)
[659] The author here intended is not J. J. Wetstein, Bengels great critical rival, but JOHN RUDOLPH WETSTEIN, son of the author of the same name. He was a native of Basle, and became a theologian and philologist of that Academy. He was born in 1647, and died in 1711. He published at Basle, in 1674, Origen against the Marcionites, in Greek and Latin, with notes.-(I. B.)
[660] THOMAS ITTIGIUS, a native of Leipsic, of which Academy he became a theologian and historian; was born 1643, and died 1710. He was the author of many learned works.-(I. B.)
[661] JOHN GERSON; born at Gerson, in France, in 1363; educated at Paris, where he became Canon and Chancellor of the Church. He greatly distinguished himself, at the Council of Constance, by many speeches, especially by one, in which he enforced the superiority of the Council over the Pope. He was one of the most illustrious men of his time, and obtained the surname of Doctor Christianissimus. Cave says that no one can be conversant with his works without very great benefit. His writings are very numerous.-(I. B.)
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
This: Mat 11:11, Mat 16:14, Mar 8:28, Joh 10:41
do show forth themselves in him: or, are wrought by him
Reciprocal: Mat 3:1 – John Mat 9:26 – the fame hereof Mat 14:13 – General Mar 1:14 – after Mar 6:14 – king Herod Mar 6:16 – It is Luk 9:19 – John
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
14:2
Hearing of the fame of Jesus, Herod thought he would have to make some kind of an explanation of it since he could not deny the facts. He doubtless had a sort of guilty feeling over the way he had treated John the Baptist and it gave him this weird-like impression. He explained the matter to his servants by saying that John had come back to life and was doing these mighty works in the person of Jesus. However, this return to life on earth to which Herod referred was not a part of the general resurrection that is taught in the Scriptures, but to a belief that many people had that is described in the histories and other works of reference as “transmigration.”
I shall quote Webster’s definition of the word: “Act or instance of transmigrating; specifically, the passing of the soul at death into another body or successive bodily forms, either human or animal; also (often transmigration of souls), the doctrine that souls so pass.” We know that such a doctrine did not originate with any true teacher from God, although many of His professed people took up with it. The idea of repeated transmigrations was based on the theory of Brahma, the Hindu name of the Supreme Being. I shall quote from Myers Ancient History (pages 99, 100) on this matter: “A chief doctrine of Brahmanism is that all life, apart from Brahma, is evil, is travail and sorrow. . . . The only way to redemption from evil lies in communion with and final absorption with Brahma. But this return to Brahma is dependent upon the soul’s purification, for no impure soul can be reabsorbed into Brahma. . . . As only a few In each generation reach the goal, it follows that the great majority of men must be born again, and yet again, until all evil has been purged away from the soul and eternal repose is found in Brahma. He who lives a virtuous life is at death born into some higher caste, and thus he advances towards the longed-for end. The evil man, however, is born into a lower caste, or perhaps his soul enters some unclean animal. This doctrine of rebirth is known as the transmigration of souls.” While this doctrine originated with the heathen teachers, it had become widely known in the time of Christ and the apostles and was reflected even in the opinions of some of the Jews. That made it necessary for our Saviour and his apostles to deal with it (Mat 16:14; Mar 8:28; Heb 6:2), hence the reader should make himself familiar with this paragraph for future reference when the subject may be mentioned.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
And said unto his servants, This is John the Baptist; he is risen from the dead; and therefore mighty works do show forth themselves in him.
[This is John, etc.] was not Herod of the Sadducean faith? For that which is said by Matthew, “Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees,” Mat 16:6, is rendered by Mark, “Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, and of the leaven of Herod,” Mat 8:15; that is, ‘of their doctrine.’
If, therefore, Herod embraced the doctrine of the Sadducees, his words, “This is John the Baptist, he is risen from the dead,” seem to be extorted from his conscience, pricked with the sting of horror and guilt, as though the image and ghost of the Baptist, but newly butchered by him, were before his eyes: so that his mind is under horror; and forgetting his Sadduceism, groaning and trembling, he acknowledgeth the resurrection of the dead, whether he will or no.
Or let it be supposed, that with the Pharisees he owned the resurrection of the dead; yet certainly it was unusual for them that confessed it to dream of the resurrection of one that was but newly dead: they expected there should be a resurrection of the dead hereafter: but this, which Herod speaks, believes, and suspects, is a great way distant from that doctrine, and seems, indeed, to have proceeded from a conscience touched from above.
Fuente: Lightfoot Commentary Gospels
Mat 14:2. This is John the Baptist. Comp. Luk 9:7-9. This does not imply a belief in the transmigration of souls, nor prove that Herod was a Sadducee (although some infer this from Mar 8:15); it is the perplexed and terrified utterance of a guilty conscience.
Therefore, etc. John had wrought no miracle (chap. Mat 10:41), but Herod supposed that the rising from the dead had resulted in higher powers.
Powers, or mighty works as in chap. Mat 13:54; Mat 13:58. Herods desire to see our Lord was at best a patronizing condescension to the gospel.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
14:2 And said unto his servants, This is John the Baptist; he is risen from the dead; and therefore mighty {a} works do shew forth themselves in him.
(a) By works he means that force and power by which works are performed, and not the works which are often seen before.