Bible Synapse
Did Herod think Jesus was John the Baptist risen from the dead?
Hard question · The life of Jesus · raised by 2 of the lists sceptics circulate
See the passages joined in the interactive mapThe passages
Herod tells his servants, “This is John the Baptist; he is risen from the dead”.
At that time Herod the tetrarch heard of the fame of Jesus, 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.
Others say Elijah or a prophet, but Herod insists, “It is John, whom I beheaded: he is risen from the dead”.
And king Herod heard of him; (for his name was spread abroad:) and he said, That John the Baptist was risen from the dead, and therefore mighty works do shew forth themselves in him. Others said, That it is Elias. And others said, That it is a prophet, or as one of the prophets. But when Herod heard thereof, he said, It is John, whom I beheaded: he is risen from the dead.
Herod is perplexed: “John have I beheaded: but who is this, of whom I hear such things?”
Now Herod the tetrarch heard of all that was done by him: and he was perplexed, because that 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. And Herod said, John have I beheaded: but who is this, of whom I hear such things? And he desired to see him.
The objection
Matthew and Mark say Herod Antipas believed that Jesus was John the Baptist raised from the dead. Luke says Herod was perplexed and asked, “John have I beheaded: but who is this, of whom I hear such things?” That sounds as if he did not think Jesus was John.
The answer
Luke describes Herod’s first reaction; Matthew and Mark give the conclusion he came to. Mark and Luke both report the rumours: some said John had risen, others that Jesus was Elijah or one of the prophets (Mark 6:14–15; Luke 9:7–8). Mark then gives Herod’s verdict: “But when Herod heard thereof, he said, It is John, whom I beheaded: he is risen from the dead” (Mark 6:16). Luke stops at the earlier stage, when “he was perplexed” (Greek diēporei, ‘was at a loss’) by the rumours and asked who this could be.
A question is not a denial. A guilty ruler who had beheaded a prophet might well say, ‘I killed John, so who is this?’, and then come to fear that it was John after all. Gill read Luke in just this way. Luke adds that Herod “desired to see him” (9:9), a wish he finally had at Jesus’ trial (Luke 23:8).
From the classic commentators
he hesitated about it at first, though he afterwards was fully persuaded, in his own mind, that it was he, as some affirmed; and this gave him great uneasiness, and filled him with distress and horrorJohn Gill, Exposition of the Bible, on Luke 9:7 (1746–1763)
The murdered prophet haunted his guilty breast like a specter, and seemed to him alive again and clothed with unearthly powers, in the person of Jesus.Jamieson, Fausset and Brown, Commentary, on Mark 6:14 (1871)
Sources
- John Gill, Exposition of the Bible: Luke 9 (1746–1763), at Bible Hub
- Jamieson, Fausset and Brown, Commentary: Mark 6 (1871), at Bible Hub