Gtcotr/ws102622 Pastor Ron Hammonds
We began our current mid-week series in August of this year with the intent to revisit the subject of Women in the Bible. The notes we are using and the subjects we are covering follow a series I taught here 12 years ago.
You know, God confirms Himself through His Word and His timing never ceases to amaze me. He knows the end from the beginning, and He knows every step and each decision people will make all along the way. God never fails to prepare and to protect His Church to accomplish the tasks to which He has called them. If there is anything the devil hates, it’s the work of God. And he will do anything he can to hinder, hurt, or stop it.
By now, those of us who have walked with the Lord for any length of time, should not be surprised when the devil attempts to disrupt the work of God. It usually begins with someone getting angry about someone else being healed, helped, blessed, forgiven, or accepted. The pattern is very easily recognized throughout the life of Jesus. Religious people were always condemning Jesus for loving, visiting with, forgiving, helping, or healing people they felt were undeserving. These interruptions to the work of God continued through the lives of James and John, Peter, and Paul.
This evening we pick up right where we left off in this
series, following the notes to the next group of women we meet in the Bible. So
far we have discovered that:
·
Women have greater
influence than do men in many cases. (Eve)
·
A woman is motivated by
what she believes, hopes, or wants for the future. (The Daughters of Lot)
·
Soft answers turn away
wrath. (Ruth)
· A virtuous woman will accomplish her tasks, even from the confines of her life. (Mary & Esther)
While you turn to Mark 6, allow me to share a brief history of 2 women we will find there. These two women epitomize the term, drama queens.
About the same year Jesus was born, Herod the Great was presented with a new granddaughter who was named Herodias, in honor of him. He was a very insecure emperor who, after hearing about the birth of Jesus and fearing people would one day choose Him to be their king, sent soldiers to Bethlehem and killed every male child two years old and younger. That’s the kind of aggressive, arrogant, and insecure environment Herodias was born into.
Herodias was raised enjoying the finer things of life and as a young girl worked her wiles to woo and successfully married her uncle, Herod Philip, who was slated to become the next emperor of Rome.
Philip and Herodias had one daughter born to them about AD 14; her name was Salome, named after her maternal grandmother. Soon
it became clear that Philip would not be the choice to take the throne. Philip
and Herodias were rather sent to live among the upper-class citizens in one of
the port cities in Palestine. This would never do for the aggressively ambitious
Herodias. Back-burners were for other people. She soon began looking around for
a way to improve her situation.
Philip, her husband, had a half-brother, Herod Antipas, who was Tetrarch of
Palestine. Tetrarch was a position equal to that of Governor over a Roman
province, with complete authority over the people of that land. Herod Antipas
actually held a stronger position because he had inherited the Galilee and
other regions in Palestine after the death of his father, Herod the Great, in
4BC. Herod Antipas, short for Antipater, married the daughter of an Arab King
for which an alliance was enjoyed with the neighboring countries along and on
both sides of the Jordan River.
Herodias set her sights on winning the affection and devotion of her husband’s
brother, uncle Antipas. When Philip and Herodias returned to Rome, Herod
Antipas was already in love with Herodias and followed her there. In Rome Herod
Antipas convinced Herodias to leave her husband, become his mistress and return
to Jerusalem with him. Herodias saw her chance to take a step up and become
what amounted to queen of Palestine. Believe me when I tell you, it would be
more fitting to call her a drama queen than queen of the people of Palestine.
Herodias finally convinced Herod Antipas to dissolve his 30-year-old marriage
and divorce his Arab wife to be with her. Love, or was it lust … struck him and
willing to give Herodias anything to please her, Herod Antipas agreed, and the
deal was made. Later, war would break out between Herod and his Arabian ex
father-in-law over the divorce of his daughter. All the while …
Antipas and Herodias enjoyed the high life, living in their palaces in Tiberias
along the Sea of Galilee, in Jerusalem, Caesarea on the Mediterranean, and in
Machaerus on the Eastern side of the Dead Sea across from Jericho and in Engedi.
It was most likely on their way to the latter palace, perhaps at the crossing
of the Jordan River between Gilgal and Jericho, that Antipas
and Herodias encountered John the Baptist.
Herod Antipas respected John the Baptist and often followed his counsel.
However, after Antipas divorced his wife and took Herodias, his brother’s wife,
who was also his niece, as a live in lover, Antipas was not one of John’s
favorite people. In fact, John spoke about Herod Antipas and Herodias publicly
for having committed this sin.
Herod feared John, but Herodias hated him!
Machiavelli wrote in his work, The Prince, that leaders should make their men
fear them, but never make them hate them. Fear gives you respect from and power
over your followers and among your enemies … hatred, however, is unpredictable.
People who hate you are willing to destroy themselves
in their attempts to destroy you.
At any rate, Herodias hated being made to look bad or wrong by those she
considered her subjects. In fact, the Bible records that Herodias quarreled
against John and if she could have killed him, she would have, but she lacked
the official power … however – her husband did not! Let’s read the Biblical
account from:
Mark 6
14 ¶ And king Herod heard about Jesus; (for his name was spread abroad:) and he
said, That John the Baptist was risen from the dead, and therefore mighty works
do show forth themselves in him.
15 Others said, That it is Elias. And others said, That it is a prophet, or as
one of the prophets.
16 But when Herod heard thereof, he said, It is John, whom I beheaded: he is
risen from the dead.
17 For Herod himself had sent forth and laid hold on John, and bound him in
prison for Herodias’ sake, his brother Philip’s wife: for he had married her.
18 For John had said to Herod, It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s
wife.
19 Therefore Herodias had a quarrel against him, and would have killed him; but
she could not:
20 For Herod feared John, knowing that he was a just man and an holy, and
observed him; and when he heard him, he did many things, and heard him gladly.
21 And when a convenient day was come, that Herod on his birthday made a supper
to his lords, high captains, and chief estates of Galilee;
22 And when the daughter of the said Herodias came in, and danced, and pleased
Herod and them that sat with him, the king said to the damsel, Ask of me
whatever you will, and I will give it you.
23 And he swore to her, Whatever you shall ask of me, I will give it you, to
the half of my kingdom.
24 And she went forth, and said to her mother, What shall I ask? And she said,
The head of John the Baptist.
25 And she came in straightway with haste to the king, and asked, saying, I
will that you give me by and by in a charger the head of John the Baptist. 26
And the king was exceeding sorry; yet for his oath’s sake, and for their sakes
which sat with him, he would not reject her.
27 And immediately the king sent an executioner, and commanded his head to be
brought: and he went and beheaded him in the prison,
28 And brought his head in a charger, and gave it to the damsel: and the damsel
gave it to her mother.
29 And when his disciples heard of it, they came and took up his corpse, and
laid it in a tomb.
Herodias was one evil woman committed to only what she wanted,
completely disregarding what is right, good, and godly, she was committed only
to her own lusts, greed and selfish desires. John the Baptist had insulted her
and that hurt her.
Other people can hurt you, but they can’t make you sin. Sin is a choice you make for yourself. Herodias decided to have her vengeance on John, and she even involved her young teenage daughter in what many believe was a pre-meditated, manipulative, lust-filled, enticing conspiracy to seduce her husband using her daughter’s charms and then force him to go against his wishes and murder the prophet of God.
Remember our title … Drama Queens ...
Herodias’ plan worked. She was successful in having John
arrested, imprisoned, and executed, and she could not have been happier.
History records that she got her way … at least for a while.
However, sometime thereafter when she heard that her brother, Agrippa, had been
exalted by Caligula and received the title of King over Philip’s former lands,
in jealousy she coaxed her husband to travel to Rome and make his petition for
title. When Herod Antipas arrived in Rome, he was rather placed on trial for
treason which resulted in him losing all claim to his governorship and his
title which was turned over to Agrippa. He forfeited all his lands and palaces
and was exiled to Lyon, France (Gaul), to live out his life with his wife
Herodias apart from the pomp and position they had earlier enjoyed.
Herodias is credited with the murder of John the Baptist, as well … she was also
present when Herod stood in judgment over a Galilean named, Jesus.
Salome, the daughter of Herodias, was not without fault in the matter of John
the Baptist’s death. She seems to be a willing participant and serves to
epitomize the image of an evil and dangerous woman. History tells us that she
continued in her mother’s footsteps, scandalously involving herself with men of
rank and position, seductively wooing men and ultimately marrying three times
into the power of her day. She evidently kept her luring charm and later in
life convinced her husband to place her image on the coins of Chalcis, the
country to which she was then queen.
What can we learn from this story and the history that surrounds it?
1.
God will give you chances to change all along the way.
2.
Be careful who you judge, you might be judging Jesus.
