Mar 6:16-29 | TNotes

6:17 ^a imprison John: The Jewish historian Josephus (Antiquities 18.5.2) says that John was imprisoned in the fortress of Machaerus in Perea.

• Josephus (Antiquities 18.5.1–4) states that Herodias was the wife of Herod Antipas’s half brother, Herod Philip.
6:18 ^b Mark gives the moral-religious reason for the imprisonment and execution of John the Baptist. Josephus refers to the political reason (fear that John’s great popularity might start a revolution; Josephus, Antiquities 18.5.2). Similarly, the religious reasons for Jesus’ condemnation (Mark 14:63-64 ^c) became political when he was brought before Pontius Pilate (15:2 ^d; Luke 23:2-3 ^e).

• It is against God’s law: Not only was the relationship adulterous (Lev 20:10 ^f), but it violated the further law against marrying a brother’s wife (Lev 18:16 ^g; 20:21 ^h).
Summary for Mark 6:19-28: 6:19-28 ⁱ Herodias’s role in the murder of John the Baptist recalls the story of Jezebel (1 Kgs 19:1-2 ^j). Herod succumbed to pressure (Mark 6:26-28 ^k), which foreshadows the later story of Pontius Pilate, who put Jesus to death against his better judgment (cp. 6:20 ^l, 25-28 ^m with 15:6-15 ⁿ).
6:22 ^o his daughter, also named Herodias: According to the first-century Jewish historian Josephus, Herodias’s daughter was also named Salome (Josephus, Antiquities 18.5.4).
6:29 ^p This verse is similar to the description of Jesus’ death and burial (see 15:43-46 ^q). Disciples of John existed after his death until at least the AD 200s (see Acts 18:24–19:7 ^r).