1728 | Matthew 14:1
John the Baptist Beheaded
14:1-12pp — Mk 6:14-29
14 At that time Herod j the te trarch heard the re ports about Jesus , k 2 and he said to his
at ten dants , “ This is John the Bap tist ; l he has risen from the dead ! That is why mirac u lous pow ers are at work in him .”
3 Now Herod had ar rested John and bound him and put him in prison m be cause of He rodias , his brother Phil ip ’ s wife , n 4 for John had been say ing to him : “ It is not law ful for you to have her .” o 5 Herod wanted to kill John , but he was afraid of the peo ple , be cause they considered John a prophet . p
6 On Her od ’ s birth day the daugh ter of He ro dias danced for the guests and pleased Herod so much 7 that he prom ised with an oath to give her what ever she asked . 8 Prompted by her mother , she said , “ Give me here on a plat ter the head of John the Bap tist .” 9 The king was dis tressed , but be cause of his oaths and his din ner guests , he or dered that her re quest be granted 10 and had John be headed q in the prison . 11 His head was brought in on a plat ter and given to the girl , who car ried it to her mother . 12 John ’ s dis ci ples came and took his body and bur ied it . r Then they went and told Jesus .
14:1 j Mk 8:15 ; Lk 3:1 , 19 ; 13:31 ; 23:7 , 8 ; Ac 4:27 ; 12:1 k Lk 9:7‐9
14:2 l Mt 3:1
14:3 m Mt 4:12 ; 11:2 n Lk 3:19 , 20
14:4 o Lev 18:16 ; 20:21 14:5 p Mt 11:9 14:10 q Mt 17:12 14:12 r Ac 8:2
14:14 s Mt 9:36 t Mt 4:23
14:17 u Mt 16:9
14:19 v 1Sa 9:13 ; Mt 26:26 ; Mk 8:6 ; Lk 24:30 ; Ac 2:42 ; 27:35 ; 1Ti 4:4
Jesus Feeds the Five Thousand
14:13-21pp — Mk 6:32-44 ; Lk 9:10-17 ; Jn 6:1-13 14:13-21Ref — Mt 15:32-38
13 When Jesus heard what had hap pened , he with drew by boat pri vately to a sol i tary place . Hear ing of this , the crowds fol lowed him on foot from the towns . 14 When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd , he had com pas sion on them s and healed their sick . t
15 As eve ning ap proached , the dis ci ples came to him and said , “ This is a re mote place , and it ’ s al ready get ting late . Send the crowds away , so they can go to the vil lages and buy themselves some food .” 16 Jesus re plied , “ They do not need to go away . You give them some thing to eat .” 17 “ We have here only five loaves u of bread and two fish ,” they an swered . 18 “ Bring them here to me ,” he said . 19 And he di rected the peo ple to sit down on the grass . Tak ing the five loaves and the two fish and look ing up to heaven , he gave thanks and broke the loaves . v
Then he gave them to the dis ci ples , and the dis ci ples gave them to the people . 20 They all ate and were sat is fied , and the dis ci ples picked up twelve bas ket fuls of bro ken pieces that were left over . 21 The num ber of those who ate was about five thou sand men , besides women and children .
14:1 – 12 Matthew explains the reason for and result of John ’ s imprisonment ( 11:2 ). 14:1 Herod the tetrarch . Herod Antipas , one of the three sons of Herod the Great among whom his kingdom was divided ( see chart / map , pp . 1700 – 1701 ). Antipas received the provinces of Galilee and Perea . See note on 2:22 . 14:2 risen from the dead . Matthew begins with Antipas ’ s reaction to Jesus sometime after John the Baptist died , and then Matthew moves back in time to explain how John had come to be executed . Jews did not normally believe in reincarnation , but some ancient pagans did , from whom Antipas must have gotten the notion . Why that would have given Jesus the ability to work miracles that John never performed is unclear , but superstitious beliefs are often illogical . At any rate , Herod recognized similarities between the two men . 14:3 This Philip appears to be a different Philip than the one who received part of Herod the Great ’ s kingdom ( Luke 3:1 ). Herodias divorced this Philip to marry his brother Antipas , and John dared to rebuke Herod publicly for it . 14:6 – 7 the daughter of Herodias . Called a “ girl ” ( Greek korasion ) in Mark 6:22 , a term often used for a young teenager . Given the reputation of the Herodian family for throwing debauched parties , the girl ’ s dance may have been sexually suggestive , and Antipas may have uttered his oath when he was drunk . 14:8 Mark 6:19 explains that Herodias was the one most upset over John ’ s rebuke of her divorce and remarriage . An underage daughter would naturally turn to her when Antipas made his lavish promise , so Herodias requests John ’ s beheading and the public proof of it . 14:9 Antipas ’ s moral weakness and cowardice are reflected in his refusal to go back on the rash vow he had made in front of his guests , probably some of the elite of his society . 14:13 – 36 In contrast to those who refuse to recognize who Jesus and John truly are in 13:53 — 14:12 , here Jesus shows himself to be the bread of life for Israel ( vv . 13 – 21 ; cf . John 6:25 – 59 ) and reveals his divine nature to the Twelve ( vv . 22 – 36 ). 14:13 – 21 The feeding of the 5,000 is the only miracle recorded in all four Gospels , which signals its importance . Jesus appears as a new and greater Moses , who fed the crowds with supernatural bread in the wilderness ( cf . Exod 16 ), and as a new and greater Elisha , who fed a hundred people with 20 hand-size loaves of bread and still had leftovers ( 2 Kgs 4:42 – 44 ). 14:13 withdrew . From the potential hostility that had led to John ’ s martyrdom . privately to a solitary place . Perhaps also for prayer and respite . In light of v . 22 , it appears Jesus is on the northeast side of the Sea of Galilee . But the crowds quickly catch up with him . 14:16 You give them something to eat . Perhaps Jesus is merely setting up the disciples for the next stage of the conversation . 14:17 loaves of bread . Hand-size loaves . The bread and fish were probably intended for one boy ’ s ( or possibly one family ’ s ) dinner ( cf . John 6:9 ), not for the multitudes . 14:19 None of the Gospels describes how the miracle occurred . Jesus “ gave thanks ” to God and “ broke the loaves ” in preparation for distributing them to those present , just as a Jewish father typically would do at the start of any main meal . Many have seen a foreshadowing of the Last Supper here ( cf . 26:26 ), but this is less certain . 14:20 They all ate and were satisfied . The heart of the miracle . Indeed , the multiplication of the loaves was so bountiful and overflowing that there were “ twelve basketfuls of broken pieces . . . left over .” 14:21 women and children . Would have been less likely to follow Jesus a long distance from their villages , but with 5,000 “ men ” present and large families the norm , the total number could easily have ranged from 10,000 to 20,000 people .