Herod had been appointed by the Romans to rule over the Jews. It was his job to keep the Hebrew people under the Roman thumb and to prevent uprisings. The Jews were an extremely religious group and riots could be easily started by rumors of violations of their religious codes. So when John the Baptist began publicly ridiculing Herod for stealing his brother’s wife and marrying her, he became extremely angry with John. His wife, Herodias, was angrier. She wanted John dead.
Herod was afraid it would be political suicide to kill John because he was a favorite of the crowds. But to quiet his wife’s nagging, Herod had John the Baptist arrested and thrown into prison. At first he hoped to kill John as soon as the crowds forgot him. However, John continued to preach, in prison and Herod became fascinated with his prisoner (Mathew 14:1-5; Mark 6:14-20).
Day after day Herod was drawn to hear John’s voice echoing across the brick walls. The words tore at his heart, but the prestige of his position was too costly to give up. Herod was not ready to believe.
Fascination with the Truth is not the same as believing the Truth.
