Imprisonment of Saint John.

(Matt. 14:3-5; Mark 6:17-20; Luke 3:19-20).

Soon after Saint John the Baptist’s last witness of Christ’s Divinity, he was seized and imprisoned for exposing the illegal co-habitation of king Herod Antipas and Herodias, wife of his brother Philip. The first three Evangelists narrate this. Herod Antipas, son of Herod the Great — who ordered the slaying of the infants in Bethlehem — ruled Galilee and Perea. Being married to the daughter of the Arab King Aretus, he entered into a love affair with Herodias, unhappy in her marriage with Philip. She openly moved into the palace, having banished Herod’s legal wife. Insulted over his daughter, Aretus declared war on Herod. Herod himself was forced to leave for a fort at Machaerus (east of the Dead Sea), to take command of the troops. Here, Herod heard about John the Baptist as being a Prophet that attracted many people to himself. Hoping to find support for his campaign, he sent for John. However, instead of support, he heard a very unpleasant accusation: “It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife” (Mark 6:18).

These words especially annoyed Herodias, and she applied all her influence in order to incite Herod to kill John. Fearing the people, Herod decided not to kill John but just imprison him at Machaerus. According to Evangelist Marks witness, Herod even respected John as a righteous and holy man, and acted many times in accordance with his advice. Apparently, like all people of weak character, Herod entered into an arrangement with his conscience, hoping that by performing a few good deeds (through John’s advice), he would be able to efface his major sin — against which was the precise sin that John was taking up arms. He even enjoyed listening to the advice given by the Baptist, but would not forsake his sin. In the end, he took away his liberty to the benefit of evil Herodias. Thus was the end of John’s ministry, the last of the Old Testament Prophets.