An Atheistic Bible Study Of The Gospels The Death Of John The Baptist

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John The Forerunner was the most powerful cult leader in Judea to be seen as a threat to Rome, Herod, the Pharisees and Sadducees. His arrest during the time Jesus was in the Wilderness is no big surprise. Imprisoned, John had been able to communicate with Jesus through followers who were free to visit John in captivity in cells in the palace of Herod Antipas, the despotic ruler of Galilee. MATTHEW Chapter 14 gives the story of John’s death in flashback, after Herod, hearing that Jesus is performing miracles, fears Jesus might be John returned from the dead. It seems only John had performed miracles before during Herod’s reign. Matthew relates then how and why John was arrested. Herod had married the former wife to his own brother Philip, and John had campaigned against the marriage as incestuous and ungodly, leading to his arrest. Herodias, the bride to be, had agreed to John’s incarceration. At a birthday feast for Herod, the despot rashly offered histep0daughter (Herodias’s child to her former husband) anything she wanted if she would dance for him. The girl (named Salome only in a historic document by Josephus, which proves Herod Antipas really did exist) requests the severed head of the captive Baptist on a tray. Herod is mortified by the request but honour bound by his promise, he has the Forerunner executed anyway. The dancer presents the head to her mother. This suggests her dance was performed just to get her Mother’s wishes rather than her own. After John’s followers arrange the burial for the rest of John’s corpse, they notify Jesus of the tragedy. It seems odd that they didn’t invite him to the funeral itself. MARK – 6:14-29 Mark’s account is similar, though he highlights that Herod want to kill the Baptist, and only holds off from fear of John’s miraculous powers (though John never uses these against Herod). Even when faced with the step-daughter’s request, Herod is a reluctant executioner. Mark describes the followers of John burying the headless corpse but nothing about them notifying Jesus of the murder. LUKE mentions the arrest and notes that Herod had him executed but says nothing of the birthday dance or the step-daughter’s gruesome request. JOHN – the fourth Gospel overs the ministry of the Baptist but says nothing of his arrest or execution at all. Much has been added to the myth by post-Biblical commentators, the name Salome, her dance being a burlesque striptease, often seen as the first Dance Of The Seven Veils, and the tray containing the severed head being a silver platter. Jesus seems unaffected by John’s death and it is not clear if the Baptist’s followers went on to follow Jesus fully or at all. John neither returns from the dead or becomes a posthumous cult leader either. His death adds nothing to the Gospel narrative at all. Arthur Chappell