Matthew 14

Matthew 14:1-12 – Herod Antipas and John

• Matthew 14:1-5 – Herod feared John the Baptist. He had beheaded John and was afraid that he had come back from the dead. John was killed for telling the truth about Herod’s adultery.
  • Herod the Great (Matthew 2:1, 3, 7, 12-13, 15-16, 19; Luke 1:5)
    • Named “Procurator of Judea” after murder of Julius Caesar
    • Mark Antony gave him title “king of the Jews”
    • Rise to power was due to his connection with Mark Antony and Cleopatra
    • Killed two of his ten wives, three of his sins, a brother-in-law, and grandfather of one of his wives
    • Augustus said, “I’d rather be Herod’s hog than his son.”
    • The family of Herod
      • Philip – married Herodias, his niece
      • Philip the Tetrarch – married Salome, his niece
      • Herodias – married two uncles
      • Aristobulus – married Salome
      • Drucilla – left husband to marry Festus, Roman governor
      • Antipas – killed John, married Herodias
      • Salome – married to her uncle and cousin
      • Bernice – married uncle Calchis, lived with her brother
      • Agrippa II – lived with his sister
• Matthew 14:13-21 – Feeding five thousand
  • Matthew 14:13 – The crowd was determined to follow Jesus as best they could.
  • Matthew 14:15 – The disciples had their priorities wrong. The need for spiritual food was much greater than that of physical food.
  • Matthew 14:17 – The disciples still did not have confidence in Jesus’ abilities.
  • Matthew 14:21 – There were 5,000 men. Adding women and children, this is like 10-15,000 people or more.

• I Thessalonians 4:13
• Acts 14:15
• Genesis 1 – God created all and it was good. Man was God’s most glorious work.
• II Corinthians 5:17 – God has a new creation – the saved relationship.
• II Samuel 7:12-13
• Acts 9:15
• Ephesians 3:4-13 – Paul was to preach to all.
• Ephesians 6:12 – Heavenly places means “high places” here – rulers and authorities.
• Ezekiel 20:24
• I Corinthians 1:2 – God has no recorded His name in the church.
• Ephesians 4:25; 5:16, 22; Acts 4 – God tells us how we should live our lives.
• Romans 2:2, 21 – Paul warned them against hypocritical rebuke.
• Men have tried and failed to improve on the local church arrangement that God set in order. The church is not God’s most glorious work.

Stones in the Bible

• Genesis 28:18-29 – Stone as a pillow
• Genesis 29:10
• Genesis 31:45-49
• Genesis 35:10, 14-15
• Exodus 7:19
• Exodus 8:26 – Stoning as punishment
• Exodus 17:4
• Exodus 17:6 – Moses told to strike the rock to bring water
• Numbers 20:10-13
• Numbers 20:6-9
• Exodus 17:11-13 – Moses sits on a stone with his hands supported during the battle
• Exodus 20:25 – Altar made of stone, but no tools allowed
• Exodus 21:18
• Exodus 24:12
• Exodus 28:9-12 – Stones on the shoulders of the priests with names of the tribes engraved
• Exodus 31:18
• Exodus 32:19
• Deuteronomy 5:22
• Deuteronomy 9:9-11
• Exodus 34:1
• Exodus 34:28
• Deuteronomy 10:1-4
• Joshua 4:5 – Stones set up in memorial of the crossing of the Jordan river
• Joshua 3:16-17u
• Joshua 24:24-27, 29 – The stone as a witness
• Judges 20:15-16
• I Samuel 7:7, 12-13 – A stone set up and named Ebenezer
• I Kings 5:14-16 – 80,000 stonecutters used to build the temple
• I Kings 6:7
• I Kings 7:9
• I Chronicles 22:14-15
• II Chronicles 2:1
• I Smauel 17:26, 45, 49 – David was armed with only stones.
• Punishment by stoning
  • Leviticus 20:2; 24:14, 16
  • Numbers 14:10
  • Numbers 15:35 – Stoning ordered for breaking the Sabbath
  • Leviticus 26:1 – For making idols
  • Deuteronomy 13:10
  • Deuteronomy 17:5
  • Numbers 35:23
  • Deuteronomy 21:18-21 – For being a rebellious child
  • Deuteronomy 22:21, 24 – For sexual immorality
  • Luke 20:3-6
  • John 8:4-5, 7 – Jesus prevents a woman from being stoned
  • John 8:11
  • John 10:30-33
  • Acts 14:4-6
  • Acts 7:54-60 – The stoning of Steven
  • II Corinthians 11:22-27 – The stoning of Paul
• Psalms 118:22 – The cornerstone
• Isaiah 28:16
• Matthew 21:42-43 – Jesus is the cornerstone
• Acts 4:8-12
• Ephesians 2:19-22
• I Peter 2:4-9 – Jesus is the cornerstone. We are living stones.

Matthew 13

• Matthew 13:10-17 – See Matthew 3:12. Through Jesus’ words, he is separating the wheat from the chaff.
• Matthew 13:34-35 – Compare Matthew 13:11. This is a quote from Psalms 78:2-7.
• Matthew 13:9 – The one who has ears better listen!
• Matthew 13:3-9 – Parable of the sower
  • Just because you don’t identify with one of the three bad types of soil doesn’t mean you are fertile soil.
• Matthew 13:24-30, 37-43 – Parable of the tares
  • There may be good reason for God to allow evil to persist in the world. Removing all evil would cause more suffering than allowing it to remain for a while.
• Matthew 13:47-50 – Parable of the dragnet
  • What happens to the good fish? Be careful not to take the parable further than Jesus intended.
  • Avoid becoming a bad fish!
• Matthew 13:31-32 – Parable of the mustard seed
  • The kingdom was not going to have a big start, but it would grow larger than all other kingdoms.
• Matthew 13:33 – Parable of the leaven
  • The kingdom is going to start in one place and permeate the world.
• Matthew 13:44 – Parable of the treasure in the field
• Matthew 13:45-46 – Parable of the pearl of great price
  • The kingdom of heaven is worth everything!