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
- Herod the Great (Matthew 2:1, 3, 7, 12-13, 15-16, 19; Luke 1:5)
- 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.