Matthew Chapter 14 verse 2 Holy Bible

Pulpit Commentary

Pulpit CommentaryVerse 2. - And said unto his servants. According to Luke, the following assertion was brought forward by some, but was, it would seem, summarily rejected by Herod (Luke 9:7, 9); according to Mark (ἔλεγον, Westcott and Hort, text) it was common talk, and agreed to by Herod (Mark 6:14, 16). If a reconciliation of so unimportant a verbal disagreement be sought for, it may perhaps lie in Luke representing Herod's first exclamation, and Matthew, with Mark, his settled belief. Clearly Herod did not originate it, as the summary account in our Gospel would lead us to suppose. This is John the Baptist (Matthew 3:1 and Matthew 4:12, notes). (For this opinion about our Lord, compare, besides the parallel passages referred to in the last note, also Matthew 16:14.) He (αὐτός, Matthew 1:21, note) is risen from the dead. The other dead still lie in Hades (ἀπὸ τῶν νεκρῶν). Plumptre, on Mark, adduces a curious passage from Persius, 5:180-188, which he thinks is based on a story that when Herod celebrated another of his birthdays (cf. ver. 6) in Rome, in A.D. , he was terrified by a Banquo-like appearance of the murdered prophet. The superstition that already suggested to Herod the resurrection of John might well act more strongly on the anniversary of the murder, and after he had connived at the death of the One who, by his miracles, showed that he possessed greater power than John. And therefore; "because he is no ordinary man, but one risen from the dead" (Meyer). Mighty works do show forth themselves in him (αἱ δυνάμεις ἐνεργοῦσιν ἐν αἰ τῷ) do these powers work in him (Revised Version). "These" (αἱ, the article of reference), i.e. these which are spoken of in the report (ver. 1). Αἱ δυνάμεις may be (1) specifically miracles (cf. Matthew 13:58), in which case they are regarded as potentially active in John before their completion in history; or (2) the powers of working miracles, as perhaps in 1 Corinthians 12:28. Observe that this passage confirms the statement of John 10:41, that John performed no miracle. Observe that it is also an indirect witness to the fact of our Lord performing miracles. For Herod's utterance is not such as a forger would have imagined.

Ellicott's Commentary

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(2) This is John the Baptist.--In Matthew 16:14, Luke 9:7-9, this is given as one of the three opinions that were floating among the people as to our Lord's character, the other two being, (1) that He was Elijah, and (2) that He was one of the old prophets who had risen again. The policy of the tetrarch connected him with the Sadducean priestly party rather than with the more popular and rigid Pharisees, and a comparison of Matthew 16:6 with Mark 8:15 at least suggests the identity of the "leaven of Herod" with that of the Sadducees. On this supposition, his acceptance of the first of the three rumours is every way remarkable. The superstitious terror of a conscience stained with guilt is stronger than his scepticism as a Sadducee, even though there mingled with it, as was probable enough, the wider unbelief of Roman epicureanism. To him the new Prophet, working signs and wonders which John had never worked, was but the re-appearance of the man whom he had murdered. It was more than a spectre from the unseen world, more than the metempsychosis of the soul of John into another body. It was nothing less than John himself.