KNOWN FOR DANCING TO THE
BEAT OF HER MOTHER’S HEART
Matthew 14:3-12; Mark 6:14-29
IMAGINE: Being but a child and your own mother instructs you to be a part of one of the most vile acts against another human being to have ever been played out.
When Herodias’s own daughter
came in and danced, she pleased
Herod and his guests. The king
said to the girl, “Ask me whatever
you want, and I’ll give it to you.”
Mark 6:22
The word “girl” used here is the Greek word “korasion” and is a form of the Hebrew word “kore” which means “little girl”, “maiden”, or “damsel”. The only other time in Scripture this word is used is in reference to Jairus’ daughter, where it states she was twelve years old. (Mk. 5:42).
Actually, the name Salome, given to Herodias’s daughter is not in Scripture anywhere. It is derived from Josephus’ antiquities and it is believed she was between the ages of twelve and fifteen years old.
Herod Antipas, the Tetrarch, ruled over a fourth of Palestine, including Galilee and Perea. His father, Herod the Great, was the king who had the Bethlehem babies killed so as to stop Jesus from reigning as King of the Jews one day in the distant future.
Tetrarch was the title of the four sons of Herod the Great meaning they ruled a fourth of Palestine each. The four were:
Herod Philip 1 – married his niece Herodias (Matt. 14:33). The two were the parents of Salome.
Herod Antipas – married his brother Herod Philip’s first wife Herodias (Mk. 6:17). He had John the Baptist beheaded at Herodias’s instruction. He also judged Jesus at his trial (Lk. 23:7-12).
Herod Archelaus – oversaw Judea, Samaria, and Idumea.
Herod Philip 2 – married Herodias’s daughter, Salome, his niece.
The family of the Herod’s were the descendants of those in attendance of the Royal Courts of Idumea, in the northern part of Arabia. Idumaea (Id-yoo-mee-uh) is the Greek name of Edom. Edom is the country the Lord gave to Esau, and his descendants were called Edomites. Esau is the brother of Jacob whose descendants are the Israelites. The two have, throughout the ages, been bitter enemies.
Herod Antipas had John the Baptist arrested because of Herodias. John had publicly condemned Herod for living with Herodias, his sister-in-law. The relationship was immoral in that this was his brother Herod Philip I’s wife. Herod had John thrown in prison to get him out of the public’s eye, but his wife wanted him off the face of the earth.
Herod throws a birthday celebration for himself with many guests. Salome entertains those in attendance with a dance which pleases him. He then very foolishly promises to give her whatever she asks for. She consults with her mother, Herodias, and returns with the request for John the Baptist’s head on a platter. Now!
Scripture indicates Herod was greatly distressed at this request but because of his oath (considered irrevocable) in front of his guests he grants her petition, or better yet her mother’s wish. Herodias needed John the Baptist quieted and his head on a platter would be the proof she needed he was indeed dead.
Herod tells Salome she can have “up to half my kingdom”. Actually Herod, as a ruler under Roman authority, had no kingdom to give officially. He was not a king but is called that in Mark’s account, it is believed, because of his desire to be known as royalty. Salome insists John’s head be placed on a platter now, meaning immediately as per her mother’s demand. The ‘immediate’ command was more than likely to prevent Herod a chance to wiggle out of his oath to the child.
The modern-day story of Salome insinuates her dancing before Herod and his guests on his birthday was a sultry, seductive gyration of enticement before drunken men. Nothing in Scripture indicates this was the case.
What is known of the day and age of Salome is that she would not have danced in a provocative way before men had she been of marriageable age, as no respectable person would have married her after word got around town. Scholars have put her age as a mere child up to approximately thirteen or fourteen years of age and was only entertaining Herod and those in attendance in a childlike manner.
This had all been planned by her mother, Herodias and not Salome. The most revealing reason to believe she was not much older than a child is the fact she immediately consults with her mother as to what she should ask for. Had she been an adult she would have more than likely considered many things she would like better than a man’s head on a platter.
Salome married two different times. Her first marriage was to the Tetrarch Philip the 2nd who was the half brother of her father, thus her uncle. They had no children together. Her second husband was Aristobulus, the grandson of Herod the Great and brother of Agrippa. This union produced two children.
Herod and Herodias, as a couple paralleled Ahab and Jezebel. As Jezebel was determined to destroy Elijah, so goes Herodias concerning John the Baptist. Jesus would, at a later time, identify John as Elijah (Mk. 9:11-13) in that John had taken on the prophetic role of Elijah.
It is hard to imagine anyone more evil than Jezebel, but Herodias is certainly close if not worse. This is a mother who manipulated her own young daughter into requesting the death of a person she detests simply because he speaks of her sin. If Herodias is not worse than Jezebel she certainly portrays the Jezebel spirit in that she will have her own way, no matter who is destroyed in the process.
Herodias is the granddaughter of Herod the Great, thus Salome is his great-granddaughter. Herod the great had put to death Salome’s father, grandmother, and several of his own sons because of his agonizing paranoia. His granddaughter, Herodias was filled with his same ambition, although she never became a queen, as she so desired.
How Salome finished out her days is unknown. Many stories and much speculation has been contrived concerning her, but none-the-less, the truth of her life is unknown.
What is known is she was born into an incestuous, adulterous, and murderous family going back for generation. This family’s problem was not really a man called John the Baptist as it was the message he proclaimed that was the real problem. Herodias needed that message and the man behind it silenced for good.
In today’s world there are those who need the message of sin and the messenger who speaks of it silenced for good also. But, we must, none-the-less follow John’s example by standing up for what is right and speak the truth, in love, against all evil and leave the consequences to God.
“I assure you: Among those
born of women, no one greater
than John the Baptist has appeared”.
Matthew 11:11
Something to consider:
Some people create their own storms
and then get mad when it rains.
BIBLICAL PEOPLE 