Herodias

Today’s bad Bible babe is a doozy. Her story is one that rivals a hit telenovela. We don’t even really see God in this story. So what can we learn from Herodias? Let’s dig in and see.

For Herod had sent soldiers to arrest and imprison John as a favor to Herodias. She had been his brother Philip’s wife, but Herod had married her. John had been telling Herod, “It is against God’s law for you to marry your brother’s wife.” So Herodias bore a grudge against John and wanted to kill him. But without Herod’s approval she was powerless, for Herod respected John; and knowing that he was a good and holy man, he protected him. Herod was greatly disturbed whenever he talked with John, but even so, he liked to listen to him.

Herodias’s chance finally came on Herod’s birthday. He gave a party for his high government officials, army officers, and the leading citizens of Galilee. Then his daughter, also named Herodias, came in and performed a dance that greatly pleased Herod and his guests. “Ask me for anything you like,” the king said to the girl, “and I will give it to you.” He even vowed, “I will give you whatever you ask, up to half my kingdom!”

She went out and asked her mother, “What should I ask for?”

Her mother told her, “Ask for the head of John the Baptist!”

So the girl hurried back to the king and told him, “I want the head of John the Baptist, right now, on a tray!”

Then the king deeply regretted what he had said; but because of the vows he had made in front of his guests, he couldn’t refuse her. So he immediately sent an executioner to the prison to cut off John’s head and bring it to him. The soldier beheaded John in the prison, brought his head on a tray, and gave it to the girl, who took it to her mother. Mark 6:17-28 NLT

What do we know about her?

Other than the similar story told in Luke and Matthew, this is the only time we see Herodias in the Bible. However, the Jewish historian Josephus does provide a little more insight and details into the family dynamics of this royal family.

In case you missed it, she married her brother in law. Obviously John the Baptist, being the honest and no-nonsense man that he is, condemned the actions of Herodias and Herod. This marrying of her brother-in-law might not have been as big of a deal if it didn’t mean that Herodias had to leave her husband for Herod AND that Herod had to leave his wife to marry Herodias. Sounds like a spicy telenovela, right?

It seems that Herodias had a heart of jealousy and sought revenge on John the Baptist for speaking the truth. What is interesting to me is that Herod respected John and recognized that he was a holy and good man. Obviously Herod had the power to kill anyone that opposed him, but instead he enjoyed listening to John the Baptist. How often is that our go-to? To listen to someone who opposes our bad choices? 

Anyways, Herodias schemed to have her daughter dance seductively with her husband (can you say EWWWW????) so that Herod would be willing to give her anything she wanted. Herodias used this opportunity to her advantage to have John the Baptist killed. Herod regretted his promise, yet followed through anyway. That’s it. The end. I bet Herod and Herodias had the most healthy and productive relationship after this (not likely).

What can we learn from her story?

So many life lessons can be learned from this story. (Don’t have your daughter dance seductively for your husband being a big one.) But one thing I was struck by at first read was how our sexuality and faithfulness in relationships does matter to God. 

Other places in Scripture we see stories of promiscuous ladies being used for God’s glory. My favorite is the story of Rehab. Go check her out if you aren’t familiar with her or maybe we will have a post about her soon.

But we don’t see a huge redemption arch for Herodias. We don’t see God much at all in her story. Jesus didn’t come to her and heal her wicked heart. She wasn’t like the woman at the well who recognized her unworthiness before Jesus. We don’t even see a moment of regret on her part. 

So why would I say that we can learn that our faithfulness and sexuality are important in this story? Remember that there are two ways the Bible speaks- prescriptively and descriptively. Prescriptive is when the Bible gives us commands to follow or people to mimic. Descriptive is when the Bible simply gives us details and describes the events that are taking place. Clearly the story of Herodias is a descriptive moment in Scripture where we know that we should not be mimicking her behavior, but we can learn from it knowing that Herodias was not an example we want to follow.

Your faithfulness does matter. Whether you are married, and thus your faithfulness is to your spouse, or you are single and your faithfulness is to waiting on God. Our lives should be living examples of faithfulness to the one and only Lord who loved us enough to send His son, Jesus. There are so many ‘do this’ and ‘don’t do this’ in the Bible. But we can sum it all up to say ‘be faithful to God’. Love Him and choose Him first, every day. In doing so, we show the world why faithfulness matters- in our relationship with God and with others.