ants of the place, so that they well enough knew that he had never had the advantages of education under any of their celebrated doctors, and intimated by their reference to the humble circumstances of the family, that they could not afford that expense, they were offended in him; that is, they fell over the stumbling-block of his humble condition and connexions, and refused to acknowledge him to be the Messiah. The rational conclusion would have been, that, since he had not received from men the wisdom which astonished them, he must have received it from above; but how strong are the prejudices by which" an evil heart of unbelief" seals up the judgment! With respect to the brethren and sisters of our Lord here spoken of, opinions are divided, whether they were the sons of Joseph by a former wife, or by Mary, or whether they were the children of a brother or sister of Joseph or of Mary. The question is, however, unimportant, and cannot be fully settled. They appear to have formed one family, and to have dwelt together. See the note on chap. xii. 46.

Verse 57. A prophet is not without honour, &c. That is, he is usually more honoured by strangers than by his immediate connexions, who are apt to be moved by envy at the distinction put upon him. Beside, the latter, if reproved by him in

the faithful exercise of his ministry, are most apt to be offended, and are most ready to object to him any circumstances of meanness which may be connected with his family and rank in life.

Verse 58. And he did not many mighty works.-The mighty works, therefore, at which these Nazarites are said, in verse 54, to have been astonished, were works of which they had heard, and not those they had witnessed. St. Mark says, "He could there do no mighty work, save that he laid his hands on a few sick folk, and healed them." The reason assigned is, because of their unbelief; which is not to be understood as though their unbelief limited his power, or that he did no mighty works except among those who fully acknowledged him to be the Messiah, which is contrary to the fact; but that the general and entire unbelief of the inhabitants of Nazareth, their utter contempt of his claims, influenced both the sick themselves, who, with few exceptions, had no desire to make application to him, and also their friends, who had no inclination even to make trial of his power, and therefore did not bring them out to him that he might relieve them. The few sick folk who were actually brought to him he healed "by laying his hands upon them.”

on John, and bound him, &c.—St. Matthew goes back a little in his history to introduce, upon this mention of Herod, the account of the death of John, and to account for Christ withdrawing himself. Herodias was the daughter of Aristobulus, another of the sons of Herod the Great, and was married to her uncle Herod Philip; from whom Herod Antipas took her during the life-time of her husband, and married her, and was living in this foul and shameless adultery when reproved by John the Baptist. As Herod was a Jew, he professed subjection to the Jewish law, which forbade the marrying of a brother's wife even after his death, except in the special case where he had left no issue; so that John, by pronouncing this marriage unlawful, declared the parties guilty of incest and adultery. It was this that incensed Herod, and planted a revenge in the breast of Herodias, which could not rest until it had glutted itself with the blood of the faithful and holy reprover. Herod indeed would have put him to death immediately, but refrained from policy, because he feared a tumult of the people. John was, however, cast into prison; and an opportunity was given for schemes of feminine vengeance, more dark and deadly than any other when once awakened, to work his ruin.

Verse 6. But when Herod's birthday was kept. That this was done with great pomp, appears from St. Mark, who says, that "he made a great feast for his lords, high captains, and the chief persons of Galilee." The dancing of the daughter of Herodias before, or rather & Tw μeow, in the midst of the company, was a public and shameless glorying of Herod and his unlawful wife in their infamy; this daughter of Herodias being the offspring

of Philip, whom she had deserted, and whose child as well as wife had been wrested from him by the stronger power of his brother. Dancing was common among the Jews on festival as well as common occasions; and here there appears no ground for considering it as in itself an act of lightness or indignity, the princess being but a child, though sufficiently old to be instructed by her mother what to ask of Herod in consequence of his oath. Her name was Salome; and her dancing appears to have pleased Herod by the peculiar elegance of her movement. His lavish admiration of the daughter was also an act of flattery to the mother, who possessed so much influence over him. Nor is there any reason for the conjecture that this dance was one of that pantomimic character, satirized as licentious by some of the poets, and which, in truth, was of eastern original. Such dances were performed by hired women, who studied and practised them as a profession.

Verse 7. He promised with an oath.— Rash promises sealed with oaths were often made by the kings and great men of antiquity in their revels. Herodotus mentions a promise of this vague kind made to a female, by Xerxes, which was followed by many mischievous consequences. "He bade her ask whatever she desired, and he confirmed it by his oath."

Verse 8 And she, being before instructed.

Not before she had danced, but before she made her request; for St. Mark states, that she went out to her mother, and said, What shall I ask?

A charger.-Пa is properly a pine. board: hence a wooden platter or dish, and a vessel of this kind made of any other materials, but still preserving the original

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Verse 9. And the king was sorry, &c.— Such are the contradictions in human nature, and especially in tyrants accustomed to indulge every passion to excess, and to surrender themselves to every impression unchecked by any thing but some contrary feeling in their own minds, swelling like waves dashing against each other. This prince "had feared John;" he had stood in awe of his sanctity, knowing that he was a just man, and an holy, and observed or protected him, σUVetnpei, probably from the persecutions of some of the more powerful of the Pharisees and Sadducees; 'and when he heard him, he did many things," according to his exhortations, "and heard him gladly." And yet in his unjust anger, excited because John refused either to sanction or to be silent respecting an incestuous marriage, he first cast him into prison, and then surrendered his life to the fury of the partner of his guilt. Of so little consequence is it for us to do MANY things” at the command of God, unless we walk "in ALL his statutes and ordinances blameless;" for the example of Herod teaches this important lesson, that a partial surrender of ourselves to the influence of truth, is no security at all against the most overwhelming outbreakings of those corruptions of the heart which remain unmortified.

Nevertheless for the oath's sake.-This was miserable casuistry; for an indefinite oath must necessarily be interpreted by circumstances; and had Herodias in structed her daughter to demand Herod's own head, no doubt this pretended respecter of oaths would have excused himself from the obligation: he was therefore probably more strongly influenced

them which sat at meat with him, in whose presence he would not seem to refuse to gratify his wife, for whom he had a blind passion, and whose suit they might enforce by way of making their court to her. It is not improbable, that among the guests were some of those enemies of John from whose persecutions Herod had before protected him. Doubtless the greater number present were infidel Sadducees, and those Pharisees who were justly characterised by our Lord as "whited walls and painted sepulchres." Had they been any thing better, they would have interposed in behalf of John, and discovered their true skill in interpreting the law, of which they made their boast, by showing Herod that no oath could bind him to commit murder, much less a vague and general one. This is sufficiently indicative of the true character of the guests.

Verse 10. And he sent, and beheaded John in prison. In this manner the emperor Commodus dispatched the prefect Perennius. Νυκίωρ πεμψας απολέμνει την κεφαλήν, says Herodian, "sending by night, he cut off his head." John was beheaded, according to Josephus, in the castle of Machærus, two days' journey from Tiberias, Herod's usual residence.

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Verse 11. She brought it to her mother. To such a mother one might well apply the words of Ezekiel: "What is thy mother? A lioness she lay down among lions, she nourished her whelps among young lions. And she brought up cue of her whelps: and it became a young lion, and it learned to catch the prey; it devoured men." This wretched pair of murderers were some time afterwards stripped of their kingdom, and banished to Lyons, where they died. The future vicious life of Sa