Matthew 14:11

11 And his head was brought on a platter, and given to the damsel: and she brought it to her mother.

Matthew 14:11 Meaning and Commentary

Ver. 11 And his head was brought in a charger
By the executioner that cut it off, to Herod, whilst he and his guests were at table; by which it should seem, that the prison was very near; and it is not improbable, that it was the castle of Macheerus that Herod made this entertainment in:

and given to the damsel;
the daughter of Herodias, who, by her mother's instigation, had asked it, and who received it out of the hands of Herod himself; or however, it was delivered to her by his orders:

and she brought it to her mother;
who had put her upon it, than which, nothing could be a more agreeable dish to her; and who, as Jerome says F3, because she could not bear truth, that tongue which spoke truth; she plucked out, and pierced it through and through with a needle, as Fulvia did Cicero's: but this triumph over the faithful reprover of her, and Herod's vices, did not last long; for quickly after this, they were stripped of their honours and riches, and deprived of the kingdom, and banished to Lyons in France, where they died F4. A Jewish chronologer says F5, Herod was driven out of the land by Tiberius, and fled to Spain, and died there.


FOOTNOTES:

F3 Adv. Ruffin. Tom. 2. fol. 82. K.
F4 Joseph. Antiqu. l. 18. c. 8.
F5 Ganz. Tzemach David, par. 1. fol. 25. 2.

Matthew 14:11 In-Context

9 And the king was grieved; but for the sake of his oaths, and of them that sat at meat with him, he commanded it to be given;
10 and he sent and beheaded John in the prison.
11 And his head was brought on a platter, and given to the damsel: and she brought it to her mother.
12 And his disciples came, and took up the corpse, and buried him; and they went and told Jesus.
13 Now when Jesus heard [it], he withdrew from thence in a boat, to a desert place apart: and when the multitudes heard [thereof,] they followed him on foot from the cities.
The American Standard Version is in the public domain.