The Daughter of Sin | Mark 6:21–22, 24, 27–28
But an opportunity
came when Herod on his birthday gave a banquet for his nobles and military
commanders and the leading men of Galilee. 22 For
when Herodias’s daughter came in and danced, she pleased Herod and his guests.
And the king said to the girl, “Ask me for whatever you wish, and I will give
it to you.” … 24 And
she went out and said to her mother, “For what should I ask?” And she said,
“The head of John the Baptist.” … 27 And
immediately the king sent an executioner with orders to bring John’s head. He
went and beheaded him in the prison 28 and
brought his head on a platter and gave it to the girl, and the girl gave it to
her mother.
We’ve been seeing the depth of sin in the Herod’s household,
including the unlawful marriage between Herod Antipas and Herodias. John the Baptist highlighted this sin and
called them to repentance. Herod knew it
was the word of a true prophet (v. 20) but never repented; Herodias hated John and
sought his life (v. 19).
This night proved fateful for more than John the Baptist,
however. Herod throws a feast for his
birthday and invited all the key political, military, and social leaders under
him. Alcohol is a factor, and Herodias sees
an opportunity to finally take John the Baptist’s life. So, she conspires with her daughter to
circumvent his protection of John. In
doing so, she makes her child as much a child of hell as she is.
Herodias led her
daughter into debauchery. Her name
is Salome, Herodias’s daughter with Herod Philip, now Herod Antipas’s
daughter-in-law. Salome didn’t come with
a ballet performance, as this wasn’t the kind of dancing in which respectable women
engaged. Queen Vashti refused to allow
herself to be ogled in a similar situation (Est 1:11–12), but Herodias doesn’t
seem to have qualms with her daughter put on display at a drunken feast.
Herodias led her
daughter to murder. The best
possible spin on this is that Salome doesn’t hold personal animosity toward
John the Baptist and that her mother forces her. However, she’s complicit in the crime because
of her mother, and there’s no indication that Salome wasn’t influenced to share
her mother’s hatred. Even though she
didn’t wield the executioner’s axe, because of her mother, she also bears the
responsibility of John’s murder.
Sinful parents lead their children astray in many ways, tempting
them to sin. Though the resultant consequences
may linger like the violence in David’s household (cf. 2 Sm 12:10), the Lord thankfully
forgives parental transgressions. God can
grant you repentance and change your heart, and He can do the same for your
children. Until the Lord changes them,
consider Ephesians 6:4—parents must not provoke children but “bring them up in
the discipline and instruction of the Lord.”
