For Herod himself had sent men and arrested John, bound him and imprisoned him because of Herodias, the wife of his brother Philip. For Herod had made her his wife,
The Evangelist now explains the historical reason for John’s death. Herod seized John not because of political danger, but because the voice of truth had pierced his sinful life. He had unlawfully taken his brother’s wife, Herodias, and John could not be silent in the face of that sin. Thus, John’s imprisonment becomes an example of persecution endured for righteousness. When God’s servant proclaims the truth, the powerful of this world often do not tolerate him, not because of his error, but because he exposes a truth they do not want. In Herod’s life, sin and authority had been joined together. But God’s law did not fall silent before that union. John stood as a witness for God’s holiness and for the law of marriage, and because of this he suffered.