[Footnote 5:  Matt. xi. 2-13.]

[Footnote 6:  Matt. xiv. 12.]

John, in fact, was soon cut short in his prophetic career.  Like the ancient Jewish prophets, he was, in the highest degree, a censurer of the established authorities.[1] The extreme vivacity with which he expressed himself at their expense could not fail to bring him into trouble.  In Judea, John does not appear to have been disturbed by Pilate; but in Perea, beyond the Jordan, he came into the territory of Antipas.  This tyrant was uneasy at the political leaven which was so little concealed by John in his preaching.  The great assemblages of men gathered around the Baptist, by religious and patriotic enthusiasm, gave rise to suspicion.[2] An entirely personal grievance was also added to these motives of state, and rendered the death of the austere censor inevitable.

[Footnote 1:  Luke iii. 19.]

[Footnote 2:  Jos., Ant., XVIII. v. 2.]

One of the most strongly marked characters of this tragical family of the Herods was Herodias, granddaughter of Herod the Great.  Violent, ambitious, and passionate, she detested Judaism, and despised its laws.[1] She had been married, probably against her will, to her uncle Herod, son of Mariamne,[2] whom Herod the Great had disinherited,[3] and who never played any public part.  The inferior position of her husband, in respect to the other persons of the family, gave her no peace; she determined to be sovereign at whatever cost.[4] Antipas was the instrument of whom she made use.  This feeble man having become desperately enamored of her, promised to marry her, and to repudiate his first wife, daughter of Hareth, king of Petra, and emir of the neighboring tribes of Perea.  The Arabian princess, receiving a hint of this design, resolved to fly.  Concealing her intention, she pretended that she wished to make a journey to Machero, in her father’s territory, and caused herself to be conducted thither by the officers of Antipas.[5]

[Footnote 1:  Jos., Ant., XVIII. v. 4.]

[Footnote 2:  Matthew (chap. xiv. 3, in the Greek text) and Mark (chap. vi. 17) have it that this was Philip; but this is certainly an inadvertency (see Jos., Ant., XVIII. v. 1, 4).  The wife of Philip was Salome, daughter of Herodias.]

[Footnote 3:  Jos., Ant., XVIII. iv. 2.]

[Footnote 4:  Ibid., XVIII. vii. 1, 2, B.J., II. ix. 6.]

[Footnote 5:  Ibid., XVIII. v. 1.]

Makaur,[1] or Machero, was a colossal fortress built by Alexander Jannaeus, and rebuilt by Herod, in one of the most abrupt wadys to the east of the Dead Sea.[2] It was a wild and desolate country, filled with strange legends, and believed to be haunted by demons.[3] The fortress was just on the boundary of the lands of Hareth and of Antipas.  At that time it was in the possession of Hareth.[4] The latter having been warned, had prepared everything for the flight of his daughter, who was conducted from tribe to tribe to Petra.