Matthew 14
Death of John the Baptist Matthew 14:1-12
In this study we will look at the grisly tale of the death of John the Baptist. He was noted by Jesus to have the spirit of Elijah. This is the very person that the Jewish people are still looking for as the forerunner to the Messiah. He was supposed to show up on Passover. In previous studies we have clearly established that John was indeed born on Passover. The original Elijah never died. However, when John stood in his shoes, he was killed for his testimony. Here are my thoughts on the passage.
Herod had a guilty conscience when it came to John the Baptist, since he knew John to be a holy man (Mark 6:20). Herod was in his position partly because he was Jewish. In the historical writings, he was deemed to be the “king of the Jews” by Rome. That is one of the reasons that his father attempted to kill Jesus as a baby; there was no room for two kings of the Jews. This passage is covered in two other places in the gospels (Mk 6:14-33; Luke 9:7-9). Herod suffered incredible guilt knowing that he had killed a prophet of God for a moment’s pleasure.
Josephus tells us that the Jewish people were very suspicious of the beheading of John the Baptist. They saw a destruction of Herod’s army immediately after the beheading to be God’s judgment on him.[1] Herod’s wife Herodias was married to his brother Herod Philip at puberty. Philip was the father of Salome and after her birth, Herodias divorced Philip and married Herod Antipas. This went against Torah, since Philip was still alive (Lev 18:16; 20:21). [2] Torah commanded that it was abhorrent to take a brother’s wife because doing so has uncovered a brother’s nakedness (Lev 20:21). Actually, reading through Josephus reveals a cesspool of immorality among the Herod’s.
Herodias “nursed a grudge” against John and wanted to kill him since he was vocal about the sin (Mk 6:19). Herod Antipas was faced with a problem. According to Jewish law, he was living in sin since he was married to his brother’s wife, while his brother was still living. According to Roman law, this made no difference. Herod fell under two laws that caused him great turmoil, civil law from Rome, and Jewish law from his heritage. John revealed that that Herod was living under a constant state of immorality according to the Jewish Law.
Salome’s dance is widely discussed. There are no records of what dance she did except that it pleased Herod and his guests. Everything else is simple fabrication. What is important to the story is that she pleased Herod enough that he made a boastful remark and was stuck to the letter of his word. When she asked for the head of John the Baptist, it was justified because of his boast.
John intrigued Herod; he hated him as well as loved him. He was equally involved in the sin of the immoral relationship with his wife, and he was responsible for the relationship. Many will point to the evil witch Herodias and point the finger at her for the grievous sin. I beg to differ, Herod was equally involved, and as King, he could have refused to honor the oath, which would have been brushed aside as a stupid request from a child. He would not have lost too much credibility. Think this through. The Herod’s married off their female children at puberty. Salome was married to Philip the son of Herod of Trachonitis, after he died she married Herod Agrippa. The point of this is that at the dance, Salome was probably a pre-pubescent girl, most likely under the age of 12.
The truth of the matter was that Herod wanted John dead as much as his wife did, he wanted to avoid irritating the Jews, and in Herodias’ request he had a perfect opportunity to kill John. History tells us that Herod put on the front of a religious person, keeping the Jewish feasts and appearing to follow Torah.[3] John was a thorn in his side, a constant reminder of the phoniness of his ruse. The Gospels color the picture to appear that Herodias was at blame, which she was, and Herod was equally at blame. His subjects also held him responsible for the death of John. It is interesting to note that just after he had John beheaded, his kingdom went through massive trouble. We already noted the destruction of his army shortly after Johns death to be thought of as judgment on him, then it was one thing after another in the line of trouble and he fell out of the good graces of Rome. It is recorded that he killed the prophet, but in doing so, he destroyed his kingdom.
John’s disciples took the body and buried it, and then they went directly to Jesus with the news. They believed in Jesus as a prophet, and probably as a very close friend of John. The text gives the impression that Jesus was unaware of the drama that was taking place. Jesus was limited in His human body, in ways that we don’t fully understand.
The great question of why bad things happen to good people comes to mind. One of the reasons for this is that the devil has the job of attempting to silence the ones sent by God to minister to His people. This is evident because John died a prophet’s death (Matthew 23:31-35). All through the Psalms this question is addressed, the only answer that can possibly be given is the battle between good and evil. It doesn’t mean that the good people are bad, but rather that they are often casualties of war. We live in a broken world that suffers from both the fallen state of man and the battle of the deceiver for the souls of men.
Jesus could have prevented John from being murdered, He could have raised him from the dead. John fulfilled his purpose as the forerunner for the Messiah. God expects to take casualties in the war between good and evil. When a position for righteousness is taken, there is a risk involved. Hard as it may seem, God will greatly bless the one who stands by His morals even though he may face death or great persecution for it. God could save every prophet and holy man from death. The way of war is to have casualties. It could be very possible that Jesus knew of John’s plight and did not step in since it was according to the will of God. His death eventually brought down Herod Antipas. Something worth thinking about.
Feeding of the Five Thousand Matthew 14:13-21
The story of the feeding of the five thousand is the only miracle that is found in all four gospels (Mark 6:30-4; Luke 9:10-17 and John 6:1-14).
The text seems to indicate that Yeshua was in distress over the death of John. Translators deal with this passage in different ways since his going away seems to indicate that He wished to be alone. The Greek simply states that He after he heard, he went to a secluded place. Our understanding is that our Master is dealing with the grief of losing John.
Ministers will tell you that the needs of the people often override their own needs. This is proven true in the case of Yeshua. The people sought Him out to receive healing. We are not told if teaching went on during the healing. Teaching is not even implied in the text. What we do know is that a marvelous healing service was taking place. This is merely a backdrop for the true miracle that follows.
We have discussed at length in this study that Jesus demonstrated that He is the YHVH of the Old Testament. He has demonstrated that He carries the authority of God since YHVH cared for His people during the exodus. Jesus came to finish the job of deliverance as His Hebrew name “Yeshua” simply means “salvation”. He is the salvation that was found when the doorposts were painted during Passover. Yeshua is the salvation that followed the people through the wilderness and provided bread for them.
The disciples were very concerned for the people and suggested that Yeshua dismiss the crowds so that they could find food to eat. Jesus’ response is interesting since he commands the disciples to feed the people. This reflects back to Elisha who received an offering of First Fruit from a man from a distant land. He was apparently delegated to deliver the offering for his people. This offering was interesting since it was the loaves for the second Feast of First Fruits which lands 50 days after the first one. This is when the wave offering of bread is presented, the grain offering may have been a late offering from the Feast of First Fruits (Lev 23:10-21). The significance of this story is astounding. The man bringing the offering traveled some distance to deliver both offerings to Elisha. Since 20 loaves of Barley were given, we have an indication that ten families were represented since each family was to give two loaves for a wave offering. One hundred men were fed by the offering at the time of need. Elisha promised that there would be food left over. The people ate and had some left over. The food arrived at just the right time in order to feed hungry people. Another significant issue with this feast is that on this day the Jewish People look expectantly for a special gift from God. We see this take place in the book of Acts when on Pentecost believers received the gift of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. It would be interesting to know the exact date on the Jewish Calendar when Yeshua feeds the five thousand.
Jesus took a very small amount of food and fed five thousand with it. Five loaves and two fish might have fed a family. He took it and fed five thousand. During the Exodus God provided manna and quail to provide the people with food (Ex 16:13-21, 31-36; Psalm 105:40-41). God brought forth His people with “His holy word” indicating that since He spoke the word they were cared for (Psalm 105:42-43). God provided for the people giving them just what they needed to survive the wilderness. Jesus also provided for the people by giving them just what they needed to survive.
It is interesting that Yeshua said a blessing over the food prior to giving it to the people. Many of us have been taught to say “grace” before meals which reflects back to this incident. The Jewish people have said a simple blessing over their meals for centuries that is dubbed as the “Barukatah”. Here is a copy of it from Stern:
“He made a b˒rakhah. The Jewish-English phrase means “said a blessing.” The Greek here is evlogeô, “bless, speak well of”; elsewhere it is often evcharistô, “thank.” Although the text does not say so specifically, it is reasonable to suppose that he recited the customary b˒rakhah (“benediction”; see 9:8N) which Jews have said for more than two thousand years before meals that include bread: Barukh attah, Adonai Eloheynu, Melekh-ha˓olam, haMotzi lechem min ha˒aretz (“Praised be you, Adonai our God, King of the universe, who brings forth bread from the earth”). “[4]
This blessing looks back to the Exodus when God provided manna to feed His people. God literally brought forth bread from the earth. In this situation, the blessing may have been said as Yeshua brought forth bread from nothing.
Twelve in biblical numerology gives the idea of a complete, divine arrangement which is finished or completed in perfect harmony. Twelve baskets of bread not only provided for the workers, the disciples, it gave a clear mark of God on the situation.
In summary there were 5000 men fed along with their families. If it was one to one, at least ten thousand people or more were fed. The miracle is no less miraculous. What is significant about this entire story is that Yeshua was demonstrating through a miraculous act that He is the same God that cared for the Jews in the Old Testament. Some will probably argue with me over that, by saying that Yeshua was “in touch” with the same God. I disagree with this since He is constantly making statements that indicate that He is God, if He is not, then he is guilty of blasphemy. Later in this very chapter we see that Yeshua both received worship and was called God’s Son (Matthew 14:33).
Jesus walks on water Matthew 14:22-36
Matthew 14:22-24: Jesus opens this section by sending the disciples away and spending time in prayer. Prayer was a huge part in the life of our Messiah while He was on earth. It demonstrates a couple of things. First, it demonstrates the desperate need for prayer for people at all levels. Second, it shows us the limitation that Yeshua had when He took on flesh to live among men. The fancy term for this is the hypostatic union between God and Man. Paul describes this best:
Philippians 2:6–8 (NLT) 6 Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. 7 Instead, he gave up his divine privileges; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. When he appeared in human form, 8 he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross.
This union is difficult to understand since Yeshua was 100 percent man. He was born of a woman. His DNA was a blend of Mary’s DNA and the Holy Spirit’s DNA. So we have a unique creature that is totally man and totally God. However, what we cannot understand is the mechanics of how that works. We know that Yeshua prayed to God. Was this an example to us? Was it because by taking on the human flesh He was unable to directly relate to the Father? We simply do not know or understand this mystery. Any time the problem is brought up, there will be many arguments and opinions on how it works. Here is Paul Enns’ summary:
“Both natures are necessary for redemption. As a man, Christ could represent man and die as a man; as God the death of Christ could have infinite value “sufficient to provide redemption for the sins of the world.”
The eternal priesthood of Christ is based on the hypostatic union. “By incarnation He became Man and hence could act as a human Priest. As God, His priesthood could be everlasting after the order of Melchizedek, and He properly could be a Mediator between God and man.”[5]
How far did the union go? Did He need to pray to communicate with the Father? What was He praying for? Was he interceding for the people or was he grieving over John the Baptist? We simply do not know.
Matthew 14:24-27: Matthew constantly points to the fact that Yeshua carried the power of the God of the Old Testament. He has constantly pointed at how that Yeshua is fulfilling Torah, lived out Torah and taught Torah. Who could be greater than the giver of Torah?
The God that delivered the Hebrew people from slavery in Egypt had ultimate control over water. During the creation scene God separated the waters from the waters, indicating separating the waters on the earth from the firmament above (Gen 1:6-7). What is interesting about this is that the firmament is believed to have been a “water heaven” that surrounded the earth as an outer atmosphere. Later in creation, God separated the waters from the land (Gen 1:9-10). God used water to destroy the entire earth with a worldwide flood when the firmament was released above and the waters below were released to engulf the entire world in water, this lasted for over a year (Gen 6-9). Then there was the instance of turning the water to blood, this lasted for a solid week (Ex 7:14-25). The next incident was causing the sea to stand as a wall creating a dry path for the Hebrews to pass through the Red Sea (Ex 14:21-31). Although many claim a number of different ways that the water was controlled, their arguments fall short when the entire Egyptian army is drowned in the end. The next situation we have is the water from the rock from the top of a mountain (Ex 17:6-7). I have seen a video of the riverbed that this created, it starts from a split rock on the top of a mountain. Water would have to be pumped up to the top for it to work, or miraculously created.
When God sent Israel into the Promised Land, one of the obstacles in their path was the Jordan River at flood stage. God split the waters and made them stand up in a heap while Israel walked through on dry ground (Joshua 3:13-17). The final illustration is when Elijah was getting ready to be taken up, he and Elisha split the water and walked across on dry ground, then after Elijah had departed, Elisha split the water and walked back across thus splitting the water twice (2 Kings 2:8-14). Water also plays a heavy role in the instructions for Torah. God has always demonstrated having fun with water at the wonderment of man. He has demonstrated the ability to not only change its form, but to also change its properties and limit its boundaries.
I am certain that there are other illustrations that I have missed. The point of this is simply that only God has remarkable control over the water. This was a clear sign to the disciples that Jesus was certainly in unique touch with God since He did a new thing with water. This was not a public miracle; it was only witnessed by the disciples.
The disciples were quite a distance from shore and apparently were sailing all night. The time of day was around three to six in the morning. Many of these men were seasoned seamen. They had apparently battled the storm all night. When Yeshua came upon them walking on the water you can be certain that they were very shook up. Imagine seeing Him walking on top of the water as waves were crashing around them. Jesus walked on the surface of the water, the explanation as to how is simple: He created it, and had control over it.
When “they cried out in fear”, the Greek is more specific, it meant to scream out in extreme terror, they were consumed with fear. The root words from the Greek are “phobos, krazo”, you got it, crazy with fear (very loosely translated).
Jesus’ reply is very interesting, He first says to them to have courage, or specifically to “be of good courage” (Josh 1:6). Then He claims that He is God by stating, literally translated, “I, I am”, (Greek, “ego eimi”). Then He commands them not to be terrified. This opens an entire study by itself. Jesus claimed to be the “I am” from the Old Testament.
Exodus 3:14–16 (NLT) 14 God replied to Moses, “I Am Who I Am. Say this to the people of Israel: I Am has sent me to you.” 15 God also said to Moses, “Say this to the people of Israel: Yahweh, the God of your ancestors—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob—has sent me to you. This is my eternal name, my name to remember for all generations. 16 “Now go and call together all the elders of Israel. Tell them, ‘Yahweh, the God of your ancestors—the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—has appeared to me. He told me, “I have been watching closely, and I see how the Egyptians are treating you.
Yeshua carried the exact attitude of God and the message mirrors the Exodus passage. They were in grave danger, the “I Am” came to deliver them.
Matthew 14:28-32: Peter asked the Lord if it was truly Him. Upon the verification Peter jumped out of the boat and walked on the water to join Jesus. At the same time the waves were crashing upon the boat. Every time in the scriptures when the water was split, it did not split until it was acted upon. It was not good enough for Moses to speak to the water, he had to extend the staff. The Priests had to get their feet wet in the Jordan. Elijah and Elisha had to strike the water with the mantle. Peter had to get on the water. He walked on the water, and then noticed that the wind was going crazy. We would like to believe that when Yeshua took his hand he rose to the surface again. We simply do not know. What we do know is that when they got in the boat the wind immediately stopped.
Peter is an interesting character. He was the leader of the disciples, which is alluded to in several passages. He wore his emotions on his sleeves, and reacted instantly in most situations, making remarks that got him into a lot of trouble. Yet, he was willing to get out of the boat into a sea that was storming bad enough to frighten experienced sailors. Jesus worked hard at perfecting Peter’s faith, even warning him about the way he would deny Jesus at the cross (Mt 26:69-75). Peter’s went along the path of total commitment. He did not second-guess the Lord’s intentions, and when he did focus on the circumstances he was quick to call out to Jesus for help.
Matthew 14:33-36: We have a remarkable set of verses here. First the occupants of the boat, which we assume to be the twelve disciples worshipped Yeshua. Frankly, He received worship, we have no indication that they were rebuked for this action. Any natural man that receives worship stands in the place of blasphemy, only God can receive worship because it is designed for Him. If people hold that Jesus was not God in the flesh, this verse is very problematic since He did receive worship. This was a violation of Torah, quite literally of the first five commandments (Deut 5:6-11; Ex 20:2-7). These commandments deal with the relationship between God and man.
Second, they declared that Jesus was certainly “God’s Son”. Indicating beyond a doubt that He was born from God. This did not mean that He was a follower of God. This is a declaration by the disciples of the true nature of Jesus.
Third, the word “Hebrew” literally means to “cross over”. The illustration from the passage is that once they admitted Yeshua to be God they had “crossed over” to the other side. John makes this illustration even more clear because after they received him, they “immediately” reached the destination (John 6:21). It is very possible that I am reading into this passage. The similarity of the words is uncanny. The meaning from the Hebrew mindset is on target. It is worth considering.
Jesus resumed the healing ministry. One thing that is interesting about this is that touching the fringe of His cloak healed the people. This also occurred when the woman was healed by touching the tassel of His cloak (Matt 9:20). There was a chord of blue in each of four tassels on the fringe of the outter garment (Tallit) signifying the Torah, and signifying the “I am”, personal God of Israel (Num 15:37-41). This is a validation that once they “crossed over” and recognized that Yeshua was the “I am” then the end result was miraculous power through the “Torah”. Touching the fringe of the garment looks forward also to our time as many are reaching out to the Jewish nation to learn about our Jewish roots. The symbolism is that men will flock to Jerusalem from the gentile nations and many will cling to the tzitzit (fringes) of the Tallit and beg to know the truth about God (Zech 8:20-23). It is in prophecy… Look it up.
We have yet to realize the power that will take place when the Christian Church as a whole crosses over to embrace the Hebrew roots. This will certainly happen. When Jesus sets up the Millennial Kingdom it will be ran according to Torah, not according to church tradition. As a matter of fact we will see the pagan traditions that have been incorporated into the church thrown off and the festivals will take priority once again (Easter: Eze 8:14-18; Christmas tree: Jer 10:2-5; festivals in Millennium Zech 14:1, 16-21, only a few examples).
This closes out Matthew 14, all comments are welcomed.
Father, as we consider Your word, draw each of us to read, understand and cross over to Your side.
On Yeshua’s journey,
Joe Turner.
[1] Flavius Josephus and William Whiston, The Works of Josephus: Complete and Unabridged, Antiquities 18.116-119. (Peabody: Hendrickson, 1987).
[2] Ibid. Antiquities 18.136-137.
[3] Ibid. Antiquities 18.293-297.
[4] David H. Stern, Jewish New Testament Commentary : A Companion Volume to the Jewish New Testament, electronic ed. (Clarksville: Jewish New Testament Publications, 1996), Mt 14:19.
[5] Paul P. Enns, The Moody Handbook of Theology (Chicago, IL: Moody Press, 1989), 228.
