Commentaries:
Barnes' Notes
For Herod had laid hold on John ... - See Mark 6:17-20; Luke 3:19-20. This Herodias was a granddaughter of Herod the Great. She was first married to Herod Philip, by whom she had a daughter, Salome, probably the one that danced and pleased Herod. Josephus says that this marriage of Herod Antipas with Herodias took place while he was on a journey to Rome. He stopped at his brother' s; fell in love with his wife; agreed to put away his own wife, the daughter of Aretas, King of Petraea; and Herodias agreed to leave her own husband and live with him. They were living, therefore, in adultery; and John, in faithfulness, though at the risk of his life, had reproved them for their crimes. Herod was guilty of two crimes in this act:
1.Of "adultery," since she was the wife of another man.
2.Of "incest," since she was a near relation, and such marriages were expressly forbidden, Leviticus 18:16.
Other Barnes' Notes entries containing Matthew 14:3:
Leviticus 18:16
Matthew 4:12
Matthew 11:2
Matthew 14:34-36
Mark 1:14
Mark 6:14-20
Luke 3:19-20
Acts 20:22
2 Corinthians 11:32
Revelation 20:2
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