Durango semi-weekly herald., 1902-09-01
the Baptist might have risen from

/ NtllAN dDDteIti iIoIl gave
Herod more alarm perhaps than could
be excited by any other cause Hence
/ he set one OF his officers of the Caper.
naum to find out Jesus and invite him
I to the Golden House. Jesus. mindful
OF the fate of John the Baptist. did not
20. His hour had not yet come. So
He departed thence in ship in
desert place apart" where the multi
tude followed Him. and with five
loaves and two small fishes He fed
/ 5000 men, besides women and child
rem" When He heard that Herod's
messenger was seeking Him, He
probably stepped into Peters boat and
crossed to the desert side of the lake.
out of Herod's jurisdiction. where he
was safe.
| During His fathers life Herod had
married daughter of Aretas, an Arab
sheikh, while Herodias, yet child.
| had been given as a bride to her un-
Gle Philip She lived with him as long
as old Herod was on earth. and had
daughter called Salome. BY Herod's
Will Philip. who was weak prince,
was cut off from the succession and
received neither a crown nor the gov
elnorship of province. nor even a
fortune, Left without power or posi-
ton, and in poverty, Herodias. his
wife, at once began to make love to
| her other uncle. Antipas. the tetrach of
| Gallilee, who had inherited the glory,
the authority and the wealth of his
father. She could not marry him be-
ing her husbands brother, because of
the law. A king might have more
than one queen. but not the wife of an
other living man and he could not
make Herodias his wife while His
brother was still alive. Yet he and
| I1erodi1s decided to take their fate
into their own hands and lived openly
/ together in the Golden House.
The Arab princess who had shared
Hcruds throne gathered up her jew
els summoned her slaves and sought
refuge with her father in the desert.
Aretas instantly made war on Herod
to avenge this insult to his child Jo-
| sephus says that armies were raised
on both sides and great preparations
were made for the struggle, but that
| jerOd sent a general to command
! his forces instead of going himself.
! For the lack OF competent leadership
and because of the treachery of some
OF his officers who sympathized with
the Arab queen and despised the
weakness of their own sovereign,
Herod's army was destroyed and he
was compelled to make humiliating
terms with the Bedouin chieftain.
In the meantime John the Baptist
was the most influential man in all the
country, and Herod. wishing to solicit
his influence and support among the
people, sent for him to come to his
| palace at Macherus. east of the Jor-
dan, from which he was directing the
war. st Matthew tells the story in
plain language in the fourteenth chap
ter of his gospel John the Baptist
rebuked Herod in the plainest Ian
guage "Herod laid hold on John and
bound him and put him in prison for
| Herodias sake his brother Philips
| wife. For John said unto him. 1t is
not lawful for thee to have her And
when he would have put him to death
he feared the multitude, because they
Ecounted him as a prophet. But when
Herod's birthday was kept. the daugh-
ter OF Herodias (Salome) danced be-
fore them and pleased Herod. Where
upon he promised with an oath to give
her whatsoever she would ask. And
she being before instructed by her
mother, said, Give me here John the
Baptist's head in a charger And the
king was sorry. Nevertheless, for his
oath's sake and them which sat with
him at meat, he commanded it to be
be given her. And he sent and be-
lheaded John in the prison. And his
head was brought In charger and
given to the damsel and she brought
1t to her mother, and his disciples
came and took up the body and bur
led it and went and told Jesus"
There is no incident mentioned in
the Bible upon which secular history
sheds SO much light and it is the uni
yersal testimony Of secular writers
that it caused the downfall of Herod.
The people believed that the destruc-
ton of his army was ordered by God
as a Just punishment for the assassi-
nation of the prophet. 1t is curl
Gus coincidence that the very place
where John the Baptist was beheaded
Christ took little children up in His
arms and put His hands upon them
land blessed them and said, Suffer the
little children to come unto me and
forbid them not, for of such is the
Kingdom OF God" Macherus is on the
further side OF the Jordan, near Mount
Nebo where Moses died, and thus
Moses and John, the first and the last
Of the prophets, with thirteen centur
les between them, closed their eyes
upon the same landscape.
I'll ,.:; :;xzffnfixzfnniiivbgkqj I'll 81;
Down in Spain there is sequel tt
this story. According to the tradi
tlons. Salome, the daughter of Herod
las married Roman soldier, who wal
afterward transferred from Gallilee Il
= Gaul and obtained much notoriety fol-
his cruelty and tyranny over the peo
pie. His wife was equally detestet
and met with singular but singnifi
r cant fate. While skating one day OF
/ the river Tagus she broke through
[ the ice and sank out of sight. WheI
Z she rose to the surface again the cur