EVANS The Baptism of John in a Typological Context 53
- Malachi. There are several important points of thematic coherence
between the preaching of John the Baptist and the oracles of the prophet
Malachi. The first theme concerns divorce. According to Malachi: 'I hate
divorce, thus says the Lord the God of Israel... I will draw near to you for
judgment; I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, against the
adulterers...' (Mai. 2.16; 3.5).
John's condemnation of Herod Antipas for marrying his sister-in-law
Herodias resulted in the Baptizer's imprisonment and eventual execution.
Herod Antipas had been married to the daughter of Aretas, king of Nabatea,
and Herodias had been married to Herod's brother Herod Philip. When the
daughter of Aretas learned of her husband's designs, she fled to her father.
Herodias left Philip and married Antipas. According to Mark, John had
proclaimed: 'It is not lawful for you to have your brother's wife' (Mk
6.18). John's declaration coheres with Malachi's stance against divorce
and is also in keeping with Mosaic teaching (cf. Lev. 20.21: If a man
takes his brother's wife, it is impurity; he has uncovered his brother's
nakedness, they shall be childless'). In response to this preaching, Herod
imprisoned John (Mk 1.14; 6.17) and eventually had him beheaded (Mk
6.16), apparently in response to the goading of Herodias and her daughter
Salome (Mk 6.19-28; cf. Josephus, Ant. 18.136-37).
The account of John's ministry and fate that we find in Josephus is
somewhat different, but on the whole complements the narrative in Mark.
According to Josephus, Herod Antipas feared John's influence with the
people and so decided to execute him:Herod became alarmed. Eloquence that had so great an effect on people
might lead to some form of sedition, for it looked as if they would be
guided by John in everything that they did. Herod decided therefore that it
would be much better to strike first and be rid of him before his work led to
an uprising... {Ant. 18.118-19)Although Josephus is more interested in discussing Roman intervention
and the warm reception the Jewish people gave to Vitellius, he does go on
to say that after the birth of her daughter, 'Herodias, taking it into her head
to flout the way of our fathers, married Herod [Antipas], her husband's
brother by the same father, who was tetrarch of Galilee; to do this she
parted from a living husband' {Ant. 18.136). Josephus does not say so, but
this 'flouting the way of our fathers' was in all probability the burden of
John's preaching, as explicitly stated in Mk 6.18. If not, then beyond the
mere fact of John's popularity, Josephus gives no reason for the action that
Herod Antipas took against the Baptizer. Surely the tetrarch did not strike