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The view here given of the character, conduct, and history of Herod Antipas is full of matter for awful reflection and serious admonition.

1. The mysteriousness of the ways of Providence. That a man so worthless should be permitted to cut short the labours and the life of so holy and useful a character, and that, too, in order to gratify the revenge of an abandoned adulteress, and to reward the vain exhibition of a giddy damsel, must, no doubt, at first appear strange. Yet the anger of God overtook: he persecutors before they left this world; and as for the holy sufferer, his work was done; and it was easy for his Lord to recompense to him his temporal sorrows a hundredfold in the world of glory.

2. The danger of power without grace. It is common to wish for power, and to envy those in whose hands it is; but when it is held without principle, it is fraught with peril, not only to those over whom it is exercised, but to those by whom it is possessed. They are generally borne away by the temptations which it presents to the gratification of caprice, luxury, covetousness, oppression, revenge, and every evil passion; and however prosperous their career may seem for a season, their end is generally destruction, and their memory is abhorred.

3. What is sin in the meanest is also sin in the highest. The judgment of God is impartial, and in every case He will render to each according to his deeds.

4. An awful commentary on human depravity.

5. The dreadful consequences which often result from the violation of the seventh commandment, and from intemperance.

6. We should learn to take reproof in good part. Well had it been for Herod if he had submitted to John's rebuke and acted on it.

7. Sin, when pointed out, must be renounced. This man reverenced John, and yet lived and died in sin. Let us not do as he did.

(James Foote, M. A.)

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KJV: And many other things in his exhortation preached he unto the people.

WEB: Then with many other exhortations he preached good news to the people,