Introduction Herod, having heard the fame of Christ, supposes him to be John the Baptist, risen from the dead, Mat 14:1, Mat 14:2. A circumstantial account of the beheading of John the Baptist, Mat 14:3-12. Five thousand men, besides women and children, fed with five loaves and two fishes, Mat 14:13-21. The disciples take ship, and Jesus stays behind, and goes privately into a mountain to pray, Mat 14:22, Mat 14:23. A violent storm arises, by which the lives of the disciples are endangered, Mat 14:24. In their extremity, Jesus appears to them, walking upon the water, Mat 14:25-27. Peter, at the command of his Master, leaves the ship, and walks on the water to meet Christ, Mat 14:28-31. They both enter the ship, and the storm ceases, Mat 14:32, Mat 14:33. They come into the land of Gennesaret, and he heals many diseased people, Mat 14:34-36. Verse 1 Herod the tetrarch - This was Herod Antipas, the son of Herod the Great. See the notes on Mat 2:1, where an account is given of the Herod family. The word tetrarch properly signifies a person who rules over the fourth part of a country; but it is taken in a more general sense by the Jewish writers, meaning sometimes a governor simply, or a king; see Mat 14:9. The estates of Herod the Great were not, at his death, divided into four tetrarchies, but only into three: one was given by the Emperor Augustus to Archelaus; the second to Herod Antipas, the person in the text; and the third to Philip: all three, sons of Herod the Great.

At that time - When our Lord had spent about a year in his public ministry. Tetrarch - King of a fourth part of his father's dominions. Mark 6:14.

Mat 14:1

At that time; season (Revised Version); Mat 11:25, note. Herod the tetrarch; i.e. Antipas, youngest son of Herod the Great, and by one of his father’s wills named his successor on the throne, but by the last will appointed only tetrarch of Galilee and Peraea. Though not legally king, he sometimes received the title by courtesy. "In point of character, Antipas was a genuine son of old Herod—sly, ambitious, and luxurious, only not so able as his father." He was deposed by Caligula, A.D. 39, when, at the instance of Herodias, he had gone to Rome to try to obtain the same title of king that had been granted to her brother Agrippa I. (Schurer, I. Mat 2:18, 36). Heard of the fame—heard the report (Revised Version); Mat 4:24, note—of Jesus.

MATTHEW CHAPTER 14 Verse 1. Herod the tetrarch. See also Mk 6:14-16; Lk 9:7-9. This was a son of Herod the Great. Herod the Great died probably in the first year after the birth of Christ, and left his kingdom to his three sons, of whom this Herod Antipas was one. He ruled over Galilee and Perea. Mt 2:16. The title tetrarch literally denotes one who rules over a fourth part of any country. In a remote signification, it means one who rules over a third, or even a half of a nation. Heard of the fame of Jesus. Jesus had then been a considerable time: engaged in the work of the ministry, and it may seem remarkable that he had not before heard of him. Herod might have, however, been absent on some expedition to a remote part of the country. It is to be remembered, also, that he was a man of much dissoluteness of morals; and that he paid little attention to the affairs of the people. He might have heard of Jesus before, but it had not arrested his attention. He did not think it a matter worthy of much regard. (v) "Herod" Mk 6:14, Lk 9:7