Matthew 14:5 (WEB)
When he would have put him to death, he feared the multitude, because they counted him as a prophet.
Fathers and councils · 18
Augustine of Hippo
“Matthew then proceeds with his narrative in the following terms: “For Herod laid hold on John, and bound him, and put him in prison for Herodias’ sake, his brother’s wife;” and so on, down to the words, “And his disciples came and took up the body, and buried it, and went and told Jesus.”” — editor's note: Matt. xiv. 3–12.
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Catena Aurea on Matthew
- Glossa OrdinariaCatena Aurea on Matthew
The Evangelist had above shewn the Pharisees speaking falsely against Christ’s miracles, and just now His fellow-citizens wondering, yet despising Him; he now relates what opinion Herod had formed concerning Christ…
Read the whole comment - John ChrysostomCatena Aurea on Matthew
It is not without reason that the Evangelist here specifies the time, but that you may understand the pride and carelessness of the tyrant; inasmuch as he had not at the first made himself acquainted with the things…
Read the whole comment - Augustine of HippoCatena Aurea on Matthew
Matthew says, “At that time,” not, On that day, or, In that same hour; for Mark relates the same circumstances, but not in the same order. He places this after the mission of the disciples to preach, though not…
Read the whole comment - John ChrysostomCatena Aurea on Matthew
Observe how great a thing is virtue; Herod fears John even after he is dead, and philosophizes concerning the resurrection; as it followers; “And he saith to his servants, This is John the baptist, he is risen from…
Read the whole comment - Rabanus MaurusCatena Aurea on Matthew
From this place we may learn how great the jealousy of the Jews was; that John could have risen from the dead, Herod, an alien-born, here declares, without any witness that he had risen: concerning Christ, whom the…
Read the whole comment - JeromeCatena Aurea on Matthew
One of the Ecclesiastical interpreters asks what caused Herod to think that John was risen from the dead; as though we had to account for the errors of an alien, or as though the heresy of metempsychosis was at all…
Read the whole comment - Rabanus MaurusCatena Aurea on Matthew
All men have well thought concerning the power of the resurrection, that the saints shall have greater power after they have risen from the dead, than they had while they were yet weighed down with the infirmity of…
Read the whole comment - Augustine of HippoCatena Aurea on Matthew
Luke’s words are, “John have I beheaded: who is he of whom I hear such things? [Luke 9:9] As Luke has thus represented Herod as in doubt, we must understand rather that he was afterwards convinced of that which was…
Read the whole comment - Remigius of AuxerreCatena Aurea on Matthew
Perhaps some one may ask how it can be here said, “At that time Herod heard,” seeing that we have long before read that Herod was dead, and that on that the Lord returned out of Egypt. This question is answered, if…
Read the whole comment - Glossa OrdinariaCatena Aurea on Matthew
Having mentioned this supposition of John’s resurrection, because he had never yet spoken of his death, he now returns, and narrates how it came to pass.
Read the whole comment - John ChrysostomCatena Aurea on Matthew
And this relation is not set before us as a principal matter, because the Evangelist’s only object was to tell us concerning Christ, and nothing beyond, unless so far as it furthered this object. He says then, “For…
Read the whole comment - Augustine of HippoCatena Aurea on Matthew
Luke does not give this in the same order, but where he is speaking of the Lord’s baptism, so that he took beforehand an event which happened long afterwards. For after that saying of John’s concerning the Lord, that…
Read the whole comment - JeromeCatena Aurea on Matthew
The old history tells us that Philip the son of Herod the greater, the brother of this Herod, had taken to wife Herodias daughter of Aretas, king of the Arabs; and that he, the father-in-law, having afterwards cause…
Read the whole comment - John ChrysostomCatena Aurea on Matthew
Yet he speaks not to the woman but to the husband, as he was the chief person.
Read the whole comment - Glossa OrdinariaCatena Aurea on Matthew
And perhaps he observed the Jewish Law, according to which John forbade him this adultery. “And desiring to kill him, he feared the people.”
Read the whole comment - JeromeCatena Aurea on Matthew
He feared a disturbance among the people for John’s sake, for he knew that multitudes had been baptized by him in Jordan; but he was overcome by love of his wife, which had already made him neglect the commands of God.
Read the whole comment - Glossa OrdinariaCatena Aurea on Matthew
The fear of God amends us, the fear of man torments us, but alters not our will; it rather renders us more impatient to sin as it has held us back for a time from our indulgence.
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Cross-references · 1
Cited together in Augustine of Hippo on Matthew 14:2–5 (2) (Catena Aurea).