Matthew 14:6-9
But when Herod's birthday came, the daughter of Herodias danced before the company and pleased Herod, so that he promised with an oath to give her whatever she might ask. Prompted by her mother, she said, “Give me the head of John the Baptist here on a platter.” And the king was sorry, but because of his oaths and his guests he commanded it to be given.
Tag: Fear of Man
Before we look at the above text, note what "King" Solomon tells us about being in authority and having a fear of man:
Proverbs 29:25
The fear of man lays a snare,
but whoever trusts in the Lord is safe.
Herod was not a real king. He was the ruler of a "client" state of Rome. His territory was subservient to Rome and he was "allowed" by Rome to rule the "client kingdom." With that in mind we look at the above verses. When Herod heard that Jesus was performing miracles, he thought John the Baptist must have rose from the dead (interesting that he believed someone "could" raise from the dead "now" but won't believe Jesus "did" raise from the dead later. The death of John the Baptist was based upon King Herod's fear of man. He didin't kill him earlier because "he feared the people." But, he would have him beheaded later because he feared the "guests" that were with him. The fear of man is a snare that corrupts leadership. When we make decisions based upon the attitudes of men and not the principles of God we fall into a trap. The trap is that we have to make sure we don't do things because we fear what men will think of us, or what men will do to us, or what men will say about us. If we act simply on principle it doesn't matter what they say, feel or how they act against us, as we have acted on principle and that should be enough to allow us to rest on our decision. There is, however, a difference between "fearing man" and having "empathy for man." Empathy will be the conduit we used to act toward man. The "fear of man" tends to be the reason we act. We can act on principle with empathy. We should act on principle with empathy. Herod failed as a leader because feared the reaction of men and not the glory of God.
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