Mark 6:29

And when his disciples heard of it, they came and took up his corpse, and laid it in a tomb.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

6:14-29 Herod feared John while he lived, and feared him still more when he was dead. Herod did many of those things which John in his preaching taught him; but it is not enough to do many things, we must have respect to all the commandments. Herod respected John, till he touched him in his Herodias. Thus many love good preaching, if it keep far away from their beloved sin. But it is better that sinners persecute ministers now for faithfulness, than curse them eternally for unfaithfulness. The ways of God are unsearchable; but we may be sure he never can be at a loss to repay his servants for what they endure or lose for his sake. Death could not come so as to surprise this holy man; and the triumph of the wicked was short.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

For Herod feared John - That is, he stood in awe of him on account of his sanctity, and his boldness and fearlessness in reproving sin.

Knowing that he was a just man and an Holy - A holy, pious, upright, honest man - a man who would not be afraid of him, or afraid to speak his real sentiments.

And observed him - Margin, "kept him, or saved him." This does not mean that he "observed" or obeyed his teachings, but that he kept him in safe custody in order to preserve him from the machinations of Herodias. He was willing to show his respect for John, and to secure him from danger, and even to do "many things" which might indicate respect for him - at least, to do so much as to guard him from his enemies.

And did many things - But he did not do the thing which was demanded of him - to break off from his sins. He attempted to make a compromise with his conscience. He still loved his sins, and did "other" things which he supposed might be accepted in the place of putting away, as he ought, the wife of his brother - the polluted and adulterous woman with whom he lived. Perhaps he treated John kindly, or spoke well of him, or aided him in his wants, and attempted in this way to silence his rebukes and destroy his faithfulness. This was probably before John was imprisoned. So sinners often treat ministers kindly, and do much to make them comfortable, and hear them gladly, while they are still unwilling to do the thing which is demanded of them - to repent and believe the gospel. They expect that their kind attentions will be accepted in the place of what God demands - repentance and the forsaking of their sins.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

29. And when his disciples heard of it—that is, the Baptist's own disciples.

they came and took up his corpse, and laid it in a tomb—"and went and told Jesus" (Mt 14:12). If these disciples had, up to this time, stood apart from Him, as adherents of John (Mt 11:2), perhaps they now came to Jesus, not without some secret reflection on Him for His seeming neglect of their master; but perhaps, too, as orphans, to cast in their lot henceforth with the Lord's disciples. How Jesus felt, or what He said, on receiving this intelligence, is not recorded; but He of whom it was said, as He stood by the grave of His friend Lazarus, "Jesus wept," was not likely to receive such intelligence without deep emotion. And one reason why He might not be unwilling that a small body of John's disciples should cling to him to the last, might be to provide some attached friends who should do for his precious body, on a small scale, what was afterwards to be done for His own.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

See Poole on "Mark 6:14"

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And when his disciples heard of it,.... That is, when the disciples of John heard of this barbarous execution of their master,

they came; to the prison in the castle of Machaerus,

and took up his corpse; the trunk of his body; for his head was carried away, to glut the revenge of Herodias;

and laid it in a tomb; See Gill on Matthew 14:12.

Geneva Study Bible

And when his disciples heard of it, they came and took up his corpse, and laid it in a tomb.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Expositor's Greek Testament

Mark 6:29 relates how the disciples of John buried the carcase of their master.—ἐν μνημείῳ, in a tomb. The phrase recalls to mind the burial of Jesus. Did the evangelist wish to suggest for the reflection of his readers a parallel between the fate of the Baptist and that of Christ? (So Klostermann).

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

29. laid it in a tomb] and then “went and told Jesus” (Matthew 14:12) of the death of His great Forerunner, over whom He had pronounced so remarkable a eulogy (Luke 7:27-28).

Bengel's Gnomen

Mark 6:29. Πτώμα) So נבלה of the prophet [Urijah], Jeremiah 26:23, Lat. cadaver. The body of the Saviour is not so termed.—ἐν μνημείῳ, in a tomb) perhaps that of his father, in which it was natural for him to be laid, as his own. Jesus Christ, the Prince of Life, was laid in the sepulchre of another.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 29. - The taking up of the corpse by the disciples would seem to intimate that it lay uncared for and unburied until the disciples showed their respect for it. Josephus says that after the beheading, the mutilated remains were east out of the prison and left neglected. God's judgments at length found out Herod. For not long after this he was defeated by Aretas in a great battle, and put to an ignominious flight. Herodias herself and Herod were banished by a decree of the Roman Senate to Lyons, where they both perished miserably; and Nicephorus relates that Salome, the daughter of Herodias, died by a remarkable visitation. She fell through some treacherous ice over which she was passing, and fell through it in such a manner that her head was caught while the rest of her body sank into the water, and thus it came to pass that in her efforts to save herself her head was nearly severed by the sharp edges of the broken ice. Mark 6:29

Vincent's Word Studies

Corpse

See on Matthew 24:28.

Stier ("Words of Jesus") says of Herod' "This man, whose inner life was burnt out; who was made up of contradictions, speaking of his kingdom like Ahasuerus, and yet the slave of his Jezebel; willingly hearing the prophet, and unwillingly killing him; who will be a Sadducee, and yet thinks of a resurrection; who has a superstitious fear of the Lord Jesus, and yet a curiosity to see him."