The people who wrote the Christmas stories lived in a world filled with angels. They expected angels, and they expected the ancient prophets to reappear. When Jesus asked his disciples what people were saying about him, they said: ‘Some say [you are] John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets’ (Matt. 16.14 [Matt. 9:1]). Mark records Herod’s fear: Some said, ‘John the baptizer has been raised from the dead; that is why these powers are at work in him [Jesus].’ But others said, ‘It is Elijah.’ And others said,‘It is a prophet like one of the prophets of old.’ But when Herod heard it he said: ‘John, whom I beheaded, has been raised.’ (Mark 6.14–15 [Mark 3:8])
Judas Maccabeus, struggling to free his people from their Syrian overlords,2 had dreamed about Onias the high priest meeting Jeremiah in the temple. The prophet had given him a golden sword to strike down his enemies (2 Macc. 15.11–16). Angels came to defend the temple when Heliodorus tried to loot its treasures (2 Macc. 3.22–30); angel armies appeared in the sky over Jerusalem just before Antiochus attacked the city (2 Macc. 5.1–4) and before the Romans attacked and destroyed it in 70 ce (Rev. 14.1 [Rev. 5:1]). John Hyrcanus the high priest, when he was offering incense, heard a voice in the temple saying that his sons had that day been victorious in battle (109 bce). He emerged and announced this to the waiting people.3 Angels and ancient prophets were woven through the realities of life. Nobody would have questioned that Zechariah conversed with an angel in the temple (Luke 1.11 [Luke 1:3]), nor that the shepherds of Bethlehem heard the heavenly host (Luke 2.8–14 [Luke 2:2]), nor that John had seen angels coming from heaven and heard their voices, as he recorded in the book of Revelation.
The world view of the first Christians was expressed in, and derived from, the shape and the liturgy of the temple in Jerusalem. Tradition attributes the original temple to Solomon, although the plan for it had been revealed to David (1 Chron. 28.11–19). It had been rebuilt by the exiles who returned from Babylon in the sixth century bce – the ‘second’ temple – and by Herod the Great, whose temple Jesus knew. The rebuilding is mentioned in the Fourth Gospel, when the Jews disputed what Jesus meant when he said he would rebuild the temple. ‘It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?’ (John 2.20 [John 1:10]). There were other major restorations, most famously in the time of Josiah, 623 bce, who purged the temple and the religion of his kingdom (2 Kings 22.1—23.25).
The Death of John the Baptist
Herod Antipas hears of the mighty works of Jesus, and his guilty conscience leaps to one conclusion: “It is John, whom I beheaded; he is risen from the dead.” The Gospels then tell how it came to be: John imprisoned for naming Herod’s marriage unlawful, the oath at the birthday feast, the dance of Herodias’ daughter, and the prophet’s head brought in upon a dish.
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The reading is the Joseph Smith Translation, in the text of the Covenant Christian Edition, carried beside each Gospel and set against the King James baseline. Headers give both numbering systems: the CCE chapter and verse, and the traditional KJV reference.
1At that time, Herod, the tetrarch, heard of the fame of Jesus 2and said unto his servants, This is John the Baptist; he is risen from the dead, and therefore mighty works do show forth themselves in him. 3For Herod had laid hold on John, and bound him, and put him in prison for Herodias’ sake (his brother Philip’s wife); 4for John said unto him, It is not lawful for you to have her. 5And when he would have put him to death, he feared the multitude because they counted him as a prophet.
6But when Herod’s birthday was kept, the daughter of Herodias danced before them and pleased Herod, 7whereupon he promised with an oath to give her whatever she would ask. 8And she, being before instructed of her mother, said, Give me here John Baptist’s head in a dish. 9And the king was sorry; nevertheless, for the oath’s sake, and them that sat with him at a meal, he commanded it to be given her. 10And he sent and beheaded John in the prison. 11And his head was brought in a dish and given to the damsel, and she brought it to her mother. 12And his disciples came and took up the body, and buried it, and went and told Jesus.
14And king Herod heard of him Jesus (for his name was spread abroad) and he said that John the Baptist was risen from the dead, and therefore mighty works do show forth themselves in him. 15Others said that it is Elijah. And others said that it is a prophet, or as one of the prophets. 16But when Herod heard thereof of him, he said, It is John whom I beheaded; he is risen from the dead.
17For Herod himself had sent forth and laid hold upon John and bound him in prison for Herodias’ sake (his brother Philip’s wife), for he had married her; 18for John had said unto Herod, It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife. 19Therefore, Herodias had a quarrel against him and would have killed him, but she could not; 20for Herod feared John, knowing that he was a just man and a holy , and observed him man, and one who feared God and observed to worship him; and when he heard him, he did many things for him and heard him gladly.
21But when a convenient day was come, that Herod on his birthday Herod’s birthday had come, he made a supper for his lords, high captains, and the chief estates priests of Galilee. 22And when the daughter of Herodias came in and danced, and pleased Herod and them that sat with him, the king said unto the damsel, Ask of me whatever you desire, and I will give it you. 23And he swore unto her, Whatever you shall ask of me, I will give it you, unto the half of my kingdom. 24And she went forth and said unto her mother, What shall I ask? And she said, The head of John the Baptist.
25And she came in directly with haste unto the king and asked, saying, I desire that you give me, immediately, in a dish, the head of John the Baptist. 26And the king was exceedingly sorry. But for his oath’s sake, and for their sakes who sat with him, he would not reject her. 27And immediately the king sent an executioner and commanded his head to be brought. And he went and beheaded him in the prison, 28and brought his head in a dish and gave it to the damsel, and the damsel gave it to her mother. 29And when his John’s disciples heard of it, they came and took up his corpse and laid it in a tomb.
7Now Herod the tetrarch heard of all that was done by him Jesus, and he was perplexed because it was said of some that John was risen from the dead, 8and of some that Elijah had appeared, and of others that one of the old prophets was risen again. 9And Herod said, John have I beheaded, but who is this of whom I hear such things? And he desired to see him.
Slain Between the Porch and the Altar
The Heritage of the Righteous
Recounting how the prophets in every age have been persecuted, Joseph Smith filled in what the Gospels leave untold of John: the boy hidden from Herod’s slaughter, his father Zacharias the high priest slain at the Temple, and at the last the prophet’s head carried to “the son of this infant murderer” upon a dish.
Editorial, “Persecution of the Prophets,” Times and Seasons, 1 September 1842 (3:902), Nauvoo · Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 261 · Joseph Smith Papers ↗We will commence with John the Baptist. When Herod’s edict went forth to destroy the young children, John was about six months older than Jesus, and came under this hellish edict, and Zachariah caused his mother to take him into the mountains, where he was raised on locusts and wild honey.
When his father refused to discover his hiding place, and being the officiating high priest at the Temple that year, was slain by Herod’s order, between the porch and the altar, as Jesus said. John’s head was taken to Herod, the son of this infant murderer, in a charger—notwithstanding there was never a greater prophet born of a woman than him!
A World That Expected the Prophets to Return
Barker sets Herod’s dread in its own world: a world that looked for the ancient prophets to reappear, so that the question “who is this?” naturally answered itself with the names of John, Elijah, and Jeremiah.
Bracketed words are Barker’s; the indented lines are her quotation of Mark 6:14–16.