Herodias sees the opportunity here—Herod’s birthday feast. She’s going to use her own daughter to seduce Herod, and the rest of the men that are there, it appears to me, and then she knows what she can do. We have to make decisions. Circumstances very often determine what decision we make—because of the circumstances of the hour. So she’s going to seize the opportunity, and the opportunity is Herod’s birthday. This is a banquet, and there are high officials that are there; there are military commanders that are there; there are the leading men of Galilee.

Do you know what the capital city is up there in Galilee? It’s Tiberius. It’s named after Tiberius Caesar. And the city of Caesarea, which is down by the sea, was named after Augustus Caesar. Look at the Roman influence on all of Palestine.

Now who are these Herodians [those related to, or descended from Herod]? Well, they’re not full-blooded Jews, you see. They’re Idumeans [whose forefathers had been forced to convert to Judaism a century before], and they have gotten in with the Romans, and they have conquered, and they are in all of the positions of leadership. That’s why they’re there. When Pilate, who represented the Roman government, was trying Jesus [putting Jesus on trial], he sent Him over to this Herod we’re talking about, because when Pilate found out that Jesus was from Galilee, he thought he could wash his hands of it and put the blame on Herod. Herod sent Jesus back to Pilate and said, “I find no fault in Him,” [Luke 23:13-16—neither Herod nor Pilate found any basis for the Jews charges against Jesus]. Herod had longed to hear Jesus, the Scripture says, [Luke 23:8]. And Jesus spoke not a word to him, [Luke 23:9]. Why? “Give not that which is holy to the dogs,” I think [Matthew 7:6]. This man wasn’t interested in conversion. He just wanted to hear Jesus because this is the one that John had prophesied concerning. I think it all ties together.

And so, at the banquet, Herodias has her daughter to dance. Well, you know, we’ve always pictured this girl as 10 or 12 years old. I’ve seen the pictures where they’ve drawn it [the scene at the banquet], and show just a little girl. There is a passage in the writings of Josephus [a Jewish officer in the war with the Romans that occurred A.D. 66-73] that I read this last week that I didn’t know anything about. He uses a Roman term that describes a girl that is between 16 and 20 years of age. Hey, I think she was fully developed. I don’t think these men would have lustful desires toward a 10 or 12 year old. I think the dance that she danced aroused their feelings. The Scriptures indicate that. And how much did her dance arouse Herod? Who would say on the spur of the moment, “I’ll give you whatever you ask! This is great! Ask what your heart desires! I’ll give it to you! Even if it’s up to half of my kingdom!” Now, is that foolish? Boy, that’s a horrid thought!! Something aroused him to such a degree that he’d make a statement like that! I think it was lust. And I think that all of the men there probably were aroused in the same way. And I think Herodias knew that the daughter could do that very thing! Why would she want the daughter to dance for him? What did that mean?

Her [the daughter/stepdaughter] name was Salome. Josephus is the one who names her[in his writings, and he puts in this word, korasion, which was a Greek word that meant “maid of a marriage of early age”. And so they would get married as young as 16 years of age. And so she “danced the dance.” Josephus says the Romans did not consider the dance decent. They considered the dance the property of prostitutes to arouse the feelings of men! I didn’t know that either. That’s an interesting statement. And that’s from Josephus. And guess who he is quoting? He’s quoting two of the Roman writers and poets, Cicero and Suetonius [Cicero was a lawyer, orator and politician; Suetonius was a biographer and wrote Lives of the Twelve Caesars]. The Romans did not consider the dance in any way related to anything spiritual. They thought it was the property of prostitutes.

David danced before the Lord. But he danced by himself. There are dances today that are sensual . I don’t even have to describe or explain them. We all know what they are. There could be dances that would be all right, but we’ve got to watch where we are and what our influence is.

And the Scripture said, “…she pleased Herod and the guests.” She PLEASED them. Herod made this foolish promise, “I’ll give you half—up to half of my kingdom.” Emotions or passions should never overrule reason! I wrote this down as a comment on this passage: “And reason should be guided by Truth!” Friends, I’ve said that a number of times. We’re in an age when many in the church are talking about EMOTION—“we need more emotion in our services”. There is a place for emotion. There is a place for emotion in our lives. It’s part of our spiritual makeup. There is the intellect. There is the emotion. There is the volition. Volition is the will to do something. If we make up our choice of anything in life according to how we feel—and if we make our choices based only on feelings [emotion], we do a lot of foolish things. But if we make our choices based on reason, and that reason has been educated by God’s Truth, then we can make the right decision, and later we can “feel good” about it, and be happy and rejoice.

Now, Herod is in the heat of emotion because of her dance. They’re all worked up [their desires are stirred up by the emotions they feel], and he makes this foolish statement. “Ask whatever you want, and I’ll give you up to the half of my kingdom.”