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Why was Herod Antipas reluctant to execute St. John the Baptist?
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St. John the Baptist
John the Baptist in the Wilderness, oil on panel by Geertgen tot Sint Jans, 15th century; in the Gemäldegalerie, Berlin.
According to the Gospels, Herod Antipas was initially reluctant to execute St. John the Baptist because he feared the prophet and recognized him as a righteous and holy man.12
While John the Baptist had publicly reproached Herod for his illegal marriage to Herodias—the divorced wife of his half brother—Herod’s hesitation stemmed from his personal regard for John’s character. It was ultimately the manipulation of Herodias, who goaded her husband and used her daughter Salome to demand the Baptist's head as a reward for a dance at a birthday feast, that forced the tetrarch to proceed with the execution against his own inclinations.1