And Herod, his brother, took his wife Herodias. And because of her all the doctors of the Law abhorred him, but durst not accuse him before his face. But only that one whom they called a wild man, came to him in anger and spake: "Why hast thou taken the wife of thy brother? As thy brother hath died a death void of pity, thou too wilt be reaped off by the heavenly sickle. God's decree will not be silenced, but will destroy thee through evil affliction in foreign lands. For thou dost not raise up seed for thy brother, but gratifiest thy fleshly lust and committest adultery, seeing that four children of him are alive." Now when Herod heard [this], he was filled with wrath and commanded that they should beat him and drive him away. But he accused Herod incessantly wherever he found him, and right up to the time when he (H.) put him under arrest and gave orders to slay him. (Flavius Josephus)

Herodias was quite a woman. She was a descendant of Hasmonean royalty. She was daughter, sister, niece, and spouse of half the Herods. The weave of relationship leaves one dizzy.

We need to think of her -- as she surely thought of herself -- as a Hellenistic princess. The ancient proscriptions of the Hebrew Bible seemed to her quaint.

The noisy accusations of John were not quaint. She blamed John for Philip's, her previous husbands, death. He was too soft and susceptible to stress.

Herod Antipas was tougher and more promising in many ways. But until she might bear an heir to her new husband+brother-in-law+uncle her status was threatened by John's attacks.

If I had been a doctor of the law -- a sophisticated Sadducee -- I might well have found the marriage of Herod and Herodias distasteful and an unfortunate distraction.

But, the ruler's private lusts and such are not worth exciting public concern. I would not have supported executing John, but I might well have welcomed a legitimate pretext for shutting him up. All the while I would shake my head at the unrealistic and unhelpful preoccupations of so many.

John and I would each have known the same facts. But where John saw corruption and defiance of God, I would have seen merely typical human foibles.