The Meaning of Matthew 14:12 Explained

Matthew 14:12

KJV: And his disciples came, and took up the body, and buried it, and went and told Jesus.

YLT: And his disciples having come, took up the body, and buried it, and having come, they told Jesus,

Darby: And his disciples came and took the body and buried it, and came and brought word to Jesus.

ASV: And his disciples came, and took up the corpse, and buried him; and they went and told Jesus.

KJV Reverse Interlinear

And  his  disciples  came,  and took up  the body,  and  buried  it,  and  went  and told  Jesus. 

What does Matthew 14:12 Mean?

Verse Meaning

Matthew"s notation that Jesus heard about John"s death unites John and Jesus against this political enemy. It also suggests that John"s disciples still had high regard for Jesus (cf. Matthew 11:2-6). As Herod had heard the news about Jesus ( Matthew 14:1), now Jesus heard the news about John.
Herod"s testimony to the supernatural character of Jesus" miracles is important in Matthew"s unfolding theme of people"s perceptions of the King. Likewise the forerunner"s unjust execution at the hands of hardhearted Roman officials foreshadows the fate of the King. [1] Matthew evidently recorded these verses to show how Roman political leaders viewed the King and His forerunner. Opposition against Him was intense, mainly for religious and moral reasons.
"Matthew so connected the ministries of these two men that what happened to one was viewed as having a direct effect on the other. Herod, by rejecting the King"s forerunner, was rejecting the King who followed him." [2]

Context Summary

Matthew 14:1-12 - For Righteousness' Sake
In the terror arising from his stricken conscience, Herod made confidants of his slaves, overleaping the barriers of position in his need of some ears into which to pour his fears. He had not finished with John. There is a resurrection of deeds as well as of bodies. The only way to have done with a sinful deed is to confess it and make reparation.
What true nobility John displayed in summoning the king to the bar of eternal justice! He might have said, "It isn't seemly," or, "It isn't politic;" but he puts it on more unassailable ground, which Herod's conscience endorsed: "It is not lawful."Herod was luxurious, sensual, superstitious and weak. He was easily entrapped by the beautiful fiend. To tamper with conscience is like killing the watch-dog while the burglar is breaking in.
How splendid the action of John's disciples! Reverent love and grief made them brave the king's hatred. In hours of lonely bereavement, the best policy is to go and tell Jesus. [source]

Chapter Summary: Matthew 14

1  Herod's opinion of Jesus
3  Wherefore John Baptist was beheaded
13  Jesus departs into a solitary place,
15  where he feeds five thousand men with five loves and two fishes
22  He walks on the sea to his disciples;
34  and landing at Gennesaret,
35  heals the sick who touch of the hem of his garment

Greek Commentary for Matthew 14:12

And they went and told Jesus [και ελτοντες απηγγειλαν τωι Ιησου]
As was meet after they had given his body decent burial. It was a shock to the Master who alone knew how great John really was. The fate of John was a prophecy of what was before Jesus. According to Matthew 14:13 the news of the fate of John led to the withdrawal of Jesus to the desert privately, an additional motive besides the need for rest after the strain of the recent tour. [source]

Reverse Greek Commentary Search for Matthew 14:12

Matthew 24:28 Carcase [πτωμα]
As in Matthew 14:12, the corpse. Originally a fallen body from πιπτω — piptō to fall, like Latin cadaver from cado, to fall. The proverb here as in Luke 17:37, is like that in Job 39:30; Proverbs 30:17. [source]
Mark 6:17 For Herod himself [Αυτος γαρ ο ηρωιδης]
Mark now proceeds to give the narrative of the death of John the Baptist some while before these nervous fears of Herod. But this post eventum narrative is very little out of the chronological order. The news of John‘s death at Machaerus may even have come at the close of the Galilean tour. “The tidings of the murder of the Baptist seem to have brought the recent circuit to an end” (Swete). The disciples of John “went and told Jesus. Now when Jesus heard it, he withdrew from thence in a boat” (Matthew 14:12.). See note on Matthew 14:3-12 for the discussion about Herod Antipas and John and Herodias. [source]
Mark 6:29 His corpse [το πτωμα αυτου]
See note on Matthew 24:28. It was a mournful time for the disciples of John. “They went and told Jesus” (Matthew 14:12). What else could they do? [source]
John 19:38 Gave him leave []
According to Roman law. Ulpian, a Roman jurist of the third century, says: “The bodies of those who are capitally punished cannot be denied to their relatives. At this day, however, the bodies of those who are executed are buried only in case permission is asked and granted; and sometimes permission is not given, especially in the cases of those who are punished for high treason. The bodies of the executed are to be given for burial to any one who asks for them.” Avaricious governors sometimes sold this privilege. Cicero, in one of his orations against Verres, has a terribly graphic passage describing such extortions. After dwelling upon the tortures inflicted upon the condemned, he says: “Yet death is the end. It shall not be. Can cruelty go further? A way shall be found. For the bodies of the beheaded shall be thrown to the beasts. If this is grievous to parents, they may buy the liberty of burial” (v., 45). Compare Matthew 14:12; Acts 8:2. [source]
Acts 19:1 Having passed through the upper country [διελτοντα τα ανωτερικα μερη]
Second aorist active participle of διερχομαι — dierchomai accusative case agreeing with Παυλον — Paulon accusative of general reference with the infinitive ελτειν — elthein idiomatic construction with εγενετο — egeneto The word for “upper” Instead he took the more direct road through the Cayster Valley to Ephesus. Codex Bezae says here that Paul wanted to go back to Jerusalem, but that the Holy Spirit bade him to go into Asia where he had been forbidden to go in the second tour (Acts 16:6). Whether the upper “parts” The province of Asia included the western part of Asia Minor. The Romans took this country b.c. 130. Finally the name was extended to the whole continent. It was a jewel in the Roman empire along with Africa and was a senatorial province. It was full of great cities like Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, Laodicea (the seven churches of Rev. 2;3), Colossae, Hierapolis, Apamea, to go no further. Hellenism had full sway here. Ephesus was the capital and chief city and was a richer and larger city than Corinth. It was located at the entrance to the valley of the Maeander to the east. Here was the power of Rome and the splendour of Greek culture and the full tide of oriental superstition and magic. The Temple of Artemis was one of the seven wonders of the world. While in Ephesus some hold that Paul at this time wrote the Epistle to the Galatians after his recent visit there, some that he did it before his recent visit to Jerusalem. But it is still possible that he wrote it from Corinth just before writing to Rome, a point to discuss later. Certain disciples (τινας ματητας — tinas mathētas). Who were they? Apollos had already gone to Corinth. They show no connection with Priscilla and Aquila. Luke calls them “disciples” or “learners” (ματητας — mathētas) because they were evidently sincere though crude and ignorant. There is no reason at all for connecting these uninformed disciples of the Baptist with Apollos. They were floating followers of the Baptist who drifted into Ephesus and whom Paul found. Some of John‘s disciples clung to him till his death (John 3:22-25; Luke 7:19; Matthew 14:12). Some of them left Palestine without the further knowledge of Jesus that came after his death and some did not even know that, as turned out to be the case with the group in Ephesus. [source]
Revelation 11:8 Their dead bodies lie [το πτωμα αυτων]
Old word from πιπτω — piptō (to fall), a fall, especially of bodies slain in battle, a corpse, a carcase (Matthew 14:12), here the singular (some MSS. πτωματα — ptōmata plural) as belonging to each of the αυτων — autōn (their) like στοματος αυτων — stomatos autōn (their mouth) in Revelation 11:5. So also in Revelation 11:9. No word in the Greek for “lie.” [source]

What do the individual words in Matthew 14:12 mean?

And having come the disciples of him took the body buried it having come they told - Jesus
καὶ προσελθόντες οἱ μαθηταὶ αὐτοῦ ἦραν τὸ πτῶμα ἔθαψαν αὐτόν ἐλθόντες ἀπήγγειλαν τῷ Ἰησοῦ

προσελθόντες  having  come 
Parse: Verb, Aorist Participle Active, Nominative Masculine Plural
Root: προσέρχομαι  
Sense: to come to, approach.
μαθηταὶ  disciples 
Parse: Noun, Nominative Masculine Plural
Root: μαθητής  
Sense: a learner, pupil, disciple.
αὐτοῦ  of  him 
Parse: Personal / Possessive Pronoun, Genitive Masculine 3rd Person Singular
Root: αὐτός  
Sense: himself, herself, themselves, itself.
ἦραν  took 
Parse: Verb, Aorist Indicative Active, 3rd Person Plural
Root: αἴρω  
Sense: to raise up, elevate, lift up.
πτῶμα  body 
Parse: Noun, Accusative Neuter Singular
Root: πτῶμα  
Sense: a fall, downfall.
ἔθαψαν  buried 
Parse: Verb, Aorist Indicative Active, 3rd Person Plural
Root: θάπτω  
Sense: to bury, inter.
ἐλθόντες  having  come 
Parse: Verb, Aorist Participle Active, Nominative Masculine Plural
Root: ἔρχομαι  
Sense: to come.
ἀπήγγειλαν  they  told 
Parse: Verb, Aorist Indicative Active, 3rd Person Plural
Root: ἀγγέλλω 
Sense: to bring tidings (from a person or a thing), bring word, report.
τῷ  - 
Parse: Article, Dative Masculine Singular
Root:  
Sense: this, that, these, etc.
Ἰησοῦ  Jesus 
Parse: Noun, Dative Masculine Singular
Root: Ἰησοῦς  
Sense: Joshua was the famous captain of the Israelites, Moses’ successor.

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