A stupid offer 6:17ff

Herod has imprisoned John on account of his (Mark specifically points out here- that she is not actually his wife- but his brothers) wife- who had taken a dislike to John because of his fearlessness in publicly telling Herod that it was not lawful for him to have his brothers wife. It must have been an outrage to all pious Jews and raised the indignation of many not so pious- to have a ruler over them with Jewish heritage so flagrantly flout 'the law'. It was obviously a topic that Herodias did not want to be broached and unfortunately for John she wanted him killed and could use her position to make this happen. The whole thing is a very ugly picture. Why on earth would you say to someone ask me anything you wish for – up to half my kingdom and I will give it to you. She was his daughter- so I suppose it wasn't just anyone he was offering this to- but is there a precedent for this sort of thing- is Antipas being original (originally stupid) or were there stories he would have known about... What sort of dance does Herodiados (in the greek- is that just the genitive of Herodias? could be- not very original with their naming in that family. ) I've heard some people say it was a risque dance (Jen back at Uni)- I've just read France- he seems to say this would be a possibility given that the party would have been an all male affair- He also suggests drunkeness for Herod's actions- which definitely fits. Says the up to half my kingdom a 'traditional hyperbole – Est 5:3, 6: 7:2 & 1 Ki 13:8) So the Esther reference was from a Persian King- the 1 kings one is from the man of God from Judah who gets killed by a lion after he was tricked by another prophet into eating and drinking when God had told him not to. And then that prophet goes and gets the body and mourns for him- telling his sons to bury him in the same grave as this man when he dies- How weird is that? Just prior to this the prophet who was tricked, told Jereboam when he offered to give him a gift- “if you give me half your kingdom, I will not go in with you; nor will I food or drink water......”

France says there maybe a scribal error in the description of the dancer as Herod's daughter- different to Matthew's account where he says Herodias's daughter- could be Salome- who later went on to marry Phillip- who used to be her mother's husband... One corrupted family.

The word for kingdom is basileias.
2 territory ruled by a king, kingdom. - the more usual usage is- 1 the act of ruling- a, gener. kingship, royal power, royal rule
b, esp. of God's rule the royal reign of God (usually rendered 'kingdom of God', and oft. understood as royal realm but with dilution of the primary component of reigning activity), a chiefly eschatological concept, beginning to appear in the prophets, elaborated in apocalyptic passages (egs) and taught by Jesus.

Two pages in Vines excellent.

Not sure BDAG is right- that it is a chiefly eschatological concept. Schweizer thought it was. Certainly contains that- and perhaps in the Old Testament it was predominantly that- definitely would be in the apocalyptic literature. Jesus talked about the kingdom as both now and not yet at different times- but what he starts proclaiming is that this once future rule has become present- that is actually his chief message – along with the need for a response to that- in a nutshell. “The time is fulfilled, kingdom of God has come near/ is at hand, repent and believe in the good news.”