Volume 2

Herod's Anxiety
285
as I have said, while Nathanael's was on the north
toward Galilee.
I saw today that Herod, after John's judicial hearing,
sent officers to the tumultuous people. They were comnlissioned
to deal very gently with them, to tell them not
to be disquieted on John's account, but peaceably to
return to their homes. The officers assured them that
John was very well and kindly treated. They said,
moreover, that Herod had indeed changed his prisoner's
cell, but it was only that he might have him nearer to
himself. In disobeying the orders given them to disperse
quietly, they might cast suspicion upon their master and
render his imprisonment more painful. They should
therefore go home at once, for he would soon resume his
work of baptizing. The messengers from Jesus and John
arrived just as Herod's officers were haranguing the
crowd, and they too having delivered similar messages,
the people scattered by degrees. But Herod was a prey to
the greatest anxiety. The execution of the adulterers in
Jerusalem had reminded the public of his own adulterous
marriage. They murmured loudly over John's imprisonment
for having spoken the truth and maintained the
Law, according to which those poor criminals had been
put to death in Jerusalem. Herod had moreover heard of
Jesus' miracles and discourses in Galilee, and it had also
reached his ears that He was now coming down to the
Jordan to teach. He was in great dread lest the excited
populace might thereby be still more stirred up. Under
the influence of these feelings, I saw him calling a meeting
of the Pharisees and Herodians, to deliberate upon
some means of restraining Jesus. The result of the conference
was that he sent eight of the members to give
Jesus to understand in the most delicate manner possible
that He should confine Himself, His miracles, and His
teaching to Upper Galilee and the far side of the lake;
that He should not enter Herod's dominions in Galilee,