John The Baptist And The Corruption Of Israel

Joannes, ut frequenter admonuimus, formam praetulit legis, quia lex Christum praedicavit, et Joannes profectus ex lege est, Christum ex lege praenuntians. Herodes vero princeps est populi: et populi princeps, subjectae sibi universitatis nomen causamque complectitur. Joannes ergo Herodem monebat, ne fratris sui uxorem sibi jungeret. Sunt enim atque erant duo populi, circumcisionis et gentium. Sed Isrealem lex admonebat, ne opera gentium infidelitatemque sibi jungeret. Gentium enim socia infidelitas est, quae ipsis tamquam vinculo conjugalis amoris annexa est. Hi igitur fratres ex eodem humani generis sunt parente. Ob hanc itaque asperae admonitionis veritatem, Joannes tamquam lex in carcere continebatur. Die autem natalis, id est, rerum corporalium gaudiis, Herodiadis filia saltavit: voluptas enim tamquam ex infidelitate orta, per omnia Israelis gaudia totis illecebrae suae cursibus efferebatur. Cui se omnem etiam sacramento venalem populus addixit: sub peccatis enim et saeculi voluptatibus, Israelitae vitae aeternae munera vendiderunt. Haec matris suae, id est, infidelitatis instinctu, deferri sibi Joannis caput, id est, gloriam legis oravit: quia lex incestuosum Israelem auctoritate divinorum praeceptorum arguebat. Sed superius Herodes significatus est Joannem velle occidere, et metu populi demorari, quia propheta habetur. Nunc vero petita ipsius nece, cum praesertim religione sacramenti detineretur, quomodo tristis efficitur? Contrarium videlicet est, tunc eum voluisse, nunc nolle: et praesens molestia anteriori non convenit voluntati. Verum in superioribus gestae rei ordo est, in his autem nunc species causae consequentis exponitur. Gloriam legis voluptas ex infidelitate orta occupavit. Sed populus boni ejus quod in lege erat conscius, voluptatis conditionibus non sine aliquo certi periculi sui dolore connivet. Scitque se tali praeceptorum gloria non oportuisse concedere: sed peccatis tamquam sacramento coactus, et principum adjacentium metu atque exemplo depravatus et victus, illecebris voluptatis etiam moestus obtemperat. Igitur inter reliqua dissoluti populi gaudia, in disco Joannis caput affertur; damno scilicet legis voluptas corporum et saecularis luxus augetur: et ita per puellam ad matrem defertur. Ac sic probrosus Israel et voluptati et infidelitati suae familiae, scilicet antea gentium, gloriam legis addixit.  Sanctus Hilarius Pictaviensis, In Evangelium Matthaei Commentarius, Cap XIV

John, as we are frequently admonished, bore the form of the law because the law preached Christ, and John arose from the law, preaching Christ from the law. Herod truly is a prince of the people, and of the people is the prince, the name and cause being embraced by the same subject. John therefore warned Herod, lest he take the wife of his brother to himself. 1 For there were two peoples, the Circumcised and the Gentiles. But the law admonished Israel, lest it join itself to the unfaithful works of the Gentiles. For of the Gentiles is a faithless association, which as the chain of loving marriage is affixed. These are brothers from the same parent of the human race. Now on account of the truth of bitter warning, John as the law was kept in prison. On a birthday, that is, a rejoicing in corporeal things, the daughter of Herodias danced, for as pleasure arose from faithlessness, with every joy all Israel was born off by the allurements of its ways, by which the people surrendered themselves completely for sale by an oath, selling the gifts of eternal life on account of sin and worldly desire. Now by her mother, that is, by infidelity prompted, the daughter requested that the head of John, that is, the glory of the law, be brought to her, because the authority of the Divine commandments of the law accused Israel of incest. Herod indicated earlier he wished to kill John, yet out of fear of the people who held him as a prophet, he refrained from doing so. But now that his death was sought, especially since he was bound by the constraint of an oath, why would he be grieved? It is clearly contradictory that he wanted it before but did not want it now; his present trouble not corresponding to previous wishes. There is however, an order in the previous events, they being the causes of  these things now declared. The glory of the Law is obscured when pleasure arises from unbelief. But the people conscious of the Law's goodness, in states of pleasure not without some concern closed eyes to their own peril. They knew that they should not have departed from the glory of such commandments but, as if compelled by oath, they were driven to sin, and, by fear and the example of their present leaders, they were corrupted and conquered, and even though troubled they bowed  to the seductions of pleasure. Therefore amid the continued joy of a dissolute people, John's head was brought in on a platter, for with the loss of  the law the pleasure of the flesh and worldly indulgence increased, and so through the daughter it was brought to the mother. Thus shameful Israel with  its pleasures and the unbelief of its household, before all the Gentiles, lost the glory of the law . Saint Hilary of Poitiers, from the Commentary On The Gospel Of Saint Matthew, Chapter 14 1 Mt 14. 3-4