Matthew 11:2 Commentary and Bible Study

John the Baptist was now in prison. Herod Antipas had imprisoned John, goaded by Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife, whom he had married. In order for this marriage to go ahead, both Herod Antipas and Herodias has separated from their existing spouses, and because of the disorderly complications of the Herod family, they were guilty of both adultery and incest at the same time. For this reason John had rebuked Herod Antipas, and though Herod had a certain amount of respect for John (Mark 6:20), he had yielded to pressure from Herodias to imprison him (Matthew 14:3). John was imprisoned early in the ministry of Christ, shortly after the Lord was baptized by John and after the temptation, and it was this that was the trigger (Mark 1:14) for Christ going into Galilee for the beginning of the first Galilean tour (this was after the earlier visit to Galilee which included the wedding at Cana). Matthew records the imprisonment of John in connection with the death of John in chapter 14, but John had been in prison for a considerable period before he was executed. It was during this time of imprisonment that John called for two of his disciples and sent them to Christ with this question.