Mark 6:14,15 - He is Elijah

6:14

We now come to the beheading of John the Baptist. The account starts with a telling of who Herod and others thought Jesus was. The Herod here is Herod Antipas. There were quite a number of Herods in the period,and a spider’s web of relationships. Jesus had become well known, and people, including Herod, were wondering who He was. One offering was that He was “John the Baptist raised from the dead, and that is why miraculous powers are at work in Him”. Schnabel says that this may well mean that He was a second John the Baptist, rather than actually being resurrected, i.e. He was like John the Baptist. But the reference to miraculous powers seems to render this unlikely, as John did not do any miracles. Whatever the case, it wasn’t true!

6:15

Two other alternatives were that He was Elijah, pr “like one of the prophets of long ago”. Mal 4:5 says God will send one like Elijah before the “great and dreadful” day of the Lord. And Elijah did do miracles, so there was some sense to that suggestion. The “prophets of long ago” could also have referred to the likes of Elijah and Elisha, for the writing prophets (Isaiah etc) didn’t do much if anything in the way or miracles, whereas Elijah and Elisha did. Again, they were wrong.