Mark 6:21-29, The Death of John the Baptist Part 2

21 But an opportunity came when Herod on his birthday gave a banquet for his nobles and military commanders and the leading men of Galilee. 22 For when Herodias's daughter [Salome, only named by Josephus outside the New Testament] came in and danced [likely lewdly], she pleased Herod and his guests. And the king said to the girl, “Ask me for whatever you wish, and I will give it to you.”  23 And he vowed to her, “Whatever you ask me, I will give you, up to half of my kingdom.” 24 And she went out and said to her mother, “For what should I ask?” And she said, “The head of John the Baptist.” [It appears that Herodias set the dance up to get to John because half a kingdom is worth a lot more than a severed head.] 25 And she came in immediately with haste to the king and asked, saying, “I want you to give me at once the head of John the Baptist on a platter.” [I want him dead and for all to see the evidence.] 26 And the king was exceedingly sorry, but because of his oaths and his guests he did not want to break his word to her. [He did not want to lose face but let John lose his.] 27 And immediately the king sent an executioner with orders to bring John's head. He went and beheaded him in the prison 28 and brought his head on a platter and gave it to the girl, and the girl gave it to her mother. [John died alone in the grim dungeon of Machaerus, Herod’s lavish palace on the eastern shore of the Dead Sea about 40 miles from Amman, Jordan.] 29 When his disciples heard of it, they came and took his body and laid it in a tomb. [Does Mark see a parallel with Joseph of Arimathea laying Jesus’ body in his own tomb? In John 3:29-30, John the Baptist says, “The one who has the bride is the bridegroom. The friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly at the bridegroom's voice. Therefore this joy of mine is now complete. He must increase, but I must decrease.”]