“And when he would have put him to death, he feared the multitude, because they counted him as a prophet.”
And though he wanted to put him to death, he feared the people, because they held him to be a prophet. Herod's restraint from execution was not moral but political: the crowd who considered John a prophet made his death politically dangerous. The fear of the people is the same political calculation that will prevent the chief priests and Pharisees from arresting Jesus publicly (Matthew 21:26, 26:5). Political power defers to popular sentiment even when it disagrees with it.
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