Eloquently Speaking Making Oaths & Doing Things To Please People That Create Storms For When You Know That What You Are Doing Is Wrong And You Do It Anyway Scripture Reading Matthew 14:1-12.  Main characters in this text are, Herod, John The Baptist, Herodias and her daughter Salome, whom her mother used to destroy John the Baptist by having him beheaded. Why did Herodias want John The Baptist head on a platter? Matthew 14:3-4, for Herod had laid hold on John, and bound him, and put him in prison for Herodias sake, his brother Philips wife. For John said unto him, It is not lawful for thee to have her. Herod was sleeping with his brother’s wife and when John The Baptist warned him, Herod the bible tells us in verse 5 that...when he would have put him to death, he feared the multitude, because they counted him a prophet. Wow....let's take a close look at what is going on in this story. Herod is a coward and a people pleaser and Herodias is a vindictive, angry and evil woman that used her daughter to have John The Baptist murdered for speaking the truth in love.