During the ministry of Christ on earth, Herod Antipas was tetrarch of Galilee. Though some called him king, he was anything but sovereign. He served at the decree of Augustus emperor of Rome, as did his father Herod the Great. Thus he was in a sense a puppet of the Roman emperor. But those weren't the only people pulling his strings.
The descendants of Herod the Great were raised as Jews because of the forced Jewish conversion of Herod the Great's father Antipater, who was Idumean (Edomite) by descent. In order to rule the land of Israel, Herod and his descendants would not only collaborate with Rome, but with the Jewish religious leaders. In that line Herod Antipas, wanting to be accepted by his people, would receive the scalding preaching of John the Baptist, even when the finger of chastisement was pointed directly at him and his illegitimate wife Herodias.
Herodias wanted to execute John because of the public scorn she had to endure, until she finally found a way to pull Herod's strings. When Herodias' daughter danced at Herod's birthday party, Herod was filled with such incestuous lust that he offered her a gift of up to half the value of his kingdom. Herodias instructed her daughter to request John's head on a platter, an action which Herod reluctantly performed. It was not Herodias who pulled these strings however, but Herod's own sinful lust, probably augmented by a generous helping of alcohol and epicurean debauchery.
Jesus said "everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin". We don't see the puppet strings that control our own desires and decisions, but they are there nonetheless. We can never truly be rulers of our own destiny, but we are free to choose whom we serve. If you think you are truly free serving your own desires, look behind the curtain and see who pulls the strings. If it is not the God of Love, it is most certainly the one who seeks your destruction. Choose this day whom you will serve!
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