Verses 19-20 “19But Herod the tetrarch, being reproved by him for Herodias his brother Philip’s wife, and for all the evils which Herod had done,
20Added yet this above all, that he shut up John in prison.”
The information about John being shut up in prison is inserted here by Luke to round out the story about The Forerunner, even though his imprisonment did not happen until several years later. Herod was a man of great evils, and his evils were worthy of the great reproof received from John, even though it landed John in prison. John’s imprisonment eventually led to his violent death at Herod’s hand. It should be noted that preachers may be put in prison but the Word of God can not be put in jail nor can it be bound. The Word of God is powerful beyond the ability of any human power to hold it. When the Apostle Paul was put in prison, he wrote,”Wherein I suffer trouble, as an evil doer, even unto bonds; but the word of God is not bound” (II Tim 2:9).