See what the prophet Gad does with another king who is sinner just as Herod: David.
2 Samuel 24:
Again the anger of the Lord burned against Israel, and he incited David against them, saying, “Go and take a census of Israel and Judah.”
...
11 Before David got up the next morning, the word of the Lord had come to Gad the prophet, David’s seer: 12 “Go and tell David, ‘This is what the Lord says: I am giving you three options. Choose one of them for me to carry out against you.’”
13 So Gad went to David and said to him, “Shall there come on you three years of famine in your land? Or three months of fleeing from your enemies while they pursue you? Or three days of plague in your land? Now then, think it over and decide how I should answer the one who sent me.”
14 David said to Gad, “I am in deep distress. Let us fall into the hands of the Lord, for his mercy is great; but do not let me fall into human hands.”
15 So the Lord sent a plague on Israel from that morning until the end of the time designated, and seventy thousand of the people from Dan to Beersheba died. 16 When the angel stretched out his hand to destroy Jerusalem, the Lord relented concerning the disaster and said to the angel who was afflicting the people, “Enough! Withdraw your hand.” The angel of the Lord was then at the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.
17 When David saw the angel who was striking down the people, he said to the Lord, “I have sinned; I, the shepherd, have done wrong. These are but sheep. What have they done? Let your hand fall on me and my family.”
...
11 Before David got up the next morning, the word of the Lord had come to Gad the prophet, David’s seer: 12 “Go and tell David, ‘This is what the Lord says: I am giving you three options. Choose one of them for me to carry out against you.’”
13 So Gad went to David and said to him, “Shall there come on you three years of famine in your land? Or three months of fleeing from your enemies while they pursue you? Or three days of plague in your land? Now then, think it over and decide how I should answer the one who sent me.”
14 David said to Gad, “I am in deep distress. Let us fall into the hands of the Lord, for his mercy is great; but do not let me fall into human hands.”
15 So the Lord sent a plague on Israel from that morning until the end of the time designated, and seventy thousand of the people from Dan to Beersheba died. 16 When the angel stretched out his hand to destroy Jerusalem, the Lord relented concerning the disaster and said to the angel who was afflicting the people, “Enough! Withdraw your hand.” The angel of the Lord was then at the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.
17 When David saw the angel who was striking down the people, he said to the Lord, “I have sinned; I, the shepherd, have done wrong. These are but sheep. What have they done? Let your hand fall on me and my family.”
In both the cases, a king is put before a dramatic AUT-AUT: take or leave. (in the case of David, he has to choose between three options, while Herod has to abandon the wife or - AUT - to have God for enemy).
Now, see who is called "DAN" in 1 Maccabeans 2:
2 In those days arose Mathathias the son of John, the son of Simeon, a priest of the sons of Joarib, from Jerusalem, and he abode in the mountain of Modin.
2 And he had five sons: John who was surnamed Gaddis:
3 And Simon, who was surnamed Thasi:
4 And Judas, who was called Machabeus:
5 And Eleazar, who was surnamed Abaron: and Jonathan, who was surnamed Apphus.
2 And he had five sons: John who was surnamed Gaddis:
3 And Simon, who was surnamed Thasi:
4 And Judas, who was called Machabeus:
5 And Eleazar, who was surnamed Abaron: and Jonathan, who was surnamed Apphus.
The thing becomes more and more funny insofar we see that a census is going to be made, now by David and, in the Gospels, not only by Quirinus, but…
...but also by Herod himself!
Mark 6:25 :
At once the girl hurried in to the king with the request: “I want you to give me right now the head of John the Baptist on a platter (πίνακι).”
what is a pinax? It is the same tablet that serves to register someone during a census.
For example:
And he asked for a tablet (πινακίδιον) and wrote saying His name is John And they marvelled all
(Luke 1:63)
So the irony is that the head of JOhn was "registered" in what could only be the census derived midrashically from the same census of king David.
And therefore Gad is John.
And now we can know why the Elijiah redivivus had to be called "John". He is "John called Gad" of 1 Maccabeans 2.
Power of the midrash.