The Herods of the Bible, Part 2
By Thomas Thorne
McDowell County
In part 1 of our series on “The Herods of the Bible,” we saw that “Herod” is both a name and a title. We also noticed that there are several Herods spoken of in the New Testament, six in fact, and that they were all somehow related to each other.
The first Herod was Herod the Great, who ruled over the territories of Galilee, Samaria, Judea, and Idumea west of the Jordan River (from north to south), and several regions east of the Jordan such as Perea, Batanaea, Auranitis, and Trachonitis from 37 B.C. to 4 B.C. One of his wives’ names was Mariamne and she was the granddaughter of the Hasmonean (Jewish) King Aristobulus II. That made Mariamne, Herod the Great’s Jewish wife. Therefore, Mariamne claimed herself to be part of royalty, and Herod by marrying Mariamne, a Jew, could claim himself a Jewish convert and therefore hope to appease the Jewish/Israelite people he was ruling over.
Eventually, Mariamne was convicted of evil, and Herod had her executed in 29 B.C. Herod also had three of his sons killed: his firstborn, Antipater, and his two sons Mariamne, Aristobul, and Alexander. Herod the Great, who was also known as “Herod the Builder” is credited for magnificent building projects such as the fortification on the eastern edge of the Judean Desert known as Masada, the port of Caesarea, and the Hippodrome at Caesarea Maritime. He also started what is known as “Herod’s Temple” in 20 B.C., although it wasn’t finished until A.D. 63, long after his death. He was the Herod who tried to trick the wise men after Jesus’ birth (Matt. 2:1-15) and the Herod who had the babies at Bethlehem killed (Matt. 2:16-18).
We also saw that the second Herod mentioned was Herod Archelaus, who ruled from 4 B.C. – A.D. 6. Upon Herod the Great’s death, his territory of rulership was split among three of his sons: Archelaus, Philip, and Antipas. Herod Archelaus received one-half of his father’s territory, the area surrounding Jerusalem, Judea, and Samaria, as well as Idumea to the south. This was the ruler mentioned in Matt. 6:23 where an angel appeared to Joseph in a dream and told him to “take the child and his mother and go back to Israel.” Joseph and Mary moved to Galilee to avoid Archelaus’s rule. Over time, Archelaus was replaced by a Roman procurator less than ten years into his reign. A procurator was an individual in ancient Rome who was in charge of the financial affairs of a province, or imperial governor of a province. Pontius Pilate was the governor of Judea who presided over the trial of Jesus.
The third Herod mentioned was Herod Philip. Herod Philip was one of the three sons of Herod the Great who received part of his territory after his death. He received one-fourth of his father’s land. He is often referred to as “Philip the Tetrarch” as “tetrarch” means “quarter.” Herod Philip ruled over the area north and east of Galilee mostly over Syrians and Greeks from 4 B.C. – A.D. 34. He is mentioned in Luke 3:1. He died without an heir and his territory became part of the Roman province of Syria.
The fourth Herod was Herod Antipas. He became tetrarch of Galilee and Perea in 4 B.C. and was deposed by the emperor Caligula in A.D. 39. The title “tetrarch” originally meant “ruler of a fourth part of a region” but eventually came to be used for any minor ruler. Herod Antipas was the “Herod” of Jesus public ministry. He was imprisoned and eventually had John the Baptist executed when John spoke out against his marriage to Herodias, his brother Philip’s ex-wife (Luke 3:19-20). Mark 6:18-19 tells us, “For John had been saying to Herod, “It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife” (ESV). Jewish historian Josephus reports that Herodias should not have married Herod Antipas because she had formerly been the wife of Herod Antipas’s brother, Herod Philip, and he was still alive (Flavius Josephus, The Antiquities of the Jews, book 18, chapter 5.4).
Herod Antipas also wondered about Jesus’ identity when people speculated that John had risen from the dead (Mark 6:14–16). When warned by some Pharisees that Herod was seeking his life, Jesus called him “that fox,” probably a reference to his cunning and deceit (Luke 13:31–32). Pontius Pilate sent Jesus to see Herod as part of Jesus’ trial since Herod Antipas was visiting Jerusalem at the time Jesus was sentenced to death (Luke 23:7–12; Acts 4:27). We are told in Luke 23:8 that Antipas “had wanted to see Jesus for a long time because he had been hearing about Him and was hoping to see some sign performed by Him.” Yet after questioning Jesus, Herod and the soldiers treated Him with contempt, mocked Him, dressed Him in a gorgeous robe, and sent Him back to Pilate (v. 9-11).
In summary, the three sons that gained rulership over the land of Herod the Great upon his death were: Herod Archelaus (1/2 of the territory), Herod Philip (1/4), and Herod Antipas (1/4). In next month’s article, we will discuss the last two herods of the Herodian Dynasty.
One last note is that I will be starting a new Biblical Hebrew 1 class around the beginning of November. The Hebrew 1 class is very basic, geared toward those who know little, if any, Hebrew. The focus in this 14-16 session class is learning the alphabet, the vowel markers, the special rules of the alphabet, and learning how to read the Hebrew text of the Bible. The majority of the rules of grammar and verbs are covered in Hebrews 2 & 3. The class is held via Zoom video-conferencing. If interested, please contact me at SERVANTSOTMHG@gmail.com. (Stands for Servants Of The Most High God…) for more details.
Shalom,
Tom Thorne
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Tom and his wife Amy are fellowship coordinators for Avdai El Elyon/Servants of the Most High God Ministries in Marion, NC. Tom offers a “Basics of Biblical Hebrew” 1 and 2 class in a classroom setting and/or online via Zoom. If interested, please contact Tom for details at servantsotmhg@gmail.com.
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