Biographies of the Herods’
By Pastor David L. Brown, Ph.D.
First Baptist Church of Oak Creek Wisconsin
www.FirstBaptistChurchOC.org
Introduction
In this Brief Biography of
the Herods’ it will help you understand a bit better numerous events in the New
Testament and which Herod it was that was involved.
Herod Antipater I
the Idumaean (73 to 43 B.C.) is the founder of the Herodian Dynasty and the
father of Herod the Great. He is not mentioned in the New Testament, but his ten
of his descendants played major roles in the lives of Jesus and of the apostles.
The Herod family were Idumeans. That is, they were descended from Abraham
through Isaac and Esau, rather than through Isaac and Jacob. They saw themselves
as Jewish, participating in God’s covenant with Abraham, but their ancestors had
not gone to Egypt with Joseph and returned with Moses and Joshua. Herod
Antipater formally converted to the Jewish religious practice of the descendants
of Jacob. His family would not allow their portraits (graven images) on the
coins they issued, they did not eat pork as they followed the Jewish dietary
laws, and the women of the family were not allowed to marry men who were
uncircumcised. However, they were not separate in other areas as the Jews were.
Their children often received a secular education. Members of the family
sponsored athletic games in the Greek style, which were offensive to the Jews.
And they also arranged marriages between uncles and nieces in the Roman fashion
and their children. Herod Antipater was the father of…
 Herod The Great
(73-4 B.C.) This Herod undertook great building projects in Palestine, including
whole cities like Caesarea Maritima and Masada and the rebuilding of Jericho.
Most important, he rebuilt the Temple of Solomon in Jerusalem. He was given the
title “King of the Jews.” After he completed the work, he deeply offended the
Jews of Jerusalem by placing an eagle, the emblem of Roman rule, on the Temple.
His last act in life was overseeing the execution of the Jews who tore it down.
He is the Herod who ordered the Bethlehem children two years old and under to be
killed (Matthew 2:16).
At the death of Herod the Great, the Jews begged
Augustus not to appoint another ruler over them like Herod. After much
deliberation, Augustus Caesar decided to split the Jewish kingdom into three
parts, and appoint a different ruler over each section. These officials would
have far less power than Herod had, and most of the control would come from
Rome. These three rulers, all of whom were sons of Herod the Great, were:
Herod Archelaus -- who was given the area of Samaria, Judea, and northern
Idumaea.
Herod Antipas -- who was given Galilee and Peraea.
Herod Philip -- who was given the area east and northeast of Jordan from the
Yarmuk River to Mount Hermon.
We will look at each of these men.
Herod Archelaus (23 to 18 A.D.) was full brother of Herod Antipas and a half
brother of Herod Philip. When they were young, he along with these brothers, he
was sent as a hostage to Rome, where they received their education. It insured
their father’s allegiance to Rome.
In his father's testament, Herod
Archelaus was appointed king, but the Roman emperor Augustus wrote him that he
had to be satisfied with the title of ethnarch (‘national leader’) of Samaria,
Judaea and Idumea.
Immediately after his accession to leadership in 4
B.C., things went wrong. When Herod had fallen ill, two popular teachers, Judas
and Matthias, had incited their pupils to remove the golden eagle from the
entrance of the Temple. After all, according to the Ten Commandments, it was a
sin to make idols. The teachers and their pupils were burned alive. The new king
had to face an angry crowd at these men being martyred. Things went from bad to
worse.
Archelaus was the most wicked of the three brothers. We read of
him in Matthew 2:22-23 “But when he [Joseph] heard that Archelaus did reign in
Judaea in the room of his father Herod [the Great who kille the children of
Bethlehem], he was afraid to go thither: notwithstanding, being warned of God in
a dream, he turned aside into the parts of Galilee: 23 And he came and dwelt in
a city called Nazareth: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the
prophets, He shall be called a Nazarene.”
Archelaus married Glaphyra, the
wife of his half-brother, divorcing his own wife in order to do so. This
outraged the Jews, and when a rebellion broke out in Jerusalem during the
Passover season, his troops killed over 3000 Jews. His was a reign of terror.
In the ninth year of his reign (he reigned from 4 B.C. to 6 A.D.), a
delegation of leading men from Judea and Samaria went to Rome to appeal to
Augustus to have him removed. Augustus agreed to their demands and removed Herod
Archelaus. He also confiscated his fortune and banished him to Gaul. This
section of Palestine was then placed under a military governor (a Roman
Procurator who was directly responsible to the Emperor). There would be fourteen
of these procurators up to the fall of Jerusalem in 70 AD, three of whom are of
special interest to the study of the New Testament times:
1. Pontius
Pilate (26 - 36 A.D.) who is mentioned 56 time in the New Testament; 9 times in
Matthew, 10 times in Mark, 12 times in Luke; 21 times in
John; 3 times in Acts;
1 time in 1 Timothy
2. Antonius Felix (52 - 60 AD) who is mentioned 9 times
in Acts 23-24 and,
3. Porcius Festus (60 - 62 AD) who is mentioned 13 times
in Acts 24-26.
Herod Antipas (20 B.C. to after 39 A.D.) was Tetrarch
(ruler of a quarter) of Samaria, Galilee, Peraes and Idumea between 4 B.C and 39
A.D. He is called that in Matthew 14:1; Luke 3:1,19; 9:7 and Acts 1:3. Often he
is called simply Herod.
In 17 A.D., he founded a new capital, which he
called Tiberias, to honor the Roman emperor, Tiberius. Unfortunately, it was
discovered that he was building this city on top of an old Jewish graveyard.
This caused great unrest among his Jewish subjects. For a long time, no pious
Jew would enter Tiberias, which was populated by primarily Greeks and Romans.
Their cousin, Herodias, first married and divorced an uncle living in Rome,
then married Philip, and then divorced Philip to marry Antipas.
When
John the Baptist preached against Antipas marriage to the former wife of his
half brother Philip. For this Antipas had him thrown into prison. The daughter
of Herodias by her first marriage is unnamed in the New Testament, but she is
called Salome (a common name in the family) in later accounts. With her mother's
prompting, she requested the head of John the Baptist on a platter, and Antipas
ordered John beheaded (Mark 6:14-29; Matthew 14:1-12).
In
Mark 8:15, when
Jesus warned the disciples against the leaven of the Pharisees and of Herod, he
was talking about Herod Antipas. Antipas was also the fox that the Pharisees
warned Jesus about in Luke 13:31-32.
Antipas presided over Jesus’ trial
in Luke 23, and with Pontius Pilate, the Roman procurator, determined Jesus'
death sentence. John and Peter refer to the decision of Antipas and Pontius
Pilate to execute Jesus in Acts 4: 27.
Herod Philip (27 B.C. to 34 A.D.)
was the Jewish leader, ruled between 4 B.C. and 34 A.D. in the southwest of what
is now Syria. He was the first wife of Herodias (Mark 6:17). Apart from that
passing reference there is not other mention of him in the New Testament.
Moving on from the three brothers, Archelaus, Antipas and Philip, the next
Herod we come to is….
Herod Agrippa I (10 B.C. to 44 A.D.) (also called
Herod the Great, which can be very confusing) was the grandson of Herod the
Great. He had another son, Aristobulus. He executed him in 7 B.C. fearing he
would take his throne. The Roman Emperor Autustus joked that is was better to be
Herod’s pig (hus) than his son (huios), a very insulting remark for any Jew.
Aristobulus has a son, Agrippa, named after Augustus’ friend Marcus Vipsanius
Agrippa. His son was spared.
Herod Agrippa I ruled from 37 to 44 A.D.
Because of his friendship with the Emperor Caligula, he is the first Herod to be
called King since his grandfather Herod the Great.
In January 41 A.D.,
Caligula, who was by now showing signs of complete insanity, and Herod Agrippa
were in Rome. On the 24th, the emperor was murdered, and the Jewish king played
a very important role during the accession of Claudius. The latter was grateful
to Agrippa; Judaea and Samaria were added to Herod Agrippa's realm. He was now
king of all the territories that had once been ruled by Herod the Great.
Jerusalem was again the capital of Palestine as a whole and received new city
walls. Agrippa's entry in the city of David and Herod was a triumph.
After these successes, a strange incident took place in 44 A.D. Lets read
Acts
12:1-3 and 19-23. He is at Caesarea Maritima and he dies of being eaten of
worms.
After some troubles the last king of the Jews was succeeded in
some of his territories by his son Julius Marcus Agrippa or Agrippa II.
Agrippa's daughter Drusilla was married to Marcus Antonius Felix, the procurator
of Judaea (52-58); Agrippa's daughter Berenice was the mistress of the future
emperor Titus.
Julius Marcus Agrippa or Agrippa II (27/28 to about 100
A.D.) ruled 48-100 A.D. He was the last important descendant of king Herod the
Great. He is a very important figure in the life of the Apostle Paul in Acts
25:18-22 and Acts 26.
In conclusion, hope this study will help you to
better understand the Herods’ you come across in the New Testament.
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