Difference between revisions of "Agrippa"

<p> Grandson of Herod the Great. His early years were passed as a spendthrift and a wanderer, but at length being at Rome he contrived to win the favour of Caligula who on coming to the throne in A.D. 37, declared Agrippa to be the successor of' [[Philip]] the Tetrarch, who had died three years previously. By preferring charges against Antipas, who had married his sister Herodias, Agrippa, got this prince deposed and banished, and in A.D. 39 he succeeded him in the territories of Galilee and Peraea. He was still a guest of Caligula at Rome when that tyrant was cut off in A.D. 41, and having used his influence in the election of Caligula's successor Claudius, this emperor not only confirmed the previous grants, but added those of Judaea, Samaria, and Abilene, so that his possessions were nearly identical with those of his grandfather Herod the Great. He was in these possessions when we read of him in the New [[Testament]] as 'Herod the king,' Acts 12 . He killed James the brother of John with the sword, and because he saw it pleased the Jews he seized Peter also. This happened about A.D. 43, and within a year the king, allowing himself to be called a god, was smitten by the [[Almighty]] and died a miserable death. The account given by Josephus as to Agrippa's administrative qualities, his exertions for the Jews whilst at Rome, and his desires to strengthen and embellish Jerusalem, may be true; but his seizing the apostles to please the Jews stamps him as one unfitted to rule, while his overweening pride in the last scene of his life made him the just object of the wrath of Him who will not give His glory to another. </p>

<p> Acts 26:28 (c) This man is typical of a person who permits some wicked relative, or some lustful habit to keep him from trusting CHRIST JESUS. It probably was because of the presence of his sister [[Bernice]] and her influence upon him, that he decided to reject CHRIST. (See also under "BERNICE.") </p>

<p> Agrip'pa. See [[Herod]]. </p>

<p> Agrippa (a-grĭp'pah). See Herod. </p>

<p> (See HEROD.) </p>

<p> (Ἀγρίππας, a frequent [[Roman]] name, signif. unknown [see Smith's Dict. of Class. Biog. s.v.]), the name of two of the members of the [[Herodian]] family (q.v.). </p> <p> 1. Grandson of Herod the Great, and son of Aristobulus and [[Berenice]] (Josephus, Ant. 17, 1, 2; War, 1, 28, 1). After various fortunes in Rome and [[Judaea]] (Josephus, Ant. 18, 6; War, 2, 9, 5), he received from Caligula, soon after his accession, the original territories of Philip (Batanaea, Trachonitis, and Auranitis) and the tetrarchy of Lysanias, with the title of king (Josephus, Ant. 18, 6, 10.; Wars, 2, 9, 6; Philo, Opp. 2, 520). [[Returning]] to [[Palestine]] in the second year of Caligula (Josephus, Ant. 18, 6, 11), A.D. 38, he was soon afterward invested likewise with the tetrarchy of the banished [[Antipas]] (Galilee and Peraea), and finally by Claudius (to whom he had rendered important services at Rome during the changes of succession, Josephus, Ant. 19, 4; Wars, 2, 11) also with [[Samaria]] and Judea (Josephus, Ant. 19, 5, 1; 19, 6, 1; War, 2, 11, 5 [see Dahl, Exc. in his Chrestom. Philon. p. 377 sq.]; comp. [[Dio]] Cass. 60, 8), so that he became monarch of all Palestine, and enjoyed great celebrity (Josephus, Ant. 19, 8, 2). He sought to conciliate the Jews (Josephus, Ant. 19, 7, 3) not only by public munificence, but also by persecuting bigotry, as instanced by his murder of James and imprisonment of Peter (Acts 12:1 sq.). His death at Caesarea (Josephus, War, 2, 12, 6), in a terrible agony caused by worms (σκώληκες, Acts 12:23; not vermin, see WORM, ) is related by Josephus (Ant. 19, 8, 2) in almost the same terms. (See Ernesti, De morte Herodis Agrippae, Lips. 1745; Ranisch, De Lucce et Josephi in morte Agr. consensu, Lips. 1745; Guericke, Beitr. z. N.T. Einleit. p. 189 sq.; comp. Eusebius, His'. E'ccl. 2, 10; and see Heinecken, Excurs. in Euseb. 3, 356 sq.) (See [[Herod]]). </p> <p> 2. The Agrippa before whom Paul was brought (Acts 25:13; Acts 25:26) was the son of the foregoing, who died when he was only seventeen years old (Josephus, Ant. 19, 9, 1), and hence he did not succeed to his father's dominions (Joseph. Ant. 19, 9, 2); but he was allowed by Claudius (A.D. 48) to enjoy the principality of Chalcis, which his uncle Herod had held (Josephus, Ant. 20, 5, 2; War, 2, 12, 1), together with the superintendence of the [[Temple]] at Jerusalem, and the privilege of nominating the high-priest (Josephus, Ant. 20, 1, 3), and four years afterward he was instated into the sovereignty of the former tetrarchy of Philip and Lysanias, with the title of king (Josephus, Ant. 20, 7, 1; War, 2, 12, 8) — an appellation that is applied to him likewise in the [[Mishna]] (Sotah, 7, 8). Still later [[Nero]] added Tiberias, Tarichesa, Julias, and fourteen neighboring villages to his jurisdiction (Josephus, Ant. 20, 8, 4). Agrippa contributed much to the adornment of [[Jerusalem]] and other cities (Josephus, Ant. 20, 8, 11; 9, 4); but yet he was held in no special esteem by the Jews, on account of his arbitrary appointment and deposition of the high-priests, and other mistakes in his administration (Josephus, War, 3, 17, 1). When the last war with the Romans broke out, he firmly joined their cause. He died at the age of nearly seventy years, in the fifty-first year of his reign (Phot. Bibl. 33). (See [[Herod]]). </p>