Difference between revisions of "Herod"

<p> Of Idumean descent (Josephus, Ant. 14:1, section 3). The Idumeans were conquered and brought to [[Judaism]] by John Hyrcanus, 130 B.C. Thus the Herods, though aliens by birth, were Jews in faith. They made religion an engine of state policy. Eschewing [[Antiochus]] Epiphanes' design to Graecize Jerusalem by substituting the Greek worship and customs for the Jewish law, the Herod's, while professing to maintain the law, as effectively set at nought its spirit by making it a lever for elevating themselves and their secular kingdom. For this end Herod adorned gorgeously the temple with more than Solomonic splendor. </p> <p> Thus a descendant of [[Esau]] tried still to get from Jacob the forfeited blessing (&nbsp;Genesis 27:29; &nbsp;Genesis 27:40), in vain setting up an earthly kingdom on a professed Jewish basis, to rival Messiah's spiritual kingdom, as it was then being fore-announced by John Baptist. The "Herodians" probably cherished hopes of Herod's kingdom becoming ultimately, though at first necessarily leaning on Rome, an independent Judaic eastern empire. The Jewish religion thus degraded into a tool of ambition lost its spiritual power, and the theocracy becoming a lifeless carcass was the ready prey for the Roman eagles to pounce upon and destroy (&nbsp;Matthew 24:28). (See [[Herodians]] .) </p> <p> '''1. [[Herod]] THE GREAT''' (Matthew 2; &nbsp;Luke 1:5), second son of Antipater (who was appointed by [[Julius]] [[Caesar]] procurator of Judaea, 47 B.C.) and Cypros, a noble Arabian. At the time of Antipater's elevation, though only 15 (or as other passages of [[Josephus]] make probable, 20), he received the government of Galilee and soon afterwards Coelo-Syria. He skillfully gained the favor of Antony, who made him and his elder brother Phasael joint tetrarchs of Judea. [[Forced]] to abandon [[Judaea]] by the Parthians, who supported [[Antigonus]] the representative of the [[Asmonaean]] dynasty, Herod fled to Rome (40 B.C.), where he was well received by Antony and Octavian, and made by the senate "king of Judea." With Roman help he took Jerusalem (37 B.C.), slew his leading adversaries there, including the whole [[Sanhedrin]] except two, and established his kingly authority. </p> <p> Undertaking next for Antony an expedition to [[Arabia]] against Malchus, he thereby escaped taking share in the war between Antony his patron and Octavian. After the battle of [[Actium]] he gained, by a mixture of humility and boldness at Rhodes, the favor of [[Octavian]] the conqueror, who confirmed him in the kingdom, and added several cities along with the province of [[Trachonitis]] and district of Paneas. But external prosperity did not save him from internal troubles, the fruits of his own lust and insatiable cruelty. He put to death successively Hyrcanus, his wife Mariamne's grandfather, [[Mariamne]] herself to whom he had been passionately attached, his two sons by her, [[Alexander]] and Aristobulus, and just four days before his death signed the order for executing their bitter accuser, his oldest son Antipater. </p> <p> At last, seized with a fatal disease in the stomach and bowels, he became more cruel than ever; he ordered that the nobles whom he had called to him should be slain immediately after his decease, that there might be no lack of mourners at his death. It was at this time that he ordered the slaughter of all males, from two years old and under, in and about Bethlehem, the foretold birthplace of the expected Messiah. Josephus does not notice this, probably both because of his studied reserve as to Jesus' claims, and also because the slaughter of a comparatively few infants in a village seemed unimportant as compared with his other abounding deeds of atrocity. [[Macrobius]] long subsequently (A.D. 410) says that "when [[Augustus]] heard that among the children whom Herod ordered to be killed Herod's own son (Antipater) was slain, he remarked, It would be better to be one of Herod's swine than Herod's sons," punning on the similar sounding Greek terms for "son" and "swine", hus , huios . </p> <p> Herod being a professed Jew his swine as unclean were safe from death, his sons were not. Josephus records what illustrates the [[Scripture]] account of the massacre of the innocents; "Herod slew all those of his own family who sided with the Pharisees, looking forward to a change in the royal line" (Ant. 17:2, section 6). As Matthew says, "Herod privily called the wise men and inquired of them diligently what time the star appeared." So Josephus says: "an Essene, Menahem, foretold when Herod was a boy he should be king. Accordingly when he was in full power he sent for [[Menahem]] and inquired of him how long he should reign. Menahem did not define the time, but in answer to Herod's question whether ten years or not, replied, Yes 20, nay 30 years" (Ant. 15:10, section 5). </p> <p> Herod's keenness to establish his dynasty, jealousy of any rival, craft, hypocrisy, cruelty, recklessness of any sacrifice to gain his object, appear as vividly in the Scripture narrative as in Josephus. The wise men's question, "Where is he that is born king of the Jews?" was precisely one to excite Herod's jealousy. For Herod was not a born Jew, much less born king of the Jews, but an Idumean alien, made king by the anti-Jewish world power, Rome. Unimportant as the event seemed to the world, the murder of the innocents was the consummation of his guilt before God, and places him among the foremost of Satan's and the world's foretold (&nbsp;Jeremiah 31:15) representative adversaries of the Lord and His church, answering to the [[Pharaoh]] who oppressed Christ's type, Israel, murdering the male children in the nation's infancy in order to stifle the nation's first beginnings; but in vain, for God secured the nation's Exodus from Egypt by the tyrant's overthrow, just as subsequently He saved Jesus and destroyed Herod, and in due time "called His (antitypical) Son out of Egypt" (&nbsp;Matthew 2:15; compare &nbsp;Hosea 11:1). </p> <p> Herod's death and Jesus' birth therefore must have been at least four years before the era known as A.D. [[Ambition]] was his ruling passion. For its sake he compromised the Jewish religion which he professed, in order to conciliate Rome, by offerings to the Capitoline [[Jupiter]] at his elevation to the throne. He rebuilt the temple of [[Apollo]] at Rhodes, which had been consumed by fire, "the greatest and most illustrious of all his works" according to Josephus. He built a theater and amphitheater, and introduced pagan games in honour of Caesar every fifth year at Jerusalem. He rebuilt Samaria and its temple, and called it Sebaste (Greek for Augusta) in honour of Augustus; also Caesarea on the site of Straton, and made provision at it for pagan worship. At Paneas he dedicated a temple of white marble to Augustus. The stricter Jews were so offended that ten men conspired to kill him in the theater at Jerusalem. </p> <p> Being detected by a spy they were put to death, but the spy was torn to pieces afterward by the mob. [[Thereupon]] he erected the castle of Antonia, near the temple, to overawe the disaffected. However, he turned the tide of feeling in his favor by two acts. In the 13th year of his reign during a severe famine he spent all his resources and sold even valuable works of art to import grain from Egypt for the relief of the people. Still more did he win popularity by rebuilding the temple on a magnificent scale, to vie with that of Solomon; yet with such scrupulous care that it seemed a restoration rather than a new building. He inaugurated the work with a set speech. The building of the temple itself began in 20 B.C., and was finished in a year and a half. The surrounding buildings occupied eight years more. But still fresh additions continued to be made, so that at the beginning of Jesus' ministry the Jews said, "Forty and six years was this temple in building, and wilt Thou rear it up in three days?" </p> <p> At that time He was 30 years old, which added to 16 years (for 20 B.C., when Herod began building, means only 16 before His real date of birth) makes 46. It has been thought that he used the opportunity of building the temple to destroy the authentic genealogies of the priesthood, and that the monument which he raised over the tombs of the kings was owing to superstitious fear after his sacrilegious attempt to rob them of treasures. His title "Herod the Great" was given him in admiration of splendid and successful, though often awfully impious and cruel, tyranny. How vastly different it is to be "great in the sight of the Lord" (&nbsp;Luke 1:15). </p> <p> '''2. HEROD THE TETRARCH''' (&nbsp;Matthew 14:1, etc.; &nbsp;Mark 7:17, etc.; &nbsp;Luke 3:1; &nbsp;Luke 3:19; &nbsp;Luke 9:7; &nbsp;Acts 13:1). Called "King Herod" by courtesy, not right (&nbsp;Mark 6:14). [[Antipas]] contracted for Antipater; son of Herod the Great by a Samaritan, Malthake. Originally Herod the Great destined him to succeed to the throne, but in his last will made him tetrarch of Galilee and Peraea, which yielded him a yearly revenue of 200 talents. He married the daughter of Aretas, king of Arabia Petraea; but afterwards, meeting at Rome, he became enamoured of and took, his half-brother Herod Philip's wife, and his own niece, daughter of Aristobulus, Herodias. This sin against God became the retributive source of evil to him. [[Aretas]] in consequence invaded his land and defeated him severely. Herod stood to John Baptist in the same relation that [[Ahab]] did to Elijah. </p> <p> Herod "feared" John at first (compare Ahab's fear of Elisha, &nbsp;1 Kings 21:20), "knowing that he was a just man and an holy, and observed him (preserved him from Herodias, or else respected, regarded him); and when he heard him he did many things and heard him gladly." But Herod when reproved for his sin by John preferred keeping his sin to gaining God's favor and the approval of God's minister. A slight breath of temptation, regard for the world's opinion, and dislike of reproof, were enough to dry up his shallow religion. His first downward step was, he cast John his faithful reprover into prison (compare Asa, &nbsp;2 Chronicles 16:10). [[Herodias]] having gained this first step, like her prototype Jezebel, found the next step an easy one; at the first "convenient day" (his birthday, which he observed with the [[Herodian]] characteristic aping of Roman ways, in defiance of Jewish abhorrence of the pagan custom) when Herod made a supper to his lords, and Herodias' daughter by dancing so pleased him that he promised to give whatever she might ask, Herodias prompted her to ask for John's head. </p> <p> (Josephus, Ant. 19:7, section 1, notices the Herods' magnificent celebration of their" birthdays," which became proverbial and were celebrated by the Herodians even at Rome, as noticed by the pagan Persius, 5:180). So "she came in straightway with haste" to give him no time to repent, and though "exceeding sorry, yet for his oath's sake and for their sakes which sat with him he would not reject her." So John was beheaded in fort Machaerus, facing the [[Dead]] Sea from the S. on the borders between Herod's and Aretas' dominions. How scrupulous men are as to the law of opinion among men, how reckless of the law of God! True conscientiousness would see his oath, which involved the sacrifice of an innocent life in violation of God's law, would be more honoured in its breach than in its observance. Not to let conscience have time to restrain him, he ordered the execution as "immediately" as she had demanded it. </p> <p> When Christ appeared conscience reasserted her supremacy; he said unto his servants, "This is John the Baptist, therefore mighty works do show forth themselves in him." In comparing &nbsp;Mark 8:15 with &nbsp;Matthew 16:6 we find "the leaven of Herod" is "the leaven of the Sadducees," i.e. disbelief of angel or spirit or resurrection. Luke (&nbsp;Luke 9:7) says, "Herod was perplexed because it was said of some that John was risen from the dead." A [[Pharisee]] would have regarded John's reappearance in Jesus as an instance of the transmigration of the souls of good men, and would have felt no perplexity; Herod's "perplexity" is just what we might expect from a Sadducee, accused by a guilty conscience and trembling lest the world of spirits and the judgment should prove after all to be realities. </p> <p> And that he was so comes out in the most incidental and undesigned way, a clear mark of the truth of the narrative: On his lending himself, fox-like, to the Pharisees' design to get Christ out of Galilee into Judea (see Fox) his superstitious fears were too great to admit of his repeating in Christ's case the execution which, to his own torment of conscience, he had perpetrated in John's case; but he was glad of any, means to relieve himself of Christ's presence which "perplexed" him (&nbsp;Luke 13:32). Yet "he desired to see Him" (&nbsp;Luke 9:9), for he had "heard of the fame of Jesus" (&nbsp;Matthew 14:1); and so in Christ's last hours "when he saw Him he was exceeding glad, for he was desirous to see Him of a long season, because he had heard many things of Him (doubtless through Joanna, wife of Chuza, Herod's steward, and through [[Manaen]] his foster brother: &nbsp;Luke 8:1-3; &nbsp;Acts 13:1), and he hoped to have seen some miracle done by Him." </p> <p> So "he questioned with Him in many words, but He answered him nothing." Christ would not gratify Herod's idle curiosity, but He did answer [[Pilate]] when the honour of His Messianic kingship was at stake, "Art Thou the King of the Jews?" (&nbsp;Luke 23:3-12). Baffled in his idle wish, Herod in proud scorn "with his men of war set Him at nought, and mocked Him, and arrayed Him in a gorgeous robe, and sent Him again to Pilate." The Roman governor in the first instance had sent Him to Herod as soon as he knew that He as a [[Galilean]] belonged unto Herod's jurisdiction. So "the same day Pilate and Herod were made friends together," doubtless owing to Pilate's courtesy and recognition of Herod's jurisdiction, even as their estrangement was owing to the contrary conduct on Pilate's part toward [[Galileans]] (&nbsp;Luke 13:1). At variance at other times and on other points, the world potentates agree in this, to insult and persecute Christ. </p> <p> So Herod and Pilate are coupled together in their divinely foretold anti-Christianity (&nbsp;Acts 4:25-27; &nbsp;Psalms 2:1-2, etc.). Another incidental and therefore unstudied coincidence with truth is the implication that neither Pilate nor Herod resided at Jerusalem: "Herod who himself ALSO was at Jerusalem at that time." Josephus states that the Herod who slew James (Acts 12) was "not at all like that Herod who reigned before him, he took pleasure in constantly living in Jerusalem" (Ant. 19:7, section 3); this proves that Herod Antipas did not reside much at Jerusalem. So Pilate's usual residence was at Caesarea, the abode of the Roman governors of Judea (Ant. 18:4, section 1; 20:4, section 4; Bell. Judaeorum 2:9, section 2). The danger of popular outbreaks at the [[Passover]] was what brought Pilate to Jerusalem for a brief time. </p> <p> Finally, Herodias, the source of Herod's sin, became his source of shame, for at her instigation he went to Rome, A.D. 38, to sue the emperor [[Caligula]] for the title of" king," just conferred on his nephew Herod Agrippa. Instead of this, through Agrippa's influence, H. lost his kingdom and was banished to Lyons, thence to Spain, where he died. The one faithful (humanly speaking) act of her life was her preferring to share Herod's exile rather than stay at home in her own country; surely sinners "eat of the fruit of their own ways, and are filled with their own devices" (&nbsp;Proverbs 1:31; &nbsp;Jeremiah 2:19). </p> <p> Herod was wicked in other respects besides adultery, and was accordingly "reproved by John for all the evils which he had done" (&nbsp;Luke 3:19). [[Cruel]] yet cunning, like his father (&nbsp;Luke 13:32), he was the very type of an oriental despot, sensual, capricious, yet with a sense of honour and having a respect for piety in others; but like Ahab too weak to resist a bad woman's influence, under which false scrupulosity outweighed right conscientiousness, to be succeeded by superstitious terrors. Tiberias, which he founded and named after the emperor, was one of his greatest works. </p> <p> '''3. HEROD PHILIP I.''' Son of Herod the Great and Mariamne, the high priest. Simon's daughter. Distinct from the tetrarch Herod Philip II. He married Herodias, sister of Agrippa I, by whom he had Salome, the daughter who by dancing pleased Herod ANTIPAS (see above), the paramour of her own mother and dishonourer of her father! Owing to his own mother Mariamne's treachery, Herod Philip I was excluded from all share in his father's dominions, and lived privately. His being without a kingdom was doubtless a cause of the ambitious Herodias deserting him for his brother the tetrarch. But "vaulting ambition o'erleaps itself and falls on the other side"; and seeking the name of "king" besides the reality which her paramour had, she and he ended their days in shame and exile. </p> <p> '''4. HEROD PHILIP II.''' Son of Herod the Great and Cleopatra. Advocated Archelaus' claims before Augustus, on the death of his father. His own kingdom was Batanaea, Trachonitis, Auranitis, and some parts about Jamnia, with the title "tetrarch." He ruled justly, without taking part in the intrigues which rent his family asunder. He built Caesarea [[Philippi]] at the site of Paneas, near the sources of the Jordan (&nbsp;Matthew 16:13). His wife was Salome, daughter of Herod Philip I and Herodias. He died at Julius, the city which he raised [[Bethsaida]] into, A.D. 34. As he died childless his dominions were added to the Roman province, Syria. </p> <p> '''5. HEROD AGRIPPA I.''' Son of [[Aristobulus]] Herod the Great's son) and Berenice. [[Imprisoned]] by [[Tiberius]] for an unguarded speech. [[Caius]] Caligula, A.D. 37, on his accession set him free, and gave him the governments formerly held by the tetrarchs Philip and Lysanias, Abilene, etc., with the title of "king" (&nbsp;Acts 12:1). Galilee and [[Peraea]] were added to his dominions on the exile of Herod ANTIPAS (see above), whom, notwithstanding the kindnesses he formerly when in difficulties received from him, Agrippa supplanted by intrigues at Rome. By services to Claudius, Caligula's successor, he secured in return the addition of Judaea and Samaria, so that now his kingdom equaled that of Herod the Great. </p> <p> Unlike his predecessors he strictly kept the law. A legend states that once he burst into tears on reading in a public service &nbsp;Deuteronomy 17:15, on which the Jews exclaimed, "Be not distressed, thou art our brother," namely, by half-descent from the Hasmonaeans. It was on his entreaty at the risk of his interest and life that Caligula desisted from his attempt to set up his statue in the temple, which so engrossed the Jews that for a time they let the [[Christians]] alone (&nbsp;Acts 9:31). To "please the Jews" he slew James the brother of John, and imprisoned Peter with the intention of bringing him forth to the people for execution after the Passover ("Easter".) Love of popularity was his ruling principle, to which his ordinary humanity was made to give way. Self seeking vanity led him to design Peter's death, but the issue was his own death. </p> <p> The church's "prayer without ceasing" (&nbsp;Isaiah 62:6-7; &nbsp;Luke 18:7) saved Peter, whereas the church's Lord avenged His own and her cause on the church's persecutor. In the fourth year of his reign over the whole kingdom (A.D. 44) he attended games at Caesarea "in behalf of the emperor's safety" (possibly on his return from Britain), according to Josephus (Ant. 19:8). When he appeared in the theater in a robe all of silver stuff which shone in the morning light, his flatterers saluted him as a god, and suddenly he was afflicted with a terrible pain in the bowels, of which he died in five days, in the 54th year of his age. The sacred writer unveils the unseen world in his account, which Josephus so remarkably confirms. The authorities of [[Tyre]] and [[Sidon]] offended him, "but came with one accord and, having made [[Blastus]] the king's chamberlain their friend, desired peace because their country" was dependent on the king's country for grain, etc. (&nbsp;1 Kings 5:9; &nbsp;1 Kings 5:11; &nbsp;Ezekiel 27:17). </p> <p> Then upon a set day" Herod arrayed in royal apparel sat upon his throne and made an oration. And the people gave a shout, saying It is the voice of a god and not of a man. And immediately the angel of the Lord smote him, because he gave not God the glory; and he was eaten of worms and gave up the ghost. But the word of God (which he bad thought to stifle) grew and multiplied." So [[Belshazzar]] (Daniel 5); "pride teeth before destruction" (&nbsp;Proverbs 16:18). Josephus states that Herod said in his pain, "I whom you call a god am ordered to depart this life immediately. </p> <p> [[Providence]] thus instantly reproves the lying words you just now addressed to me, and I who was by you called immortal am immediately to be hurried away by death." Thus fell he whom the world called Agrippa the Great! a monument to warn proud men, "Woe unto him that striveth with his Maker! Let the potsherd strive with the potsherds of the earth" (&nbsp;Isaiah 45:9). </p> <p> '''6. HEROD AGRIPPA II.''' Son of Herod Agrippa I and Cypros, grandniece of Herod the Great. Being but 17 at his father's death (A.D. 44), he was thought too young to succeed his father in the kingdom, but six years later (A.D. 50) the emperor [[Claudius]] conferred on him [[Chalcis]] which had been under his uncle, shortly before deceased (A.D. 48). Then (A.D. 52) he was transferred to the tetrarchies formerly held by Philip and [[Lysanias]] with the title "king." [[Accurately]] he is called so in &nbsp;Acts 25:13; &nbsp;Acts 26:2; &nbsp;Acts 26:7. [[Nero]] added several cities of Galilee and Persea to his kingdom (A.D. 55). Five years later Paul pleaded before him, who naturally consulted him on a question of Jewish law). (See [[Festus]] .) </p> <p> The great pomp with which he and his sister [[Berenice]] (whose connection with him caused grave suspicion) "entered into the place of hearing with the chief captains and principal men of the city" accorded with his character, fond of show. In the last Roman war he took part with the Romans in the destruction of his nation in the same spirit of cold cynicism with which he met the impassioned appeal of the apostle. After the fall of Jerusalem he retired with Berenice to Rome, where he died in the third year of [[Trajan]] (A.D. 100). </p> <p> He was the last of the race of Herod commemorated in history. &nbsp;Acts 25:13 represents his losing no time in going to Caesarea to salute the new Roman governor. In exact consonance with this Josephus (Bell. Judg., 2:15, section 1; Life, section 11) records his anxiety to stand well with the Roman governors, Alexander in Egypt, and Gessius [[Florus]] in Judaea, in the latter case Berenice accompanying him. </p>

<p> The name of four princes, [[Idumaeans]] by descent, who governed either the whole or a part of Judea, under the Romans, and are mentioned in the New Testament. </p> <p> 1. HEROD THE GREAT, &nbsp;Matthew 2:1-23 &nbsp; Luke 1:5 . He was the son of Antipater, an Idumaean, who was in high favor with Julius Caesar. At the age of fifteen years, Herod was constituted by his father procurator of Galilee under Hyrcanus II, who was then at the head of the Jewish nation; while his brother Phasael was intrusted with the same authority over Judea. In these stations they were afterwards confirmed by Antony, with the title of tetrarch, about the year 41 B. C. The power of Hyrcanus had always been opposed by his brother Aristobulus; and now Antigonus, the son of the latter, continued in hostility to Herod, and was assisted by the Jews. At first he was unsuccessful, and was driven by Herod out of the country; but having obtained the aid of the Parthians, he at length succeeded in defeating Herod, and acquired possession of the whole of Judea, about the year 40 B. C. Herod meanwhile fled to Rome; and being there declared king of Judea through the exertions of Antony, he collected an army, vanquished Antigonus, recovered Jerusalem, and extirpated all the family of the Maccabees, B. C. 37. After the battle of Actium, in which his patron Antony was defeated, Herod joined the party of Octavius, and was confirmed by him in all his possessions. He endeavored to conciliate the affections of the Jews, by rebuilding and decorating the temple, (see &nbsp;Matthew 2:1-23 . This is also mentioned by Macrobius. After the death of Herod, half of his kingdom, including Judea, Ideumaea, and Samaria, was given to his son Archelaus, with the title of Ethnarch; while the remaining half was divided between two of his other sons, Herod Antipas and Philip, with the title of Tetrarchs; the former having the regions of Galilee and Perea, and the latter Batanea, Trachonitis, and Auranitis. </p> <p> 2. HEROD PHILIP. See PHILP. </p> <p> 3. HEROD ANTIPAS, &nbsp;Luke 3:1 , was the son of Herod the Great by Malthace his Samaritan wife, and own brother to Archelaus, along with whom he was educated at Rome. After the death of his father, he was appointed by Augustus to be tetrarch of Galilee and Perea, that is, the southern part of the country east of the Jordan, &nbsp;Luke 3:1 , whence also the general appellation of king is sometimes given to him, &nbsp;Mark 6:14 . The Savior, as a Galilean, was under his jurisdiction, &nbsp;Luke 23:6-12 . He first married a daughter of Aretas, and Arabian king; but afterwards becoming enamoured of Herodias, the wife of his brother Herod Philip, and his own niece, he dismissed his former wife, and induced Herodias to leave her husband and connect herself with him. At her instigation he afterwards went to Rome to ask for the dignity and title of the king; but being there accused before Caligula, at the instance of Herod Agrippa, his nephew and the brother of Herodias, he was banished to Lugdunum (now Lyons) in Gaul, about A. D. 41, and the provinces which he governed were given to Herod Agrippa. It was Herod Antipas who caused John the Baptist to be beheaded, &nbsp;Matthew 14:1-12 &nbsp; Mark 6:14-29 . He also appears to have been a follower, or at least a favorer, of the sect of the Sadducees, &nbsp;Mark 8:15 . Compare &nbsp;Matthew 16:6 . See Herodians . </p> <p> 4. HEROD AGRIPPA MAJOR or I, &nbsp;Acts 12.1-25; &nbsp;23.35 , was the grandson of Herod the Great and Mariamne, the son of the Aristobulus who was put to death with his mother, by the orders of his father. (See above, HEROD I.) On the accession of Caligula to the imperial throne, Agrippa was taken from prison, where he had been confined by Tiberius, and received from the emperor, A. D. 38, the title of king, together with the provinces which had belonged to his uncle Philip the tetrarch Lysanias. (See &nbsp;Acts 12:1-25 . He is mentioned by Josephus only under the name of Agrippa. </p> <p> 5. HEROD AGRIPPA MINOR or II, &nbsp;Acts 25:1-26:32 , was the son of Herod Agrippa I, and was educated at Rome, under the care of the emperor Claudius. On the death of his father, when he was seventeen years old, instead of causing him to succeed to his father's kingdom of Chalcis, which had belonged to his [[Uncle]] Herod. He was afterwards transferred (A. D. 53) from Chalcis, with the title of king, to the government of those provinces which his father at first possessed, namely, Batanea, Trachonitis, Auranitis, and Abilene, to which several other cities were afterwards added. He is mentioned in the New Testament and by Josephus only by the name of Agrippa. It was before him that St. Paul was brought by Festus, &nbsp;Acts 25:13 &nbsp; 26:32 . He died on the third year of Trajan's reign, at the age of seventy years. </p>

<p> [[Herod]] (''Hĕr'Od'' ), ''Hero-Like.'' A family of Idumean origin. Not less than six Herods exclusive of Archelaus are noted in Scripture: </p> <p> 1. [[Herod The Great]] was the second son of Antipater and appointed procurator of [[Judæa]] by Julius Cæsar, b.c. 47. In b.c. 41 he was appointed by Antony tetrarch of Judæa. Forced to abandon Judæa the following year, he fled to Rome, and received the appointment of king of Judæa. It was some time before his fatal illness that he must have caused the slaughter of the infants at Bethlehem. &nbsp;Matthew 2:16-18. He adorned Jerusalem with many splendid monuments of his taste and magnificence. The temple, which he built with scrupulous care, was the greatest of these works. The restoration was begun b.c. 20, and the temple itself was completed in a year and a half. But fresh additions were constantly made in succeeding years, so that it was said that the temple was building forty and six years, &nbsp;John 2:20, the work continuing long after Herod's death. Herod died at Jericho, b.c. 4. </p> <p> 2. ''Herod Antipas,'' the son of Herod the Great, first married a daughter of Aretas, "king of Arabia Petræa," but afterward Herodias, the wife of his half brother, Herod Philip. Aretas, indignant at the insult to his daughter, invaded the territory of Herod, and defeated him with great loss. This defeat, according to the famous passage in Josephus, was attributed by many to the murder of John the Baptist, which had been committed by Antipas shortly before, under the influence of Herodias. &nbsp;Matthew 14:4; &nbsp;Mark 6:17 ff.; &nbsp;Luke 3:19. At a later time Herodias urged him to go to florae to gain the title of king, cf. &nbsp;Mark 6:14; but he was opposed at the court of Caligula by the emissaries of Agrippa, and condemned to perpetual banishment at Lugdunum, a.d. 39. Herodias voluntarily shared his "punishment, and he died in exile. Pilate took occasion from our Lord's residence in Galilee to send Jesus to Herod Antipas, &nbsp;Luke 23:6 ff. The city of Tiberias, which Antipas founded and named in honor of the emperor, was the most conspicuous monument of his long reign. </p> <p> 3. [[Herod Philip I.]] , Philip, &nbsp;Mark 6:17, was the son of Herod the Great and Mariamne. He married Herodias, the sister of Agrippa I., by whom he had a daughter, Salome. He was excluded from all share in his father's possessions in consequence of his mother's treachery, and lived afterward in a private station. </p> <p> 4. [[Herod Philip Ii.]] was the son of Herod the Great and Cleopatra. He received as his own government Batanea, Trachonitis, Auranitis (Gaulanitis), and some parts about Jamnia, with the title of tetrarch. &nbsp;Luke 3:1. He built a new city on the site of Paneas, near the sources of the Jordan, which he called [[Cæsarea]] Philippi, &nbsp;Matthew 16:13; &nbsp;Mark 8:27, and raised Bethsaida to the rank of a city under the title of Julias, and died there a.d. 34. He married Salome, the daughter of Herod Philip I. and Herodias. </p> <p> 5. [[Herod Agrippa I.]] was the son of Aristobulus and Bernice, and grandson of Herod the Great. Caligula made him king, first of the tetrarchy of Philip and Lysanias; afterward the dominions of Antipas were added, and finally Judea and Samaria. Agrippa was a strict observer of the law, and he sought with success the favor of the Jews. It is probable that it was with this view he put to death James the son of Zebedee, and further imprisoned Peter. &nbsp;Acts 12:1 ff. But his sudden death interrupted his ambitious projects. &nbsp;Acts 12:21; &nbsp;Acts 12:23. </p> <p> 6. ''Herod Agrippa Ii.'' was the son of Herod Agrippa I. In a.d. 52 the emperor gave him the tetrarchies formerly held by Philip and Lysanias, with the title of king. &nbsp;Acts 25:13. The relation in which he stood to his sister Bernice, &nbsp;Acts 25:13, was the cause of grave suspicion. It was before him that Paul was tried. &nbsp;Acts 26:28. </p>

<p> The name of a family of Idumæan origin but Jewish creed, who rose into power in Judea shortly prior to the dissolution of the Jewish nationality; the chief members of which were '''''' </p> <p> ing of the Jews by favour of the Romans, who made away with all his rivals, caused his own children to be strangled on suspicion of their conspiring against him, and died a painful death; who massacred the [[Innocents]] about Bethlehem, and whose death took place 4 B.C., the true date of the [[Nativity]] of Christ: and '''''' </p> <p> is son, tetrarch of Galilee, who beheaded John the Baptist, and to whom Christ was remitted by Pilate for examination, and who died in exile at Lyons. </p>