Difference between revisions of "Herodians"

<p> <b> HERODIANS </b> <b> ( </b> Ἡρῳδιανοί).—Apart from the weakly attested reading in &nbsp;Mark 8:15, the [[Herodians]] are mentioned but three times in the NT and on only two occasions, &nbsp;Matthew 22:16 being parallel with &nbsp;Mark 12:13. The name Ἡρῳδιανοί does not occur in Josephus. In <i> BJ </i> i. xvi. 6 the form Ἡρῴδειοι is used of the party of Herod, and in <i> Ant </i> . xiv. xv. 10 the phrase οἰ τὰ Ἠρῴδου φρονοῦντες occurs (cf. also <i> Ant </i> . xiv. vii. 4). (For the formation in -ιανος like Χριστιανός, cf. Blass, <i> Acta Apos </i> . 136, <i> Gram. of NT Greek </i> , § 27, 4; Harnack, <i> [[Mission]] u. Ausb. d. Christ </i> . 294 ff.; <i> Etym. Magn. s.v </i> . Ἡρῳδιανός). </p> <p> If the party of [[Herod]] in [[Josephus]] be the same as the Herodians of the NT (cf. O. Holtzmann, <i> Neutest. Zeitgeseh. </i> 157 f., but, on the other hand, Cheyne, <i> Encyc. Bibl </i> . ii. 2034), then the origin of the party must be sought in the time of Herod the Great. This view of the origin of the party will also determine our conception of its nature. It cannot have been a religious sect or party like the [[Pharisees]] or Sadducees, but was most probably a political party composed of the adherents and supporters of the [[Herodian]] dynasty. From the combination of the Pharisees with the Herodians (&nbsp;Mark 3:6), and their common action in [[Jerusalem]] (&nbsp;Matthew 22:16, &nbsp;Mark 12:13), it is not unlikely that the Herodian party was composed principally of [[Sadducees]] (cf. &nbsp;Luke 20:19 and &nbsp;Mark 8:15 with &nbsp;Matthew 16:6). After the death of Herod the Great, the deposition of Archelaus, and the establishment of [[Roman]] rule in Judaea, the aims and purposes of the party would naturally centre in Antipas. The presence of the Herodians in Galilee, indicated in &nbsp;Mark 3:6, cannot he set aside with the remark of Cheyne: ‘This, however, is evidently a mistake. In the country of the tetrarch [[Antipas]] there could not be a party called the Herodians’ ( <i> op. cit. </i> ii. 2043). [[Members]] of a party which wished to see Antipas sit upon the throne of his father may have been in [[Galilee]] as well as in Jerusalem; for their ideal was a national one, differing from the ideal of the [[Zealots]] as royalist from democratic. Their union with the strong Pharisaic party, and their attempt to entrap Jesus with the question about tribute to Caesar, find explanation not in any sympathy with the Pharisees or fondness for the traditions which Jesus’ activity imperilled, but in their readiness to oppose and suppress any Messianic agitation of the people. </p> <p> Other views attach some religious significance to the party, connect them with the Bœthusians or with the court of Antipas as members of the Herodian family, officers or servants, and attribute to them a friendly or hostile attitude towards the Roman sovereignty (cf. Tert. <i> ad Omn. Haer. </i> i.; Epiph. <i> Haer. </i> xx.; Steph. <i> Thesaur. s.v </i> .; Ewald, <i> H </i> I [Note: I History of Israel.] v. 409 f.; Renan, <i> Vie de Jésus </i> , 226; Edersheim, <i> Life and Times </i> , i. 237 ff., ii. 384; Bleek, <i> Syn </i> . ii. 327; Zahn, <i> Matth. </i> 528, n. [Note: note.] 44, 632, n. [Note: note.] 45). </p> <p> Literature.—Keim in Schenkel’s <i> Bibel-lexikon </i> , iii. 65 ff.; B. F. Westcott in Smith’s <i> D </i> B [Note: Dictionary of the Bible.] 2 [Note: designates the particular edition of the work referred] , ii. 1054 f.; Sieffert in <i> PR </i> E [Note: RE Real-Encyklopädie fur protest. Theologic und Kirche.] 3 [Note: designates the particular edition of the work referred] , vii. 769; T. K. Cheyne in <i> Encyc. Bibl </i> . ii. 2043; D. Eaton in Hasting's Dictionary of the [[Bible]] ii. 362; K. Kohler, <i> [[Jewish]] Encyc </i> . vi. 360; J. D. Davis, <i> D </i> B [Note: Dictionary of the Bible.] 293. </p> <p> W. P. Armstrong. </p>

<p> a sect among the Jews at the time of Jesus Christ, mentioned &nbsp;Matthew 22:16; &nbsp;Mark 3:6; &nbsp;Mark 8:15; &nbsp;Mark 12:13; but passed over in silence both by Josephus and Philo. The critics and commentators on the New [[Testament]] are very much divided with regard to the Herodians; some making them to be a political party, and others a religious sect. The former opinion is favoured by the author of the [[Syriac]] version, who calls them the domestics of Herod; and also by Josephus's having passed them over in silence, though he professes to give an account of the several religious sects of the Jews. The latter opinion is countenanced by our Lord's caution against "the leaven of Herod," which implies that the Herodians were distinguished from the other Jews by some doctrinal tenets. M. [[Basnage]] supposes, that one thing meant by the leaven of the Herodians might be a conformity to Roman customs in some points which were forbidden the Jews: if this was the case, it is not strange that they are not mentioned by Josephus among the Jewish sects. St. Jerom, in his dialogue against the Luciferians, takes the name to have been given to such as owned Herod for the Messiah; and Tertullian, Epiphanius, Chrysostom, and Theophylact, among the ancients; and Grotius, and other moderns, are of the same sentiment. But the same St. Jerom, in his Comment on St. Matthew, treats this opinion as ridiculous; and indeed it must be highly improbable. He maintains that the Pharisees gave this appellation, by way of derision, to Herod's soldiers, who paid tribute to the Romans; agreeably to which the Syriac interpreters render the word by the domestics of Herod, that is, his courtiers. M. Simon, in his notes on the twenty-second chapter of St. Matthew, advances a more probable opinion. The name Herodian, he imagines to have been given to such as adhered to Herod's party and interest, and were for preserving the government in his family, about which there were, at that time, great divisions among the Jews. F. Hardouin will have the Herodians and Sadducees to have been the same; nor is it at all improbable that the Herodians were chiefly of the sect of the Sadducees; since that which is called by St. Mark "the leaven of Herod," is by St. Matthew styled "the leaven of the Sadducees." </p> <p> <strong> 2. </strong> Dr. Prideaux is of opinion that they derived their name from Herod the Great, and that they were distinguished from the other Jews by their concurrence with Herod's scheme of subjecting himself and his dominions to the Romans, and likewise by complying with many of their [[Heathen]] usages and customs. In their zeal for the Roman authority they were diametrically opposite to the Pharisees, who esteemed it unlawful to submit or pay taxes to the Roman emperor; an opinion which they grounded on their being forbidden by the law to set a stranger over them, who was not one of their own nation, as their king. The conjunction of the Herodians, therefore, with the Pharisees, against Christ, is a memorable proof of the keenness of their resentment and malice against him; especially when we consider that they united together in proposing to him an ensnaring question, on a subject which was the ground of their mutual dissension; namely, whether it was lawful to pay tribute to Caesar. And provided he answered in the negative, the Herodians would accuse him of treason against the state; and should he reply in the affirmative, the Pharisees were as ready to excite the people against him, as an enemy of their civil liberties and privileges. Herod had introduced several Heathen idolatrous usages; for, as Josephus says, he built a temple to Caesar, near the head of the river Jordan; he erected a magnificent theatre at Jerusalem, instituted Pagan games, and placed a golden eagle over the gate of the temple of Jehovah; and he furnished the temples, which he reared in several places out of Judea, with images for idolatrous worship, in order to ingratiate himself with the emperor and the people of Rome; though to the Jews he pretended that he did it against his will, and in obedience to the imperial command. The Herodians probably complied with, acquiesced in, or approved these idolatrous usages. This symbolizing with idolatry upon views of interest and worldly policy, was probably that leaven of Herod, against which our [[Saviour]] cautioned his disciples. </p>

<p> &nbsp;Matthew 22:15, etc.; &nbsp;Mark 12:13, etc. Upholders of the Herodian dynasty, regarding it as the safeguard against direct pagan rule which the Jews loathed, and also as the best compromise between the ancient faith and pagan civilization. Hence they were said to look upon Herod the Great, Antipus, and [[Agrippa]] successively as Messiah. Thus, the Herod's were forerunners of the coming antichrist, and like the Old Testament antichrist, [[Antiochus]] [[Epiphanes]] (Daniel 8,11), they paved the way to apostasy by an introduction of Greek refinements, theaters, etc., and a blending of honours to pagan gods along with the recognition of [[Jehovah]] and the law. (See HEROD above, and &nbsp;1 [[Maccabees]] 1:10-16). A falsely presumed political necessity was their plea for supporting the Herod's, however unfaithful to God, and even for supporting the Roman government, in so far as the Herodian dynasty leant on it. </p> <p> Thus on the side of maintaining the Jewish polity they coincided with the Pharisees; on the side of their lax and scarcely orthodox views and means for maintaining it, they had common ground with the Sadducees. Hence what is termed "the leaven of Herod" (&nbsp;Mark 8:15) is "the leaven of the Sadducees" (&nbsp;Matthew 16:6). After Christ's miracle on the sabbath "the Pharisees went forth and straightway took counsel with the H. against Him how they might destroy Him" (&nbsp;Mark 3:6). The legal zealots joined with the Jewish politicians, adherents of the ruling dynasty, in getting rid of One who thwarted the views of both alike by setting up a spiritual kingdom adverse both to legalism and to the temporal kingdom of Herodianism. </p> <p> The same coalition appears at the close of Christ's ministry: "the Pharisees sent unto Him their disciples with the Herod" as "spies, feigning themselves just men, that they might take hold of His words, that so they might deliver Him unto the power and authority of the governor" (&nbsp;Matthew 22:15-16; &nbsp;Mark 12:13; &nbsp;Luke 20:20). With flattering words to Him as "not accepting the person of any" (by which compliment they "tempted" Him to pronounce against Caesar) they asked "Is it lawful for us to give tribute to Caesar?" designing if He said "no" to give Him up to the Roman governor, if "yes" to stir up the people against Him as violating the law (&nbsp;Deuteronomy 17:15). "He perceived their craftiness, and said, Why tempt ye Me? show Me a penny." </p> <p> Their acceptance of Caesar's currency showed they accepted as a fact Caesar's rule: "Render to [[Caesar]] the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's." Man as made in the image of God owes himself to God (&nbsp;Genesis 1:27; &nbsp;Genesis 9:6; &nbsp;Acts 17:29; &nbsp;James 3:9; &nbsp;Luke 15:8-9). Because [[Judah]] had not given herself to (God, she was now under Caesar. "Their question therefore was as if an adulterer were to ask, was it lawful for him to pay the penalty of his adultery" (Claudius). </p> <p> &nbsp;2 Chronicles 12:8; &nbsp;Jeremiah 27:4-18; &nbsp;Romans 13:1; &nbsp;1 Peter 2:13-14; &nbsp;John 19:11. [[Obedience]] to Caesar is an application of the higher principle of obedience to God, from whom all power is; Christ's reply unites rather than separates the Christian's political and religious duties. Yet, such is man's perversity, they had the impudence soon after at Jesus' trial before Pilate to say, "We found this fellow perverting the nation, and forbidding to give tribute to Caesar, saying that He Himself is Christ a king" (&nbsp;Luke 23:2). </p>

<p> '''Herodians''' (he-rô'di-anz), (from Herod). &nbsp;Matthew 22:15 ff.; &nbsp;Mark 12:13 ff. [[Canon]] Cook describes these persons as "that party among the Jews who were supporters of the Herodian family as the last hope of retaining for the Jews a fragment of national government, as distinguished from absolute dependence upon Rome as a province of the empire. Supporters of the family of Herod, who held their dominions by the grant of the Roman emperor, would be in favor of paying tribute to the supreme power." &nbsp;Matthew 22:16. </p>

<p> '''Hero'dians.''' (from Herod). &nbsp;Matthew 22:15 ff.; &nbsp;Mark 12:13; ff. Canon Cook describes these persons as, "that party among the Jews who were supporters of the Herodian family as the last hope of retaining for the Jews a fragment of national government, as distinguished from absolute dependence upon Rome as a province of the empire." Supporters of the family of Herod, who held their dominions by the grant of the Roman emperor, would be in favor of paying tribute to the supreme power. &nbsp;Matthew 22:16. </p>