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Home , Herodian dynasty, Herodias, Herod Agrippa, Herod Agrippa II, Herod Antipas, Herod Archelaus

THE : MAKING SENSE OF THE FAMILY TREE

On Wednesday evenings we are involved in looking at characters that could be confusing based on their names. There are six women named Mary in the while there are five men named John. Not to be outdone, the term "Herod" can also be quite confusing as well. The term HEROD was the family name of several appointed rulers as kings or provincial governors of which we can read in the New Testament. I want to take this opportunity to give a brief overview of the major biblical “players” of the Herodian Dynasty for your consideration.

HEROD THE GREAT: was king during the days of Emperor when was born in . (:1, :1) Herod the Great ruled from 37 to 4 B.C. as a creative architect, had organizational skill and was an extremely savvy politician. Herod’s savage policies included killing his wife and two sons and all male babies under two years old. His greatest achievement was rebuilding Solomon’s Temple which took nearly 50 years. One other achievement was the rebuilding of as a port city on the Mediterranean. This was used as a Roman provincial capital for Palestine during the New Testament era. The aqueducts used to transport water still stand and can be seen today.

HEROD ANTIPAS: Antipas succeeded his father as the governor of and . (:1) It was this Herod who was responsible for the death of John the Baptizer. (Luke 3:19-20, Matthew 14:1-12)

HEROD AGRIPPA I: named Agrippa, grandson of Herod the Great, ruler of Palestine. Agrippa was a “good” leader in the sense that he accomplished the desires of the Jewish people. However, once Christianity was viewed with distinction from traditional , Agrippa sided with the and became an early persecutor of the . Agrippa was killed by an of the Lord for his apparent blasphemy by accepting praises of the people as if he were divine. ()

HEROD AGRIPPA II: In 50 A.D. Agrippa II was appointed ruler over several larger territories of Galilee. The only reference of this Herod occurs in :13-26:32 where Paul makes his defense before Agrippa in Caesarea. Had Paul not appealed to Caesar in Rome, he could likely have been set free at this point. Agrippa II was the ruler during the time when gave the order to overthrow in 68-70 AD. He was the final ruler in the Herodian Family.

Two other HERODS are mentioned in the : (Matthew 2:22) and HEROD PHILIP. (Luke 3:1) Both of these were sons of Herod the Great and ruled parts of the territory governed by their father. Although it is also biblically important we could consider the placement of , Druscilla and Bernice; however there is simply no room for that information in this article. The Bible is a book of history and so this information can be useful in our appreciation of how God's Word teaches us today. Although a knowledge of such things will not determine our eternal salvation, it is at least of interest to realize the world of the New Testament. For this cause, hopeful this article will help you “make sense of it all” next time you are reading the New Testament. I wish you a great rest of the week!

See you Sunday and bring a friend!

In , James