Even to one who is well acquainted with New Testament History, the Herods can be very confusing. We read of Herod the Great, of Herod Antipas, of the King Herod in Acts chapter 12, who loved the praise of men more than regard for God, and also other Herods. Who are all these Herods and what is their relationship to one another? The following genealogical tree sets out all their relationships, and the writer has had it copied out in his Bible for many years. An occasional look at it, and reference to it when necessary, keeps fresh in one’s mind the various relationships therein shown.
Herod the Great
The “father” of the Herods was Herod the Great. He was not a Jew but was an Idumean, and to consolidate his position he married, as one of his wives, Mariamne, who was the last of the Maccabees, a really noble woman as one would expect with such an illustrious ancestry. Herod sought popular regard, both with Jewry and also at Rome. To please the Jews he rebuilt the Temple, and this was the occasion of the retort to Jesus—“Forty and six years was this temple in building . . .” It was a lifetime’s work, and no expense was spared, and it must have been the most marvellous building of its day. He also curried favour with Rome, to whom he was vassal; and despite this precarious balancing of power, he managed to retain it until his death.
As so often happens, however, while he sought favour on the one hand, he destroyed appreciation of himself on the other, many of his actions revealing the man as he really was, a loathsome brute. In a fit of jealous rage he murdered Mariamne—and mourned this action for the rest of his days.
Mariamne had two sons, Alexander and Aristobulus, who suffered the same fate as – their mother, and as Hyrcanus, the grandfather of Mariamne had also suffered before them. If he could do this to his own kindred, we are not surprised to learn that at the beginning of his reign he had slain the whole Sanhedrin with the exception of two, and all his adversaries were similarly treated. Four days before his death he signed the order that his eldest son Antipater should be slain; and then knowing popular feeling was against him, he arranged that when he died all the popular citizens of Jerusalem should also be put to death, to guarantee there should be no shortage of mourners. Well might Augustus remark that it were better to be one of Herod’s swine (Greek hus) than one of his sons (Greek huios).
Realising what an inhuman monster he was, we can understand how readily he would put to death all the infants in Bethlehem, so as to guarantee so far as possible that this new rival who had been born “King of the Jews” should also be removed. Seeing that Herod was not born a Jew, his jealousy would be all the greater at the Wise Men’s question, “Where is he that is born King of the Jews?” Ambition was his ruling passion and everything was subordinated to it. While professing the Jewish religion he erected temples and public buildings to Greek and Roman deities. When he died he was “unwept, unhonoured, and unsung,” and instead, a deep sigh of relief swept through the country.
Archelaus
Archelaus is next introduced to us, because he succeeded Herod the Great in part of his dominions. Herod’s kingdom was divided between Archelaus, Antipas and Philip; and Archelaus received as his portion Idumea, Judea and Samaria, and the cities of Jerusalem, Caesarea, Sebuste and Joppa. On his father’s death he hurried off to Rome to secure the kingdom if possible. (This is the basis of the parable of “The nobleman going into a far country to receive a kingdom”). Augustus refused him the title of King, giving him the title Tetrarch only. After a ten years reign, complaints were laid of his tyranny and he was removed from office and exiled to Gaul where he died.
Herod the Tetrarch
He is the one referred to in Matt. 14, Mark 6, Luke 3, and was called ” King ” Herod by courtesy and not by right. He was the son of Herod the Great by Mathake, who was a Samaritan. His father had intended that he should be king on the decease of his father, but who, in his final will, made him only Tetrarch of Galilee and Perea. His first wife was the daughter of Aretas, King of Arabia Petrea. Later however, on a visit to Rome, he Great by Mathake, who was a Samaritan. became enamoured with and appropriated Herod Philip’s wife.
Philip was his own half-brother and Philip’s wife was his own niece, Herodias, who was the daughter of Aristobulus. He divorced his first wife, and her father, realising the insult both to himself and his daughter, invaded Herod’s territory and Herod was compelled to make a very ignominious surrender. (This is the basis of the parable Jesus told about being able to meet with ten thousand the one who comes against you with twenty thousand). John the Baptist fearlessly reproved Herod, thereby earning the enmity of Herodias which finally ended in John’s death. When Jesus rose to prominence, Herod thought it was John “risen from the dead” and it was to this Herod that Pilate sent Jesus after his arrest, after Pilate’s first investigation. Jesus, however, did not satisfy his idle curiosity.
Herodias, who was the reason for Herod’s sin, became the reason for his shame and banishment. Instigated by her, he went to Rome to request the title of “King” which had just been conferred on his nephew, Herod Agrippa. Instead of achieving his objective, Agrippa, who stood high in the Emperor Caligula’s favour, persuaded Caligula not only to remove Herod from office, but also to banish him into exile, into which exile Herodias chose to accompany him. H. V. Morton tells this story very graphically in his book In the Footsteps of Paul.
Herod Philip I
He was Herod the Great’s son by Mariamne—as stated previously, he married Herodias by whom he had a daughter Salome, who demanded the head of John the Baptist on a charger. Because he was Mariamne’s son he was excluded from all share in his father’s dominions and lived privately. Probably this was a contributory cause to his wife leaving him for Herod the Tetrarch, who had much more to offer her.
Herod Philip II
He was the son of Herod the Great and Cleopatra. He had the title of Tetrarch and he it was who advocated the claims of Archelaus before Augustus. His dominions included Batanea, Trachonitis, Auranitis and some parts about Jamnia. He married Salome, the daughter of Herodias and Philip, referred to above.
Herod Agrippa I
He was the son of Aristobulus and the grandson of Herod the Great. He was imprisoned by Tiberius for an unguarded speech, but was freed by Caligula, with whom he became a great favourite and who advanced him to power, giving him the dominions formerly held by the tetrarchs Philip, Lysanias and Abilene, with the title of ” King.” Galilee and Perea were later added to his domains. Later still, through services rendered to Claudius, Caligula’s successor, he acquired Judea and Samaria, which total compared very favourably with the extent of Herod the Great’s kingdom. He was the one who put James to death and who imprisoned Peter, intending to execute him also. Agrippa’s horrible death is recorded at the end of Acts, chapter 12, when he was only 54 years of age.
Herod Agrippa II
He was the son of Herod Agrippa I, and Cypros, the granddaughter of Herod the Great. (All the Herods seem to have intermarried in their own family). He was only 17 when his father died, so it was several years before he was given any actual rulership; but he did finally attain to the title of “King”. This Herod Agrippa was the one before whom Paul pleaded, and we have the record of it in Acts 25 and 26. He always had his sister Bernice with him, and apart from Bernice he was never married and with him the line of the Herods came to an end. His sympathies were always more Roman than Judean even at the destruction of Jerusalem.
It is hoped that the foregoing notes will help to clarify in the reader’s mind what is not only a complex subject, but one which must be studied with the help of the chart, although all the various intermarriages do not make it any easier.
The Solution