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Topic:
Persons Of The Bible - Herod
The name "Herod" is from the Greek name
‘Ηρωδης (Herodes), which probably means
"song of the hero" from ‘ηρως (Heros)
"hero, warrior" combined with ωιδης (oides)
"song, ode." There are various persons who carry the name
"Herod" as shown below.
- The person, Herod Agrippa I, was the son of Aristobulus and
Bernice, and grandson of Herod the Great. Herod Agrippa I was
brought up at Rome, and was thrown into prison by Tiberius, where he
remained till the accession of Caligula, who made him king, first of
the tetrarchy of Philip and Lysanias; afterward the dominions of
Antipas were added, and finally Judea and Samaria. Unlike his
predecessors, Herod Agrippa I 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. (Acts 12:1) ff. But the sudden death of
Herod Agrippa I interrupted his ambitious projects. (Acts 12:21,23)
He was made tetrarch of the provinces formerly held by Lysanias II,
and ultimately possessed the entire kingdom of his grandfather,
Herod the Great, with the title of king. In the scripture, it is
recounted Herod Agrippa I put the apostle James the elder to death,
and cast Peter into prison in (Luke 3:1; Acts 12:1-19). On the
second day of a festival held in honor of the emperor Claudius,
Herod Agrippa I appeared in the great theatre of Caesarea. "The
king came in clothed in magnificent robes, of which silver was the
costly brilliant material. It was early in the day, and the sun's
rays fell on the king, so that the eyes of the beholders were
dazzled with the brightness which surrounded him. Voices here and
there from the crowd exclaimed that it was the apparition of
something divine. And when he spoke and made an oration to them,
they gave a shout, saying, 'It is the voice of a god, and not of a
man.' But in the midst of this idolatrous ostentation an angel of
God suddenly smote him. He was carried out of the theatre a dying
man." Herod Agrippa I died (A.D. 44) of the same loathsome
malady which slew his grandfather (Acts. 12:21-23), in the
fifty-fourth year of his age, having reigned four years as tetrarch
and three as king over the whole of Palestine. After his death his
kingdom came under the control of the prefect of Syria, and
Palestine was now fully incorporated with the empire.
- The person, Herod Agrippa II was the son of Herod Agrippa
I. and Cypros. The emperor Claudius made him tetrarch of the
provinces of Philip and Lysanias, with the title of king (Acts
25:13; 26:2, 7). He enlarged the city of Caesarea Philippi, and
called it Neronias, in honor of Nero. It was before him and his
sister that Paul made his defense at Caesarea (Acts 25:12-27). The
relation in which he stood to his sister Berenice, (Acts 25:13) was
the cause of grave suspicion. He died at Rome A.D. 100, in the third
year of the emperor Trajan.
- The person, Herod Antipas, was Herod's son by Malthace
(Matt. 14:1; Luke 3:1, 19; 9:7; Acts 13:1), a Samaritan woman. Herod
Antipas first married a daughter of Aretas, "king of Arabia
Petraea," but afterward married Herodias, the wife of his
half-brother, Herod Philip. Aretas, indignant at the insult offered
to his daughter, found a pretext for invading 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 his wife Herodias. (Matthew 14:4)
ff.; Mark 6:17 ff.; Luke 3:19. At a later time, the ambition of his
wife Herodias proved the cause of her husband's ruin. She urged him
to go to Rome to gain the title of king, cf. (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 bend Christ for
examination, (Luke 23:6) ff., to Herod Antipas, who came up to
Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover. The city of Tiberias, which
Antipas founded and named in honor of the emperor, was the most
conspicuous monument of his long reign.
- The person Herod Philip I (Mark 6:17) was the son of Herod
the Great and Mariamne the daughter of Simon, the high priest. Herod
Philip I is distinguished from another Philip called "the
tetrarch. Herod Philip I married Herodias the sister of Agrippa I by
whom he had a daughter, Salome. Herod Philip I was excluded from all
share in his father's possessions in consequence of his mother's
treachery, and lived afterward in a private station.
- The person, Herod Philip II, was the son of Herod the Great
and Cleopatra. He received as his own government Batanea Trachonitis,
Auramtis (Gaulanitis), and some parts about Jamnia, with the title
of tetrarch. Luke 3:1. He built a new city on the site of Paneas,
near the sources of the Jordan, which be called Caesarea Philippi,
(Matthew 16:13; 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.
- The person, Herod Archelaus (Matt. 2:22), was the brother
of Antipas (q.v.).
- The person, Herod The Great, (Matt. 2:1-22; Luke 1:5; Acts
23:35), was the son of Antipater, an Idumaean, and Cypros, an
Arabian of noble descent. In the year B.C. 47 Julius Caesar made
Antipater, a "wily Idumaean," procurator of Judea, who
divided his territories between his four sons. Immediately after his
father's elevation, when only fifteen years old, Herod The Great
received the government of Galilee and shortly afterward that of
Coele-Syria. Though Josephus says he was 15 years old at this time,
it is generally conceded there must be some mistake, as Herod The
Great lived to be 69 or 70 years old, and died B.C. 4; hence Herod
The Great must have been 25 years old at this time.--ED.) Herod the
Great was appointed tetrarch of Judea by Mark Antony (B.C. 40).
Forced to abandon Judea the following year, Herod The Great fled to
Rome, and received the appointment of king of Judea. In the course
of a few years, by the help of the Romans, Herod The Great took
Jerusalem (B.C. 37), and completely established his authority
throughout his dominions. Herod The Great was of a stern and cruel
disposition. "He was brutish and a stranger to all
humanity." Alarmed by the tidings of one "born King of the
Jews," Herod The Great sent forth and "slew all the
children that were in Bethlehem, and in all the coasts thereof, from
two years old and under" (Matt. 2:16). The terrible acts of
bloodshed which Herod the Great perpetrated in his own family were
accompanied by others among his subjects equally terrible, from the
number who fell victims to them. According to the well-known story,
he ordered the nobles whom he had called to him in his last moment
to be executed immediately after his decease, that so at least his
death might be attended by universal mourning. It was at the time of
his fatal illness that he must have caused the slaughter of the
infants at Bethlehem. (Matthew 2:16-18) Herod The Great was fond of
splendor, and lavished great sums in rebuilding and adorning the
cities of his empire. Herod The Great rebuilt the city of Caesarea
(q.v.) on the coast, and also the city of Samaria (q.v.), which he
called Sebaste, in honor of Augustus. Herod The Great restored the
ruined temple of Jerusalem, a work which was begun B.C. 20, but was
not finished till after Herod's death, probably not till about A.D.
50 (John 2:20). After a troubled reign of thirty-seven years, Herod
The Great died at Jericho amid great agonies both of body and mind,
B.C. 4, i.e., according to the common chronology, in the year in
which Jesus was born. After his death his kingdom was divided among
three of his sons. Of these, Philip had the land east of Jordan,
between Caesarea Philippi and Bethabara, Antipas had Galilee and
Peraea, while Archelaus had Judea and Samaria.
Derived from Easton's and Smith's Bible
Dictionaries
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