Smith's Bible Dictionary.pdf - Online Christian Library

Smith's Bible Dictionary
Herod
(hero-like). This family though of Idumean origin and thus alien by race, was Jewish in faith.
I. HEROD THE GREAT was the second son of Antipater, an Idumean, who was appointed procurator
of Judea by Julius Caesar, B.C. 47. Immediately after his father’s elevation when only fifteen years
old, he 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 that there must be some
mistake, as he lived to be 69 or 70 years old, and died B.C. 4; hence he must have been 25 years
old at this time.—ED.) In B.C. 41 he was appointed by Antony tetrarch of Judea. Forced to abandon
Judea the following year, he fled to Rome, and received the appointment of king of Judea. In the
course of a few years, by the help of the Romans he took Jerusalem (B.C. 37), and completely
established his authority throughout his dominions. The terrible acts of bloodshed which Herod
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) 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 “built in forty and six years,”
(John 2:20) the work continued long after Herod’s death. (Herod died of a terrible disease at Jericho,
in April, B.C. 4, at the age of 69, after a long reign of 37 years.—ED.) II. HEROD Antipas, Antipas
was the son of Herod the Great by Malthake, a Samaritan. He first married a daughter of Aretas,
“king of Arabia Petraea,” but afterward 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 Herodias. (Matthew 14:4) ff.; Mark 6:17 ff.; Luke 3:19 At a later
time the ambition of 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 him 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. III. HEROD PHILIP I. (Philip,)
(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. IV.
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. V. HEROD AGRIPPA I. was the son of Aristobulus and Berenice, and
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William Smith