The life and work of St. Paul

A MAETYEDOH AND A EETfilBUTION. 175
possession of a dominion as extensive as that of his grandfather Herod tho
Great, should try to win the favour of the people whom he was sent
to govern. Apart from the subtle policy of facing both ways so as to please
the Jews while he dazzled the Romans, and to enjoy his life in the midst
of Gentile luxuries while he affected the reputation of a devoted Pharisee,
Agrippa seems to have been sincere in hie desire to be at any rate at Jerusalem
an observer of the Mosaic Law. St. Luke, though his allusions to him
are so brief and incidental, shows remarkable fidelity to historic facts in
presenting him to us in both these aspects. In carrying out his policy,
Agrippa paid studious court to the Jews, and especially to the Pharisees. He
omitted nothing which could win their confidence or flatter their pride, and
his wife, Cyprus, 1 seems also to have been as much attached to the party a*
her kinswoman, Salome, sister of Herod the Great. 2
It is clear that such a king a king who wished to foster the sense of
Jewish nationality, 3 to satisfy the Sadducees, to be supported by the Pharisees,
and to be popular with the multitude could not have lived long in Jerusalem,
which was his usual place of residence, 4 without hearing many complaints
about the Christians. At this time they had become equally distasteful to
every section of the Jews, being regarded not only as fanatics, but as apostates,
some of whom sat loosely to the covenant which God had made with their
fathers. To extirpate the Christians would, as Agrippa was well aware, be the
cheapest possible way to win general popularity. It was accordingly about the
very time of the visit of the two Apostles to the Passover, as delegates from
Antioch, that " he laid hands on certain of the Church to injure them and he
;
slew James, the brother of John, with the sword; and seeing that it was
pleasing to the Jews, proceeded to arrest Peter also." 1 Thus in a single
touch does St. Luke strike the keynote of Agrippa's policy, which was an un-
scrupulous desire for such popularity as could be earned by identifying himself
with Jewish prejudices. In the High Priests of the day he would find willing
coadjutors. The priest for the time being was probably Elionaeus, whom
Josephns calls a sou of Kanthera, but whom the Talmud calls a son of
Caiaphas. 8
If so, he would have been animated with an hereditary fury
henceforth would be a slave, for that she alone of that house was left ;" and flinging
herself down was killed. Some say that for seven years Herod preserved her hody in
honey, to make people believe that he was married to an Asmonsean princess. Angry
with the Rabbis, who insisted on Deut. xvii. 15, he killed them all, except the Babha Ben
Buta (whom he blinded by binding up his eyes with the skin of a hedgehog), that he
might hare one counsellor left. Staving disguised himself, and tried in vain to tempt
Babha Ben Buta to say something evil of him, he revealed himself, and asked what he
ought to do by way of expiation. The blind man answered, "Thou hast extinguished tho
light of the world (see Matt. v. 14) ; rekindle it by building the Temple " (Babha atkra,
f. 3, 2, seqq.).
1 Cypros was the name of the wife of Antipater and mother of Herod the Great. She
was descended from a Nabathean family ; her name, which is probably connected with
-C3 (Kepher), was borne by several Herodian Princesses (Dereabourg, Palest., p. 210).
See Excursus XXIV., "The Herods in the Acts."
Jos. Antt. xx. 1, 1.
Id. xix. 7, 3.
Jos. B, J, rix. 8, 1 ; Para, ill. 5 j P,t?i ffatfcaiph;
* Acts xil. 1-8.
Dereabourg, p. 215.