Of all of the numerous members of the dysfunctional
House of Herod, the one who gets the most mention in the New Testament is Herod
Antipas, son of Herod the Great. This is
understandable, because the Ministry of Jesus took place during his reign, and
for the most part in the territory Herod Antipas ruled.
Antipas spent much of his early years growing up at
the court in Rome, as did many other members of his family. His name, Antipas, was short for Antipater,
the name of his grandfather and also of his oldest step-brother.
When Herod the Great died in the year 4 BC, he left
his affairs in some disarray.
Originally, he had intended to leave his kingdom to Aristobulus and
Alexander, his two sons by his second wife, his beloved Mariamne. But late in his life, he suspected them of
plotting treason and so disinherited them and had them killed. Perhaps they even were.
He then named his first son, Antipater, the child of
his first wife, Doris, as heir. But
Antipater was also accused of plotting to murder his father, and was tried
before the Roman governor of Syria. He
was found guilty, and with the approval of the Emperor, executed.
You’d think Herod would be running out of heirs by
this time, but no; he’d married ten times before he died, and still had plenty
of spares. This time he jumped ahead
past the other other sons and named his youngest, Antipas, to succeed him as
King of Judea.
But at the last minute, he changed his mind again,
and wrote a new will, dividing Judea amongst Herod and a couple other sons. The eldest of the remaining sons, Archelaus,
got Judea proper, Idumea, (where Grandpa Antipater came from) and Samaria. Philip got Gaulantis, Batanea and Trachontis,
the northeastern portion of the province.
Their aunt, Herod’s sister Salome, was given a couple cities around the
present-day Gaza region.
Antipas had to settle for Galilee, the territory on
the western side of the Sea of Galilee, and Perea, a strip of land on the
eastern side of the Jordan River.
He didn’t even get to be called king. Archelaus got that honor. Herod was named Tetrarch, meaning ruler of a quarter. And don’t think that didn’t rankle.
In many ways, Herod Antipas followed the example of
his father, Herod the Great. He followed
Jewish laws and customs… to a certain extent.
He observed the important Jewish holidays in Jerusalem and, as his
father did, the coins issued under his reign bore no portraits, as was usual
with Roman coins. But he was a highly
Romanized Jew, and his palace was decorated with statues in the Greco-Roman
style.
Another way he followed his father was in building
projects. He rebuilt the fortress of
Machaerus on the Dead Sea and expanded it into a city in which he had his
palace. He made civic improvements in
many other cities in his territory as well, but his greatest achievement was
the construction of the city of Tiberius, on the shore of the Sea of
Galilee. Like his father’s city of
Caesarea, it was built according to Greco-Roman ideas of civic planning; and
also like Caesarea, he made the city his capital. He also named it after his patron, the
Emperor Tiberius, and renamed the lake upon which it stood the Sea of Tiberius
too, just to make sure the Emperor noticed.
Unfortunately, he had trouble at first getting his
Jewish subjects to settle in his new city, because he had built it on a Jewish
cemetery. Eventually, though, the city
became a center for rabbinic learning.
Early in his reign, he entered a strategic marriage
with the daughter of King Aretas IV of Nabatea, a desert kingdom bordering
Perea. But soon he became interested in
another girl, his niece Herodias, who happened to be married to his
half-brother Herod Philip.
His wife caught wind that he was thinking of
divorcing her, and realized that being Herod’s Ex-Wife was not a really tenable
position to be in. She asked and got
permission to travel to Machaerus for a bit.
From there, she fled across the border with some of her father’s
soldiers into her father’s territory.
Aretas, was angered by Herod’s treatment of his little girl, and some
time later declared war on Herod, inflicting a rather humiliating defeat.
But for the time being, Herod didn’t care. He was in love, and she loved him, and they
both had practically the same names.
His stepbrother Philip permitted Herodias to divorce him with little
fuss; (either Antipas paid him well to permit the divorce, or Philip knew
Herodias better than Herod did and figured he’d be happier without her). What more could a tetrarch ask for?
The problem was, there was this prophet.
John the Baptist, (or “the Baptizer”, as he’s known
by people who don’t wish to name any specific Protestant denominations), began
his ministry on the Jordan River, on the Perean border. He called people to repentance and preached
about the immanent coming of the Kingdom of God. He also preached about the coming
Messiah, “…one more powerful than I … whose sandals I am not worthy to untie.” (Luke 3:16)
Some scholars have speculated that John was an
Essene, a member of a mystic and ascetic sect of Judaism which had a community
at Qumram on the Dead Sea. The Essenes
also taught an imminent Messianic Age, and they were big on ritual cleansing
ceremonies, like Baptism; but as a group they focused more inward, withdrawing
away from the world. I can easily
imagine John studying for a time at Qumram, but then breaking with that
community to start his own ministry.
According to the Gospels, John had a considerable
following as a populist preacher. The members
of the Religious Establishment weren’t too crazy about him, but then, he wasn’t
shy about calling out their hypocrisies either.
When Jesus arrived, John kind of faded from the
scene. Which was okay with him; he
believed Jesus was the Messiah, after all.
“He must become greater; I must
become less.” (John 3:30) With the start of Jesus’ ministry, John
shifted gears a bit and concentrated on calling people to repentance, urging a
godly life, and – here is the important part – calling out corruption in High
Places.
One of these High Places was Herod’s Palace at Machaerus,
where Herod Antipas was cavorting with his new wife, who was not only his
niece, but also his sister-in-law; two types of incest for the price of one. A lot of people thought this showed
considerable bad taste, but John was talking about it. Loudly.
And Herodias didn’t like it.
At Herodias’ insistence, Herod had John arrested and
imprisoned; some believe at the Machaerus palace itself. And there he sat for a while, because
although Herodias wanted him dead, her husband felt some scruples about killing
a prophet. “…Herod feared John and protected him, knowing him to be a righteous
and holy man.”. And, to a certain
extent, Herod seems to have been fascinated by the man. The text goes on to say, “… When Herod heard John, he was greatly puzzled; yet he liked to
listen to him.” (Mark 6:20 NIV)
Eventually, though, Herodias got her wish. Herod
have a banquet to celebrate his birthday, inviting many high officials and
important men of the region. Herodias’
daughter, Herod’s step-daughter came in and danced to entertain the party. The
Gospel’s don’t give us the daughter’s name, but Josephus tells us it was
Salome; probably after Great-Grandpa Herod’s sister.
Although the Gospels don’t specify whether the dance
involved seven veils or popping out of a cake or riding in on a wrecking ball,
or anything like that; popular interpretation insists that her dance was a
lascivious one. Herod certainly liked it, and the doting step-dad made her a
rash promise:
The
king said to the girl, “Ask me for anything you want and I’ll give it to you.” And he promised her with an oath, “Whatever
you ask I will give you, up to half my kingdom.” (Mark 6:22-23)
(And yes, a pedantic point here. Herod was not technically a king. Thank you for reminding him. Would you like to add some lemon juice to his
paper cut while you’re at it? Some have
suggested that Mark was being sarcastic; I think it more likely that people just
referred to him as a king because his father was one and because he acted like
one.)
Salome went to her mom for advice on what to
ask. Not surprisingly, Herodias had her
demand the head of John the Baptist. “ON A PLATE!”
This put Herod in a bad position. He did not want to kill the prophet, but he
had made a very public promise in front of some important people. If he went back on his vow, he would look
weak. And for what? A filthy rabble-rouser who was always denouncing
him anyway. From his point of view, he
really had no choice. So Salome got her
boon, and Herodias got her trophy.
Salome comes off as quite the bloodthirsty vixen in
this story. At very least, she is being
used as a pawn in her mother’s schemes to manipulate her stepfather. In Oscar Wilde’s stage dramatization of the
story, he adds an intriguing twist; in Wilde’s version, Salome has the hots for
John, and here demand for his head is retaliation because he spurns her love. After John’s execution, Wilde has Salome
kissing the lips of his severed head.
None of which is mentioned in Josephus’ account of
Herod Antipas’ reign. He does mention
John and that Herod had him imprisoned fearing that his preaching would stir an
insurrection. He also states that many
people at the time blamed Herod’s execution of John, a good man, for his later
defeat by King Aretas.
It wasn’t until after John’s death, it seems, that
Herod heard reports of Jesus and his ministry.
And when he did, he got a creepy sense of déjà vu.
King
Herod heard about this, for Jesus’ name had become well known. Some were saying “John the Bptist has been
raised from the dead, and that is why miraculous powers are at work in him.”
Others
said, “He is Elijah.”
And
still others claimed, “He is a prophet, like one of the prophets of long ago.”
But
when Herod heard this, he said, “John, the man I beheaded, has been raised from
the dead!” (Mark 6:14-16)
Freaky.
Shortly after this, Jesus left Galilee to teach in
the regions of Tyre and Sidon, to the north of Galilee, and swung around
through the territories ruled by Philip.
This might well have been to stay under Herod’s radar. The text doesn’t specifically say this. But the Gospels do say that a couple members
of Herod’s household became followers of Jesus, including Joanna, the wife of
Herod’s major-domo, Cuza. (Luke 8:3)
But later still, on an occasion when Jesus was
passing through Perea, some Pharisees come to Jesus with some concern-trollish
advice: “Leave this place and go
somewhere else. Herod wants to kill you.” Perhaps they’re afraid he’ll stir up
trouble. Perhaps they were genuinely
concerned about him; although he and the Pharisees were often at odds, his
teachings were not entirely incompatible with their own, and they were not
always hostile to him. Or perhaps they
just wanted to get him out of their town.
He
replied, “Go tell that fox, ‘I will drive out demons and heal people today and
tomorrow, and on the third day I will reach my goal.’ In any case I must keep going today and
tomorrow and the next day – for surely no prophet can die outside Jerusalem!” (Luke 13:32-33)
Herod has other things to worry about anyway. One constant concern with him was his
position as Tetrarch. His brother
Archelaus didn’t last long as King of Judea, and was yanked by Caesar for his
incompetence. Antipas lobbied hard to
replace him, but instead the Emperor installed a series of Roman administrators
to govern the province. The best-known
of these was a guy named Pontius Pilate, who actually held the position for a
fairly long term, considering some of the problems he faced.
From the accounts of Pilate’s administration found
in Josephus and Philo of Alexandria, we get the impression that every time
Pilate faced a crisis, Herod Antipas would fire off a letter to Rome to let the
Emperor know and to suggest that someone else ought to be put in charge of
Judea. Someone whose name begins with
the letter “H”
Herod might have been pretty thoroughly Romanized,
but he still made a point of going up to Jerusalem for the High Holidays. Which is why he happened to be in town one
particular Passover. He was probably as surprised as anybody when Jesus showed
up on his doorstep with an armed guard and a note from Herod’s rival, Pilate.
We hear this story every year. How Jesus, condemned to death by the Jewish
Council on the charge of blasphemy, is brought before Pilate to authorize the
death sentence. According to the
Gospels, Pilate is reluctant to do this, because he recognizes Jesus’
innocence; but he’s looking for a way to release the crazy Jewish prophet
without having to take responsibility for doing so himself. And then someone mentions that Jesus comes
from the province of Galilee.
Upon
hearing this, Pilate asked if the man was a Galilean. When he learned that Jesus was under Herod’s
jurisdiction, he sent him to Herod, who was also in Jerusalem at that time. (Luke 23:6-7)
For the first time, Herod gets to see this prophet
who seemed to be a reincarnation of John, whom he’d so long wanted to meet. And…
…He’s disappointed.
He hopes to see wonders. He hopes to hear wisdom. He hopes to see John re-born. Perhaps, he even hopes for the chance to ask
John’s forgiveness.
He gets none of this. Jesus says nothing.
But Herod is a philosopher. At least his curiosity about this Jesus has
been satisfied. And it occurs to him that it was quite decent of Pilate to give
him that chance, especially the way they’d been plotting against each other all
this time. “That day Herod and Pilate became friends – before this they had been
enemies.” (Luke 23:12)
Shortly after this came the war between Aretas and
Herod in which Herod was badly beaten. The
Emperor sent Vitellius, the governor of the neighboring province of Syria to
come to Herod’s aid, but before the campaign got underway, Tiberius died, and Vitellius
decided to withdraw pending further instructions from the new emperor. He didn’t really like Herod much anyway. Herod doesn’t seem to have gotten along with
any of his neighbors.
They wound up working together again, though, when
Vitellius was sent to negotiate with the King of the Parthians, and Herod
helped with the negotiations. The
mission was a successful one, but Herod annoyed Vitellius by sending word
quickly back to Rome, seeming to claim credit.
The death of Tiberius really marked the fall of
Herod Antipas’ star. His
nephew/brother-in-law, Herod Agrippa, happened to be close school chums with
Caligula, Tiberius’ successor. And
Antipas was becoming annoying with his frequent whinging to Rome and his pleas
to be granted more authority.
When Agrippa was given Philip’s old tetrarchy and
the title of king, Herodias nagged Antipas into asking Caligula to be granted
the same title. At the same time as he
put in his request, Agrippa presented accusations before the Emperor that
Antipas had conspired against Tiberius and was now stockpiling enough arms to
supply a sizable army.
Antipas had to admit to the weapons stockpile, but
he very likely had a perfectly innocent explanation for them… which Caligula
wouldn’t listen to.
Caligula exiled Herod to the Roman city of Lugdunum
in Gaul, the modern-day Lyons.
Considering what happened to some of Caligula’s later enemies, he got
off lightly. The Emperor offered to
allow Herodias to keep her property, seeing as she was Agrippa’s sister; but
she chose to follow her husband into exile.
Perhaps theirs was a dysfunctional marriage; but it
seems that in the end she loved him after all.
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