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How many men named Herod are mentioned in the New Testament?
064
Answer: 3
It’s easy to get confused. The Gospel of Matthew tells of a cruel king named Herod in Jerusalem who seeks to kill the baby Jesus and soon dies himself. Yet this same gospel, as well as Mark’s and Luke’s gospels, later mentions a ruler named Herod who has John the Baptist beheaded and is considered a threat to Jesus’ preaching. Luke’s gospel adds that Pontius Pilate sent Jesus to Herod to be tried in his native Galilee. Later, in the Acts of the Apostles a man called King Herod persecutes the followers of Jesus in Judea.
The name Herod appears in the New Testament 44 times but refers to three different men.
The first Herod is the ruler in the gospel infancy narratives, Herod the Great, the ruthless client-king of Judea supported by the Romans. He sponsored massive building projects during his reign, including a complete renovation of Jerusalem’s Temple and Temple Mount.
Upon his death in 4 B.C., his kingdom was divided among three of his sons (with the Roman emperor’s approval): Herod Antipas, Herod Archelaus and Philip the Tetrarch.
Herod Antipas was made tetrarch (meaning “ruler of one-fourth”) over Galilee and Perea, where he reigned until 39 A.D. Scholars agree that he is the second Herod of the New Testament, who ruled for most of Jesus’ life, had John the Baptist killed and presided over a portion of Jesus’ trial (see articles here and here).
Herod Antipas’s brother Herod Archelaus was installed as ethnarch over Judea, Samaria and Idumea at the same time but was soon removed from power in 6 A.D. when the Romans consolidated these areas into the province of Iudaea under direct Roman rule. Herod Archelaus is not mentioned by that name, but he is referred to in Matthew 2:22 simply as Archelaus.
Philip the Tetrarch, half-brother of Antipas and Archelaus, sometimes known as Herod Philip II, inherited control of the Golan Heights, southern Syria and Hauran after Herod the Great’s death. He married his niece Salome (the notorious dancer and daughter of his older brother Herod Philip I), but Philip the Tetrarch is not mentioned in the New Testament.
The third Herod mentioned in the New Testament is Herod Agrippa, the grandson and later successor of Herod the Great who came to power in 39 A.D. As a close personal friend of the Roman emperors Caligula and Claudius, Agrippa became king of the entire region that had been previously divided among his uncles Antipas, Archelaus and Philip. Agrippa features prominently in the Acts of the Apostles, where he is referred to simply as Herod, a persecutor of Jesus’ early followers: He had James son of Zebedee killed, and he imprisoned Peter, who miraculously escaped death. According to the author of Acts, Agrippa was struck by illness and died quickly after allowing his subjects to call him a god.
How many men named Herod are mentioned in the New Testament?
064 Answer: 3
