Herod Antipas: 1st Century Ruler of Galilee and Villian in the Story of Jesus
Herod Antipas was born about twenty years before Jesus and he died about seven years after Jesus died. He was the 1st-century ruler of Galilee and Perea. He is referred to as both “Herod the Tetrarch” and “King Herod” in the New Testament. Herod Antipas was a son of Herod the Great and a grandson of Antipater the Idumaean. Herod Antipas is widely known today for his role in the executions of John the Baptist and Jesus of Nazareth. He is featured prominently in the New Testament. Is there a bigger villain than Herod Antipas in Western Christendom?
Herod Antipas Biography
Following the death of his father 4 years before Christ, Herod Antipas was recognised as tetrarch by Caesar Augustus and subsequently by his brother, the ethnarch Herod Archelaus. Herod Antipas officially ruled Galilee and Perea as a client state of the Roman Empire. He was responsible for several building projects.
Herod Antipas divorced his first wife Phasa’el, the daughter of King Aretas IV of Nabatea, in favour of Herodias, who had formerly been married to his half-brother Herod II. According to the New Testament Gospels, it was John the Baptist’s condemnation of this arrangement that led Herod Antipas to have him arrested; John was subsequently put to death by beheading.
Besides provoking his conflict with John the Baptist, the tetrarch’s divorce added a personal grievance to previous disputes with Aretas over territory on the border of Perea and Nabatea. The result was a war that proved disastrous for Antipas; a Roman counter-offensive was ordered by Tiberius but abandoned upon that emperor’s death in 37. In 39, Herod Antipas was accused by his nephew Agrippa I of conspiracy against Emperor Caligula, who sent him into exile in Gaul, where he probably died.
The Gospel of Luke says that Jesus was first brought before Pontius Pilate for trial, since Pilate was the governor of Roman Judea, which encompassed Jerusalem where Jesus was arrested. Pilate initially handed him over to Herod Antipas, in whose territory Jesus had been most active, but Herod Antipas sent him back to Pilate’s court.
Exile and Death of Herod Antipas
Herod Antipas’ fall from power was due to Emperor Caligula and to his own nephew Agrippa, the brother of Herodias, Herod’s second wife. When Agrippa fell into debt during the reign of Tiberius despite his connections with the imperial family, Herodias persuaded Antipas to provide for him, but the two men quarrelled, and Agrippa departed. After Agrippa plotted with his friend Caligula, because of his eagerness for Tiberius to die and leave room for Caligula to succeed him, Agrippa was imprisoned. When Caligula became emperor in the year 37, he released his friend and granted him rule of Philip’s former tetrarchy, with the title of king.
Josephus relates that Herodias, jealous of Agrippa’s success, persuaded Herod Antipas to ask Emperor Caligula for the title of king for himself. However, Agrippa simultaneously presented the emperor with a list of charges against the tetrarch. As evidence, Agrippa noted that Antipas had a stockpile of weapons sufficient for 70,000 men. Hearing Antipas’ admission to this last charge, Caligula decided to believe the allegations of conspiracy. In the summer of 39, Antipas’ money and territory were turned over to Agrippa, while Antipas was exiled, where he died.
Conclusion
Antipas is presented in the New Testament of the Bible as a villain. He was one, but he also had the job, from the Roman Emperor, to manage quarrelsome Judea. It is important to keep this in mind, because having ‘brigands’ like John the Baptist and Jesus executed can be construed as him trying to keep a lid on the troubled territory. It is his misfortune that he ruled at a historical time that included both of these great biblical figures.
