- 2 weeks ago
The story of Herod Antipas from the Newt Testament and other ancient sources.
Category
📚
LearningTranscript
00:00To understand any person, we must often look back to where they came from.
00:04We must see the world through their eyes as a child.
00:07For Herod Antipas, born around 20 BC, this world was one of immense power, luxury, and danger.
00:13He was a son of the formidable king Herod the Great.
00:17His name echoed across Judea with both awe and terror.
00:20Antipas grew up within the gilded cages of his father's palaces in Jerusalem, Jericho.
00:25He was one of many, born to Malthus, a Samaritan woman, and one of Herod's ten wives.
00:31This web of half-brothers and competing mothers shaped his early lessons in survival and ambition.
00:36Life in his father's court was a master class in political maneuvering.
00:40The air was thick with whispers of conspiracy and the threat of betrayal.
00:44Herod the Great was a brilliant builder and a ruthless ruler who might execute suspected sons.
00:49Antipas, Archelaus, Philip, were sent to Rome for education.
00:53It was a political move.
00:54In Rome, they served under the watchful eye of Emperor Augustus.
00:58They would learn the ways of Roman power, build connections, and serve as well-kept hostages.
01:04This education gave Antipas an appreciation for Greco-Roman culture
01:07and a keen understanding of power in the empire's heart.
01:11Antipas was never the clear heir.
01:13His mother Malthace lacked royal priestly lineage, lowering his rank,
01:17Alexander, Aristobulus, sons of Mariamne.
01:20Antipas watched as they were groomed, then executed by their father's paranoia.
01:25The lesson, be too prominent, be too popular and you invite destruction.
01:29He learned to be patient, observant and to navigate the court with quiet cunning,
01:34earning the nickname, the fox.
01:36His youth became a delicate balancing act.
01:39He had to be loyal and competent, yet not so ambitious as to arouse his aging father's suspicion.
01:44These years between Jerusalem and Rome did not make a warrior king.
01:48Instead, they made a survivor, a politician and a cautious man.
01:53The death of a powerful king often unleashes a storm.
01:56The passing of Herod the Great in 4 BC was no exception.
01:59The final years of his reign were consumed by paranoia
02:02and a frantic rewriting of his last will and testament.
02:05The question of succession became a life-and-death game for his remaining sons.
02:09In an earlier version of his will, Herod the Great had named Antipas as his sole heir.
02:15A stunning promotion that would have made him the next king of the Jews.
02:19For a brief moment, the quiet, observant son was poised to inherit everything.
02:23But the king's mind was a shifting landscape of favor and suspicion.
02:27In his final days, swayed by court intrigue or a change of heart,
02:31Herod revised his will one last time.
02:33This final document shattered Antipas's dream of becoming a king in his father's image.
02:38Instead, the kingdom was to be divided among three of his sons.
02:42The largest and most significant portion was given to Antipas's full brother,
02:46Archelaus, Judea, Samaria, Edomaea, with the title of Ethnarch, a rank just below king.
02:53Another half-brother Philip, was granted the territories to the northeast.
02:57To Antipas fell the lands of Galilee, Perea, a region across the Jordan River.
03:02He was given the lesser title of Tetrarch, which literally means ruler of a fourth part.
03:06The promise of a unified kingdom under his rule had vanished,
03:11replaced by a fractured inheritance and a diminished title.
03:14The matter was not settled in Jerusalem.
03:16The final word belonged to Rome.
03:18So Antipas, along with his brothers Archelaus and Philip,
03:21journeyed once more to the imperial city to plead their cases before Emperor Augustus.
03:26It was a scene of intense family drama played out on the world stage.
03:29Antipas argued against his brother Archelaus, claiming he was unfit to rule and citing his
03:34brutal suppression of a revolt in Jerusalem.
03:37He lobbied to have his father's earlier will, the one that made him king, honored.
03:42But Augustus, ever the pragmatist, chose to largely uphold the final testament.
03:47He confirmed the division of the kingdom, granting the titles as Herod had wished.
03:52For Antipas, it was a bitter defeat.
03:54He had lost the crown, but he had survived and secured a domain of his own.
03:58Returning to his new tetrarchy, Antipas was no longer just a prince living in his father's
04:03shadow.
04:04He was a ruler in his own right, albeit of a smaller divided territory.
04:08His domain of Galilee was a fertile and populated land, a crossroads of trade and ideas, while
04:13Perea was more rural and strategically important.
04:16He was no longer waiting for power, he now wielded it.
04:20This moment marked the true beginning of his long reign, a reign that would last for more
04:24than four decades.
04:25The sting of being denied the title of king would never truly leave him, and this ambition,
04:31this desire to reclaim the full glory of his father's title, would drive many of his future
04:36actions, both brilliant and disastrous.
04:39Having secured his rule over Galilee and Perea, Herod Antipas set out to prove he was his father's
04:45son, in ambition and vision.
04:47Herod the Great was the master builder.
04:49Antipas sought to follow him.
04:51Cities were more than buildings, statements of power centers of culture engines of commerce.
04:56His first major project?
04:58Rebuild Sepphoris damaged after his father's death.
05:01He transformed it into a fortified beautiful city renamed Autocratoris, belonging to the
05:06emperor.
05:07A clear gesture of loyalty to Rome.
05:09He made it his first capital, a Hellenistic jewel in Jewish Galilee.
05:13His grandest vision came next.
05:15Around 20 AD he began a new city on the Sea of Galilee's western shore.
05:20He named it Tiberius for Emperor Tiberius, political flattery.
05:24Built in Greco-Roman style, stadium, a palace, likely a theater.
05:28A declaration of modernity and power.
05:30The location was controversial.
05:32It included an ancient cemetery which under Jewish law made the city ritually unclean.
05:37Many devout Jews refused to live there.
05:39Antipas populated it with foreigners, freedmen, people from across his domain.
05:43Through these projects Antipas brought relative peace and prosperity.
05:48Galilee flourished, fishing, agriculture, trade.
05:51Rhodes linked the Mediterranean to the east.
05:54He minted his own coins, a sign of semi-autonomy but avoided human images out of religious caution.
06:00He was a shrewd diplomat with Rome managing complex internal politics.
06:04Not a warrior like his father but a political operator.
06:08Infrastructure, diplomacy, a firm stable hand.
06:11His court in Tiberius became Hellenistic and cultured, attracting scholars and artists.
06:17He positioned himself as a bridge between Jewish subjects and the powerful Roman world.
06:21He was building a legacy, not just cities but memory.
06:24He sought to be remembered as a wise, effective ruler.
06:28For years it seemed he might succeed.
06:29Stable Tetrarchy secure ties with Rome, a seaside capital that testified to his ambition.
06:34For all his political savvy and careful diplomacy, there was one area where Herod Antipas allowed his personal desires to overshadow his judgment, his marriage.
06:44His first wife was the daughter of King Aretas IV of Nabatea, a powerful Arab kingdom to the south and east of his lands.
06:52This was a strategic political alliance, a common practice among rulers of the time.
06:56The marriage secured his southern border and maintained peace with a formidable neighbor.
07:01For years, this arrangement served its purpose contributing to the stability of Antipas' reign.
07:07All seemed well until a fateful trip to Rome changed the course of his life, and the destiny of his kingdom, forever.
07:14While in Rome, Antipas stayed with his half-brother, who was also named Herod, Herod II, Herod Philip I.
07:20There, he encountered his brother's wife, Herodias.
07:24She was a woman of immense ambition and royal blood, being the granddaughter of Herod the Great.
07:29To Antipas she must have seemed like the perfect partner.
07:31She was sharp, politically astute, and shared his royal lineage.
07:35A powerful attraction ignited between them.
07:37They made a pact, Antipas would divorce his current wife, the daughter of King Aretas, and Herodias would leave his brother to marry him.
07:45It was a scandalous plan, a flagrant violation of both personal loyalty and religious law.
07:50The consequences of this decision were immediate and severe.
07:54Antipas' first wife learned of the plot.
07:56Fearing for her life, she arranged to travel to the fortress of Machaerus, near the border of her father's kingdom, and from there she fled home to Nabatea.
08:04When she told her father King Aretas IV of the humiliation and betrayal, he was enraged.
08:09The insult was not just personal, it was a public dishonoring of his daughter and his entire kingdom.
08:15The political alliance that had kept the peace for years was shattered in an instant.
08:19Aretas began to look for an opportunity to exact his revenge, and the seeds of a future war were sown along Antipas' southern border.
08:28The scandal did not end there.
08:30When Antipas returned to Galilee with Herodias as his new wife, he created a firestorm of moral and religious outrage among his Jewish subjects.
08:38According to Jewish law, specifically Leviticus chapter 20 verse 21, it was forbidden for a man to marry his brother's wife.
08:45The union was seen as incestuous and profoundly immoral.
08:49The common people were scandalized, and religious leaders were incensed.
08:53Antipas, who had always tried to balance his Hellenistic tastes with respect for Jewish tradition, had now openly defied one of its core tenets.
09:00This deeply unpopular marriage created a rift between the ruler and his people, and it gave a powerful voice to his most outspoken critic.
09:08Into this tense atmosphere of moral outrage stepped a figure of immense spiritual authority, John the Baptist.
09:15John emerged from the wilderness preaching repentance, purification, the imminent coming of God's judgment, baptism in the Jordan River, a symbolic washing away of sins.
09:25His uncompromising words drew massive crowds, Judea, Galilee.
09:30People admired his ascetic lifestyle, and his fearless condemnation of sin, a voice for the voiceless, a moral compass for a troubled time.
09:38His influence grew daily.
09:40He confronted power publicly condemned Herod Antipas's marriage to Herodias called it unlawful and adulterous, stirring the scandalized populace.
09:49For Antipas this was a direct challenge to his authority, John looked like a potential leader of revolt.
09:55Remembering crowd volatility after his father's death, Antipas grew nervous.
09:59He saw John as both critic and a political threat to his tetrarchy.
10:04Caught between fear of John's influence and fear of provoking an uprising, Antipas chose a middle path.
10:10He had John arrested imprisoned in the fortress of Machaerus, the same stronghold his first wife had fled.
10:16Perhaps he hoped silence would end the movement yet Josephus says Antipas was sometimes perplexed and intrigued by John.
10:23Herodias nursed a bitter grudge John had publicly shamed her and declared her marriage illegitimate.
10:29She waited for a chance to rid herself of him.
10:31That chance came at a lavish birthday banquet for Antipas.
10:35Salome danced for the tetrarch, the young daughter of Herodias.
10:38Antipas was enchanted he swore to give her anything she asked up to half his kingdom.
10:43Prompted by her mother Salome asked for a horrifying prize, she asked for the head of John the Baptist on a platter.
10:48There, Antipas was trapped, he was distressed, he may have held a grudging respect for John but he had made a public oath before his most important guests.
10:56To break it, would show weakness.
10:58With a heavy heart he ordered the execution.
11:01A soldier was sent to the dungeons, returned with the prophet's head, ending the voice that had dared to challenge a king.
11:07The execution of John the Baptist did not end Herod Antipas' troubles with prophetic figures.
11:12Soon after, a new teacher from Galilee began to attract even larger crowds and generate more astonishing reports.
11:19This was Jesus of Nazareth, whose ministry began with his own baptism by John.
11:23The news of Jesus' teachings and miracles spread like wildfire throughout Galilee, reaching the ears of the tetrarch in his palace at Tiberias.
11:31The reports were so extraordinary, that a superstitious and guilt-ridden Antipas grew deeply disturbed.
11:38He began to wonder if this Jesus was actually John the Baptist, risen from the dead, and perhaps to haunt him for his crime.
11:45In Luke, when Jesus is warned that Antipas wants to kill him, he says,
11:49Go tell that fox. I will keep on driving out demons and healing people today and tomorrow, and on the third day, I will reach my goal.
11:57The term fox was a clever and layered insult.
11:59In Jewish thought, a fox could be seen as a cunning but ultimately minor and destructive creature, not a noble lion like a true king.
12:07It implied Antipas was sly and dangerous but also insignificant in the grand scheme of God's plan.
12:13It was a powerful dismissal of the tetrarch's earthly authority.
12:17The two men would eventually meet face to face, but not in Galilee.
12:20Their encounter took place in Jerusalem during the final, fateful Passover of Jesus' life.
12:25After his arrest Jesus was brought before the Roman governor Pontius Pilate.
12:29When Pilate learned Jesus was a Galilean, he saw a political opportunity.
12:33Since Galilee was under Antipas' jurisdiction, and Antipas happened to be in Jerusalem for the festival, Pilate sent Jesus to him.
12:40This let Pilate avoid a difficult decision and curry favor with the tetrarch.
12:45Antipas, for his part, was delighted.
12:47He had long been curious about this man and hoped to see him perform a miracle.
12:51The meeting, however, was a profound disappointment for the tetrarch.
12:54Jesus refused to answer any of his questions or perform any sign.
12:58He stood before the ruler of Galilee in complete and resolute silence.
13:02For Antipas, who was used to a world of words, power plays, and spectacle, this silent defiance was baffling and frustrating.
13:10Seeing that he would get nothing from his prisoner, Antipas and his soldiers mocked Jesus,
13:15dressing him in an elegant robe to ridicule his claim to kingship and then sent him back to Pilate.
13:19Antipas refused to condemn Jesus, passing the responsibility back to the Roman governor.
13:25In this crucial moment, the cunning fox chose political caution over moral judgment,
13:30washing his hands of a matter that would change the course of human history.
13:34The consequences of Herod Antipas' scandalous divorce and his execution of John the Baptist were slow to mature,
13:40but they were inevitable.
13:42The spurned king Aretas IV of Nabatea had not forgotten the insult.
13:47He waited for the right moment to strike.
13:49The opportunity arose from a border dispute.
13:52Aretas launched a full-scale military attack on Antipas' forces.
13:56The resulting war was a complete disaster for Antipas.
13:59His army was utterly defeated, a devastating blow to his prestige and power.
14:03Many of his Jewish subjects saw the defeat as divine retribution for the execution of the righteous John the Baptist.
14:09His authority, already damaged, was now severely weakened.
14:13Shamed, Antipas appealed to his patron, Emperor Tiberius, for help.
14:17Tiberius ordered the governor of Syria to march against Aretas.
14:21It seemed Roman power would save Antipas.
14:24But fate intervened.
14:25News arrived from Rome.
14:27Tiberius was dead.
14:28The campaign was halted.
14:30Antipas was left humiliated and exposed.
14:32His reputation lay in tatters.
14:34The final act was driven by two forces, his wife Herodias, and his own desire for a greater title.
14:40Caligula granted the title of king to Agrippa I.
14:43Herodias was consumed with jealousy.
14:45She could not bear that her brother Agrippa now outranked her husband.
14:49She relentlessly pushed Antipas to go to Rome and ask Caligula for the same title.
14:53Reluctantly, Antipas agreed.
14:56Agrippa sent a messenger ahead with letters accusing Antipas of treason.
15:00The letters alleged secret weapon stockpiles and plotting with the Parthians.
15:04Antipas faced Caligula in 39 AD to answer charges of treason.
15:08The erratic emperor was convinced.
15:10Caligula stripped Antipas of his tetrarchy, his wealth, his power.
15:14He handed Galilee and Perea to Agrippa.
15:16Antipas was exiled to a remote town in Gaul, modern-day France.
15:20Herodias surprisingly joined him in exile rather than accept her brother's pardon.
15:25In obscurity, the man who had ruled over 40 years, who had built cities, and who had challenged
15:30prophets, lived out his last days.
15:32The cunning fox had been cornered, ending not with a crown, but with the quiet shame of exile.
Recommended
13:06
|
Up next
9:57
57:14
12:31
43:10
21:22
1:30:20
1:37:57
4:21
7:39
4:27
0:59
Be the first to comment