=20. Of the females= of the Herodian family, four are mentioned in the New Testament, Herodias, Salome, Bernice, and Drusilla. Salome is not named, but simply called “the daughter of Herodias.” Herodias is mentioned in Matt. 14:3‒11 and in Mark and Luke, where the same incident is recorded. Bernice (or Berenice) was niece of Herodias and married her uncle, Herod king of Chalcis, who died A. D. 48. She then lived with her brother Agrippa II. Drusilla was sister of Bernice and was married to Azizus, king of Emessa in Syria, now Homs; but at the persuasion of Felix she left her husband and married Felix, who was procurator of Judæa, according to Josephus. He was succeeded by Porcius Festus about 61 or 62 A. D., having been accused of great cruelty after his departure to Rome. The scene described in Acts 23 and 24 occurred just before his visit to Rome, and that in Acts 25 and 26 soon after. Felix had driven out the banditti and impostors from the country, and to this Tertullus alludes in his address as given in Acts 24:2. IDUMÆA. =21. Before the Captivity= of the Jews to Babylon the name Idumæa designated the land east of the great valley Arabah which runs south of the Dead Sea to the Red Sea. Petra was its capital. But during the Captivity the Idumæans gradually extended their settlements to that part of Judæa south of Jerusalem, including Hebron. After the return from Babylon, the Idumæans became the enemies of the Jews until the time of the Maccabees, when they were conquered and required either to leave the country or change their religion for that of the Jews. They chose the latter alternative under John Hyrcanus, about B. C. 130, and were governed by Jewish prefects. When, therefore, Antipater the father of Herod the Great, and Herod himself, are said to be “Idumæans,” the allusion is to this district south of Judæa, which was at that time called Idumæa. This is the Greek term for Edom. The name is used, Isa. 34:5, 6, in the former sense, namely, of the country east of the Arabah, before the Captivity; but in Ezek. 36:5 in the sense used after the Captivity, and in the latter sense also in Mark 3:8. CHAPTER II. THE PUBLIC MINISTRY OF OUR SAVIOUR. =1. As soon as Jesus arrived at the age= of about thirty he left Nazareth, and probably passing down the valley of the Jordan, went on his way to Bethabara, John 1:28. BETHABARA.