3. The other two who inherited Herod's dominion were brothers, Archelaus
and Antipas, sons of Malthace, one of Herod's many wives. Archelaus had
been designated king by Herod, with Judea, Samaria, and Idumea as his
kingdom; but the emperor allowed him only the territory, with the title
ethnarch. Antipas was named a tetrarch by Herod, and his territory was
Galilee and the land east of the Jordan to the southward of the Sea of
Galilee, called Perea. Antipas was the Herod under whose sway Jesus lived
in Galilee, and who executed John the Baptist. He was a man of passionate
temper, with the pride and love of luxury of his father. Having Jews to
govern, he held, as his father had done, to a show of Judaism, though at
heart he was as much of a pagan as Philip. He, too, loved building, and
Tiberias on the Sea of Galilee was built by him for his capital. His
unscrupulous tyranny and his gross disregard of common righteousness
appear in his relations with John the Baptist and with Herodias, his
paramour. Jesus described him well as "that fox" (Luke xiii. 32), for he
was sly, and worked often by indirection. While his father had energy and
ability which command a sort of admiration, Antipas was not only bad but
weak.
4. Both Philip and Antipas reigned until after the death of Jesus, Philip
dying in A.D. 34, and Antipas being deposed several years later, probably
in 39. Archelaus had a much shorter rule, for he was deposed in A.D. 6,
having been accused by the Jews of unbearable barbarity and tyranny,--a
charge in which Antipas and Philip joined. The territory of Archelaus was
then made an imperial province of the second grade, ruled by a procurator
appointed from among the Roman knights. In provinces under an imperial
legate (propraetor) the procurator was an officer for the administration
of the revenues; in provinces of the rank of Judea he was, however, the
representative of the emperor in all the prerogatives of government,
having command of the army, and being the final resort in legal procedure,
as well as supervising the collection of the customs and taxes. Very
little is known of the procurators appointed after the deposition of
Archelaus, until Tiberius sent Pontius Pilate in A.D. 26. He held office
until he was deposed in 36. Josephus gives several examples of his wanton
disregard of Jewish prejudice, and of his extreme cruelty. His conduct at
the trial of Jesus was remarkably gentle and judicial in comparison with
other acts recorded of his government; yet the fear of trial at Rome,
which finally induced him to give Jesus over to be crucified, was
thoroughly characteristic; in fact, his downfall resulted from a complaint
lodged against him by certain Samaritans whom he had cruelly punished for
a Messianic uprising.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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