The name Herod is synonymous with the era of the Second Temple, representing a dynasty of Idumaean rulers who sat upon the throne of Israel under the shadow of the Roman eagle. To the student of history, the Herods were master builders and shrewd politicians; to the believer, they were the personification of “the kings of the earth [who] set themselves… against the Lord, and against his anointed” (Psalm 2:2). To cover the name Herod is to trace a line of men who sought to build an earthly kingdom while warring against the Heavenly one.
Herod the Great: The Builder of Judea
The patriarch of this dynasty, Herod I, was a man of staggering ambition and dark cruelty. Appointed “King of the Jews” by the Roman Senate, he spent his reign attempting to legitimize his rule through grand architectural feats. He expanded the Second Temple in Jerusalem into a world-renowned marvel, built the seaside metropolis of Caesarea Maritima, and fortified the mountain palaces of Masada and Herodium.
Yet, for all his building, his heart was a wasteland of paranoia. This is the Herod of the Nativity, who, troubled by the news of a King born in Bethlehem, “sent forth, and slew all the children that were in Bethlehem, and in all the coasts thereof, from two years old and under” (Matthew 2:16). He murdered his own wife, Mariamne, and several of his sons, prompting Emperor Augustus to famously remark that it was safer to be Herod’s sow than his son. He died in agony, a man who built for his own glory but left a legacy of blood, proving that “Except the LORD keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain” (Psalm 127:1).
Herod Antipas: The Tetrarch of Galilee
Upon the death of the Great, his kingdom was divided among his sons. Herod Antipas ruled Galilee and Perea. He is most noted in the Gospels for his illicit marriage to Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife—a union that drew the righteous fire of John the Baptist. When John rebuked him, saying, “It is not lawful for thee to have her” (Matthew 14:4), Antipas had him imprisoned and eventually beheaded at the whim of a dancing daughter.
This is also the “fox” (Luke 13:32) to whom Pontius Pilate sent Jesus during the Passion. Antipas had long desired to see a miracle, but when the Word Incarnate stood silent before him, Herod and his men of war “set him at nought, and mocked him” (Luke 23:11). He sought entertainment in the Divine, but found only the judgment of his own silence.
Herod Agrippa I: The Persecutor of the Apostles
The grandson of Herod the Great, Agrippa I, managed to briefly reunite the kingdom. He sought the favor of the Jewish leadership by turning his hand against the burgeoning Church. He “killed James the brother of John with the sword” and, “because he saw it pleased the Jews, he proceeded further to take Peter also” (Acts 12:2-3).
His end serves as the definitive Scriptural warning against human pride. After delivering an oration in Caesarea, the people shouted, “It is the voice of a god, and not of a man.” Because he gave not God the glory, “immediately the angel of the Lord smote him… and he was eaten of worms, and gave up the ghost” (Acts 12:22-23). While the king rotted, the record concludes with a triumphant contrast: “But the word of God grew and multiplied” (Acts 12:24).
Herod Agrippa II: The Expert in Customs
The final ruler of the line was Agrippa II, the son of Agrippa I. He was the king before whom the Apostle Paul stood in chains at Caesarea. Paul acknowledged Agrippa’s knowledge, saying, “I know thee to be expert in all customs and questions which are among the Jews” (Acts 26:3).
Agrippa listened as Paul preached the Gospel and the Resurrection, but despite his intellectual understanding, he remained unmoved. His famous response—”Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian” (Acts 26:28)—stands as a haunting epitaph for the entire Herodian line. They were men who were “almost” persuaded, who lived in the presence of the Truth, yet died in the service of their own vanity.
The Herods built temples of stone that have long since crumbled into the dust of the Levant, yet the “stone which the builders disallowed” (1 Peter 2:7) has become the head of the corner. Their history is a chronicle of the high cost of earthly power and the ultimate futility of resisting the King of Kings.