Herod the King 37-25 B.C.
During this period we will be looking at the time from Herod's accession as
king in 37 B.C. to the execution of his favorite wife Mariamne, and finally the
death of the sons of Babas, in 25 B.C., when the last heir of the Hasmonean
family was executed.
While Herod was king he had many powerful opponents, namely the Pharisees, the
ruling class, the Hasmonean family, and Cleopatra.
The Pharisees
The Pharisees never liked the fact that Herod was the king of Judea, mainly
because he was an Idumaean, a half Jew, and a friend of the Romans. One of the
problems that Herod always faced when dealing with the Pharisees was there
tremendous popularity with the people. They were well-respected and considered very
holy. But King Herod had his ways of dealing with the population. Whoever
opposed him he quickly punished, and those who were his friends he rewarded with
favors and great honors.
The Ruling Class
The second group of powerful opponents to King Herod were the aristocratic
followers of Antigonus. King Herod dealt with them harshly and one time he
executed forty five of the most wealthy and most prominent members of this class. He
seized their possessions and replenished his treasury which had been depleted
because of all of his bribes.
The Hasmonean Family
The third group of his powerful opponents were the family of the Hasmoneans.
His mother-in-law, Alexandra, was the main source of most of his problems.
During this time Hyrcanus had returned from Parthian exile, yet he was mutilated
and thus could not serve as high priest. Herod needed someone to replace
Hyrcanus as high priest. Herod was a half Jew and therefore he could not serve as
high priest. He desired to choose a nonthreatening member of the Zadokite
family, who were thought to have descended from Aaron, so he chose Ananel (Hananiel),
a priest of the Babylonian exile.
Alexandra, Herod's mother-in-law, was insulted and considered it an intrusion
on the Hasmonean line and only the rightful heir could serve as high priest,
her sixteen-year-old son Aristobulus, the brother of Mariamne. She wrote to
Cleopatra to persuade Marc Antony to force Herod to appoint her son Aristobulus as
high priest. Herod immediately removed Ananel, which was unlawful because the
high priest was to remain in office for his whole lifetime, and made
Aristobulus high priest at 17 years old in 35 B.C.
Alexandra was finally happy but her happiness would be short-lived. King
Herod did not trust her and so he had her watched very closely. Alexandra, knowing
that she was being watched, accepted an invitation by Cleopatra to escape with
her son and flee to Egypt. King Herod heard that she was making and escape
with her son and allowed them to carry it out so that he could catch them in the
act. At this time he chose to overlook the offense.
At the feast of Tabernacles people were showing great affection for
Aristobulus, the officiating high priest. Herod considered this a threat and was
determined to get rid of this potential rival. After the feast concluded, when Herod
was invited by Alexandra to a feast at Jericho, Herod made a plan. He would
act friendly to her and Aristobulus and invite them to go swimming since it was a
hot day. He then bribed some men to play sports together in the water and
drown Aristobulus by accident. King Herod rose up when this happened and made
extreme lamentation. He then arranged the most magnificent funeral and he was not
suspected in the least, by anyone except by his mother Alexandra, who decided
to devote her life to revenge.
She informed Cleopatra of the murder. Cleopatra persuaded Marc Antony to call
Herod to give an account for his actions. King Herod had no choice but to go
and stand before Marc Antony and face possible death. Herod asked his uncle
Joseph to keep watch over Mariamne during the time that he would answer to Marc
Antony. Herod told Joseph in private that if he should be executed, that he was
to kill Mariamne, because he did not want her to become someone else's lover.
when Herod appeared before Marc Antony he bribed him and gave an eloquent
defense for his actions. When Herod returned, Joseph's wife Salome (Herod's
sister) accused Joseph of having unlawful intercourse with Mariamne. When Herod
questioned Mariamne she denied everything and he believed her. But somehow she
learned about the secret command that Herod had given Joseph, and Herod found out
and became outraged and executed Joseph without a trial in 34 B.C. He also had
Alexandra bound in chains and put in prison, blaming her for all of his
troubles.
Cleopatra
The fourth powerful opponent of King Herod was Cleopatra. As we just saw in
the situation with Alexandra and how she went to Cleopatra, who in turn,
reported everything to Marc Antony, Herod had serious problems with Cleopatra.
Because of her relationship with Marc Antony her territory was increasing
greatly. After his expedition against Armenia in 34 B.C. she persuaded him to give
her all of Phoenicia, the coast of Philistia south of the river, a portion of
the Arabia, and the district of Jericho with its balsam plantations and many
palm trees. The area of Jericho was Herod's most fertile portion of land in his
whole kingdom. Is interesting that every time Cleopatra visited her
territories King Herod received her with celebration, although he despised her. Whenever
she made attempts to trap him he would never give in.
When the famous civil war broke out between Marc Antony and Octavius (later
Augustus) Herod desired to take the cause of Marc Antony and help him in any way
that he could. Cleopatra persuaded Marc Antony to order King Herod to go and
fight against Malchus, the Arabian king. Malchus was late on his tribute and
Cleopatra wanted him punished. But it was obvious that her real intent was that
they would weakened each other or hopefully kill each other. This way she
could easily overcome either of them.
Herod did as Marc Antony ordered him and fight against Malchus. When Herod
had achieved the initial victory over the Arabs, Cleopatra came and gave help to
the Arabians which resulted in Herod's defeat.
In 31 B.C. to a great earthquake happened in Herod's territory which killed
over 30,000 people. At this time Herod made attempts to negotiate with the Arabs
and sent an envoy to Arabia to make peace. When they arrived the Arabs slew
them. When Herod heard what had happened he immediately gathered his army and
attacked the Arabs and defeated them, he then returned home.
Herod and Octavius
On September 2nd, 31 B.C. Marc Antony was defeated by Octavius at the Battle
of Actium. This was devastating to Herod. He knew that he would answer
ultimately to Octavius for everything. Herod then made a shrewd move, he murdered
Hyrcanus II and accused him of plotting with the king of the Nabatean's. This
would eliminate any possible rival who might rule in Judea, and his hopes were that
somehow Octavius would allow him to remain as the ruler of Judea.
In the spring of 30 B.C. Herod set out to meet with Octavius in Rhodes. But
before he left he gave instructions to two of his friends that if he were to be
executed they were to kill Alexandra and Mariamne, so that his sons and his
brother Pheroras would rule in his place.
What King Herod arrived in Rhodes to stand before Octavius he played his part
well. He admitted right away that he was a loyal friend of Marc Antony and
that he did not fight against Octavius because of his war against the Arabs. His
argument to Octavius was that if he was loyal to Marc Antony then his loyalty
would benefit Octavius. Octavius allowed Herod to remain as the ruler of Judea.
Herod returned home.
Later that year, in the summertime, Octavius came to the coast of Phoenicia on
his way to Egypt. Herod met him and great him to Ptolemais with great
celebration and a gift of 800 talents and supplies for the Roman soldiers during that
hot season. Octavius was delighted.
In August of 30 B.C. Octavius marched through Egypt and it was at this time
that Marc Antony and Cleopatra committed suicide. When Herod heard this he came
to Egypt to congratulate Octavius. Octavius gave him the title of king and
returned to him not only Jericho, but also Gadara, Hippos, Samaria, Gaza, Anthedon,
Joppa, and Straton's Tower (later became Caesarea). Herod had definitely been
given much.
The Death of Mariamne
Herod enjoyed the so-called success of his kingdom, but things in Judea were
far from peaceful. While he was at Rhodes, Mariamne had found out from one of
Herod's friends named Soemus that Herod gave the order for her to be killed if
he was executed. Therefore when Herod returned she was bitter toward him.
Herod was very aware of all these things. His sister Salome and their mother
Cyprus had always hated Mariamne and they began to spread slanderous stories about
Mariamne in order to fill Herod with rage and jealousy. Herod did not listen to
the stories.
Salome bribed Herod's cup-bearer to say that Mariamne had prepared some sort
of love-potion for the king. When King Herod heard this he desired to know what
sort of potion this was. He tortured the cup-bearer and found out nothing
about the potion, but he did find out that Mariamne despised him for wanting to
put her to death if he was executed. Herod immediately realized that his friends
had betrayed him and he ordered them to be executed immediately.
Herod never really wanted to put Mariamne to death while he was alive, and
Herod would not kill her but had her put in prison. Because of all this his
emotions were so stirred that Salome took advantage of and somehow persuaded King
Herod to have her finally executed.
Josephus describes that Herod was never the same after Mariamne's death:
"For he would frequently called for her, and frequently lament for her in a
most indecent manner."
Herod had gotten very sick to the point of death and Alexandra began to plot
how that when he died she could secure the throne. When she had begun to make
plans, they had been reported to King Herod and he immediately had her executed.
The Death of the Last of the Hasmoneans
After a long period of depression over Mariamne, Herod began his bloodshed
once again and executed the last of the male relatives of Hyrcanus, anyone who
could dispute his occupancy of the throne.