Son of Herod the Great by Malthace (and, therefore, sharing the same mother as Archelaus) and governor of Galilee and Perea from 4BC to 38 AD, Herod Antipas is usually referred to in the Gospels as "Herod the tetrarch" (Matt 14:1; Lk 3:1, 19; 9:7; Acts 13:1). Jesus called him "that fox" (Lk 13:31).
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Antipas was named the sole heir to his father's kingdom. The challenge by his step-brother Archelaus forced Augustus to intervene in the matter, who divided Herod's kingdom among three brothers. As a result Antipas Inherited only Galilee and Perea. He proved to be the ablest of the three heirs. Like his father, he was also a great builder, founding the city of Tiberias as a replacement for his capital and naming in honour of Emperor Tiberius who succeed Augustus Caesar in 14 AD.
Married to the daughter of Nabatean King Aretas IV, he fell—while on a visit to his brother's villa—for his sister-in-law Herodias, and she with him. Whereupon they divorced their respective spouces and married one another. It was a union that earned the rebuke of John the Baptist (Matt 14:3; Mk 6:17; Lk 3:19) since it was "unlawful." Feeling insulted and angered, Antipas wanted to "kill John, but he was afraid of the people, because they considered him a prophet" (Matt 14:5). What Antipas dared not do, Herodias accomplished by way of her daughter who so pleased Antipas with her dancing he offered to give her anything she asked; "Prompted by her mother, she said, "Give me here on a platter the head of John the Baptist" (Matt 14:8; Mk 6:24).
When Antipas heard about the miraculous doings of Jesus, "he was perplexed, because some were saying that John had been raised from the dead, others that Elijah had appeared, and still others that one of the prophets of long ago had come back to life. But Herod said, "I beheaded John. Who, then, is this I hear such things about?" And he tried to see him" (Lk 9:7-9). Later some Pharisees came to Jesus and said to him, "Leave this place and go somewhere else. Herod wants to kill you," to which Jesus replied, "Go tell that fox, 'I will drive out demons and heal people today and tomorrow, and on the third day I will reach my goal.'" (Lk 13:31-32). Finally, when Jesus was arrested and Pontius Pilate discovered that Jesus, being a Galilean, was under Antipas' jurisdiction, he sent Jesus to Antipas who was also in Jerusalem at that time; "When Herod saw Jesus, he was greatly pleased, because for a long time he had been wanting to see him. From what he had heard about him, he hoped to see him perform some miracle. He plied him with many questions, but Jesus gave him no answer" (Lk 23:7-15). Though he is referred to once again when the apostles recalled what had happened (Acts 4:27), with this encounter with Jesus Herod Antipas disappears from the pages of Scripture.
Herod Antipas' fall from power soon came when the success of Agrippa I, his spendtrift nephew and brother-in-law)—who had within a few short years risen to be 'King' while he remained only a tetrarch after so many decades at the post—drove his wife to pressure him to leave for Rome to seek greater honours from Emperor Gaius-Caligula. Unfortunately for him, Agrippa was a childhood friend of Emperor, and Antipas arrived in the emperor's court just as the latter was finishing a letter from Agrippa. Agrippa had outwitted the fox and charged Antipas with plotting with the Parthians against the emperor, and a large cache of arms found in Tiberias was offered as proof. On the spot—the year was 38 AD—Gaius relieved Antipas of his post and sent him into exile. The emperor treated his wife Herodias better; he would, he said, treat her as the sister of his good friend Agrippa rather than the wife of his new enemy Antipas, and gave her the choice of keeping her properties and living in her current style or joining her husband in exile. To her credit she chose to join her husband, and we hear of them no more. The next year Gaius-Caligula gave Antipas' kingdom in Galilee and Perea to Agrippa to rule as King.
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