Herod the Great, who reigned from 73 B.C. to 4 B.C., was the ruler who hunted Jesus by ordering the Slaughter of the Innocents in Bethlehem after wise men visited seeking the newborn king. This non-Jewish Edomite ruler, appointed by Roman authorities, was known for extreme cruelty and distrust. After his death around 4 B.C., his kingdom divided among three sons, including Herod Antipas, who later governed Galilee during Jesus’s ministry and executed John the Baptist. The complete story reveals how this dynasty shaped early Christianity‘s landscape.
When readers encounter the name “Herod” in the Gospels, they often assume it refers to a single ruler, yet the New Testament actually describes a dynasty of leaders who governed different regions of ancient Palestine across nearly a century. The New Testament also addresses wine and drinking, distinguishing between moderation and abuse. Understanding which Herod appears in each biblical passage clarifies the timeline of Jesus’s life and the political landscape of early Christianity.
Herod the Great, who reigned from 73 B.C. to 4 B.C., stands as the first antagonist in Jesus’s story. This non-Jewish ruler of Judea, appointed by Roman authorities despite his Idumean descent from Edom south of the Dead Sea, ordered the Slaughter of the Innocents in Bethlehem after wise men informed him of a newborn king. Largely distrusted by Jewish subjects for his foreign heritage and cruel governing style, he even executed several of his own sons, creating succession instability before his death. His building projects included city defenses, Caesarea, and the rebuilding of the Temple, though these were funded by taxes that increased Jewish resentment. His tomb was discovered in 2007 at Herodium, where he was buried.
Herod the Great’s paranoia ran so deep that he murdered his own sons, ensuring no succession plan could threaten his grip on power.
Upon Herod the Great‘s death, his kingdom divided among three sons. Herod Archelaus ruled Judea, Samaria, and Idumea from 4 B.C. to A.D. 6 as an ethnarch, receiving half his father’s territory but denied the title of king. His harsh reign ended when Caesar Augustus deposed him after Jewish factions requested his removal. Joseph’s reluctance to return Mary and Jesus to Bethlehem stemmed from Archelaus’s presence and brutal reputation.
Herod Antipas governed Galilee and Perea as tetrarch from 4 B.C. to A.D. 39, making him the dominant Herod during Jesus’s public ministry. He executed John the Baptist at his wife Herodias’s instigation after the Baptist rebuked him for taking his half-brother Philip’s wife. Though the Synoptic Gospels called him “King Herod,” he held only tetrarch rank, ruling one-quarter of the original territory where most of Jesus’s ministry occurred.
Herod Philip the Tetrarch quietly governed Iturea and Trachonitis from 4 B.C. to A.D. 34, overseeing primarily Syrian and Greek populations. Later, Herod Agrippa I persecuted the early church in the A.D. 40s, restoring Herodian power to near its original extent and continuing the dynasty’s troubled relationship with God’s messengers.
