Herod Antipas

My favorite professor and thesis advisor in seminary, Dr. Harold Hoehner, wrote the most comprehensive book on Herod Antipas. As you can imagine, Herod Antipas has been one of my favorite NT characters.

He was the fifth son of King Herod, an Idumean. His mother was a Samaritan. As such, he would have grown up with an identity crisis ruling the Israelites. His father wasn’t considered a true king of Israelites because of his race (although Caesar and the Senate bestowed on him that title); neither was Antipas, an Idumean-Samarian mix. When his father died, he and his older brother of the same mother, Archelaus, fought for his father’s title, “king.” Rome refused to give them that title. Archelaus received the title ethnarch, “the ruler of a nation,” i.e., Judea, and Antipas received the title tetrarch, “a ruler of a quarter,” which included Galilee and Perea.

If political life didn’t go so well, neither did his personal life. He fell in love with another brother, Philip’s wife, Herodias, and married her. It broke the levirate marriage of the Hebrews because the brother was still alive, and Herodias had a daughter, Salome. John the baptizer couldn’t remain silent and condoned this blatant violation of Moses’s law. He spoke against it and was imprisoned. Because of Herod Antipas’s tomfoolery on a birthday celebration, John lost his head on a silver platter. This broke the heart of Herod Antipas because he respected John and listened to him frequently, and when he heard about Jesus, he was hopeful that John had risen from the dead. Antipas truly believed John was a prophet of God.

Pilate was at an impasse—he didn’t find any fault with Jesus, but the religious leaders wanted him dead. A perfect opportunity arose when he discovered Jesus was from Galilee, Herod Antipas’s territory (Luke 23:6). Antipas was in town for the Passover celebrations. So Pilate decided to send Jesus to him (23:7).

Antipas “was overjoyed to see Jesus” because he had been hearing about him for many years and hoped to witness one of his miracles (23:8). Rushing to Jesus, Antipas showered him with “many worthy questions” (23:9a). Only we could have heard those questions! Luke tells us they weren’t trivial but worthy questions. Perhaps he asked, “How did you escape my father’s killing of the children in your hometown?” Or “Are you John resurrected?” “If not, how can you do these powerful miracles?” “Would you do a miracle for me?” Sadly, we are not privy to those questions. Jesus, however, didn’t answer any of his questions (23:9b).

While Antipas questioned Jesus, the high priests and scribes kept accusing him. Caught between a silent Jesus and an accusing Israeli leadership, Antipas resorted to the only thing he knew best to do:

“He had his soldiers mock him, ridicule him, clothe him in shining clothing, and send him back to Pilate.” (23:12).

A few years later, his uncle, Agrippa I, would wear similar clothing and pretend to be a god and would lose his life (Acts 12:21–23). Antipas predicted Jesus had no choice but to die. His refusal to interfere on behalf of a Galilean and side with Pilate made them friends that day. Until then, they hated each other.

Like Pilate, Herod Antipas had a chance to rescue Jesus from death. Both failed because it was the Father’s will for Jesus to die (Acts 2:23), resurrect, and bring us salvation.