The Tetrarch and the Deity

Luke 23:8 Herod was delighted at the opportunity to see Jesus, because he had heard about him and had been hoping for a long time to see him perform a miracle.

The above passage describes an unusual episode during Jesus’ life – meeting Herod – mentioned by Luke alone. Ironically, it is said the king had been eager to meet Jesus. The ruler mentioned here is Herod Antipater, the youngest son of the founder of the dynasty, Herod the Great, the man whom Christians remember for his role in the massacre of the innocents. Having learned from the Magi from the East that “the King of Jews” was born, He was alarmed at the prospect of a rival  king and true to his character, decided to eliminate him while still a baby. Jesus’ parents took the infant Jesus and escaped to Egypt. Herod died four years after Jesus’ birth and his son,   known by the nickname Antipater was named to the throne by Caesar Augustus. He is best known today for the accounts in the New Testament of his role in events that led to the executions of John the Baptist and Jesus of Nazareth.

He was the ruler who reluctantly ordered the execution of John the Baptist in order to please his wife Herodias. Antipater faced more immediate problems in his own tetrarchy after John the Baptist – in 28/29 AD according to the Gospel of Luke – began a ministry of preaching and baptism by the Jordan River, which marked the western edge of Antipater' territory of Perea. The Gospels state that John attacked the tetrarch's marriage as contrary to Jewish law (it was incestuous, as Herodias was Antipater' niece), while the Jewish historian Josephus says that John's public influence made him fearful of a rebellion. John was imprisoned in Machaerus and executed. According to Matthew and Mark, Herod was reluctant to order John's death, but was compelled by Herodias' daughter to whom he had promised any reward and she asked for John’s head.

As Jesus’ fame spread among the public, His teachings (not dissimilar to John’s) and particularly His works of miracles, the superstitious and guilty ruler began to fear Jesus was really John come back alive. Luke states that a group of Pharisees warned Jesus that Antipater was plotting his death, whereupon Jesus denounced the tetrarch as a "fox" and declared that He, Jesus, would not fall victim to such a plot because "it cannot be that a prophet should perish away from Jerusalem".

Luke says in 23:8 “When Herod saw Jesus, he was greatly pleased, because for a long time he had been eager to see him. From what he had heard about him, he hoped to see him perform a sign of some sort. I am struck by a supreme irony here. Through the millennia, men all over the world were waiting to see Jesus.  e.g. Simeon waiting at the temple, hoping in His extreme old age, it might happen in his life time (“ With my own eyes I have seen your salvation’ he would exclaim, his dream come true). The Magi from the East who have been scanning the skies for a message, couldn’t believe their eyes when they saw their king as an innocent child before them). Yes, as everyone waited for Jesus for his own salvation, for the Saviour of mankind, this puny king of a postcard size kingdom has been waiting for Jesus so that he might have some fun with Him! It speaks for itself about the intellectual level of kings who were occupying the great David’s throne. Jacob had prophesied ‘’the scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler's staff from his descendants, until the coming of the one to whom it belongs, the one whom all nations will honor’’. Accordingly, Jesus had arrived when the scepter had left Israel making room for an Idumean half-wit.

Jesus was arrested at Gethsemane and taken to the chief priest. The chief priest had already decided Jesus must die, but only wanted Pontius Pilate to rubber-stamp the death sentence. Pilate knew Jesus was innocent, but wanted to please the Jews at the same time. He found an opportunity to get out of this dilemma by passing the buck on to Herod. Herod has heard about Jesus, but saw Jesus only as a some kind of magical entertainer - his curiosity overshadowing his fear, at least for the moment. It is also possible he wanted to make sure He was not John Baptist. He couldn’t believe his luck when Jesus was brought to him, bound hand and foot, bleeding, naked and – curiously – to be tried. The sadistic  Herod thought that Jesus was some kind of magician or entertainer and decided to have some fun with Him, but was disappointed when he got nowhere with Him! So he joined his soldiers in mocking Him, then dressed Him in a fine robe and sent Him back to Pilate.

The British historian Robert Lane Fox claims Jesus’ meeting with Herod  Antipater never happened, St. Luke invented the story in order to relate it to  Psalms 2: “1. Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? 2. The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers gather together, against the Lord and against His Anointed One?”. I want to ask our learned friend one question: over 350 prophecies spoken by people of every walk of life, over several thousand years, were fulfilled in the person of Jesus Christ. There is no other person who lived on earth like Jesus in this respect (and many other respects of course). Why would Luke contrive a story like this in order to explain this particular prophecy alone? What about the rest of 349?  Over 30 prophecies were fulfilled on the day of His arrest and crucifixion alone. Fox is of the kind of people Peter warns us against in 2 Peter 3:3 “I want to remind you that in the last days scoffers will come, mocking the truth and following their own desires”. To understand the Lord’s refusal to humor the ruler who had the power to release him, we must first understand the reason, nature and purpose of Jesus’ miracles. 

Why did Jesus have to perform miracles during His ministry?  Not to get famous, rich or powerful. Not to gather a multitude of followers around him. Jesus had actually warned beneficiaries of His miraculous healing, not to reveal His identity. When had Satan suggested He jump off the pinnacle of the temple and gain instant recognition as the Saviour, He gave tt devil a cold shoulder. Miracles were part of His ministry for the following reasons:

1. To reveal and prove His identity: Nicodemus -  a hard-boiled Pharisee  -  told Jesus (according to John 3:2) “Rabbi, we know that you have come from God as a teacher, because no one can perform these signs that you are doing unless God is with him."

2. To assert His divine authority: It was part of Jesus’ ministry to reveal His power and glory to select audiences. What better way to do this than demonstrate His control over nature? Matthew  8:23 -27 narrates an incident when Jesus rebukes the howling winds and turbulent sea in order to restore calm. What sort of a man is this, the disciples wondered!

3. To fulfill Old Testament prophecies:  About 350 prophecies, spread all over the Old Testament, were fulfilled in the person of Jesus Christ. His miracles are specifically mentioned in these prophecies – the healing of the sick, blind, lame, deaf and dumb, raising the dead, ostracizing demons, freeing the bonded etc.

4. Some of Jesus’ miracles are actually parables acted out, like the cursing of the fig tree; (Matt 21:19), A few are, teaching through examples, e.g. Healing of the Canaanite woman’s daughter (Matthew 15:21-28).

5. Some miracles serve as witnesses and point out God to people, e.g. the raising to life the dead son of the widow of Nain. The result of this particular miracle was, according to Luke 7:16, fear gripped everyone, and they began to praise God, saying, "A great prophet has appeared among us," and "God has helped His people"

6. Some of the miracles are occasions when Jesus acted out of the compassion of His heart and reached out to the people in dire need.

Herod Antipater turned down the opportunity of a lifetime, mocked Jesus and sent Him away in disgrace. We have more instances in the Bible of people rejecting the person and the message of Jesus:

1.  When the elder Herod heard about the birth of the king of Jews from the Magi, the only thought that came to his mind was how he could eliminate this “rival” to the throne.

2. The people of Nazareth saw His mighty miracles, but rejected Him simply because He was familiar to them! (Luke 4:16-30). Because of this attitude of the public, Jesus was not able to do many miracles there.

3. Jesus had healed a violent man possessed of a legion of evil spirits, at Gerasenes (Matthew 8). People who heard about this wonder flocked to the scene, not to witness this extraordinary event and praise God, not to be cured of any ill themselves, but to ask the author of it to leave their midst!

4. The Pharisees, Sadducees and religious scholars – with all their great learning and experience -- failed to recognize in Him their Messiah.

5. Even after Pontius Pilate explained that Jesus had not done anything that warrants death sentence, the crowd insisted on a crucifixion verdict.

The thief on the cross took one look at Jesus hanging next to Him and recognized Him as a King, about to come into His kingdom. He humbled himself, declared his faith openly, prayed for redemption and received Jesus’ assurance of salvation. But highly qualified religious leaders, powerful politicians and kings failed to recognize Jesus as  King and Messiah. One luckless tetrarch also joined their rank now.

History tells us Herod never had a moment of peace after his confrontation with Jesus. In 36 AD, the conflict with Aretas of Nabatea, (the neighboring rulers) caused by Antipater's divorce and the rulers' disagreement over territory, developed into open war. Antipater' army suffered a devastating defeat after fugitives from the former tetrarchy of Philip sided with the Nabateans, and Antipater was forced to appeal to Tiberius for help which never materialized. His nephew reported to the Roman emperor that Antipater was conspiring against him. The emperor credited this report, confiscated all his property and sent the tetrarch into exile to Spain. He gave his territory to Agrippa. Antipater died there in 69 AD.

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