Biblical Context: Herodias

When John criticized Herod the tetrarch because of Herodias, his brother’s wife, Herod added this to all the evil he had done: he locked John in prison.

– The Story of Jesus 5.7

[Adapted from Lk 3:19-20]

When Herod the Great had his son Aristobulus killed, it left his granddaughter, Herodias, orphaned as a child. Herod the Great engaged her to another son, Herod Philip I (not Philip the tetrarch) for political reasons, and she subsequently gave birth to a daughter named Salome. Herodias later left her husband to marry another of Herod’s sons, Herod Antipas (one of the tetrarchs), even though he was also married to someone else at the time (Phasaelis). The affair and subsequent divorces prompted Phasaelis to escape back to her father, Aretas IV, who was king of Nabatea, a neighboring country to the east. In retaliation for his daughter’s rejection, Aretas invaded Herod Antipas’ land and defeated his forces in 37 AD. Although the Roman Emperor Tiberius ordered an army sent to rescue Herod Antipas, Tiberius died before they arrived and the order was never carried out. Herod Antipas and his wife Herodias were eventually exiled to Gaul (modern day France) in 39 AD after being accused of conspiracy against the new Roman Emperor, Caligula, and all his territory was given to his nephew, Herod Agrippa.

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