Herodians
Who Were The Herodians? Have you heard about the Herodians? Who were they, and why is it important to know about them?
What was the Herodian?
The Herodium is sometimes called Herodeion, and Israel knows it best as "Herodion." According to Josephus, the Jewish historian hired by the Romans to record the history of the Jews, the "Herodium was built on the spot where Herod won a great victory over Hasmonean and Parthian who was Rome's enemies in 40 B.C." To commemorate this great victory, King Herod built a fortress and a palace there, which he named after himself. Herodium, together with Machaerus and Masada near the Dead Sea, were the last three fortresses held by Jewish fighters after the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. However, Herodium was eventually conquered and destroyed by the Romans in 71 A.D. The Herodians were believed to be a public political party who distinguished themselves from the two great historical parties of post-exilic Judaism (the Pharisees and Sadducees) because they were friendly to Herod the Great, the King of the Jews, and his dynasty. Unlike the Pharisees who sought to restore the kingdom of David, the Herodians wished to restore a member of the Herodian dynasty to the throne in Judea. Of course, this never happened as the Romans crushed all resistance, including the last Jewish holdouts — the Herodians.
Who Were the Herodians? Known for their sensuality and corrupt living, the Herodians were supporters of the policies and government of the Herodian (Herod) family. They were a political rather than religious party.
The Herodians distinguished themselves from the two great religious - political parties (the Pharisees and Sadducees) because they were sincerely friendly to Herod the Great and his dynasty.
The ruling dynasty that the Herodians supported was begun by Julius Caesar in 47 B.C. when he appointed Antipater I the Idumaen to be procurator of Judea. His son Herod (the Great) began to rule Judea in 37 B.C. Herod Antipas, son of Herod the Great, became Tetrarch of Galilee and Perea in 4 B.C. after his father's death. This Herod jailed and beheaded John the Baptist and sent Jesus to Pilate after his arrest.
Jesus, early in his ministry, attended a synagogue on the Sabbath where he healed a man's withered hand. The Pharisees who saw the miracle believed Jesus broke the Sabbath because they considered the healing "work." Jesus' trespass of their manufactured rules (not God's law) motivated their hard hearts to seek the help of the Herodians to murder him (Mark 3:1 - 6). This is the first plot against Jesus mentioned in the gospels, and the first time the followers of Herod are mentioned in the New Testament.
On another occasion, the Pharisees wanted to try and trap Jesus into stating something which could be construed as being against the Roman government. They planned to send some of their disciples and some Herodians to Jesus and have them ask him a particular "honest" question (Matthew 22:15 - 16, Mark 12:13 - 14). The question was, "Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not? Shall we pay, or shall we not pay?" (Mark 12:14 - 15, NKJV). Those who heard his response were amazed!
Moreover, Jesus answered and said to them, "Render the things of Caesar to Caesar, and the things of God to God" (Mark 12:17, HBFV).
Why were the Herodians, who were not a religious group, so vehemently against Jesus? One Biblical commentary attempts to answer this question by stating the following.
"All the friends of the family of Herod were opposed to Christ and ever ready to join any plot against his life. They remembered, doubtless, the attempts of Herod the Great against him when he was the babe of Bethlehem, and they were stung with the memory of the escape of Jesus from his bloody hands" (Albert Barnes Notes on the Bible, comments on Matthew 12:14).
The Pharisees wanted Jesus to prove he was the Messiah by giving them a sign or performing a great miracle (Matthew 12:38 - 40, 16:1 - 4). Herod, who saw Jesus after his arrest, also desperately wanted to see Jesus perform a miracle "on command," as it were (see Luke 23:8).
The Bible states that Jesus warned his disciples about the Herodians. He told them, "Watch out! Be on guard against the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod" (Mark 8:15, HBFV). The leaven Jesus warned of was that the Pharisees wanted a heavenly sign and that Herod had long desired to see Jesus perform a miracle on command (Luke 23:8). The leaven was also symbolic of the teachings of the Pharisees and Herodians (Matthew 16:12) and their opposition to the gospel.
The Herodians were a group of Hellenistic Jews who were not very friendly to Jesus Christ. We hear about the Herodians in the New Testament when "The Pharisees went out and immediately held counsel with the Herodians against him, how to destroy him" (Mark 3:6). Normally the Pharisees and Herodians were opposed to one another. However, when the Herodians perceived they had a common enemy in Jesus Christ, they conspired with the Pharisees on how they could destroy Jesus Christ. Later, "they sent to him some of the Pharisees and some of the Herodian's, to trap him in his talk" (Mark 3:13) about whom to give tribute to; either God or Caesar, however Jesus, "knowing their hypocrisy, he said to them, 'Why put me to the test? Bring me a denarius and let me look at it'" (Mark 13:15), and when they had brought a coin to Him, "Jesus said to them, 'Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's.' And they marveled at him" (Mark 13:17). Once again, the religious leaders tried to trap Jesus by a trick question designed to trip Him up, but Jesus' wisdom was too much for them, so they "marveled at him." This may be why Jesus "cautioned [the disciples], saying, 'Watch out; beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod'" (Mark 8:15) or literally, "the Herodian's," so Jesus saw them as a Jewish radical splinter group that wanted to overthrow the Roman government through violence and have one of their rulers sit on the throne.
Positioning for Power
Please make no mistake about it; the Jews wanted the Roman yoke cast off of them by any means necessary, and so this caused groups to gather together and join efforts to go against Jesus, and later hoped to thwart Rome's iron fist that had ruled over them for more than a century. The Pharisees, the Herodians, and the Sadducees already had disproportionate power among the Jews. However, they were no match for the Roman armies, so along with the Pharisees, the Sadducees, and the Herodians, the Sanhedrin (like a Jewish supreme court), the scribes, and the lawyers each joined together in their efforts to overthrow the Romans but also to bring Jesus down by killing Him. Each of these groups held power in religious or political matters, but they were a formidable force to reckon with among the Jews when they combined forces. In reality, only the Herodians held political power. Most Bible scholars believe that they were a political party that supported King Herod Antipas, the Roman Empire's ruler over much of the land of the Jews from 4 B.C. to A.D. 39; however, it would take more than King Herod and the Jewish leaders to strip the Roman yoke of bondage off. These groups were typically opposed to one another, but the one thing they had in common was their consternation (dread) of Jesus and desire that He be killed, so "from that day on they made plans to put him to death" (John 11:53), and eventually, of course, they succeeded. They had no clue that Jesus would be resurrected and could not be killed since He is God. His physical body might be killed, but as God, God cannot die, so "Jesus therefore no longer walked openly among the Jews, but went from there to the region near the wilderness, to a town called Ephraim, and there he stayed with the disciples" (John 11:54).
Modern Day Herodians
Today, there are vast numbers of people, particularly cults, which teach that Jesus was not God, so they are still opposed to Jesus and are not even thinking about their eternal fate but about a political state that can change the world. If the Herodians teach us anything, it is that we cannot thwart the sovereign plan of God. What God has appointed to come to pass will come to pass, no matter what humanity does to try and stop it. The Herodians also teach us that we cannot take the world by force or political power. Only God can change the human heart (Prov 21:1), and Human activities do not restrict him. The Kingdom of God does not come by the sword but by the Spirit of God. The Herodians wanted to have a king to reign over the Herodian Dynasty; however, by doing so, they rejected the true King of kings and Lord of lords and sought to live in freedom, by force if necessary.
Conclusion
If we have learned anything from the Herodians, perhaps it is that we cannot take the kingdom by force. We cannot establish a worldly kingdom when all the kingdoms of this world will fall under the Lordship of Jesus Christ. It is futile trying to make this world a kingdom of men when the kingdom of God is coming and will subdue all other kingdoms of this world. There is no chance the Herodians, or any other sect or group, can do what God has already planned to do, and that is to rule the nations and rule the kingdoms of this world by a rod of iron. Someday (soon?), the kingdoms of this world will become the kingdoms of our God and our Lord Jesus Christ, and it will be so for all time.
