Greater Men and Women of the Bible by James Hastings: 489. Herod the Great

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Greater Men and Women of the Bible by James Hastings: 489. Herod the Great


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Herod the Great



Literature



Bacon, L. W., The Simplicity that is in Christ (1892), 288.

Baldwin, G. C., Representative Men of the New Testament (1859), 41.

Burn, A. E., The Crown of Thorns (1911), 36.

Buss, S., Roman Law and History in the New Testament (1901), 1.

Caldecott, W. S., Herod's Temple (1913), 1.

Cameron, A. B., From the Garden to the Cross (1896), 157.

Candlish, R. S., Scripture Characters (1872), 123.

Ewald, H., The History of Israel, v. (1880) 406.

Farrar, F. W., The Herods (1898), 62.

Hausrath, A., The Time of Jesus, i. (1878) 207; ii. (1880) 3.

Little, W. J. K., Sunlight and Shadow (1892), 256.

Mathews, S., The History of New Testament Times in Palestine (1899), 108.

Schürer, E., The Jewish People in the Time of Jesus Christ, I. i. (1890) 400.

Selwyn, E. C., The Oracles in the New Testament (1912), 30.

Stanley, A. P., Lectures on the History of the Jewish Church, iii. (1889) 362.

Stevenson, J. G., The Judges of Jesus (1909), 107.

Williams, T. R., in Men of the New Testament: Matthew to Timothy (1905), 57.

Catholic Encyclopœdia, vii. (1910) 289 (J. J. Tierney).

Dictionary of Christ and the Gospels, i. (1906) 717 (W. P. Armstrong).

Encyclopœdia Biblica, ii. (1901), col. 2025 (W. J. Woodhouse).

Jewish Encyclopedia, vi. (1904) 356 (I. Broydé).



Herod the Great



Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judæa in the days of Herod the king.- Mat_2:1.



In the year 109 b.c., John Hyrcanus, son of Simon Maccabæus, subdued the Edomites (Idumæans) and compelled them to adopt Judaism. This achievement looked like the final victory of Jacob over Esau. It was the fulfilment of the ancient prophecy, “And the one people shall be stronger than the other people; and the elder shall serve the younger.” But forcible conversions have never yielded satisfactory results. The admission of the Edomites, still unchanged in heart, into the house of Israel was fraught with consequences which no human eye could have foreseen. A little leaven leavens the whole lump. From the very first there was good reason for every Jewish patriot to say, “Beware of the leaven of Edom,” just as Jesus at a later time said, “Beware of the leaven of Herod” (Mar_8:15). For the Idumæans brought a new spirit into the commonwealth of Israel, and it was not long before the conquered gave laws to their conquerors. Only two generations had passed when the Idumæan Antipater was appointed by Julius Cæsar Procurator of Judæa, Samaria, and Galilee, on account of services rendered in the dictator's struggle with Pompey. And the son of Antipater was Herod the Great, king of the Jews.