King Herod question

[IrishAm]

The juxtapositioning of readings today – about King David and then King Herod – made me wonder and I knew just where to come for the answer – “Was King Herod a descendent of King David?”

Thank you.

 

[Fidelis]

The juxtapositioning of readings today – about King David and then King Herod – made me wonder and I knew just where to come for the answer – “Was King Herod a descendent of King David?”

Thank you.

The Herod spoken about in today’s Gospel was Herod Antipas, one of the sons of Herod the Great (he of slaughter of the innocents fame). Herod the Great was an Idumean, a people who were non-Jewish ethnically, but had been forced to adopt the Jewish religion in the era of the Maccabees, around 200 BC.

Herod Antipas was Herod’s son by one of his later wives (he murdered the first one, a Hasmonean [Jewish] princess). This later wife, the mother of Herod Antipas was from Samaria.

So, no, Herod was not Jewish (at the most half-Jewish, possibly from his mother), and he was in no way descended from King David.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herod_Antipas

 

[IrishAm]

Thank you!

 

[NotWorthy]

The juxtapositioning of readings today – about King David and then King Herod – made me wonder and I knew just where to come for the answer – “Was King Herod a descendent of King David?”

Thank you.

The Edomites (or Idumeans) were descendants of Esau, the elder twin brother of Jacob (who was renamed, “Israel”), and son of Isaac and Rebekkah.

There was a prophecy that the two brothers would continue their struggles even after their deaths. The rule of Judea by an Edomite would indicate that this prophecy saw its fulfillment in the reign of King Herod.

 

[Joe_Kelley]

As Noteworthy says He was an Edomite. That is why the Magi’s message so upset him. The star refers to Balaam"s prophecy

I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not nigh: a star shall come forth out of Jacob, and a scepter shall rise out of Israel; it shall crush the forehead* of Moab, and break down all the sons of Sheth.

Numbers 24:17 But it was the next line that spurred him to action:

Edom shall be dispossessed,

Numbers 24:18

 

[Fidelis]

As Noteworthy says He was an Edomite. That is why the Magi’s message so upset him. The star refers to Balaam"s prophecy Numbers 24:17 But it was the next line that spurred him to action: Numbers 24:18

Yes, that’s why Matthew, rather understatedly, reports that “Herod was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him.” (Matthew 2:3)

With the paranoid Herod’s well know bloodthirsty reactions to perceived threats to his throne (that’s why he had his first wife killed, among many others), people were in fear of how he might react to this latest challenge, even though it came from a newborn baby.