13:
With Roman help, Herod killed his father's murderers. The turmoil that ruled in Rome after the death of Julius Caesar created instability in Judah as well. In 43, Yoĥanan Hyrkanos' nephew, Antigonus, tried to obtain the throne that he considered had rightfully belonged to his father Yehudah Aristobulos. Herod defeated him, and secured the continuity of the line of Hyrkanos by marrying his daughter Miriam (Mariamne). Of course, he was not blind to the fact that this marriage greatly enhanced his own claim to the throne. Meanwhile, Mark Antony, looking for allies in his confrontation with Octavian,awarded Herod the title of tetrarch of Galilee, a title that was commonly used for the leaders of parts of client states; Hyrkanos remained ethnarch in name only.)
14:
Herod's appointment caused a lot of resentment among the Jews. After all, Herod was not a Jew. He was the son of a man from Edom; worse, Herod's mother was an Arabian princess, and it was commonly held by the sages and by the people that only those born of a Jewish mother could be considered Jewish. When war broke out between the Romans and the Parthians (modern Iran and Iraq), the Jewish populace joined the side of the Parthians. In 40 BCE, Yoĥanan Hyrkanos was taken prisoner and brought to the Parthian capital Babylon; Antigonus, his nephew, ruled in his place. Herod managed to escape and went to Rome, where he persuaded Octavian and the Senate to restore him to power. And so it happened: after Mark Antony and his lieutenants had driven away the Parthians, Herod came back to Jerusalem (37 BCE). Antigonus was defeated and after he had besieged and captured Jerusalem and defeated the last of the opposition, Herod could start his reign as sole ruler of Judah. He assumed the title of king and the Roman senate did not demur.
15:
Herod's first aim was to establish his rule on a more solid base. Almost immediately, he sent envoys to the Parthian king to get Hyrkanos back from Babylon. The Parthian king was happy to let the old man go, because he was becoming dangerously popular among the Jews living in Babylon. Although Hyrkanos was unfit to become high priest again, Herod maintained his father-in-law in state because the support of the old ethnarch gave an appearance of legality to his own rule. However, in the uncertain times that followed the defeat of Marc Antony by Octavian (now Augustus) Herod executed Yoĥanan Hyrkanos, thus making sure that no one else could claim his throne. Herod had a meeting in Rhodes with Augustus, now sole ruler of Rome, who confirmed Herod as king of the Jews.
16:
But Herod's position was still insecure. He introduced a building policy hoping thus to win the hearts of his subjects. (A severe earthquake in 31 BCE had destroyed many houses, killing thousands of people.) In Jerusalem, the king built a new market, an amphitheater, a theater, a new building where the Sanhedrin could convene, a new royal palace, and last but not least, in 20 BCE he started to rebuild the Bet Mikdash. However, many of his projects won him the bitter hatred of the Pharisees, who disliked Herod's Greek taste – a taste he showed not only in his building projects, but also in several transgressions of the Mosaic Law. But the Pharisees were not to only ones who came to hate the new king. The Sadducees hated him because he had terminated the rule of the old royal house to which many of them were related; their own influence in the Sanhedrin was curtailed. And probably all his subjects resented his excessive taxation. According to Josephus, there were two taxes at annual rates of 11% and 9%, which is extremely high in any pre-industrial society.
17:
The more his reign progressed the more it became abundantly clear that Herod was not a Jewish but a Roman king. He showed a disregard for the finer feelings of the people, which offset any esteem that he might otherwise have gained. For example, on top of the gate of the new Temple he set up a golden eagle; this symbol of Roman power in the heart of the holy city was resented by all pious believers. Worse, Augustus ordered and paid the priests of the Temple to sacrifice twice a day on behalf of himself, the Roman senate and people. Herod was much married, and all his marriages were for political purposes. Moreover they were all unhappy marriages – at least for the women.
18:
Herod's reign began to take on the nature of a reign of terror. He never felt totally secure and he saw conspiracy and plotting from every quarter. Gradually his paranoia turned him into a veritable monster. A quick and very incomplete list of family members whom Herod had executed included his father-in-law, his mother-in-law, his brother-in-law, his uncle, several of his ten wives and three of his sons. Originally Augustus had been Herod's friend and protector, but now he was heard to remark at a dinner party that he would rather be a pig (hus, ’υς) in Herod's sty than his son (huios, ’υιος). Not only was this a witty pun but it also shows that the emperor was knowledgeable concerning Jewish customs: a pig in Herod's sty could expect to live out its natural life because Jews do not eat pork; this could hardly be said of the members of Herod's family!
19:
In the year 4 BCE Herod fell very ill. The symptoms of his illness were extremely unpleasant. You can read about them and a modern diagnosis of his fatal illness here. Just before his death Herod realised that when he died there would be no great mourning; so he ordered hundreds of leading citizens to be locked up in the race course for horses; then he then gave the order that upon his death they were all to be executed. This, he hoped, would ensure that the whole nation would be in mourning when he died. Fortunately, when Herod died the imprisoned Jews were released and there was general rejoicing. He had reigned for 33 years (37-4 BCE).
To be continued.
