What bad things did King Herod Antipas do?

Answer 1

According to Luke - nothing.

The Gospel According to St Luke says that a few days after Jesus was born, Joseph and Mary took their son from Bethlehem to Jerusalem, then returned home peacefully to Galilee. There was no mention of Herod showing any interest in Jesus. According to Matthew - also nothing.

The Gospel According to St Matthew says that Herod sought to have Jesus killed, but the family fled from Bethlehem to Egypt and remained there until after the death of Herod. The Gospel says that Herod killed all the infants in and around Bethlehem who were under two years old - the "Slaughter of the Innocents". We should expect that someone would have recorded the "Slaughter of the Innocents", if it really occurred, but there is no such record.

Answer 2

He was afraid that Jesus would take his place. He knew the prophecies were true, and he didn't want to give up his throne, not knowing that God chose to come as a humble child.

An alternative view is that Jesus was of royal Hasmonean birth through his mother Mary. Herod deposed the Jewish Hasmonean dynasty in 37 BCE when, with Roman backing, he captured Jerusalem and sent Antigonus (last Hasmonean king) to execution by Marc Antony. The particulars of the theory linking Jesus to the Hasmonean kings through the genealogy given in Luke, Ch. 3 is found here.

Answer 3

Herod was a local "puppet king " installed by the Romans and so was answerable to them. When the Wise Men came asking to see the "new-born King", he was very worried that some kind of rebellion was brewing up (and his Roman Masters would punish him severely for allowing that) and to squash it decisively the obvious thing to do would be to locate this individual and kill him.

Answer 4

Matthew's Gospel says that King Herod ordered all the infant boys under two years old to be slaughered - the "Slaughter of the Innocents". You would expect the author of Luke's Gospel to know of this event, but he seems not to have known. Even Josephus, the first-century Jewish historian, who never shrank from cataloguing Herod's crimes, makes no mention of such an atrocity, although if it really occurred it would surely have rated among the best-remembered of Herod's misdeeds. So, we can say that as a gospel story, King Herod ordered the "Slaughter of the Innocents" but that historically this never happened.

Answer 5

A:Herod Antipas certainly had John the Baptist killed, although the historical account from Josephus differs markedly from that in the New Testament gospels.

The first-century Jewish historian, Josephus, tells us that Herod Antipas had John imprisoned and executed in the castle of Macherus, to the east of the Dead Sea, for publicly criticising Antipas for marrying his own brother's former wife in 34 CE. Josephus says that Antipas feared that John would create an insurrection unless he was executed as quickly as possible, with the execution apparently taking place in 35 or 36 CE. The New Testament gospels acknowledge that John was arrested for his criticism of Antipas' marriage, but move the death back in time to around 29 CE and say that Antipas reluctantly had John beheaded in Galilee on a whim of his wife.

Answer 6

Herod didn't ask the wise men to do anything "to" Jesus; he tried to use them to discover where Jesus could be found.

Matthew 2:8 - And he [Herod] sent them [the wise men] to Bethlehem and said, "Go and search carefully for the young Child, and when you have found Him, bring back word to me, that I may come and worship Him also."

They found Jesus, of course, but did not return to Herod.

Matt. 2:12 - Then, being divinely warned in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed for their own country another way.

[Quotes from NKJV]

Answer 7

King Herod died, then Joseph , Mary and Jesus returned from Egypt.

Answer 8

Herrod felt the world was only big enough for one king, Herrod. He sent his soldiers into Bethleham to kill all male children two years old and younger.