Herodians

Matth. xxii. 16. Mark iii. 6.HERODIANS, one of the four Sects, which were among the Jews in our Saviour’s time. This Sect was not ancient, and could have been no earlier than the reign of the Herods in Judæa. Neither Josephus nor Philo speak of it by the name of the Herodiansviii. 15. xii. 14.; but the Gospel does in several places.

People are very much divided about the Sect of the Herodians. There may be reckoned eight or nine different opinions concerning the original of it. Some believed that the Herodians took Herod for the Messiah¹; but as there were several Herods, who were known to have reigned over the Jews, they are still divided to know, which of them was acknowledged for the Messiah. The generality are for Herod the Great, the son of Antipater, who died some months after the birth of Jesus Christ. He appeared at a time when all the world were in expectation of the Messiah. He was a powerful, brave, and warlike Prince. He is said to have procured the genealogical Memoirs of the House of David to be burnt, that so no one might be able to prove, that he was not of a family, from which it was well known that the Messiah was to spring. Lastly, Persius is Pers. Sat. 6. vs. 180. Luke xiii. 32.cited, who speaks of King Herod’s Festival, which was celebrated at Rome among the Jews with great illuminations.

Others² were of opinion, that Herod II. surnamed Antipas, and Tetrarch of Galilee, was the Head of the Herodians. He was a very ambitious and very politick Prince, for our Saviour calls him Fox. He might be very well thought to be ambitious of passing for the Messiah.

Philastrius³ and some others believed Herod Agrippa, who was appointed King of Judæa by Caligula, to have given name to the Herodians. But how can this opinion be maintainable, since the Herodians were already known some years before this Prince ascended the throne?

Father Hardouin⁴ imagined, that the Herodians were Platonists, whom King Herod had brought into credit in Judæa, in imitation of the Platonists of Athens, of whose Sect he was a follower.

Mark viii. 15. Matth. xvi. 6.These Platonists, according to him, were of the same principles with the Sadducees, for which reason the Herodians are mentioned in the Gospel instead of the Sadducees; and our Saviour having cautioned his Disciples in St. Mark, to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Herodians, in St. Matthew admonishes them to guard themselves against the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees. But in other places the Evangelists distinguish clearly the Sadducees from the Herodians; and it is very probable, that St. Mark has supplied what was wanting in St. Matthew.

The Author of the imperfect Work upon St. Matthew believes, that the Herodians were Pagan Subjects of Herod Antipas: But is it credible that the Pharisees should concert with Pagans to tempt Jesus Christ?

Many of the Fathers⁵, and several Commentators, have asserted, that the Herodians were people of Herod’s retinue, who to satisfy their curiosity, or make their court to their master, came with the Pharisees to tempt Jesus Christ upon paying tribute; but it appears by the recital of the Evangelists, that the Herodians were a Sect subsisting in Judæa without any dependance on King Herod, and his power at Jerusalem.

Some⁶ will have it, that the Herodians were Politicians who favoured the dominion of Herod and the Romans, against the Jews, who were zealous for the Liberty of their nation: the former maintained, that it was their duty to pay tribute to the Kings established by the Romans; and they were called Herodians, as who should say, Royal, or Royalists, in opposition to the other Jews, who were not of the same opinion, and might properly be termed Republicans, or Free. St. Justin the Martyr⁷ says, that the Herodians were people of Herod’s party, who acknowledged him to be the High-Priest of their Nation; which the other Strabo, l. 16. p. 765.Jews refused to do. Strabo tells us, that this Prince took upon him the High-Priesthood, which his predecessors had not enjoyed. But Josephus says nothing like it; he only confesses that Herod, after the death of his brother-in-law Aristobulus, disposed as he pleased of the High-Priesthood; which, without doubt, was displeasing to all honest Israelites. But we have no proof that they, who were well satisfied with Herod’s conduct in this particular, composed a distinct Sect among the Jews.

Scaliger⁸ and some others were of opinion, that this was a kind of fraternity set up in honour of Herod, as there were societies of the same nature at Rome in honour of Augustus, Adrian, and Antonine, called for this reason Sodales Augustales, Augustians, Adrianians, &c. But this fraternity or society of Augustians was not established at Rome till after the death of Augustus, and so consequently after that of Herod, who died before Augustus.

Dr. Prideaux⁹ proves very clearly, that the Herodians were a Sect formed among the Jews; that they had a leaven, or particular doctrines distinct from those of the Pharisees and Sadducees, against whom our Saviour requires his followers to guard themselves. There is no question to be made, but that they took their sentiments from Herod the Great, since they bore his name. They were probably his creatures or domesticks, as the Syriac version calls them. There remains nothing more than to know what were the Doctrines of the Herodians. This Author thinks they were reducible to these two Heads: 1. In their belief that the dominion of the Romans over the Jews was just and lawful, and that it was their duty to submit to it. 2. That in the present circumstances they might with a good conscience follow many of the heathen modes and usages. It is certain Antiq. l. 15. c. 12.that these were Herod’s Principles, since he excuses himself on the score of the necessity of the times for acting in many things against the maxims of the Jewish Religion.

Acts v. 37.Having now laid before you these several opinions relating to the Herodians, it remains for us to chuse our side of the question. We see from the Gospel, 1. That this was a Sect formed and actually subsisting among the Jews in our Saviour’s time. 2. That it differed from the Pharisees, Sadducees, and Essenians. We have made it appear, that the argument produced to shew, that they and the Sadducees were the same, is not solid. 3. They were seen always with the Pharisees. 4. They were very much concerned to know whether it were necessary to pay tribute to the Romans, or not. 5. They had some dangerous principles, since our Saviour admonishes his hearers to take care of their leaven. Now I see none but the Disciples of Judas the Gaulonite or Galilæan, in whom all these characters concur. They composed a Sect, which is particularly taken notice of in Joseph. Antiq. l. 18. c. 1, & 2.Josephus; they agreed in all things with the Pharisees; the only instance which distinguished them, was their excessive love of liberty, they being fully persuaded, that men were to pay obedience to God only. This Sect was in all its vigour when our Saviour appeared; after the destruction of Jerusalem, when the nation was dispersed and reduced to slavery, it sunk and was intirely lost.

Judas Gaulonites, or the Galilæan, appeared at the time when all the people were taxed by order of Augustus, in the year of Antiq. l. 18. c. 1. p. 616.Jesus Christ 10, and of the Vulgar Æra 14, ten years after the first taxation which was made at the birth of Jesus Christ. This Judas pretended, that the true Israelites, being the people of God, were to be subject to no man. He had a great number of Disciples, whom some called Galilæans, because Gaulon is in Upper Galilee; and others Herodians, because this City belonged to Herod Antipas’s kingdom. Josephus gives them no particular name; he says only, that they were followers of Judas the Gaulonite, great lovers of Liberty, and maintained the same opinions as the PhariseesAntiq. l. 18. c. 1. & de Bello, l. 2. c. 12. Hieron. in Ep. ad Tit. c. 3.. All that the Gospel tells us of the Herodians agrees perfectly with the idea, which Josephus gives us of the Disciples of Judas Gaulonites. St. Jerom makes no question, but that St. Paul in his Epistles has these Hereticks in view, when he recommends submission to the secular Powers established by God. See our Dissertation concerning the Sects of Antiq. l. 18. c. 7.the Jews, prefixed to our Comment on St. Mark.

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