Herod, (Matt. ii. 1,) surnamed the Great, was the ancestor of several of the same name, mentioned in the New Testament. He was governor of Judea (then a Roman province) at the time of our Savior's birth. Though he was called king, he was subject to the Roman emperor, and was distinguished for his savage cruelty.
Archelaus. (Matt. ii. 22.) A son of Herod the Great. On the decease of his father, the same year that our Savior was born, Archelaus succeeded to the government of Judea, and reigned there when Joseph and Mary, with the infant Jesus, were returning from Egypt, whither they had gone to escape the fury of Herod. Archelaus, however, was much like his father in the malignity of his temper, and they were therefore still afraid to return.
Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor of Judea, was in office 10 years. The character of Pilate was remarkable. When Jesus was arraigned before him, he was not only anxious to avoid trying him, (Luke xxiii. 4. 7,) but he once and again, in the most solemn and impressive manner, even in presence of his malicious and blood-thirsty persecutors, declared his conviction of his perfect innocence. (Luke xxiii. 1. 14. John xix. 6.)
By his covetous and cruel administration he caused himself to be exceedingly hated, both by the Jews and Samaritans. At length, three years after the death of Christ, complaints against him reached the court of the Emperor Caligula, and he was recalled to Rome, tried,
and banished to Gaul. Afterwards, through poverty and shame, he committed suicide.
Agrippa. (Acts xxv 13.) Son and successor of Herod the persecutor. (Acts' xii. 1.) Porcius Festus, the successor of Felix in the government of Judea, came to Cæsarea; and while there, Agrippa (who was governor or king of several of the eastern provinces of the Roman empire) came, with his sister Bernice or Berenice, to pay him a visit of congratulation upon his accession to office. The conversation between them turning upon Paul, who was then in confinement at Csesarea, and whose remarkable story must have been very notorious, Festus stated the whole.
Felix was deputy-governor of Judea. He enticed Drusilla to divorce Azizus, king of Emesa, and then
