RULER OF JUDAEA UNDER ROME · NEW TESTAMENT

Archelaus. The son whose rule in Judaea turned Joseph aside to Galilee.

RULEDi

Not given c. 4 BC – AD 6 (dates vary)

SEAT

Not stated

HOUSE

Herod's family 4th of 17 in Rome

SCRIPTURE SAYS

“When he heard that Archelaus did reign in Judaea in the room of his father Herod, he was afraid to go…”

PROPHETS

None named

ROME: 17 RULERS HEROD THE GREAT → PORCIUS FESTUS

THE HERODS

Which Herod this is

SUCCESSION

Before and after

WHAT SCRIPTURE SAYS

What Scripture says of him

  • "When he heard that Archelaus did reign in Judaea in the room of his father Herod, he was afraid to go thither": Joseph, warned in a dream, turned aside into Galilee. Matthew 2:22
  • Joseph settled the family in "a city called Nazareth". Matthew 2:23
  • From the textThis is the only verse that names Archelaus. Scripture records nothing he did or said. Matthew 2:22

THE KINGDOM

The places Scripture names

Rome. Only places Scripture names are shown, each where the Atlas puts it.

EVENTS

Wars, works and turning points

UNDATED IN SCRIPTURE

DATES DIFFER

When was it?

SCRIPTURE'S NUMBERS

No years given

None.

SCHÜRER (1890)

c. 4 BC – AD 6[18]

Ethnarch from Herod's death in 4 BC until Augustus deposed him and banished him to Vienne in Gaul in AD 6.

Yes, the story echoes his journey to Rome

H. A. W. Meyer (English 1880); F. W. Farrar (1880); C. J. Ellicott's commentary (about 1880); A. B. Bruce (1897), who says the idea has been "very generally accepted" since Clericus and Wolf

A nobleman goes "into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom" and his citizens send after him, "We will not have this man to reign over us". They compare Archelaus's journey to Augustus and the embassy of fifty sent against him (Antiquities 17.11.1); Farrar notes that Herod and Archelaus had both gone from Jericho to Rome to receive a kingdom, and Jesus told the parable near Jericho (Luke 19:1, 11). Luke 19:1 Luke 19:11–14 [23][20][4][1]

Jesus would not have pictured himself by Archelaus

Schanz, as reported by A. B. Bruce (1897), who disagrees

Bruce reports Schanz's objection that Jesus would not choose so bad a man to stand for himself, and answers that Jesus also used an unjust judge and an unjust steward in parables. Luke 19:12 [1]

IN SCRIPTURE

Every passage

CHAPTERS · 1

Matthew 2

PASSAGES · 1

Matthew 2:19–23

WHAT SCRIPTURE DOES NOT SAY

  • Scripture names Archelaus once (Matthew 2:22) and records nothing he did.
  • Scripture does not call him king or ethnarch; it says he "did reign".
  • Scripture does not record his removal by Augustus.
  • Luke's parable of the nobleman (Luke 19:12) names no ruler.

IDENTIFICATIONS THIS PAGE RELIES ON

  • Matthew names him once, as son of Herod: "Archelaus did reign in Judaea in the room of his father Herod". Matthew 2:22
  • Scholars' viewSchürer (1890) assigns him the coins inscribed, in Greek, "of Herod the ethnarch", since no other Herodian bore that title, and notes that the Roman historian Dio Cassius calls him Herod.[18]

SOURCES

Where this page comes from

  • A. B. Bruce, The Expositor's Greek Testament: Luke (1897), note on Luke 19:12–27 (read on Bible Hub).
  • A. C. McGiffert, Notes to Eusebius, Church History (Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 2, vol. 1) (1890), book 2, chapter 10, notes 7 and 8, pp. 111–112.
  • C. J. Ellicott (ed.), A Bible Commentary for English Readers (c. 1878–1884), note on Acts 26:28 (read on Bible Hub).
  • C. J. Ellicott (ed.), A Bible Commentary for English Readers (c. 1878–1884), note on Luke 19:12 (read on Bible Hub).
  • E. Schürer, A History of the Jewish People in the Time of Jesus Christ, Division I, vol. 1 (tr. J. Macpherson) (1890), §14, p. 393 and note 3 (Herod made king by the Senate).
  • E. Schürer, A History of the Jewish People in the Time of Jesus Christ, Division I, vol. 1 (tr. J. Macpherson) (1890), §15, pp. 400–401 (heading 'Herod the Great, B.C. 37–4'; sources).
  • E. Schürer, A History of the Jewish People in the Time of Jesus Christ, Division I, vol. 1 (tr. J. Macpherson) (1890), §15, pp. 409–410 and note 12 (the temple begun in B.C. 20–19).
  • E. Schürer, A History of the Jewish People in the Time of Jesus Christ, Division I, vol. 1 (tr. J. Macpherson) (1890), §15, pp. 463–466 and note 165 (the last will, death and date).
  • E. Schürer, A History of the Jewish People in the Time of Jesus Christ, Division I, vol. 2 (tr. J. Macpherson) (1890), §17a, pp. 10–16 (Philip, B.C. 4 – A.D. 34).
  • E. Schürer, A History of the Jewish People in the Time of Jesus Christ, Division I, vol. 2 (tr. J. Macpherson) (1890), Excursus I, pp. 131–133 (the census and Herod's lifetime).
  • E. Schürer, A History of the Jewish People in the Time of Jesus Christ, Division I, vol. 2 (tr. J. Macpherson) (1890), §18, pp. 150–165 and notes (Herod Agrippa I, A.D. 37, 40, 41–44).
  • E. Schürer, A History of the Jewish People in the Time of Jesus Christ, Division I, vol. 2 (tr. J. Macpherson) (1890), §17b, pp. 17–20 (Antipas: title, territory, cities).
  • E. Schürer, A History of the Jewish People in the Time of Jesus Christ, Division I, vol. 2 (tr. J. Macpherson) (1890), §19 Supplement, pp. 191–206 and notes (Agrippa II, A.D. 50–100).
  • E. Schürer, A History of the Jewish People in the Time of Jesus Christ, Division I, vol. 2 (tr. J. Macpherson) (1890), §17b, pp. 21–28 and notes (Herodias; John the Baptist).
  • E. Schürer, A History of the Jewish People in the Time of Jesus Christ, Division I, vol. 2 (tr. J. Macpherson) (1890), §17b, pp. 29–32 (Jesus and Antipas; the chronology).
  • E. Schürer, A History of the Jewish People in the Time of Jesus Christ, Division I, vol. 2 (tr. J. Macpherson) (1890), §17b, pp. 32–38 and notes (Aretas; banishment).
  • E. Schürer, A History of the Jewish People in the Time of Jesus Christ, Division I, vol. 2 (tr. J. Macpherson) (1890), Appendix II, pp. 356–358 (Aretas IV, B.C. 9 – A.D. 40).
  • E. Schürer, A History of the Jewish People in the Time of Jesus Christ, Division I, vol. 2 (tr. J. Macpherson) (1890), §17c, pp. 38–42 and notes (Archelaus, B.C. 4 – A.D. 6).
  • Eusebius, tr. A. C. McGiffert, Church History (Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 2, vol. 1) (1890), 2.10.1–10, pp. 111–112.
  • F. W. Farrar, The Gospel according to St Luke (Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges) (1880), note on Luke 19:12 (read on Bible Hub).
  • H. A. W. Meyer, Critical and Exegetical Handbook to the Acts of the Apostles (English translation) (1877–1879), note on Acts 23:35 (read on Bible Hub).
  • H. A. W. Meyer, Critical and Exegetical Handbook to the Acts of the Apostles (English translation) (1877–1879), note on Acts 26:28 (read on Bible Hub).
  • H. A. W. Meyer, Critical and Exegetical Handbook to the Gospels of Mark and Luke (English translation) (1880), note on Luke 19:12–13 (read on Bible Hub).
  • H. A. W. Meyer, Critical and Exegetical Handbook to the Gospels of Mark and Luke (English translation) (1880), note on Mark 6:14 (read on Bible Hub).
  • H. D. M. Spence and J. S. Exell (eds.), The Pulpit Commentary (quoting F. W. Farrar, The Life of Christ, 1874) (1880–1897), note on Matt 2:16 (read on Bible Hub).
  • J. A. Bengel, Gnomon of the New Testament (Latin 1742; English translation) (1742), note on Acts 26:28 (read on Bible Hub).
  • J. R. Lumby, The Acts of the Apostles (Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges) (1882), note on Acts 26:28 (read on Bible Hub).
  • John Gill, An Exposition of the New Testament (1746–1748), note on Acts 26:28 (read on Bible Hub).
  • John Gill, An Exposition of the New Testament (1746–1748), note on Matt 2:16 (read on Bible Hub).
  • M. R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (1887), note on Acts 23:35 (read on Bible Hub).
  • Macrobius (Latin text, ed. L. von Jan), Saturnalia (1852), 2.4.11 (our translation of the Latin).
  • Matthew Poole, Annotations upon the Holy Bible (1683–1685), note on Acts 23:35 (read on Bible Hub).
  • R. Jamieson, A. R. Fausset and D. Brown, A Commentary, Critical and Explanatory, on the Whole Bible (1871), note on Acts 26:28 (read on Bible Hub).
  • Suetonius, tr. J. C. Rolfe, The Lives of the Caesars: Titus (1914), Titus 7.1–2.
  • W. M. Ramsay, Was Christ Born at Bethlehem? (1898), pp. 201, 219–221, 245.

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