8. Godet has, in a few forcible sentences, traced what may be called not merely the
difference, but the contrast between the teaching and aims of the Essenes and those of
John.
9. Ab.Zar.2 b.
10. Probably about Easter, 26 a.d.
As regards Palestine, the ancient kingdom of Herod was now divided into four parts,
Judæa being under the direct administration of Rome, two other tetrarchies under the rule
of Herod's sons (Herod Antipas and Philip), while the small principality of Abilene was
governed by Lysanias.11 Of the latter no details can be furnished, nor are they necessary
in this history. It is otherwise as regards the sons of Herod, and especially the character of
the Roman government at that time.
11. Till quite lately, those who impugn the veracity of the Gospels - Strauss, and even
Keim - have p ointed to this notice of Lysanias as an instance of the unhistorical character
of St. Luke's Gospel. But it is now admitted on all hands that the notice of St. Luke is
strictly correct; and that, besides the other Lysanias, one of the same name had reigned
over Abilene at the time of Christ. Comp. Wieseler, Beitr. pp. 196-204, and Schürer in
Riehm's Handwörterb, p. 931.
Herod Antipas, whose rule extended over forty-three years, reigned over Galilee and
Peræa - the districts which were respectively the principal sphere of the Ministry of Jesus
and of John the Baptist. Like his brother Archelaus, Herod Antipas possessed in an even
aggravated form most of the vices, without any of the greater qualities, of his father. Of
deeper religious feelings or convictions he was entirely destitute, though his conscience
occasionally misgrave, if it did not restrain, him. The inherent weakness of his character
left him in the absolute control of his wife, to the final ruin of his fortunes. He was
covetous, avaricious, luxurious, and utterly dissipated suspicious, and with a good deal of
that fox-cunning which, especially in the East, often forms the sum total of state-craft.
Like his father, he indulged a taste for building - always taking care to propitiate Rome
by dedicat ing all to the Emperor. The most extensive of his undertakings was the
building, in 22 a.d., of the city of Tiberias, at the upper end of the Lake of Galilee. The
site was under the disadvantage of having formerly been a burying-place, which, as
implying Levitical uncleanness, for some time deterred pious Jews from settling there.
Nevertheless, it rose in great magnificence from among the reeds which had but lately
covered the neighbourhood (the ensigns armorial of the city were 'reeds'). Herod Antipas
made it his residence, and built there a strong castle and a palace of unrivalled splendour.
The city, which was peopled chiefly by adventurers, was mainly Grecian, and adorned
with an amphitheatre, of which the ruins can still be traced.
A happier account can be given of Philip, the son of Herod the Great and Cleopatra of
Jerusalem. He was undoubtedly the best of Herod's sons. He showed, indeed, the same
abject submission as the rest of his family to the Roman Emperor, after whom he named
the city of Cæsarea Philippi, which he built at the sources of the Jordan; just as he
changed the name of Bethsaida, a village of which he made an opulent city, into Julias,
after the daughter of Augustus. But he was a moderate and just ruler, and his reign of
thirty-seven years contrasted favourably with that of his kinsmen. The land was quiet and
prosperous, and the people contented and happy.