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Known for
their sensuality and corrupt living, the Herodians were supporters of the
policies and government of the Herodian (Herod) family.
They were
a political rather than religious party.
The Herodians
distinguished themselves from the two great religious-political parties of the
day (the Pharisees and Sadducees) by the fact that they were sincerely friendly
to Herod the Great and to his dynasty.
The
ruling dynasty that the Herodians supported was begun by Julius Caesar in 47
B.C. when he appointed Antipater I the Idumaen to be procurator of Judea.
His son
Herod (the Great) began to rule Judea in 37 B.C. Herod Antipas, son of Herod
the Great, became tetrarch of Galilee and Perea in 4 B.C. after the death of
his father.
Jesus,
early in his ministry, attended a synagogue on the Sabbath where he healed a
man's withered hand.
The
Pharisees who saw the miracle believed Jesus broke the Sabbath because they
considered the healing "work."
Jesus'
trespass of their man-made rules (not God's law) motivated their hard hearts to
seek the help of the Herodians to murder him (Mark 3:1-6).
This is
the first plot against Jesus mentioned in the gospels and the first time the
followers of Herod are mentioned in the New Testament.
On
another occasion the Pharisees wanted to try and trap Jesus into stating
something which could be construed as being against the Roman government.
Their
plan was to send some of their disciples and some Herodians to Jesus and have
them ask him a certain "honest" question (Matthew 22:15-16, Mark 12:13-14).
The question was, "Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar,
or not? Shall we pay, or shall we not pay?" (Mark 12:14-15, NKJV).
Those who
heard his response were amazed!
Why were
the Herodians, who were not a religious group, so vehemently against Jesus?
One
Biblical commentary attempts to answer this question by stating the following.
"All the friends of the family of Herod were opposed to Christ,
and ever ready to join any plot against his life. They remembered, doubtless,
the attempts of Herod the Great against him when he was the babe of Bethlehem,
and they were stung with the memory of the escape of Jesus from his bloody
hands" (Albert
Barnes Notes on the Bible, comments on Matthew 12:14).
The
Pharisees wanted Jesus to prove he was the Messiah by giving them a sign or
performing a great miracle (Matthew 12:38-40, 16:1-4).
Herod,
who saw Jesus after his arrest, also desperately wanted to see Jesus perform a
miracle "on command" as it were (see Luke
23:8).
The Bible
states that Jesus warned his disciples about the Herodians.
He told them, "Watch out! Be on guard against the leaven
of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod" (Mark 8:15, HBFV).
The
leaven Jesus warned of was that the Pharisees wanted a heavenly sign and that
Herod had long desired to see Jesus perform a miracle on command (Luke 23:8).
The
leaven was also symbolic of the teachings of the Pharisees and Herodians (Matthew 16:12) and their opposition to the gospel.
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Mark 12:13-17 New
King James Version (NKJV)
The Pharisees: Is It Lawful to Pay Taxes to
Caesar?
13 Then they sent to Him some of the Pharisees and the Herodians, to
catch Him in His words. 14 When they had come, they said to Him, “Teacher, we know that You
are true, and [a]care about no one; for You do not [b]regard the person of men, but teach
the way of God in truth. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or
not? 15 Shall we pay, or shall we not pay?”
But He, knowing their hypocrisy, said to
them, “Why do you test Me? Bring Me a denarius that I may see it.” 16 So they brought it.
And He said to them, “Whose image and
inscription is this?” They said to Him, “Caesar’s.”
17 And Jesus answered and said to them, [c]“Render to Caesar the things that are
Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”
And they marveled at Him.
Footnotes:
a.
Mark 12:14 Court no man’s favor
b.
Mark 12:14 Lit. look at the face
of men
c.
Mark 12:17 Pay
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