Did Herod Want to Kill Jesus?

"Go and Tell That Fox..."

Herod the Great did indeed want to kill the infant Jesus, and failed because Jesus' family fled to Egypt. But did his son Herod Antipas "the tetrarch" say he wanted to kill the thirty-something Jesus?

Yes?  You say that's in the Bible?

Let's Look Again...

Some Pharisees approached Jesus, saying, "Go away, leave here, for Herod wants to kill you." And he said to them, "Go and tell that fox, 'Behold, I cast out demons today and tomorrow, and the third day I reach my goal.' Nevertheless I must journey on today and tomorrow and the next; for it cannot be that a prophet would perish outside Jerusalem" (Luke 13:31-33).

Ah. It was the Pharisees who said that. But can we trust these Pharisees? Let's dig some more...

Herod the tetrarch heard the news about Jesus, and said to his servants, "This is John the Baptist; he has risen from the dead, and that is why miraculous powers are at work in him" (Matthew 14:1-2).

But when Herod heard [the news], he kept saying, "John, whom I beheaded, has risen!" (Mark 6:16). 

Now Herod the tetrarch heard of all that was happening; and he was greatly perplexed, because it was said by some that John had risen from the dead, and by some that Elijah had appeared, and by others that one of the prophets of old had risen again. Herod said, "I myself had John beheaded, but who is this man about whom I hear such things?" And he kept trying to see him (Luke 9:7-9).

When Pilate learned that Jesus belonged to Herod's jurisdiction, he sent him to Herod, who himself also was in Jerusalem at that time, Now Herod was very glad when he saw Jesus; for he had wanted to see him for a long time, because he had been hearing about him and was hoping to see some sign performed by him. He questioned Jesus at some length, but Jesus answered him nothing. And the chief priests and the scribes were standing there accusing him vehemently. And Herod with his soldiers, after treating him with contempt and mocking him, dressed him in a gorgeous robe and sent him back to Pilate (Luke 23:7-11).

Herod Antipas had wanted to see Jesus for a long time. Now He with his soldiers had Jesus in his custody, and could do anything he wanted with Jesus. But instead, Herod sent him back to governor Pilate. It doesn't seem as if Herod had wanted to kill Jesus. We must also remember that Herod never wanted to kill John the Baptist, but was maneuvered into doing so by Herod's wife.

Was the Pharisee lying when he said that to Jesus? Or was he just repeating an unfounded rumor that he had heard? We cannot tell. But we can be sure that he had a malicious intent to disrupt Jesus' ministry. He was taking advantage of a time when Jesus had crossed the Jordan River into Perea, which was the second of two kingdoms (along with Galilee) over which Herod Antipas reigned.

Who's Guarding the Hen House?

Jesus had a word for those Pharisees from Jerusalem, turning their murderous threat back against them in a prophecy.

"O, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, just as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not have it! Behold, your house is left to you desolate, and I say to you, you will not see me until the time comes when you say, 'Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!' " (Luke 13:34-35).

A SIGN I say, Not Feeding 5,000!

Why do Pharisees seek a sign?

In all four of the Gospels (twice in Matthew) we see Pharisees, Sadducees, and teachers of the Law (scribes) coming to Jesus and asking, "Show us a sign." or "What do you do for a sign, that we may believe you?"

If we had someone among us today that did all the kinds of powerful miracles that Jesus was doing, we might be justified in saying, "These things must be a sign from heaven! Surely God is with this person!" But for the Pharisees etc., "a sign" had a special and technical meaning that Jesus was not fulfilling for them.

The most prominent of these occasions lies in Matthew, right after Jesus had fed 5,000 men from five loaves of bread, followed a few weeks later by him feeding 4,000 men from seven loaves of bread. Wasn't that a sign?

Technically, no it wasn't. The technical meaning of "a sign" requested here is derived from Deuteronomy 18:21-22.

You may say in your heart, "How will we know the word which the LORD has not spoken?" When a prophet speaks in the name of the LORD, if the thing does not come about or come true, that is the thing which the LORD has not spoken. The prophet has spoken it presumptuously; you shall not be afraid of him.

For this occasion Matthew switches from his usual "Pharisees and scribes" to "Pharisees and Sadducees" to show that the request for a sign had special importance to the officials that controlled the temple and the Sanhedrin--the Supreme Court of the Jews. 

If Jesus had said, "such-and-such will happen next week," the Sanhedrin could take up the question of whether Jesus was a prophet or not. They were the men who "sat in Moses' seat" to take up great questions of the Law and who was a prophet or not. In First Kings 17:1, Elijah said, "As the LORD, the God of Israel lives, before whom I stand, surely there shall be neither dew nor rain these years, except by my word." Elijah said it, and it happened just as he said. Elijah was a proven prophet.

But we can go deeper here. The Pharisees and Sadducees wanted to exert their authority over Jesus, to determine whether he was a prophet or not. But Jesus was not only a prophet, but also the Son of God. If he had acceded to their request and gave some trivial sign to prove himself, he would be granting their authority over him.

So he resisted. But for the benefit of all Israel, and all his future followers, he gave the single sign, the sign of Jonah: "As Jonah was three days in the belly of the fish, so will the Son of Man be in the belly of the earth." And this came true: Jesus resurrected from the dead some three days after he had been killed.

You and I still have this tool for recognizing a prophet today. Many claim to know what is going to happen, but few are proven correct. The "Late Great Planet Earth" did not produce the second coming of Jesus when the writer of that book said it would. Therefore, we know not to trust the writer of that book. He is no prophet.