t send the long-expected Messiah. A saying of
the rabbis was, "If Israel should keep the law for one day, the Messiah
would come." The custom of baptism was in use before he took it up. It
signified the desire that God should make the life pure and wash away
the sins of the past.

_The family of the Herods_ were the descendants of a courtier of Idumea,
in the northern part of Arabia. Herod the Great married a princess of
the heroic family of the Maccabees, so that most of the Herods of the
New Testament are partly Jewish in blood. The {486} family of Herod were
very able, but very cruel and selfish, and the people heartily hated
them. It is said that Herod the Great gave orders that when he died a
large number of the chief men should be killed at Jericho that the
people might mourn at his death. Perhaps the poor king was half insane
when he ordered this. Anyway, it was not done.

The following is a table of the Herodian family, but only giving those
mentioned in the New Testament:--

| AGRIPPA II.
| Acts 25,26
|
| AGRIPPA I. --| BERNICE
| Acts 12 | Acts 25:13; 26:30
| |
| ARISTOBULUS --| | DRUSILLA
| | | Acts 24:24
| |
| | HERODIAS
| | Matt. 14:3
| | Mark 6:17
| | Luke 3:39
|
|
|
| HEROD (PHILIP) | SALOME
| Matt. 14:3 --| Matt. 14:6
| Mark 6:17 | Mark 6:22
| Luke 3:19
Herod the Great |
Matt. 2:1-22 --|
Luke 1:5 |
| ANTIPAS
| Matt. 14:1-6
| Mark 6:14
| Luke 3:1, 19; 9:7; 13:31; 23:7, 15
| Acts 13: 1
|
|
| ARCHELAUS
| Matt. 2:22
|
|