"In evangelift, agrees with divers particulars in his hiftory, preferved by Jofephus. the tenth year of his government, the chief of the Jews and Samaritans, not being able to endure his cruelty and tyranny, presented complaints against him to Cefar *. II. (p.19.) Luke iii. 1. "In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Cefar-Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of Iturea and of the region of Trachonitis-the word of God came unto John." By the will of Herod the Great, and the decree of Auguftus thereupon, his two fons were appointed, one (Herod Antipas) tetrarch of Galilee and Peræa, and the other (Philip) tetrarch of Trachonitis and the neighbouring countriest. We have therefore thefe two perfons in the fituations in which St. Luke places them; and also, that they were in these fituations in the fifteenth * Ant. lib. xvii. c. 13, fec. I. Ant. lib. xvii. c. 8, fec. 1. year year of Tiberius; in other words, that they continued in poffeffion of their territories and titles until that time, and afterwards, appears from a paffage of Jofephus, which relates of Herod, "that he was removed by Caligula, the fucceffor of Tiberius*; and of Philip, that he died in the twentieth year of Tiberius, when he had governed Trachonitis and Batanea and Gaulanitis thirty-feven yearst." III. (p. 20.) Mark v. 17. "Herod had fent forth, and laid hold upon John, and bound him in prifon, for Herodias' fake, his brother Philip's wife; for he had married her," With this compare Jof. Ant. 1. xviii. c. 6, fec. 1. "He (Herod the tetrarch) made a visit to Herod his brother-Here, falling in love with Herodias, the wife of the faid * Ant. lib. xviii. c. 8, fec. 2. See alfo Mat. xiv. 1-13. Luke iii. 19. Herod, With this also compare Jof. Ant. 1. xviii. c. 6, fec. 4. "Herodias was married to Herod, son of Herod the Great. They had a daughter, whose name was Salome; after * The affinity of the two accounts is unquestionable; but there is a difference in the name of Herodias's firft husband, which, in the evangelift, is Philip; in Jofephus,` Herod. The difficulty, however, will not appear confiderable, when we recollect how common it was, in thofe times, for the fame perfon to bear two names; "Simon, which is called Peter; Lebbeus, whofe furname is Thaddeus; Thomas, which is called Didymus; Simeon, who was called Niger; Saul, who was alfo called Paul." The folution is rendered likewife eafier in the prefent cafe, by the confideration, that Herod the Great had children by feven or eight wives; that Jofephus mentions three of his fons under the name of Herod, that it is nevertheless highly probable, that the brothers bore fome additional name, by which they were distinguished from one another. Lard, vol, ii, p. 897. whofe whose birth, Herodias, in utter violation of the laws of her country, left her husband then living, and married Herod the tetrarch of Galilee, her husband's brother by the father's fide." IV. (p. 29.) Acts xii. 1. "Now, about that time, Herod the king stretched forth his hands, to vex certain of the church." In the conclusion of the fame chapter, Herod's death is represented to have taken place foon after this perfecution. The accuracy of our hiftorian, or, rather, the unmeditated coincidence, which truth of its own accord produces, is in this inftance remarkable. There was no portion of time, for thirty years before, nor ever afterwards, in which there was a king at Jerufalem, a perfon exercifing that authority in Judea, or to whom that tile could be applied, except the three laft years of this Herod's life, within which period the transaction recorded in the Acts is ftated to have taken place. This prince was the grandson of Herod the Great. In the Acts he appears under his family name of of Herod; by Jofephus he is called Agrippa. For proof that he was a king, properly fo called, we have the teftimony of Jofephus in full and direct terms :-" Sending for him to his palace, Caligula put a crown upon his head, and appointed him king of the tetrarchie of Philip, intending also to give him the tetrarchie of Lyfanias *." And that Judea was at laft, but not until the laft, included in his dominions, appears by a fubfequent paffage of the fame Jofephus, wherein he tells us, that Claudius, by a decree, confirmed to Agrippa the dominion which Caligula had given him, adding alfo Juded and Samaria, in the utmost extent, as poffeffed by his grandfather Herod †. "And he V. (p. 32.) Acts xii. 19. 23. (Herod) went down from Judea to Cefarea, and there abode.-And upon a fet day, Herod, arrayed in royal apparel, fat upon his throne, and made an oration unto them; and the people gave a fhout, faying, It is the voice of a god, and not of a man; and im * Ant. xviii. c. 7, fec. 10. 7 + Ib. xix. c. 5, fec. 1. mediately |