Men of the New Testament: "Herod" by Chris Young - Part 11

Good evening.

Okay, this quarter, as you know, we've been looking at various

men of the New Testament. And within

that, we've looked at some really good

individuals, things, some folks that we can learn

from. Emulate. And,

you know, we've looked at John the Baptist, we've looked at Barnabas, we've looked at

Peter, we've looked at Paul, Timothy,

John, and a few others as well.

The ones that we're going to be looking at tonight, you do not

want to emulate. And so, the assignment

I was given was Herod. I don't know what I did to somebody

that made these assignments, but I've got Herod tonight.

And Herod is not an individual, it's several

individuals. We're going to be looking at the Herods

that are mentioned in the New Testament

tonight. They are part of what you would call

a political dynasty. You have

several individuals from the same family that

ascended to very high positions within

the government. And we understand that. We've actually

seen that in our country on a few occasions. What are some

political dynasties that we're aware of in the United States

over the years? The Kennedys, right? The Kennedys,

senator, president,

Director of Health and Human Services, I guess,

and some other positions as well, high in government.

Any others? The Bush family. The Bush family.

We understand that. 2 presidents and governors and

all. So we understand the family dynasty

dynamic. This particular family

were known as the Herods, the Herodian dynasty.

And we're going to start in Matthew chapter 2. That's where they

Matthew 2 · chapter mention

are first mentioned within the pages of the New Testament,

Matthew chapter 2.

Matthew 2 · chapter mention

We're going to be first introduced to Herod the Great.

And guys in the sound room, if you will cue up the I

don't know if you can read that or not, but maybe some of

you can. But this is the best little flowchart that I was

able to find that kind of describes this

dynasty. And it starts off with Herod

the Great. Now that's the first one that's mentioned in the New Testament,

but that's not actually the first one in that family. Herod the Great's

father was a very high official in

that area in that day and time. But so we're going to start

off with taking a look at these guys. We're going to look at some scriptures

that mention them, that talk about them,

and we're going to see what kind of influence they had

upon the Palestinian region in that day and time,

and then also the impact that they had on Jesus

Christ and then also the early apostles as well and

the early Christians. So let's go ahead and start off here, Matthew chapter 2.

Matthew 2 · chapter mention

Now, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, and this is

an account that we've heard over and over again, and after Jesus was born in

Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king,

okay, that one's Herod the Great. He assumed the

throne there in 37 BC.

And he says, behold, wise men from the

East came to Jerusalem. Now, some of the characteristics of Herod

the Great, anybody know?

A great builder. Exactly, exactly. That's good.

Yeah, he was known for his acumen as far as building

is concerned, especially in areas like Caesarea.

And, you know, just great buildings. What building in particular

is he especially known for around Jerusalem? The temple,

the temple. As a matter of fact,

he enlarged the temple. He made it just something

spectacular. And it's kind of interesting if you'll go over,

kind of just keep your place there, go to Matthew chapter 24,

Matthew 24 · chapter mention

you'll kind of see an indication of the majesty of

this particular building.

He says, now this is where Jesus and His disciples

are together, Matthew chapter 24, at the beginning of the chapter. It says, then Jesus

Matthew 24 · chapter mention

went out and departed from the temple, and His disciples came up to show Him

the buildings of the temple. So, it's like they're pointing

out the grandeur and the majesty and the greatness of

this temple. And then of course, then Jesus kind of drops this bomb on them

and says, there's coming a day. And of course they think He's talking

about the end of time, but He's not talking about the end of time.

He's talking about the destruction of Jerusalem that would take place less than 40

years later. He says, there's coming a day

when this is all going to be leveled. There's not going to be one stone

left on another. And He says that, do you see all these

things? Surely I say to you, not one stone shall be left

here upon another that shall not be thrown down.

So that goes to show you that by this time, the temple was

just a thing of beauty. And so back in Matthew

Matthew 2 · chapter mention

chapter 2, he says here, the wise men

from the East came to Jerusalem. What else do we know about Herod

the Great from maybe historical references, not necessarily from

Murdered some of his family. His wife,

her family, and not only that, but I

think 3 of his own children.

Okay? Why did he do that?

Fear. Fear of losing power, right? He was intoxicated

by this power that he had.

Paranoia, yeah, he was paranoid.

If somebody was coming up through the ranks, or somebody was

popular, or politically persuasive,

and he viewed them as a threat, have them killed.

That was it. And so, he was known for that.

Anything else?

What's that? Absolutely, yeah, we're going to get to that,

absolutely. Yeah, he killed babies.

Good politician? Yeah, he was.

He was a great politician. That's how he assumed the throne.

He always had a knack for knowing what side

to be on, how to maneuver himself politically in

order to maximize his power. Very good politician because

at the end of the day, The Herods, yeah, they had

power, but ultimately, really, what were they?

What's that? They were dictators for sure.

Murderous dictators. Oh, they were

Rome's puppets, right? They were basically puppets of Rome, okay?

And so, with all that in mind,

take a look at verse 2. Okay, the wise

men are there. They're saying, where is He who has

been born King of the Jews?

For we have seen His star in the East and have come to worship Him.

Now, we always kind of gloss over that particular

passage where the wise men come in and ask these questions

and this question here,

but that was a real risk.

Because, okay, you've got a guy that's, you know,

will do anything to stay in power.

Anybody that questions him is struck dead.

And these guys are coming in here and say, hey, where is this

born King of the Jews? Where is he? Where is he?

So I don't know, they call them wise

men. I'm not sure how wise that is to go into him and

bring up somebody else being King of the Jews. In verse

3, it says, when Herod the king heard this, he was troubled

and all Jerusalem with him. Why do you think all Jerusalem with him was

troubled by this, by this question? Hmm?

What's that? They were afraid of him. They knew what

he was capable of. They had witnessed for,

by this point, you know, 35 years or thereabouts,

what he had done. 'Cause he took the throne in 37

BC. And so for over 30 years, they had

witnessed what he would do. And when he had

gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he inquired of

them where the Christ was to be born. So they said to

him, in Bethlehem of Judea, for thus is written by the prophets,

but you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are not the least among the rulers

of Judah, for out of you shall come a ruler who will shepherd my people

Israel. Reference from Micah 5:2.

Micah 5:2

Then Herod, when he had secretly called the wise men, of course,

he's devising this plan, determined from them

what time the star appeared. So he did a little calculation here based

upon the information that he was given, okay?

He did a little calculation. He sent them to Bethlehem and said, go and search

carefully for the young child. And when you have found

Him, bring back word to me that I may come worship Him also. Of course,

we know that that's not his intention. When they heard the king,

they departed. Behold, the star which they had seen in the east went

before them till it came and stood over where the young

child was. When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceedingly great

joy. And when they had come into the house, 'cause he's in a house by

this time, they saw the young child with Mary his mother

and fell down and worshiped him. And when they opened their treasures,

they presented gifts to him. We know that. Then being divinely warned in a dream,

that they should not return to Herod, they departed for their own country

another way. So Herod's already going to

have influence over the life of Jesus

and Jesus' family because they're going to be going to

another country. Now it says, now when they had departed, behold, an angel

of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream saying, arise, take the young Child

and His mother, flee to Egypt and stay there until I bring you

word, for Herod will seek the Child's life the young child to

destroy him. Okay? When he arose,

he took the young child. Now, keep something in mind here too.

Herod is not long for this world at this point. At this point,

Herod is within just a few months, a year or so from

dying. Okay? It says, when he arose, he took the young child and his

mother by night and departed for Egypt. You ever notice anything about

Joseph? When Joseph is told to do something by God,

what does he do? Just up and does it, doesn't he? Okay? Doesn't question,

just does it. And then verse 15,

and was there until the death of Herod. Okay, so Herod

passes away, he dies. Now, the historical records say

that he had some sort of kidney disease,

and It turned into something—

well, you can read the historical records on your own time,

but, you know, don't do it right after you eat,

okay? So, because it's pretty gross.

That it might be fulfilled which is spoken by the Lord through the prophet,

saying, out of Egypt I called My Son.

Let's see. Now wait a minute here.

Yeah. Then Herod, When he saw that he'd

been deceived, now verse 16, by the wise men, was exceedingly angry.

And he sent forth and put to death all the male

children who were in Bethlehem and all its districts for 2

years old and under, according to the time which he had

determined from the wise men. And this, we remember

this account. It says, then was fulfilled what was spoken

by Jeremiah the prophet, saying, this is from Jeremiah 31:15,

Jeremiah 31:15

a voice was heard in Ramah, lamentations, weeping, morning,

Rachel weeping for her children, refusing to be comforted

because they are no more.

Okay? So this takes us up to about 4 BC,

37 through 4 BC was his reign, his reign of

terror. And it says, now he's dead.

And it says, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph

saying, and here Joseph is going to do what he's told again. So Herod

is dead. He says, arise, Take the young child and his mother and go to

the land of Israel, for those who sought the young child's life are dead.

Verse 21, then he arose, here he is,

complete obedience, took the young child and his mother and came

into the land of Israel. But when he heard that Archelaus,

so now we have, he's known as Herod Archelaus,

okay? That'd be the second one, one of the sons of

Herod the Great. When he heard that Archelaus was

reigning over Judea instead of his father Herod.

And what you'll also see is that the kingdom

was kind of divided up among these sons.

And so, but Judea was ruled

by Herod Archelaus at this time. So he was

afraid to go there, being warned by God in a dream, he turned aside into

the region of Galilee. Galilee. So he's going to head to the region of

Galilee. Now, so Archelaus is mentioned.

Not a tremendous amount is mentioned about Herod Archelaus

in the Scriptures. He only ruled for about 10

years, from 4 BC to about 6 AD,

about 10 years. But he was wicked. He was

mean. He killed his own people.

But unlike his father, who was politically

savvy, who was— who had some ruling competence,

you might say, this guy was incompetent. He was incompetent,

but he was cruel. And so there was an uprising,

and Rome replaced him. He was run out of town and

went into exile. So his reign did not

last nearly as long. As his father,

Herod the Great. Okay? So he says, and he came

and dwelt in a city called Nazareth, and that it might be fulfilled which was

spoken by the prophets, he shall be called a Nazarene. So it talks about

this reference where the prophets saying he shall be called a Nazarene.

Where do you find that? Where is he

will be called a Nazarene found within the pages of your Old Testament?

Hmm? It's not. It's not. This is not a specific prophecy.

It says spoken by the prophets. It's a very general prophecy,

basically a summarized prophecy, but not a specific

one. Okay? So now we've looked at 2 of the

Herods. We've had Herod the Great, evil,

but accomplished a lot of great things in a physical manner.

And then his son who's taken over that region

of Judea and one or two others, also Samaria.

And, but now he's been ran out of town.

So we, that's what we have with the first 2,

the first 2 Herods. Okay? Any questions or comments

on those 2? Yes, sir.

Story he had, first Herod the Great. Yeah, that he didn't take out

the wise men because— yeah, yeah, it's interesting to me.

He'd go after the kids, the babies. Yeah, but he wouldn't deal with the wise

men. Right, exactly,

exactly. That's a good point. Maybe he needed the wise men to find the kid

first. Yeah, right. Yeah, yeah, he,

uh, yeah, but of course he didn't live long, uh, after that.

Anyway, I mean, he was, and he may have already been struggling with his

illness as well.

Yeah, that's right. That's exactly right.

Right. Right. One other thing I wanted to bring up about Herod.

What was their lineage, the Herods?

It's what?

No. That's right. Okay.

They were Edomites. They were Edomites. And Edomites

are descendants of who? Esau. They are

descendants of Esau. So do you see where that might not mix

well with the Jewish people?

Okay. And of course, they were bitter rivals.

The Edomites, the Jews, bitter rivals.

And, but the Herods came from,

that was their lineage, the Edomites. And of course,

in that area, of course, I mean, they were always at

each other. Not much has changed in that regard, has it?

But okay, the next one we're going to is Mark

Mark 6 · chapter mention

chapter 6. Let's go look at Mark's account here.

And we are going to go to, Herod Antipas.

Herod Antipas.

We are going to run into this guy quite

a bit. And he's

something else as well. But this account is in,

I think, 3 of the Gospels. But let's look at the one in Mark.

Mark 6:14.

Mark 6:14

Now King Herod, now this is again Herod Antipas,

heard of Him. Okay, who's Him?

Jesus. For His name had become well known.

And he said, John the Baptist has risen from the dead,

and therefore these powers are at

work in Him. So then Mark goes into,

okay, here's why Herod Antipas thinks

that he is John the Baptist risen from the dead.

Here's what happens. Others said, it is Elijah. And others said,

it is the prophet, or like one of the prophets. But when

Herod Antipas heard, he said, this is

John whom I beheaded. This is

an interesting passage here. He has been raised from the dead.

For Herod himself had sent and laid hold of

John, And bound him in prison for

the sake of Herodias. Now, we're getting ready to

be introduced to another Herod, and that is

Herod Philip I. Okay?

Now, Herod Philip I is a brother to Herod Philip

II. Okay? So you had 2 brothers named Philip.

If you watched television, maybe in the '80s, if you watched Newhart,

You remember, hi, I'm Larry. This is my brother Darryl. This is my other

brother Darryl. They had a similar situation going on here apparently.

But Herod Philip I is mentioned

here, but just in passing, in passing.

He says his brother Philip's wife. So basically Antipas

had taken Philip's wife and had married her

because John had said to Herod, Okay, this is why John

was locked up while he was in prison. It is not lawful

for you to have your brother's wife. Okay, stating the

obvious, you should not be doing this.

He had taken his brother's wife, married his brother's wife, and it

was an unlawful marriage. Therefore Herodias,

okay, that's the guilty party,

now married to Herodias, Antipas, held it

against him and wanted to kill him, but she could

not. For Herod, now this

is interesting, for Herod feared John,

knowing that he was a just and holy man,

and he protected him. Now,

why do you think he was protective of John?

Insurance. Okay. The people. Okay.

Remember what we said about his father, Herod the Great?

He come to the throne because he was politically savvy.

Well, John the Baptist had quite the following, right? So John—

so there were people who followed him, and so it was

politically advantageous for Antipas to protect

him. All right, it says, and when he heard him,

he did many things and heard him gladly.

Okay, heard him gladly.

So he had respect. He had respect for John the Baptist.

He knew that John the Baptist was just and holy,

and he listened to John.

But then in verse 21, then an opportune day came when Herod on

his birthday, So it's party time here.

He gave a feast for the nobles, the high officers, and the chief

men of Galilee. So the who's who, because Antipas,

keep in mind, is ruling in Galilee,

the Galilean region, and that's the northern part

of Palestine in that day. He says he had

all these important folks assembled here

for his birthday party. And as part of that party,

verse 22, and when Herodias' daughter herself

came in and danced and pleased Herod

and those who sat with him. So apparently

Herod was really impressed by this and then

makes this offer. The king said to the girl, ask me whatever

you want and I will give it to you. He also

swore to her, whatever you ask me, I will give you up

to half my kingdom. So he

must have really been pleased with what he saw at

this big event, this birthday party, and just

makes a foolish statement. Whatever you want

is yours, up to half my kingdom. So here

was the opportunity, keeping in mind Herodias is definitely

not a fan of John. Verse 24, so she went

out and said to her mother, what shall I ask?

And she said, the head of John the Baptist.

Immediately she came in with haste to the king.

You know, John obviously

told Herodias what she didn't want to hear. Immediately she

came in with haste to the king and asked, saying, I want you to give

me at once the head of John the Baptist

on a platter. So obviously at this point,

Antipas is like, uh-oh. And the king was exceedingly

sorry, yet because of the oaths

and because of those who sat with him, he did

not want to refuse her.

You know, the pressure was on. Had all these important people

sitting around him at this big party to celebrate him.

He makes this offer to ask,

you know, whatever you like. They come back with the request.

He is boxed into a corner here.

Immediately the king sent an executioner.

And commanded his head to be brought. And he went and beheaded

him in prison, brought his head on a platter and gave

it to the girl, and the girl gave it to her mother. When his disciples

heard of it, they came and took away his corpse and laid it in

a tomb. Okay? Herod Antipas

reigned, he reigned for quite a while, 4 BC

through 39 AD. In the region

of Galilee and one or two other regions in the northern part of

Palestine. Let's go to Luke chapter

Luke chapter 3.

Luke 3 · chapter mention

Okay, we're going to have another Another

Herod mentioned here in verse 1 of chapter

3. Now in the 15th year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate

being governor of Judea, Herod being

tetrarch of Galilee. A tetrarch is a

word meaning basically divided in fourths.

You're over a fourth of a particular

kingdom, and you can kind of see that playing out there in the in the

chart. Herod being tetrarch of Galilee,

his brother tetrarch of Iturae.

Okay, that's Herod Philip II. That's Herod

Philip II. And the region

of Trachonitis, and Lysanias

tetrarch of Abilene. And so you see another Herod mentioned.

So now we're up to 5 Herods mentioned within

the New Testament. Okay, go over to chapter 13 of the book of Luke.

Luke 13 · chapter mention

Chapter 13, Luke 13,

and let's

go down to verse 31.

Okay. All right, so here

we are. Here Jesus is in the midst of his ministry.

And so he's in his ministry here,

and something interesting happens here in verse 31.

It says, on that very day,

some Pharisees came, saying to

him, get out and depart from here, For Herod,

now this would be Herod, back to Herod Antipas,

wants to kill you. Hmm.

So the Pharisees— what I found interesting is

the Pharisees were the ones coming to Jesus to let him know that.

What kind of relationship did Jesus have with the Pharisees?

Yeah, brood of vipers, he called them. And so why

were the Pharisees so concerned about the welfare of Jesus?

Competition.

Competition. Okay. Probably didn't want to stir

up any trouble because the Romans would come in. Okay,

didn't want him to stir up any trouble because the Romans would possibly come in.

They're trying to get Jesus out of their own hair. Yeah, there you go.

I think, I think you got it. Yeah, trying to get Jesus out of their

own hair, exactly. So, And he says—

so here was the response of Jesus, very interesting as well.

And he said to them, go tell that— and he calls him something,

fox. You tell that fox, behold,

I cast out demons and perform cures today

and tomorrow, and the third day I shall be perfected.

Okay? What do you mean by calling him fox?

What do you think he meant by that? What is

a fox known for? They are

clever. They are sneaky. They are

sly. What else can they be?

They can be somewhat destructive, right? They can be somewhat

destructive. He says, behold, I cast out demons.

And basically, Jesus says, here is the message that

you can take back. To Herod, okay?

Alright, let's go over to chapter 23 of Luke, chapter 23.

Luke 23 · chapter mention

Alright,

and here we're going to be looking at the trial of

Jesus, and as part of

that, of course, He goes back and forth between Pilate

and Herod, So let's go down to verse 6,

and let's see what Herod's role in this is.

All right, keeping in mind Antipas is—

his rule is over that Galilean region,

but he's going to actually happen to be in Jerusalem

at this time. So in verse 6, it says,

heard of Galilee, he asked if the man were a Galilean.

And as soon as he knew, it's like,

here, I'm not taking— you deal with him, okay? You deal with him.

As soon as he knew that he belonged to Herod's jurisdiction,

okay, he sent him to Herod,

who was also in Jerusalem at that time.

Antipas happened to be in Jerusalem. So Pilate

sends him over to him. Now, when Herod saw Jesus, he was exceedingly

glad. Now, look at this.

One of the things about him, he had some respect for—

he wanted to hear from Jesus. He was exceedingly glad, for he had desired

for a long time to see him, because he had

heard many things about him And he hoped to see some miracle

done by Him. So the reason he wanted to see Him,

he wanted to see what He could do as far as these miracles that

he had heard about. Then he questioned Him with many words,

but He answered him nothing. And the chief priests

and scribes stood and vehemently accused Him.

Then Herod, with his men of war,

treated Him with contempt and mocked Him,

arrayed Him in a gorgeous robe, and sent

Him back to Pilate. Now, look at verse 12.

I hadn't really noticed this before. That very day Pilate and Herod became friends

with each other, for previously they had been at enmity

with each other. So they become friends.

After all this takes place. So, we see Antipas

is involved in the trial of Jesus and basically

treats Him with contempt and mockery,

okay? So there

is Herod Antipas, okay? So we've also looked at

Herod Philip I and Philip II. Not a

lot is said in Scripture about them. Actually,

Herod Philip I did not rule over any particular area.

And Philip II, who was mentioned in Luke 3:1,

Luke 3:1

he ruled his area from 4 BC,

at the death of his father, to AD 34. All right,

now, let's go to another one.

Let's go to the book of Acts, and we are going to go to

Herod Agrippa, who is a grandson of

Herod the Great, a nephew of Herod Antipas.

Somebody may know this. Was he the son of one of the sons

that he killed, that Herod killed? I don't know.

Let's go to Acts chapter 12.

Acts 12 · chapter mention

Acts chapter 12.

Acts 12 · chapter mention

Now we're going to start looking here at the impact that—

we've seen the impact that the Herods have had on John the Baptist.

We've seen the impact they've had on Jesus,

not only as an adult, but also as a child even.

Now we're going to see the impact that

this Herodian dynasty had upon the

early church and some of the leaders in the early church,

even the apostles. Chapter 12, verse 1,

now about that time Herod the king, Herod Agrippa I,

and he was in charge of the

area of Judea and Samaria, Which that

was the job, okay? If you

were the ruler of that particular area, of all those regions,

that's the one, that was looked at as the big

deal. Now about that time, Herod the king

stretched out his hand to harass some from

the church, okay? So Christians are being persecuted in an

organized way. Now, here's where that really

ramps up, this sentence here. Then he killed James,

the brother of John, with the sword.

So he kills one

of the inner circle, one of Jesus' inner circle of

the apostles, James. But you know, back in Mark

Mark 10 · chapter mention

chapter 10, Jesus predicts

this, right? He predicts this. He,

as James and John are coming to Him, you know, they're going to

be greatest in the kingdom and want to be the greatest in the kingdom.

And He says, are you prepared to go through what I'm

going to be going through? Jesus says, actually, you will.

Actually, you will. So James experiences that here.

He says, And remember,

these guys are real politically savvy.

He says, and because he saw that it pleased the Jews,

okay, they're men pleasers, he proceeded further.

So he kills James. He's going to do the same thing to Peter.

He seizes Peter also. Now it was during the Days of Unleavened Bread.

So when he had arrested him, he put him in

prison and delivered him to 4 squads of soldiers to

keep him, intending to bring him before the people after Passover.

The sentence was already in. Peter was going to die, right?

But Peter gets out because

of the intervention of the angels, of the angel.

And so let's go down to verse— let's

look at verse 18. Okay, so Peter's

out. He escapes, I guess you'd say.

Verse 18, then as soon as it was day, there was no small stir among

the soldiers about what had become of Peter.

So what does Herod do? But when Herod had searched for him and not found

him, he examined the guards and commanded that they should be

put to death. Talk about a bad day at work, right?

And when he went down from Judea to Caesarea, he stayed

there. So we see what Herod Agrippa is

also capable of as well.

Let's see. Now, starting in verse 20,

now Herod had been very angry with the people

of Tyre and Sidon, but they came to him with one accord,

and having made Blastus the king's personal aide,

like the king's treasurer, their friend, they asked for

peace Then here's the reason,

because their country was supplied with food by the king's

country. So these particular regions were supplied with food

that's basically controlled by Herod. So when somebody controls your food supply,

you're going to want to make friends with them, right?

So that's what they're trying to do. So on a set day,

Herod arrayed in royal apparel, here he is in

all of his Glory, sat on his throne and gave an oration

to them. I guess that's some sort of fancy speech.

And the people kept shouting. So they're

wanting to get on his good side, and so they're

really pouring it on thick. The voice of a god

and not of a man. And then immediately an

angel of the Lord struck him because he did not give glory

to God So he was soaking in all this admiration,

all this praise, all, oh, you're not a man,

you are a god. And he's there arrayed in all of his

garb. And he says he did not give glory

to God. And as a result, he was struck dead

and was eaten by worms and died.

But look what happens. This is interesting. But the word of the

Lord, but the word of God grew and multiplied.

As great as they— as great as all these guys thought that

they were, and as great as the people were telling them that they were,

the Word of God still continued to grow and to

multiply. So we see— so what kind of problem

did Herod Agrippa have? Pride problem,

right? Pride. I had written down some passages

of Scripture here. Take a look at— Proverbs chapter

Proverbs 6 · chapter mention

6. You know, pride's a very serious thing.

And the book— Solomon in the book of Proverbs makes

that extremely clear. If you look at Proverbs chapter 6,

Proverbs 6 · chapter mention

starting in verse 16, it says, 6 things the Lord hates,

yes, 7 are an abomination to him. What's the first one?

Proud look, okay? A lying tongue.

Look at this list and look at the screen, you know, a lying

tongue, hands that shed innocent blood,

okay? A heart that devises wicked plans,

feet that are swift in running to evil, a false witness who speaks

lies, and one who sows discord among brethren, okay?

Describes these guys pretty well, huh?

Look at Proverbs 16:18.

Proverbs 16:18

Proverbs 16 and verse 18,

here Solomon writes, Pride goes before destruction

and a haughty spirit before a fall.

Agrippa found that out the hard way.

18 and verse 12, chapter 18 and verse 12,

Before destruction the heart of a man is haughty, and before

honor is humility. So I don't

think it gets much clearer than that. It's very clear what

God thinks of pride, not only in what he writes, but what he demonstrated

in his treatment of Herod Agrippa I.

Okay?

Alright, any questions up to this point? Has the bell rang yet?

No? Okay. Alright. Let's go to Herod Agrippa II.

Herod Agrippa II.

Now, Herod Agrippa I, he only ruled for

3 years, from AD 41 to AD 44,

and then his son comes along,

Herod Agrippa II, and a little bit of a time

lag there, AD 55 to 66.

He ruled for approximately 11 years. Go over to Acts

Acts 25 · chapter mention

chapter 25, Acts chapter 25,

Acts 25 · chapter mention

and you'll see, I won't read this whole thing

here, but if you'll recall, this is where Paul asked

to appeal to Caesar, and he's ultimately

granted that request, but not before

He is— he gives— makes a

little speech here to Herod Agrippa II.

And basically what Paul does here, he tells him his

background, his history. And he says,

you know, at one time I was a Pharisee, and at one time

I persecuted the church, those that

were Christians. I was heavily involved in

their persecution. And then he recounts what happened on

the road to Damascus. And basically,

he proclaims to him the gospel. And we

know from chapter 26 and verse 28,

there's a saying in there that we're all very

familiar with. Agrippa says, he says to

Paul, After Paul goes through several

verses here of explaining his road to salvation,

he says, you almost,

you almost persuade me to

become a Christian, okay?

You almost persuade me to become a Christian.

Not quite. Not quite, but almost.

Okay? So I don't know if

the Herods became a little softer and gentler by this point, but he

says, you almost persuaded me to be a Christian.

So there are your 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 Herods

mentioned in the New Testament. I don't know if I could give

you any, you know, major lessons from this other than don't

be like these guys. Don't be like these guys. So, all right,

any comments or questions as we finish up tonight? I was

just saying, talk about family dynamics, right? Yeah,

absolutely, absolutely, absolutely.

All right, thank you all and have a good evening.