Knollwood Community Church: Burke, VA

Enemies To Friends

by Brian Conaway on September 5, 2011

Herod the Great had three sons, Archelaus, Antipas, and Phillip that Rome allowed to have limited rule in Israel after their father died when Jesus was still a young boy. Archelaus had the largest geographic area that included Judea and Jerusalem. Antipas ruled in Galilee and Phillip had the northern section of Israel including Dan and Caesarea Phillipi (named after Caesar and himself to distinguish it from the Caesarea located on the Mediterranean coast). Archelaus was such a hated and evil ruler that he lasted only ten years before Rome removed him and replaced him with Roman governors, one that was Pilate.

The Gospels don’t tell us exactly why Antipas and Pilate were enemies but it could have been for a couple of reasons. Antipas likely resented the fact that his title was ‘tetrarch’ and not king, like his father held. Tetrarch was more a ceremonial title and didn’t carry the power or authority that ‘king’ did. Rome ruled Israel and the Romans who occupied Israel held the real power, including Pilate. The Galilee region where Antipas was the Tetrarch wasn’t particularly significant from a ruler’s perspective. The population and power in Israel resided in and around Jerusalem, not Tiberias - a city Antipas had founded on the Sea of Galilee.

Antipas likely also hated Pilate because we learn in Luke 13:1 that Pilate had murdered some of his Galilean subjects while they sacrificed at the Temple in Jerusalem. That act alone had to greatly anger Antipas.

Pilate probably hated Antipas, too, because he was weak and incompetent. Pilate wasn’t alone in thinking this. Jesus disliked Antipas, too. Antipas had cowardly beheaded His cousin John the Baptist to save face in front of some guests at a party. Jesus once called Antipas a ‘fox’ meaning a worthless, insignificant person. And Jesus refused to answer any of the questions Antipas posed when Pilate had sent Him over during the trial. Pilate likely wasn’t showing Antipas a kindness by doing so. He was hoping that Antipas would take jurisdictional control of one of his subjects that would have relieved him from having to make a difficult ruling concerning Jesus' future.