Herod the Great
 Herod the Great rebuilt the city of Heshbon as a military base and used it to house veterans from his army’s cavalry.

     Herod the Great was born in 73 B.C.E. to a politically powerful family and became a leader in Galilea in 47 B.C.E. He became friends with Augustus Caesar and later was made ruler of the area of Israel and parts of the Transjordan. He considered himself a king of the Jews but was  in reality a sub-ruler who was friendly to the Roman power elite. He controlled local matters in the Transjordan, but answered to the Romans. Herod came into power through clever dealings, and held his power jealously. For political reasons he had three sons and a wife executed. Of him Caesar Augustus said, “It is better to be his pig than his son.”
     According to the Biblical record, Herod was in power when Jesus Christ was born, and was told of this happening by a group of scholars from the east. He became angry and jealous, and shortly after his visit with the scholars had his soldiers find and execute all male children two years old and younger in the area of Bethlehem. This is not easily corroborated by other historical records.
     Part of the Transjordan which Herod ruled was the city of Heshbon. In B.C.E. 31 Herod took the city of Heshbon from the Nabbateans, who had previously ruled the city. Herod wrote, in his Achievements of King Herod : “New cities were built on my instructions at Phasaelis, Antipatris, Agrippias, Pente Komai, Gaba, Bathyra, and Heshbon. I settled veterans on allotments of land which I paid for from my own resources.” Historian Flavius Josephus adds that Heshbon was a military settlement.

 

-A.G.

 

 


Bibliography:

Frederick Dale Bruner, Matthew: A Commentary , (Cambridge, U.K.: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1987).

Larry A. Mitchel, Hesban 7: Hellenistic and Roman Strata , (Berrien Springs, MI: Andrews University Press, 1992).

Peter Richardson, Herod: King of the Jews and Friend of the Romans , (Columbia, S.C.: University of South Carolina Press, 1996).*

Duane W. Roller, The Building Program of Herod the Great , (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1998).


*Quote from Achievements of King Herod (4 B.C.E.) found in this publication.

 

Edited 1/27/06 tlc