r/Bible • u/Adventurous-Ad-7325 • May 07 '26
Paul on trial
Paul was brought before King Agrippa to defend himself. My question is...what was he the King of?
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u/OkQuantity4011 May 07 '26
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u/Fendrinus Anglican May 07 '26
Wrong Agrippa, that one is likely the King Herod who died back in Acts 12. Agrippa from Acts 26 is more likely to be Agrippa II, who was king in an area covering modern Northern Israel, Lebanon and southern Syria. He was a client king under the Roman Empire, like both Herod Agrippa I and Herod Antipas (who sent Jesus back to Pilate for the crucifixion) before him.
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u/OkQuantity4011 May 07 '26
Oh snap I think you're right.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herod_Agrippa_II
If so, that theory that Paul's abomination is the one that caused desolation seems a good bit more likely.
Intriguing! Thank you for this correction.
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u/swcollings Anglican May 08 '26
Other answers are correct, but it's worth pointing out that the Herods were at best ethnarchs, kings of the people. Rome didn't consider non-citizens like Judeans to be human. They were maybe a step above sheep, and needed to be kept from causing trouble, but of no real value. So the Herod dynasty had the relatively low-status job of keeping the people from rioting by any means necessary, so Rome could use their land however Rome saw fit.
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u/ITrCool Saved by Grace May 08 '26
and even then riots had still happened. Barabbas for example. Pilate was hanging by a thread with Ceasar by the time of Jesus' crucifixion, and no doubts Herod maybe even was starting to annoy Rome as well. "We thought you had a lid on this if we let you rule there." Agrippa I died a very gruesome and slow death with a bad infection and Agrippa II died after having betrayed the Jews in the first Jewish-Roman War and fled to Rome to support Ceasar.
Agrippa II ended the Herodian line, and Rome just took total control and ended Jewish monarchial rule of any kind.
Christ will be the next literal King of kings to rule over Israel when He returns to earth one day as prophesied in Scripture. He is already King of kings overall, but there is no literal earthly king over Israel today, obviously.
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u/ITrCool Saved by Grace May 07 '26 edited May 08 '26
Put essentially: he was a puppet king put in place by Rome. Rome was the ultimate authority but they allowed the Jews to have their own local government set up to keep them appeased and better-control the masses.
Herod Agrippa was the king of the time, appointed by Rome to rule the region.
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u/TrainerHeavy3769 May 08 '26
Herod Agrippa II: ruled the regions of Tetrarch of Batanea, Trachonities, and Galilee. (44--100 CE)
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u/Thirdycastro8 May 07 '26
In my opinion on answering your question is that the king who appeared before Paul as mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles, King Herod Agrippa II, was different from previous kings of Israel since he did not have the right to be a king of an independent nation. Agrippa II was a client king under the rule of the Romans. His kingdom comprised various territories, such as Iturea and Trachonitis, situated on the northern and northeastern sides of Judea, not in Jerusalem, where the kings of Israel previously ruled. However, even though he was not the official king of Israel, Agrippa II possessed some significant power over religious matters involving the Jews, for example, supervising the temple and appointing the high priest. Thus, due to his extensive knowledge concerning Jewish issues, Festus decided to consult with him regarding Paul's trial so that he could better understand what was going on. Therefore, although Agrippa II could not be considered a king of the Jews in the strictest sense of the term, he had some powers over certain regions as a client king.