03.05.23 43 B.C. Antipater Murdered; Another Parthian^[1] Threat

The Romans placed John Hyrcanus II in the vassal leadership position as ethnarch (similar to a governorship) of Judaea and Herod Antipater as governor of Jerusalem.  Hyrcanus was of Jewish heritage while Herod’s ancestry was from Idumea.^[2] Jewish hatred ran deep for the Idumeans and in 43 B.C.  Herod Antipater was poisoned, leaving his two sons Herod (later called Herod the Great) and Phasael to govern Judea.  Regional military conflicts, political chaos, and rumors of wars were widespread which encouraged the Parthians to make another attack. In the meantime, even the Romans were expecting a messiah of some kind.

[1]. Since the Parthians were swift on horseback, incredibly brutal, killing and destroying wherever they went; they may have been the image that John saw in his vision of the Apocalpse, as a symbol of the plagues of the final judgment in which a third of humanity is destroyed (Rev. 9:17-19).

[2]. See “Idumean” in Appendix 26.