CHAPTER VI.

The Herodians.

The Herodians were considered by some to be a political party, and by others, a religious sect. Josephus appears to have passed over this sect in silence, which leads us to suppose that he did not consider them very formidable. The opinion, however, of most ecclesiastics, is, that they derived their name from Herod the Great, and that they were distinguished from the Pharisees, and other Jews, by their agreeing with Herod's scheme in putting himself and his dominions under the power of the Romans, and complying with many of the heathen usages and customs.

In their zeal for the Roman authority, they were directly opposite to the Pharisees, who considered it unlawful to submit to, or to pay taxes to, the Roman emperor. The Pharisees encouraged this opinion, because they were forbidden by the law of Moses to set over them a stranger to be their king. The Herodians were also distinguished, having adopted some of the idolatrous worship of the heathens, which had been introduced among them by Herod the Great, when he built a temple in honor of Cæsar, near the head of the river Jordan; and erected a magnificent theatre at Jerusalem, in which he introduced the pagan games, and placed the figure of a golden eagle over the gate of the holy temple.

Herod also furnished the temples, which he reared in the several places out of Judea, with images for idolatrous worship, in order to gain favor with the emperor of Rome; though, at the same time, to the Jews he pretended to do it in opposition to his own will, but in obedience to the imperial ordinance. In all these schemes the Herodians acquiesced, and encouraged their master in his work of iniquity.

It is also probable, from some account in ancient history, that the Herodians were chiefly of the sect of the Sadducees, who were very lax in the performance of their religious duties. This sect was, however, after a very few years, lost in oblivion, and up to the present day, nothing more is known of them.