IV.
Nor indeed is this incapable of proof, neither is
it a rash conjecture. For the kinsmen of the Saviour after the
flesh, whether to magnify their own origin or simply to state the fact,
but at all events speaking truth, have also handed down the following
account: Some Idumean robbers attacking Ascalon, a city of
Palestine, besides other spoils which they took from a temple of
Apollo, which was built near the walls, carried off captive one
Antipater, son of a certain Herod, a servant of the temple. And
as the priest1048
| 1048 The
word “priest” is used here perhaps improperly for
“servant of the temple,” i.e., ἱερεύς for ἱερόδουλος. |
was not able to
pay the
ransom for his son, Antipater was brought up in the
customs of
the Idumeans, and afterwards
enjoyed the
friendship of Hyrcanus, the
high
priest of Judea. And being sent on an embassy to Pompey on
behalf of Hyrcanus, and having restored to him the
kingdom which was
being wasted by Aristobulus his
brother, he was so fortunate as to
obtain the title of procurator of Palestine.
1049
| 1049 So
Josephus styles him “procurator of Judea, and viceroy”
(ἐπιμελητὴς
τῆς
᾽Ιουδαίας, and
ἐπίτροπος). |
And when Antipater was treacherously
slain through
envy of his great good fortune, his son
Herod succeeded
him, who was afterwards
appointed king of Judea under Antony and
Augustus by a
decree of the
senate. His sons were
Herod and the
other tetrarchs. These accounts are given also in the histories
of the
Greeks.
1050
| 1050 This whole
story about Antipater is fictitious. Antipater’s father was
not Herod, a servant in the temple of Apollo, but Antipater an Idumean,
as we learn from Josephus (xiv. 2). This Antipater was made
prefect of Idumea by Alexander king of the Jews, and laid the
foundation of the power to which his descendants rose. He
acquired great wealth, and was on terms of friendship with Ascalon,
Gaza, and the Arabians. |
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