HEROD, JERICHO, AND THE KINGDOM

LUKE 19:11–27

Jesus spoke often and passionately about the Kingdom of God, asserting in no uncertain terms that it had come (e.g., Luke 8:1; 9:2, 27). This led some of his listeners to conclude that the full realization of the Kingdom of God was about to appear (Luke 19:11), so Jesus told the parable of the ten minas in order to explain the ultimate realization of his Kingdom.

Some maintain the parable of the ten minas is a thinly veiled reference to the lives of Herod the Great and his son Archelaus, who each functioned as one of the puppet kings of Israel, which at that time was under Roman domination.33 Both Herod the Great and a generation later Archelaus left for Rome amid great opposition in order to obtain the crown. Similarly, both returned to put down rebellions that had escalated during their absence.34

In this parable of the ten minas, a man of noble birth left for a distant country to be appointed king. While he was away, opposition to his kingship arose (Luke 19:12, 14). This in no way prevented the coronation from occurring, and when this king returned, he dealt a fatal blow to those who opposed him (Luke 19:27). The succession to the throne of Herod the Great and Archelaus lend historical similarities to the parable, and the location in which Jesus spoke provided a geographical relationship as well.

Jesus told the parable immediately after speaking with Zacchaeus in Jericho,35 a city that had an important connection to Herod the Great. Although he had built up Jerusalem as his capital city, when the cold of winter settled in there, he could travel a day’s journey to the warmer climate of Jericho. There he had built a complex that included multiple palaces with luxurious halls, a bathhouse, swimming pools, a sunken garden, a hippodrome, and a theater.36 It was as though one had stepped from the barren realms of the Judean Wilderness into a type of Rome itself. After his father’s death, Archelaus was granted the domain once held by Herod the Great, which included Jericho.

Former swimming pool at Second Temple Jericho, the possible location of the drowning of Aristobulus III, son of Herod the Great and Mariamne.

Jericho Hasmonean palace (view looking north).

When Jesus passed through Jericho, the people listening to his teachings began to think that the Kingdom of God was going to appear immediately since he was near Jerusalem (Luke 19:11). So in this setting at Jericho, Jesus told the parable of the ten minas, which brought back to his listeners memories about Herod the Great and his son Archelaus.

The parable, however, was not a one-to-one correlation between Herod’s situation and that of Jesus but rather an illustration of what was to come through a comparison and contrast between Herod and Jesus. Herod, and later his son Archelaus, had to go to Rome to get their authority to rule; Jesus came from God and already had legitimacy. Herod and Archelaus put Jerusalem’s chief priests into power; Jesus revealed those chief priests to be false shepherds of Israel. The kingships of Herod and Archelaus were opposed by their subjects; Jesus was loved by the multitudes, who wanted to make him king (John 6:15). When Herod and Archelaus returned after their coronation, they eliminated those subjects who opposed them; Jesus warned in this parable that upon his return, political and religious realms that opposed him would be destroyed. As he traveled from Herod’s city of Jericho to the Temple in Jerusalem, that point would be etched into the minds of his listeners.

Schematic of Herodian Palaces at Jericho

The hippodrome at New Testament Jericho, where Herod the Great detained popular rabbis prior to his death.