King Herod

 King Herod was able to keep peace between Rome and Jerusalem and rebuilt The Second Temple also know as The Temple of King Herod. However, he is infamous. He killed thousands of people, including his own family, without a second thought.

    When the wise men alert King Herod about the birth a new king in Bethlehem, King Herod asked them to find the new king so he can kill him. However, the wise men do not return to him. So, in an attempt to eradicate the new king he orders the killing of all male Jewish infants that were at the age of two or younger. Another time he ruthlessly killed people was when he was afraid his wife and three of his sons were plotting against him, so he had them killed without question. Finally, when he was on his death bed, he knew of the people’s hatred for him and knew they would be celebrating and rejoicing in his death, so he decided to give them something to cry about. He asked his sister to gather all the Jewish leaders in the land so he can kill them, and he does just that.

After King Herod died, the high priests decided they didn’t want anymore Jews to die pointlessly and in 18 CE, Caiaphas took office. Caiaphas was a high priest who did not allow provocative talk about the Temple. When Jesus traveled to Jerusalem for Passover with his disciples, he arrived at the Temple and saw that it was full of merchants and consumers. When Jesus enters the Temple he says “Does not scripture say: My house will be called a house of prayer? You have turned it into a robber’s den” (Armstrong 142). The Temple was a scared space that required people to “prepare themselves by undergoing various rites of purification which heightened this sense by putting them at some distance from their normal lives” (Armstrong 132).  After Jesus kicked all the merchants and consumers out he continued to preach at the Temple and say “You see those great buildings? Not a single stone will be left on another” (Armstrong 142). When Caiaphas heard about Jesus and his preaching's he had him arrested. He failed at being able to charge Jesus with any crime so he sent him to the Pontius Pilate for sentencing. There, Jesus was scourged by Pilate and he condemned Jesus to death by crucifixion and forced him to carry his own cross.