Archelaus

Biblical Record

Archelaus is named in Scripture only in Matthew 2:22. After the death of Herod, Joseph, who had fled to Egypt, returned to the land of Israel with the young child Jesus and Mary. "But when he heard that Archelaus did reign in Judaea in the room of his father Herod, he was afraid to go thither," and, being warned in a dream, he went to the region of Galilee and dwelt in Nazareth (Matthew 2:22-23). Scripture records nothing further about Archelaus.

What is known of his life outside the Bible comes chiefly from the writings of the first-century Jewish historian Josephus. According to Josephus, Archelaus was a son of Herod the Great and a brother, by the same mother, of Herod Antipas, who ruled Galilee. After the death of Herod the Great (commonly dated around 4 BC), the Roman emperor Augustus granted him not the title of king but that of "ethnarch" (a title ranking above tetrarch) and placed him over Judea, Samaria, and Idumea. Early in his reign, he reportedly used armed force to suppress a disturbance that broke out in Jerusalem around the time of Passover, and many people were killed. As popular opposition persisted, Augustus deposed him around AD 6 and banished him to Gaul (present-day France), and Judea came under the direct rule of a Roman governor.

Significance Within the Bible

In the Gospel of Matthew, Archelaus serves to explain why Jesus's family settled in Nazareth of Galilee rather than in Judea, where Bethlehem is located. Matthew connects this settlement with the fulfillment of the prophecy "He shall be called a Nazarene" (Matthew 2:23). Following the earlier account of his father Herod's attempt to harm the infant Jesus, the episode continues a narrative in which God guides Jesus's family through danger.

Interpretation and Points of Discussion

• The question of title: Matthew speaks of Archelaus as reigning like a king, yet according to Josephus he never officially received the title of king. Scholars generally understand Matthew to be using a popular expression that reflects how people of the time referred to him.
• Relationship to the Parable of the Pounds: Some interpreters hold that the parable in Luke 19:12-27, in which a nobleman travels to a far country to receive a kingdom and his citizens send a delegation to oppose him, alludes to Archelaus's journey to Rome to obtain confirmation of his rule and to the Jewish delegation that opposed him. Because the text does not mention Archelaus directly, however, this is regarded as one possible interpretation.
• Distinguishing text from tradition: Accounts of Archelaus's cruelty come from sources outside the Bible, such as Josephus; the Gospel of Matthew itself records only that Joseph was afraid of him.

In the Korean Church

Archelaus is mentioned briefly, chiefly around Christmas, in sermons and Sunday school lessons on the flight into Egypt and the settlement in Nazareth recounted in Matthew 2. In these contexts he is often presented as a background figure in the account of Joseph's obedience to the instruction he received in a dream.