3. Herod Agrippa I. Grandson of Herod the Great. He was a son of Aristobulus, who, in turn, was a son of Herod the Great by Mariamne I, granddaughter of High Priest Hyrcanus II. Aristobulus had been put to death by Herod the Great. Agrippa was the last of the Herods to become king of all Palestine, as his grandfather had been.

His Early Life. Agrippa’s position as “Herod the king” was attained by a number of maneuvers and the help of his friends in Rome. (Ac 12:1) Educated in Rome along with Emperor Tiberius’ son Drusus and his nephew Claudius, he became a familiar figure in important circles there. He was extremely extravagant and reckless. Greatly in debt, even owing money to the Roman treasury, he left Rome and fled to Idumea. Eventually, with the help of his sister Herodias and his wife Cypros (daughter of Herod the Great’s nephew, whose wife was Herod’s daughter), he found residence for a while at Tiberias. A quarrel developed between him and Antipas, causing him to leave. He finally got back to Rome and into the good graces of Tiberius Caesar.

However, an injudicious statement got Agrippa into trouble with Emperor Tiberius. In an unguarded moment he expressed the wish to Gaius (Caligula), with whom he had cultivated a friendship, that he, Gaius, might soon be emperor. Overheard by Agrippa’s servant, his remarks came to the ears of Tiberius, who cast Agrippa into prison. His life was in the balance for several months, but some months later Tiberius died and Caligula became emperor. He released Agrippa and elevated him to the position of king over the territories that his late uncle Philip had governed.

Favored by Roman Emperors. Herodias, envious of her brother’s position as king, persuaded her husband Herod Antipas, who was only a tetrarch, to make an appeal to the new emperor in Rome for a crown. But Agrippa outmaneuvered Antipas in the matter. He laid before Gaius (Caligula) the charges that Antipas had made alliances with Sejanus the conspirator against Tiberius and with the Parthians, charges that Antipas could not deny. It led to Antipas’ banishment. Antipas’ territories of Galilee and Perea were added to Agrippa’s kingdom. In one passage Josephus says that Caligula gave these dominions to Agrippa, and in two others that Claudius did so. Likely Caligula made the promise, and Claudius confirmed it.

On the occasion of the assassination of Caligula, dated by scholars as 41 C.E., Agrippa was in Rome. He was able to act as liaison, or negotiator, between the Senate and his friend, the new emperor Claudius. Claudius expressed his appreciation by awarding him the territory of Judea and Samaria as well as the kingdom of Lysanias. Agrippa now became ruler of about the same dominion that his grandfather Herod the Great had held.

Chronologers place the death of King Herod Agrippa I in 44 C.E., at the age of 54 and after he had reigned three years over all Judea.