"Political rulers during the lifetime of Christ. Christ was born when Herod the Great was ruling. Herod’s son, Herod Antipas, was the ruler of Galilee and Perea, the territories in which Jesus and John the Baptist carried out most of their ministries. It was this ruler who beheaded John the Baptist and tried Christ just before his death. Herod Agrippa I is persecutor of the church in Acts 12, and Herod Agrippa II heard Paul’s testimony (Acts 26) just before he went to Rome to be tried by the caesar. Without a knowledge of the Herodian family one can hardly have a proper understanding of the times of Christ." - Harold W. Hoehner