Professor Benedict Eckhardt

Sextus Caesar is governor of Syria at that time.

He is related to Julius Caesar and so he is the most important, most powerful Roman in that region because Syria is the Roman province next door to Judea as still a kind of client kingdom.

So this is when Herod, not just his father, comes to the attention of the Roman bigwig at that time, the governor of Syria at that time, who is also very, very pleased that Herod has just got rid of this problematic bandit.

The Romans generally want peace in the region.

This is much easier to deal with.

Herod's just been instrumental in restoring that.

So the basic point is that Herod, when he has killed these bandits in Galilee, and apparently been quite popular in the local population and with the Romans for doing so, he has nonetheless come to the attention of, let's say, the elite in Jerusalem.

The excuse that they find, or the possible charge they find, is that this action of killing this bandit and the rest of his gang is contrary to Jewish law.

And this is where the accounts differ in Josephus.

So in one account, it is said that he could have done this if he'd had the permission of Hyrcanus, the Esnach and high priest at the time, either orally or in writing.

In another account, Josephus says that he needed to have the council condemn the bandit to death first.

So we have two very different authority bases that are accounted differently in the sources that Herod has apparently ignored by just taking direct action.

This seems to be an excuse.

The elite in Jerusalem, the people around Hyrcanus at least, are getting worried about Herod's rise and indeed Antipater's rise, his father's rise as well.

The level of control this family are beginning to exert over the government of Judea.

There is this wonderful scene where he is there and no one wants to speak against him because he is really displaying his authority.

There is an idea of kind of regalness there and at least emphasising the level that he has got to, the amount of power that he has reached in part through his connections.

One person speaks out against him called Samias in this council and points out to the rest of the members

You do realize what he's doing.

You do realize that you are letting him get away with this and he is undermining your authority.