Professor Benedict Eckhardt

And so the success is also the reason for Antipater's death and downfall as well.

Herod is fairly determined to get vengeance very quickly for Antipater's murder.

And this is another occasion where we perhaps see the slightly impetuous, the slightly hot-headed Herod.

He wants to immediately go out and murder Malachus and take vengeance.

His brother Phasael stops him, essentially saying, look, you don't want to incite a popular riot.

We don't want civil war if you just go and murder this person.

Malachos is denying everything at the same time.

He is saying that he is lamenting Antipater and so on and so forth.

And there is definitely...

Not factionalism, but not everyone is behind Herod and Antipater and the brothers at this point as well.

There is perhaps a divided population.

So Phazael is the restraint.

He says, wait.

What Herod then does is essentially gets permission from Cassius to murder Manichus.

which he obtains.

There is a nice cryptic comment in Josephus that Cassius has his own reasons for disliking Malachos, which we can think back to that slow payment of the tribute and various other things.

Cassius then also instructs Roman tribunes to help Herod.

So eventually, Herod invites Hyrcanus and Malachos to dinner.

This is entire.

At the same time, he alerts these two Roman tribunes who stab Malachos to death.