Was Jesus a grandson of King Herod?

Could Jesus have been the grandson of King Herod, he of “Massacre of the Innocents” notoriety?

That theory is one of many interesting possibilities mooted in a book I have just been reading, “The Marian Conspiracy” by Graham Phillips (the book was first published in 2000).

The idea comes about through the author’s researches into non-Biblical sources concerning affairs in Judea at about the time of the birth of Jesus – which was almost certainly not in “1 AD”, for various reasons. 

Because these sources are completely independent of anything contained in the Old or New Testaments of the Bible, it is important to treat them without looking through the lenses of belief and faith that most religious people would regard as essential when discussing these matters. The typical reaction of such people is to reject anything that contradicts Biblical texts, simply because the books of the Bible are sacred scriptures and the “Word of God”. But sometimes it is worth considering alternative ideas with a completely unbiased mind, even if one still prefers one’s original viewpoint in the end.

The theory outlined by Graham Phillips is that Mary, the mother of Jesus, was nothing like the innocent peasant girl that the Gospels would have one believe. Instead, his theory is that Mary was the daughter of Matthias, a priest from Capernaum in Galilee who became chief priest of the temple in Jerusalem.

It is known from reliable historical sources that Herod’s son Antipater married a woman named Mariamne, who was the daughter of Matthias. Mariamne is a Greek form of the name Miriam (the Hebrew version) or Mary. That – of course – proves nothing, because Mary was a very common girl’s name. 

However, the story gets quite murky because of the question of who was to succeed Herod as King. A plot was hatched to incriminate Antipater in a plot to murder Herod, and he was executed as a result -  despite in all likelihood being entirely innocent. The role of Mariamne was also called into question, especially as she had a son who had a good claim to be the next “King of the Jews”. 

It is known that a purge of potential claimants to the throne took place, and it is possible that Mariamne and her son were victims of it. But what if they were not? This purge is almost certainly the origin of the Massacre of the Innocents story, but it was not as told in St Matthew’s gospel.

Although there is much about this account that is historically verifiable, there remains a huge credibility gap concerning the identification of Mariamne as the Biblical Mary. But could the latter have been a priest’s daughter from Galilee? 

There are various traditions concerning Mary’s parentage. One is that the claim for Jesus’s descent from King David came through his mother’s line, which would have given her considerable prestige – and therefore have made her a potential marriage partner for a royal prince. 

There is an early Church tradition that says that Mary was looked after by the high priest of the Jerusalem temple who placed her under the guardianship of a much older man, named Joseph. It is entirely possible that this tradition could be based on the story of Mariamne escaping from the wrath of Herod, thanks to her father the high priest, and possibly fleeing to Egypt with her young son.  

If Mariamne was indeed Mary, the mother of Jesus, then it all fits together. 

There is another very interesting twist to this theory, which is the attitude of Pontius Pilate to Jesus at his much later trial for blasphemy. Jesus was accused of claiming to be “King of the Jews”. The Jewish Sanhedrin were convinced that this would be enough to bring the condemnation of the Roman governor down upon him, but Pilate replied by saying “I see no fault in him at all”. As far as the Romans were concerned, the only true claimant to this title would be a surviving son of Herod’s son Antipater. Just suppose that Pilate knew full well that this was precisely what Jesus was? That would plainly have accounted for his refusal to condemn Jesus.

All very speculative – and completely unacceptable to convinced Christians – but fascinating nevertheless!

© John Welford