was the King of the Nabataeans from roughly 9 BC to AD 40.
His full title, as given in the inscriptions, was "Aretas,
King of the Nabataeans, Friend of his People." Being the most
powerful neighbour of Judea, he frequently took part in the
state affairs of that country, and was influential in shaping
the destiny of its rulers. While on not particularly good
terms with Rome - as intimated by his surname, "Friend of his
People", which is in direct opposition to the prevalent
φιλορώμαις ("Friend of the Romans") and φιλόκαισαρ ("Friend of
the Emperor") - and though it was only after great hesitation
that Augustus recognized him as king, nevertheless he took
part in the expedition of Varus against the Jews in the year 4
BC, and placed a considerable army at the disposal of the
Roman general...
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ar'-e-tas (Aretas): The name is a common one among Arabian
princes and signifies "virtuous or pleasing."
1. 2 Macc 5:8:
It is mentioned several times in Biblical literature and in
Josephus. Here it refers to an Arabian king, who was a
contemporary of Antiochus Epiphanes (circa 170 BC), before
whom Jason the high priest was accused.
2. Obodas:
Another Arabian prince of this name, surnamed Obodas (Ant.,
XIII, xv, 2; xvi, 2; XVI, ix, 4) defeated Antiochus
Dionysius and reigned over Coele-Syria and Damascus. He
participated with Hyrcanus in the war for the Jewish throne
against his brother Aristobulus, but the allies were
completely defeated at Papyron, by Aristobulus and Scaurus,
the Roman general. The latter carried the war into Arabia
and forced Aretas to make an ignominious peace, at the price
of three hundred talents of silver. Of that event a memorial
denarius still exists, with a Roman chariot in full charge
on the one side and a camel on the other, by the side of
which an Arab is kneeling, who holds out a branch of
frankincense.
3. Aeneas:
The successor of Obodas was apparently surnamed Aeneas and
this is the Arabian king who figures in the New Testament (2
Cor 11:32; compare Acts 9:24). The Aretas, here mentioned,
is the father-in-law of Herod Antipas, who divorced his wife
to marry Herodins, the wife of his brother Philip (Mt 14:3;
Mk 6:17; Lk 3:19). Josephus (Ant., XVIII, v, 1,3) gives us a
circumstantial narration of the events leading up to and
following the conduct of Antipas. Coupled with a boundary
dispute, it occasioned a bitter w ar between the two
princes, in which Antipas was completely overwhelmed, who
thereupon invoked the aid of the Romans. Tiberius ordered
Vitellius, proconsul of Syria, to make war on Aretas and to
deliver him dead or alive into the hands of the emperor. On
the way, at Jerusalem, Vitellius received intelligence of
the death of Tiberius, March 16, 37 AD, and stopped all
warlike proceedings (Ant., XVIII, v, 1,3). According to 2
Cor 11:32, Damascus, which had formerly belonged to the
Arabian princes, was again in the hands of Are tas, when
Paul escaped from it, not immediately after his conversion,
but on a subsequent visit, after his Arabian exile (Gal
1:16,17). It is inconceivable that Aretas should have taken
Damascus by force, in the face of the almost omnipotent
power of Rome. The picture moreover, which Josephus draws of
the Herodian events, points to a passive rather than an
active attitude on the part of Aretas. The probability is
that Cajus Caligula, the new emperor, wishing to settle the
affairs of Syria, freely gave Damascu s to Aretas, inasmuch
as it had formerly belonged to his territory. As Tiberius
died in 37 AD, and as the Arabian affair was completely
settled in 39 AD, it is evident that the date of Paul's
conversion must lie somewhere between 34 and 36 AD. This
date is further fixed by a Damascus coin, with the image of
King Aretas and the date 101. If that date points to the
Pompeian era, it equals 37 AD, making the date of Paul's
conversion 34 AD (Mionnet, Descript. des medailles antiques,
V, 284-85).
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the father-in-law of Herod Antipas, and king of Arabia
Petraea.
His daughter returned to him on the occasion of her
husband's
entering into an adulterous alliance with Herodias,
the wife of
Herod-Philip, his half-brother (Luke 3:19, 20; Mark
6:17; Matt.
14:3). This led to a war between Aretas and Herod
Antipas.
Herod's army was wholly destroyed (A.D. 36). Aretas,
taking
advantage of the complications of the times on account
of the
death of the Emperor Tiberius (A.D. 37), took
possession of
Damascus (2 Cor. 11:32; comp. Acts 9:25). At this time
Paul
returned to Damascus from Arabia.
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A common name of many Arabian kings. 2 Corinthians 11:32;
"in Damascus the governor ethnarch) under Aretas the king
kept the city of the Damascenes with a garrison, desirous to
apprehend me; and through a window in a basket was I let
down by the wall, and escaped his hands." The ethnarch did
it to please the Jews, who (Acts 9:24) "watched the gates
day and night to kill Paul." His office was to exercise
authority under the king, over the many Jews in large
cities: compare Acts 9:25. Damascus had been a city of the
Roman province, Syria; and we have Damascene coins of
Augustus and Tiberius, and afterward of Nero, etc., but we
have none of Caligula. This implies that some change in the
government of Damascus took place under Caligula, Tiberius's
successor. Moreover, Aretas, king of Arabia Nabataea dud its
capital Petra, made war on Antipas for divorcing Aretas'
daughter, and defeated him.
But Tiberius, at Antipas' entreaty, commanded
Vitellius, governor of Syria, to take Aretas dead or alive.
Before the order was executed Tiberius himself was dead.
Then all was reversed. Antipas was banished by Caligula to
Lyons, and his kingdom given to Agrippa, his nephew and his
foe. It seems therefore to harmonize with history, as well
as with Scripture, to assume that in A.D. 38 or 39, when
Caligula made several changes in the E., he also granted
Damascus to Aretas. The incidental way in which Paul alludes
to Aretas' kingship over Damascus at the time of his escape
from the ethnarch under him, by being let down in a basket
from a house on the city wall (compare Acts 9:23-25), is a
strong presumption for the truth of the Acts and Second
Epistle to Corinthians. This was three years after Paul's
conversion; so that A. D. 36 will be the date of his
conversion.
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