Herod "the Great"

Edomite Ancestry

That Herod was indeed of the seed of Esau is fully apparent in the pages of the Judaean historian, Flavius Josephus, where it is attested to directly or indirectly at least five times.

Josephus, Antiquities, 14:8: But there was a certain friend of Hyrcanus, an Idumean, called Antipater, who was very rich, and in his nature an active and a seditious man; who was at enmity with Aristobulus, and had differences with him on account of his goodwill to Hyrcanus. [Antipater was the father of Herod.]

Josephus, Antiquities, 14:403: but Antigonus, by way of reply to what Herod had caused to be proclaimed, and this before the Romans, and before Silo also, said that they would not do justly if they gave the kingdom to Herod, who was no more than a private man, and an Idumean, i.e. a half Jew, whereas they ought to bestow it on one of the royal family, as their custom was...

Josephus, Wars, 1:123: Now, those other people which were at variance with Aristobulus were afraid, upon his unexpectedly obtaining the government; and especially this concerned Antipater, whom Aristobulus hated of old. He was by birth an Idumean, and one of the principal of that nation, on account of his ancestors and riches, and other authority to him belonging...

Josephus, Wars, 1:312-313: 312 And here a certain old man, the father of seven children, whose children, together with their mother, desired him to give them permission to go out, upon the assurance and right hand that was offered them, slew them after the following manner: he ordered everyone of them to go out, while he stood himself at the cave's mouth, and slew each son of his as went out. Herod was near enough to see this sight, and his bowels of compassion were moved at it, and he stretched out his right hand to the old man, and besought him to spare his children; 313 yet did not he relent at all upon what he said, but over and above reproached Herod on the lowness of his descent, and slew his wife as well as his children; and when he had thrown their dead bodies down the precipice, he at last threw himself down after them.

Now at Antiquities, 14:403 we see that Josephus called Herod a “half Jew”, but by that he did not mean that his mother was an Israelite, since here where Josephus is speaking of Antipater we shall see that Herod's mother was indeed an Idumaean, at Antiquities, 14:120-121:

120 and as he came back to Tyre, he went up into Judea also, and attacked Taricheae, and presently took it, and carried about thirty thousand Jews captives; and slew Pitholaus, who succeeded Aristobulus in his seditious practices, and that by the persuasion of Antipater, 121 who proved to have great interest in him, and was at that time in great repute with the Idumeans also: out of which nation he married a wife, who was the daughter of one of their eminent men, and her name was Cypros, {a} by whom he had four sons, Phasael, and Herod, who was afterward made king, and Joseph, and Pheroras; and a daughter, named Salome.

With this it is apparent that by “half-Jew” Josephus did not mean racially, but perhaps he used the term only as far as confession and appearance were concerned.

Revelation

“Revelation 12:4 "And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, in order that when she should give birth he may devour her child.“

The dragon here is represented by the historical Herod the Great, for only he attempted to murder the Christ child as soon as he was born, as we find recorded in Matthew. The fact that Herod represents the dragon is quite profound once we discover that he was not an Israelite, but an Edomite by race. That Herod was indeed of the seed of Esau is fully apparent in the pages of the Judaean historian, Flavius Josephus, where it is attested to directly or indirectly at least five times.

It is fully evident that Herod, representative of the dragon, was fully an Edomite by blood. Remember, as it is mentioned in both Malachi chapter 1 and Romans chapter 9, Yahweh God hated Esau, Paul even referring to the Edomites as “vessels of destruction”.