Corrupted By the Politics of the World.

Jesus Christ warned us against the liberalism of the Sadducees, and the legalism of the Pharisees. But He also warned against the corruption ("yeast") of the Herodians. But what did Christ mean? We know a lot about the Pharisees and Sadducees from the Gospels, but very little about the Herodians. For this we have to consider history in addition to Scripture.

According to this article from Biola University (https://www.biola.edu/blogs/good-book-blog/2014/how-many-herods-are-there-in-the-bible) , there were six Herods we can find during Biblical times.  "Herod" was a title, like "Caesar" or "Abimelech".

Herod the Great was the one who had all the baby boys in Bethlehem murdered. Herod Archelaus was the one Joseph was avoiding when the holy family returned to Israel from Egypt. Herod Antipas was the one who married his sister-in-law, and had John the Baptist executed. Herod Philip the Tetrarch was the one who married his niece Salome. Herod Agrippa I was the one whom God struck with intestinal worms for letting people worship him as a god.  Herod Agrippa II was the one who interviewed the apostle Paul in Caesarea, in Acts 26.

So perhaps we can draw principles from the sordid examples of the horrible Herods. The Saduccees were examples of how not  to approach pagan religion and philosophy (they embraced Greek philosophy, mindled it with the five books of Moses, and ignored everything else in the Old Testament). The Pharisees were examples of how not to be saved and walk with God (they exalted tradition over Scripture, and believed in salvation by faith + works). The Herods, however, are definite examples of how not to approach politics and civil government!

The Herods believed in political power above all. Herod the (not so) Great sold out to the Romans in exchange for political power over Israel. There was a saying from the time that Herod's pigs were safer than his sons, because Herod would murder his sons if he thought they were a threat to his power, while he wouldn't go near an unclean pig. Nothing mattered more to Herod the Great than political power.

Herod also believed the ends justified the means. Feel threatened by the arrival of the Messianic king? Lie to the wise men, then murder an entire village's baby-boy population, so that, by carpet-bombing the town's children, maybe you'll kill off the King of Kings.  God's moral laws can go jump in the lake. You do whatever you need to do to hold on to power, no matter how horrible or heinous it may be. That was Herod's motto, as it is of many policians.

Herod disconnected politics from character. Jesus called Herod Antipas a "fox" (Luke 13:32), which was not a compliment. This Herod is the one who divorced his first wife, married his former sister-in-law (with whom he no doubt had been carrying on an affair), had John the Baptist executed to please his harlot wife, and wanted Jesus to perform magic tricks for him.  All of this Herod's described faults were personal, and greatly sexual. Regardless of how administratively competent he may have been -- for example, history says he did a good job building up the city of Tiberius -- he himself was a thieving, scheming, lascivious fox. In this same vein, Herod Philip the Tetrarch married his own niece.

Herod used his position to gather glory to himself. The reason God killed Herod Agrippa I is because he accepted the religious praise of a crowd, when they called him a god in order to flatter him (Acts 12:20-23).  This was close to what God did to Nebuchadnezzar when Nebcuhadnezzar praised himself, as described in the book of Daniel. 

What is the yeasty corruption of the Herods?  Based on the ugly careers of the Herods, we could say...

1.  Power matters more than anything else.
2.  The ends always justify the means.
3.  Political leadership has nothing to do with moral character.
4.  Political position for gathering glory and honor for one's self.