Aretas IV

Aretas IV ruled the Nabataean kingdom during the lifetimes of Jesus and Paul. His family was drawn into the conflict surrounding Herod Antipas, and Paul mentions an official under King Aretas at Damascus.

Aretas IV was a powerful king of the Nabataeans, whose kingdom included Petra and controlled important trading routes south and east of Judea. His reign was a long period of Nabataean influence and prosperity.

One of his daughters married Herod Antipas. When Antipas planned to marry Herodias, his marriage to Aretas’s daughter broke down. Josephus reports that the resulting quarrel, together with a territorial dispute, led to war. Aretas’s forces defeated those of Antipas, and the Roman emperor Tiberius ordered action against Aretas.

Paul later mentions that an official serving King Aretas guarded Damascus in an attempt to arrest him. Scholars disagree about the exact nature of Nabataean authority in Damascus at that time, so the verse should not be taken as proof that Aretas controlled the entire city.

Aretas shows that Judea and Galilee were part of a wider world of neighboring kingdoms, trade routes, marriage alliances, and Roman diplomacy.

• Ruled the Nabataean kingdom from Petra.
• Formed a marriage alliance with Herod Antipas through his daughter.
• Fought Antipas after the breakdown of that alliance and a border dispute.
• Was associated with an official in Damascus mentioned by Paul.

Josephus, Jewish Antiquities, Book 18, chapter 5; 2 Corinthians 11:32-33; Nabataean inscriptions and coinage.

Aretas IV died around AD 40. His burial place is uncertain.

Paul names King Aretas in his account of escaping from Damascus. The dispute between Aretas and Herod Antipas also helps explain the political background of the family mentioned in the Gospels.