Archelaus is a name found in the King James Bible, appearing 1 time in the text.
Who This Was
Archelaus was the son of Herod the Great, and he ruled Judea after his father’s death. He appears only once in the King James Bible, in the closing verses of Matthew’s account of the birth of Jesus. The setting is the return of Joseph, Mary, and the young child from Egypt. After Herod the Great died, an angel had told Joseph in a dream to return to the land of Israel, “for they are dead which sought the young child’s life” (Matthew 2:20). Joseph obeyed and came back to the land, but when he heard that Archelaus did reign in Judaea in the room of his father Herod, he was afraid to go thither.
Scripture says of Archelaus only that he reigned in Judea in his father’s place, and that the news of this reign made Joseph afraid to settle there. The text does not explain why Joseph feared him, only that the fear was real. Because Joseph was warned of God in a dream, he turned aside into the parts of Galilee rather than remain in Judea, and the family settled in Nazareth. In this way Archelaus, though he never speaks or acts in the biblical text, becomes part of the chain of events that placed Jesus in Galilee.
What the Bible records of him is thus brief and indirect: a man who inherited his father’s throne, whose rule shaped the fears of a godly family, and whose reign stands in the background of the prophecy that the Messiah would be called a Nazarene. He is named once, and only in connection with the journey of the holy family.
The Name
Archelaus is a Greek name, borne by several figures in ancient history, including kings and generals. Its components are generally understood to mean something like “leader of the people” or “ruler of the people,” from roots meaning “people” and “leader” or “ruler.” The meaning is reasonably well established as a Greek name, though Scripture itself gives no interpretation of it. It is worth noting that the name’s lofty claim—rule over the people—belonged to a man who appears in the sacred text only as a source of fear, a reminder that a name’s meaning is not a guarantee of a life well lived.
A Closing Thought
Archelaus never sought to harm the child Jesus in the text, yet his reign was enough to make Joseph afraid. God used even that fear, and the dream that answered it, to guide the family to Galilee, where Jesus would grow up. It is a quiet comfort that the Lord directs His purposes through the decisions and dangers of ordinary history, even through rulers who never know they are part of the story. We may not see how our own uncertain roads serve His plan, but the journey of Joseph and Mary shows that no detour is outside His care.
At a Glance
- Gender: Male
- Testament: New
- Mentions in the KJV: 1
Where It Appears in Scripture
- Matthew 2:22 — But when he heard that Archelaus did reign in Judaea in the room of his father Herod, he was afraid to go thither: notwithstanding, being warned of God in a dream, he turned aside into the parts of Galilee: