There are several members of the Herodian family found in the New Testament. The modern Bible reader has difficulty distinguishing between the three kings called Herod (Mt 2:1-18; Mk 6:14-29; Acts 12:1-2). Here are a few reasons why I believe this difficulty has occurred:
First, the modern era is thousands of years apart from the times of the New Testament. Second, the Nativity play has effected people’s minds. When Jesus was a baby, King Herod attempted to kill the baby Jesus. This has made an impression on the mind of the Bible reader. As they read the Bible, they think that the ‘King Herod’ who attempted to kill baby Jesus, also killed John the Baptist and James the Apostle. Third, all three King Herod’s are different people, but they are all called by the same name in the New Testament.
Here are some suggestions to overcome this difficulty in a new Korean translation:
First, the Bible translator(s) give the three Herod’s their individual names. For the first Herod who attempted to kill Jesus when He was a baby, it is suggested to keep his name as ‘Herod’. The one who killed John the Baptist may be called ‘Antipas’, and the other who killed James the Apostle ‘Agrippa’. Agrippa (who killed the Apostle James), had a son called by the same name, who appears in Acts 25-26. His son was present at the trial of the Apostle Paul. He had the same name as his father, thus, the son of Agrippa was named ‘Agrippa II’. This would make it more simpler for the reader to distinguish the three kings called Herod without confusion. The three kings would have their own names, and would take away the difficulty for the reader about the Herodian family. However, the new Korean translators would be criticized for destroying the original Bible text.
Second, they could use footnotes instead, which would give simple information about the history of the Herodian family.
Third, they could use the Appendix to give lots of information about them. This would mean that the original Bible text would remain the same, and the information about the history of the Herodian family would be available to the reader. The only problem with using the Appendix would be that the reader generally does not use it because they concentrate on the Biblical text.
I would conclude that the second suggestion, using footnotes, would be best suitable for the situation of the Korean Church. Korean Christians dislike the alteration of the Biblical text because they believe that God wrote the Bible.