Charles Ellicott Commentary Matthew 2:22

"But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning over Judaea in the room of his father Herod, he was afraid to go thither; and being warned [of God] in a dream, he withdrew into the parts of Galilee," — Matthew 2:22 (ASV)

Archelaus—Strictly speaking, this prince was never recognized as a king by the Roman Emperor. Under his father’s will, made just before his death, he governed Judea, Samaria, and Idumea, but he received the inferior title of Ethnarch.

His brothers, Antipas and Philip, governed other regions: Antipas had Galilee and Perea, while Philip had the region of Trachonitis. Popularly, however, the higher title of “king” was still used for these rulers, as we find in the case of the Tetrarch Antipas in Matthew 14:9.

The character of Archelaus was as cruel and treacherous as his father’s. Within a few months of his accession, he sent his horsemen to disperse a crowd, killing no less than 3,000 people. In contrast, the temperament of Antipas was, at that time, considered milder. This, along with Antipas’s possible absence from Galilee during a visit to Rome, may well have led Joseph to turn to that region, seeing it as a place of greater safety (Josephus, Antiquities 17.2, 5, 6, 8, 9).

Nine years later, the oppression by Archelaus became so intolerable that both Jews and Samaritans complained about him to the Emperor. Consequently, he was deposed and banished to Gaul.