(March 8, 2015 at 4:03 pm)watchamadoodle Wrote: On the war with the Nabataeans, wikipedia describes the divorce as one of several causes. Maybe Aretas was waiting for favorable military conditions or diplomatic arrangements, or maybe he needed a few additional grievances to make up his mind about war? That would explain the delay. I assume the Nabataeans would have been very concerned about Roman retaliation. Maybe they waited until it became obvious that Rome was going to attack them regardless? (I'm just imagining possibilities of course.)
Disclaimer that I'm not a professor of ancient history. That said, Aratas had to know that Rome would retaliate for his attack on Antipas if he was thinking logically. It seems more likely to me that his decision to attack Antipas must have been an ill-thought out impulse, possibly brought on by the outrage of his daughter being jilted and humiliated in that manner. Taking several years to cool off and think about it makes the scenario more unlikely, not less.
But I will defer to those who are more experienced in the field of ancient history to clarify that point.
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"The trinity can be equated to having your cake and eating it too."
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... -Statler Waldorf, Christian apologist
