The Jewish historian Flavius Josephus also relates in his "Antiquities of the Jews" that Herod killed John, stating that he did so, "lest the great influence John had over the people might put it into his power and inclination to raise a rebellion, (for they seemed ready to do any thing he should advise), [so Herod thought it best put him to death." He further states that many of the Jews believed that the military disaster that fell upon Herod at the hands of Aretas, his father-in-law (Phasaelis' father), was God's punishment for his unrighteous behavior.