text: who is nicodeums and herodias from the new testament?   there was a man of the pharisees, named nicodemus, a ruler of the jews. nicodemus is named three times by john, and not elsewhere; here, in chapter 7:50, where he protests against condemning jesus unheard, and in chapter 19:39, where he aids joseph of arimathæa, in the burial of jesus. there are untrustworthy traditions about him and an allusion in the jewish talmud to a nicodemus who lived about this time, but it may have been another man. two facts are here stated: (1) that he was a pharisee of the powerful, self-righteous sect which laid such stress on ceremonial observances and jewish birth; and (2) that he was a ruler, a member of the sanhedrim, the congress of seventy persons who held the chief authority in israel. the allusion to him in verse 10 as a "teacher in israel," would imply that he was one of the prominent doctors of the law.  herodias was the sister-in-law of the herod who arrested john the baptist.  she was the wife of herod's brother philip.