Bad king, the man with symbol of punishment (5)
I believe the answer is:
herod
'bad king' is the definition.
(King Herod in the Bible)
'man with symbol of punishment' is the wordplay.
'man' becomes 'he' (he refers to a man).
'with' says to put letters next to each other.
'symbol of punishment' becomes 'rod' (I've seen this in another clue).
'he'+'rod'='HEROD'
'the' is the link.
(Other definitions for herod that I've seen before include "King of Judaea, temple builder" , "Roman king of Judaea" , "child murderer" , "NT king" , "Former king" .)