Expository Thoughts (continued)
bring him into disfavor with the Jews, they had asked him "Is it right for us to pay taxes to Caesar or not?" (Luke 20:22). But now when they want to make him out to be an offender before the Roman governor, they accuse him of forbidding paying taxes to the Roman emperor. This false charge is as striking as it is dishonest.
3. "It is as you say." St. Paul refers to this saying when he tells
Timothy that our Lord "while testifying before Pontius Pilate made the good confession" (1 Timothy 6:13).
5. They insisted. The Greek word here literally, means, "they grew more strong, more violent, more urgent; they persisted in their accusation."
7. He sent him to Herod. This Herod was Herod Antipas, the same
Herod who killed John the Baptist. He was son of Herod the Great, who had all the children of two years and younger killed in Bethlehem. He was uncle of Herod Agrippa, who killed the apostle
James with the sword and would have killed Peter if the apostle had not been miraculously rescued from prison.
The family of the Herod's was Idumean. They were all descended from Esau, the father of Edom. That detail is worth noting when we see their constant opposition against Christ and his followers. The seed of Esau seems to carry on the old enmity against the seed of Jacob.
11. Sent him back to Pilate. We are told that neither the ruler of Galilee nor the ruler of Judea could find any fault in our Lord. In Galilee most of his miracles had been performed, and he had spent much of his time there. Yet the ruler of Galilee accused him of nothing. He was to be crucified as a lamb without blemish or spot.