41 - Bible Commentary | Karuna Sadan

Then the whole multitude of them arose and led Him to Pilate. And they began to accuse Him, saying, "We found this fellow perverting the nation, and forbidding to pay taxes to Caesar, saying that He Himself is Christ, a King." (Luke 23:1-2)

The first thing to be noted here is that the Jews did not bring Pilate the same charge they used against Jesus in their religious trial. Therefore, they did not mention the charge of blasphemy.

Instead, they toss out an assortment of civil charges hoping something will hold and prompt pilate to act against Jesus. They mentioned that Jesus forbade paying taxes to Caesar. This was an outright lie, as Jesus clearly mentioned saying, "Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's." (Mark 12:17)

6 When Pilate heard of Galilee, he asked if the Man were a Galilean. 7 And as soon as he knew that He belonged to Herod's jurisdiction, he sent Him to Herod, who was also in Jerusalem at that time. (Luke 23:6-7)

The Jews' reference to Galilee gave Pilate a convenient opportunity to pass the buck.

At the time of Jesus' death, Rome ruled most of Judea through governors of procurators who held the power of life and death over the province. These leaders were appointed by Rome to police the people and collect taxes. They also usually had a small contingent of Roman soldiers at their disposal. (around 3000).

These men often took on a variety of titles - governor or prefect, occasionally tetrarch or ethnarch. The Roman senate had elected Herod as the king of the Jews in 37 BC.

Though Herod claimed to be a Jew, he was actually descended from the Edomites, Esau.

Now when Herod saw Jesus, he was exceedingly glad, for he had desired for a long time to see Him because he had heard many things about Him, and he hoped to see some miracle done by Him. (Luke 23:8)

Ever since Herod had heard about the miracles of Jesus after the execution of John the Baptist, he wanted to meet Jesus. It was in Luke 13, that the Pharisees had tried to keep Jesus from travelling to Jerusalem by claiming that Herod was seeking to kill Him. And now Jesus was standing before him.

Herod's only interest in Jesus was as a magician or miracle worker. Herod had no spiritual interest in Jesus.

Scripture says that both Herod and Zacchaeus desired to see Jesus. Herod was glad to see Jesus for the wrong reasons. Zacchaeus saw Jesus and his household received salvation.

Chapter 23