offender at the bar of the Roman governor, they charge Him with forbidding to give tribute to Osesar the Roman emperor. The falseness of the charge is as striking as its dishonesty.
3. — [Thou myest it.\ This is the remarkable saying which St. Paul refers to, when he tells Timothy that our Lord " before Pontius Pilate witnessed a good confession." (1 Tim. vi. 13.) But we must remember that St. Luke only reports a portion of what our Lord said. The Gospel of St. John contains other particulars which are not reported here. (John xviii. 28 — 38.)
4. — [I find no fault in this man.] It is clear that Pilate said this after the conversation with our Lord, reported by St. John, and after satisfying himself that He claimed no temporal kingdom, and was not such a King as would interfere with the Roman authority. He had in particular heard our Lord's words, " My kingdom is not of this world." (John xviii. 36.)
5. — [They were the more fierce.'] The Oreek word so translated, means literally, " they grew more sti'ong, more violent, more urgent, — they persisted in their accusation."
7. — [He sent him to Herod.'] This Herod was Herod Antipas, the same Herod who put to death John the Baptist. He was son of Herod the Great, who caused all the children under two years of age to be murdered at Bethlehem, and uncle of Herod Agrippa, who slew James the apostle with the sword, and would have slain Peter if he had not been miraculously delivered from prison.
The family of the Herods was Idumsean. They were all decended from Esau, the father of Edom. This circumstance is noteworthy, when we see their unceasing enmity against Christ and His people. The seed of Esau seems to carry on the old enmity against the seed of Jacob.
8. — [Exceeding glad,,. desirous to see„,heard m^ny things^ dc.} The expressions in this verse are very remarkable. They bring be- fore us the fearful history of Herod's sins, and throw light on the power of conscience. Herod had not forgotten John the Baptist and his testimonv. Moreover he had probably heard much about our Lord from his steward Chuza, whose wife Joanna was one of our Lord's disciples. (Luke viii. 3.)
9. — [He answered him nothing.] It is probable that it would have been useless to answer Herod's questions. Herod had heard the truth often from John the Baptist's mouth. What he wanted was not more knowledge, but a heart and a will to act upon what he knew.
lO. — [The chief priests and scribes stood.] It is clear that these bitter enemies of our Lord followed Him from place to place, and from court to court with their accusations. The great ad- ditional fatigue which this going backwards and forwards from