about to arise, and become a great leader, is mentioned by Roman historians. Bat there is no evidence that the Roman government ever showed jealousy of any one who was merely a religious teacher, like our Lord, and did not interfere with the civil power.
The plain truth is, that this saying of the Pharisees looks like an excuse, caught up as a weapon against our Lord, and a pretext for stirring up enmity against Him. What they really hated was our Lord's doctrine, which exposed their own sys- tem, and weakened their authority. They felt that their craft was in danger; but not daring to say this publicly, they pre- tended a fear that He would excite the jealousy of the Romans, and endanger the whole nation. They did just the same when they finally accused Him to Pilate, as One that stirred up sedi- tion, and made Himself a King. It is no uncommon thing for wicked people to assign very untrue reasons for their conduct, and to keep back and conceal their true motives. Demetrius, and his friends at Ephesus, said that the temple of the great goddess Diana was in danger, when in reality it was their own craft and their own wealth. The Jews at Thessalonica who persecuted Paul, pretended great zeal for "the decrees of Caesar," when their real motive was hatred of Christ's Gospel. The Pharisees here pretended fear of the Romans, when in reality they found the growing influence of Jesus pulling down their own power over the people.
Calvin observes : " They double their wickedness by a plausi- ble disguise,— their zeal for the public good. The fear that chiefly distressed them was that their own tyranny should be destroyed ; but they pretend to be anxious about the temple and worship of God."
Bucer compares the Pharisees' pretended fear of the Romans to the absurd fears of the consequence of printing and literature, which the Papists used to express at the period of the Reforma- tion.
Flacius remarks that " through fear of Caesar, God is de- spised and His Son crucified, and this under pretext of preserv- ing religion, the temple, and the nation. Human wisdom preserves itself by appeasing man and offending God ! "
Ferus remarks that the council entirely forgot that " rulers, whether the Romans or any others, are not a terror to good works, but to evil. If the Jews had believed and obeyed God, they had nothing to fear."
That the leading Jews at Jerusalem had a strong suspicion that Jesus really was the Messiah, in spite of all their out- rageous enmity and unbelief, is evident not only from compari- son of other places, but from their nervous anxiety to get rid of Him. They knew that Daniel's seventy weeks were run out. They could not deny the miracles that Jesus did. But they dared not follow out their convictions, and draw the conclusion