Herod | Bob's boy's Christianity blog

Luke chapter 2 is about the birth of Jesus. The shepherds, who are out in their field at night, were visited by the angel of the Lord, and “the glory of the Lord shone around them and they were filled with fear.” Any time that term is used, it is accompanied by great light, which would have doubtless brightened the field substantially. This would certainly have generated fear among them.

The baptism of Jesus by John the baptist, as illustrated in the Hortus deliciarum. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Telling them not to be afraid, the angel told them of the good news of the birth in the city of David of “a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.” The angel also told them how they would know him when they went to see him. We do not know what constituted the “multitude of the heavenly host” that also appeared in verses 13-14, but it would seem to at least be a multitude of angels. What else (cherubim, perhaps?) we do not know.

By the end of chapter two, Jesus is twelve years old and teaching and learning in the temple as his parents search for Him after the Passover Feast. The chapter concludes saying “And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man.”

Verses 1-21 of chapter 3 are all about John the baptist “preparing the way,” as had been foretold in Isaiah 40:3-5 and elsewhere. He was baptizing people for repentance and the forgiveness of sins. It was a completely new concept for the people that he was preaching to, especially for Jews. He reluctantly baptizes Jesus then. In verses 19-20, Luke writes about Herod’s arrest and imprisonment of John the baptist.

Verses 23-38 of chapter three list the genealogy of Jesus Christ. But this genealogy is different from the one listed in Matthew. This writer believes, as some scholars do, that this genealogy is of the line of Jesus’ mother, Mary. For my analysis of this argument, please see this previous post.

/Bob’s boy

Bible Reading Schedule for this month
Click links below to read or listen to audio of one of this week’s chapters in Colossians and Luke

Luke 2, Luke 3, Luke 4, Luke 5, Luke 6

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some images © V. Gilbert & Arlisle F. Beers

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All of my comments in this blog are solely my responsibility. When reading any commentary, you should always refer first to the scripture, which is God’s unchanging and unfailing word.

Verse one says that the “whole company of them arose and brought him before Pilate.” The Sanhedrin council was delivering the Son of God to Pilate. During his first questioning, Pilate could not find anything to accuse Him about, despite the Sanhedrin’ s urging – and even a lie they told him. Jesus never told anyone that they should not pay tribute to Caesar. But when Pilate found out He was from Galilee, he decided to send Him to Herod because that was his jurisdiction, and he knew that Herod was in Jerusalem at the time.

Christ before Pontius Pilate, Mihály Munkácsy, 1881 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Herod had been wanting to meet Jesus for a long time, so he was very glad to see him. He wanted to see some sort of “sign” from Him. But Jesus was not participating in some dog and pony show for Herod. Verse 9 says that he questioned Him at some length, but got no answer from Him. This fulfilled the prophecy in Isaiah 53:7:

He was oppressed, and he was afflicted,
yet he opened not his mouth;
like a lamb that is led to the slaughter,
and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent,
so he opened not his mouth

Unamused with the Lord, Herod and his soldiers treated Him with contempt and mocked Him. Then they dressed Him in “splendid” clothing – solely as mockery of His claim to be king of the Jews. He was then sent back to Pilate (who the scripture says became good friends with Herod that day). But Pilate called the chief priests and elders in and told them that neither he nor Herod had found Jesus guilty of their charges. Nothing deserving death had been done, he said. So he was going to punish Him and release Him.

This not what the Sanhedrin had in mind at all.

(This year’s reading plan for Luke, Acts, and 1 and 2 Chronicles averages just 15 verses per day – 5 days per week!)
Schedule for this week
Read or listen to audio of today’s selection from Luke here
Read or listen to audio of today’s selection from 2 Chronicles here

/Bob’s boy

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some images © V. Gilbert & Arlisle F. Beers

Please note: I did not design the reading plan that I am following in my blog. All of my comments in this blog, however, are solely my responsibility. When reading ANY commentary, you should ALWAYS refer first to the scripture, which is God’s unchanging and unfailing word. Reading schedules, as well as a link to the site where you can get the reading plan that I’m currently following for yourself can be found on the “Bible Reading Schedules” page of my website at http://graceofourlord.com.