Biblion Bible Commentary
Read the introduction to Luke · About this commentary
Herod Hoped to See a Miracle
Luke 23:8-12
8 Now when Herod saw Jesus, he was exceedingly glad, for he had wanted to see him for a long time, because he had heard many things about him. He hoped to see some miracle done by him. · WEB
The king who beheaded John finally gets his interview, and gets nothing.
Now when Herod saw Jesus, he was exceedingly glad, for he had wanted to see him for a long time, because he had heard many things about him. He hoped to see some miracle done by him Luke 23:8.
Only this Gospel records the hearing before Herod, and it has been prepared for since chapter nine. He sought to see him was said of him then Luke 9:9, after he asked who is this about whom I hear such things? — a question with a beheading behind it.
So the meeting finally happens, and the account is careful about what he wanted from it. Not information, not a judgment on the charges. A miracle. He is exceedingly glad because a curiosity of long standing is about to be satisfied.
He questioned him with many words, but he gave no answers Luke 23:9.
The silence is total, and it is the only recorded instance of him refusing to speak to anyone at all. He answered the council's question and Pilate's; to Herod he says nothing.
The reason is not stated and does not need to be. This is the man who killed John, and he is treating a capital hearing as an entertainment. There is nothing to say to that, and the silence is itself the answer — the same silence the servant keeps under accusation Isaiah 53:7.
It is worth adding one thing. He warned earlier that if they don't listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded if one rises from the dead Luke 16:31. A man who wants a sign and has already killed the prophet he was given will not be helped by another.
Herod with his soldiers humiliated him and mocked him. Dressing him in luxurious clothing, they sent him back to Pilate Luke 23:11. Disappointment turns to ridicule, and the robe is a joke about kingship — the second time that week a soldier's idea of a coronation is used on him.
Herod and Pilate became friends with each other that very day, for before that they were enemies with each other Luke 23:12.
The last verse is the strangest in the passage and the writer includes it deliberately. Two men who had been at odds are reconciled over a prisoner neither of them will convict — a friendship founded on shared evasion. Both examined him, both found nothing, and both passed him on.
settled What this mark means