Luke 9:7-9 English Standard Version Herod Is Perplexed by Jesus 7 Now Herod the tetrarch heard about all that was happening, and he was perplexed, because it was said by some that John had been raised from the dead, 8 by some that Elijah had appeared, and by others that one of the prophets of old had risen. 9 Herod said, “John I beheaded, but who is this about whom I hear such things?” And he sought to see him. This is not Herod the Great who was around at the time of Jesus' birth--remember, that Herod died while Mary, Joseph and Jesus were in Egypt. Herod the Great divided his kingdom into fourths (that is why this Herod is called a tetrarch), giving one fourth to each son. This particular son that remained in charge of Galilee is named Herod Antipas and we'll see a little more of this Herod throughout the life of Jesus. We'll also see other relatives of Herod the Great mentioned from time to time and I'll try to explain their relation since many wore the title of Herod (like how there is one main Pharaoh that we think of in the Old Testament, but that was really a title that was worn by many rules of Egypt and it helps to know which person is being referred to by the title so that you can keep track of the timeline).
Now Herod Antipas has some issues with John the Baptist, specifically that John was publicly saying that it was sinful for Herod Antipas to take the wife of his brother Phillip. I'd encourage you to read Matthew 14:1-12 along with today's passage for some context about what Herod is talking about when he says "Joh, I beheaded, but who is this about who I hear such things?" Jesus and John are so similar in message that some have mistaken Jesus for a reincarnation of John or thought that John had come back from the dead or that John's spirit somehow now lived within Jesus (this is the closest to the truth as both were full of the Holy Spirit and it is the Spirit who was speaking through both of them). Others imagined Jesus was Elijah that was promised to come (see Malachi 4:5) as the people were expecting the great and terrible day of the LORD when the Messiah came. Elijah did come on the Mount of Transfiguration, and Jesus said that for those who were willing to accept it, John the Baptist was one who came in the spirit of Elijah, though John was not Elijah himself. People are confused because they don't have a proper view of who Jesus is and by what authority He says and does these things they have been hearing about. We would think at this point there would be sufficient evidence to prove to people that Jesus was exactly who He claimed to be--the Son of God. Yet, we have the benefit of looking backwards on everything and having the editorial comments of the gospel writers. It's understandable that very few people were even starting to put the pieces together because the Bible tells us that even the apostles who spent all three years of Jesus' ministry with Him didn't understand until after the Resurrection when the Holy Spirit allowed them to see. The ones who did see clearly were allowed to see clearly so that they would reject what they had seen and be held accountable for their rebellion against the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. We will see that even Jesus stops and asks His disciples "Who do people say that the Son of Man is?" (see Matthew 16:13). The disciples answer with the same answers as were swirling around in Herod's head here--“Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” (Matthew 16:14). Compare this to verses 7 and 8 of today's text, "...it was said by some that John had been raised from the dead, 8 by some that Elijah had appeared, and by others that one of the prophets of old had risen. " It sounds like Herod and Jesus' disciples are listening to the same nameless people. Jesus comes back after this in Matthew 16 and asks the disciples directly, “But who do you say that I am?” This is a very important question that all of us who call ourselves a disciple of Jesus Christ must answer. Just exactly who are we following? Peter, acting as spokesman for the group, answers by saying, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” The word "Christ" here is the Greek word for the Jewish word "Messiah." ("The Anointed One of God"). This is also a title that we mostly think of referring to Jesus of Nazareth only, but it was also used to refer to others as well, including Cyrus the king of Persia whom God "anointed" for the specific task of restoring His people to their Land and allowing them to rebuild the Temple and the walls of Jerusalem (and funding most of this project out of the Persian treasury). Jesus was someone very special that God has given a special office to for a specific time and with a specific calling and purpose. This is the idea of being anointed (usually prophets, priests and kings, and sometimes judges were anointed in the Old Testament. Jesus was the fulfilment of all of these offices, but He is the one and only Son of God.) Herod didn't understand this about who Jesus was in the way that Jesus' disciples did because the disciples had the benefit of the private conversations that not all the people got to hear. Without all that personal instruction that we have gotten to look in on through the gospels, who might we imagine Jesus to be if we lived in Israel at that time? Well, that all probably depends on who you were waiting and looking for as people saw what they wanted to see. If you wanted to see Rome overthrown and the throne of David established in Jerusalem, then you are probably looking for a political leader and might be willing to think of Jesus as the Son of David. If you were looking for someone to speak God's judgment and condemnation against the wickedness of the nations and even the people calling themselves the people of God and calling them to repentance, then you would probably be looking for Elijah or a prophet--maybe even the Prophet from the book of Deuteronomy (this is apparently who the Samaritan woman in John 4 was waiting for). If you saw yourself in some kind of slavery and exile and needing to be led out of it, you might be waiting for one like Moses. Yet no one seemed to be expecting God Himself to come down in human form, especially in the form of a baby, to be the sacrificial Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. So this was quite a puzzling issues for those that were in power. Who is this man, what is His end game, and do we need to have Him on some kind of watch list because we feel He is dangerous to the people and the stability of the kingdom? Herod will be a power-player working from the background now and there will be a group called the Herodians who will be aligned with him and with Rome who will team up with Pharisees and Sadducees as "the enemy of my enemy is my friend" is seen coming to fruition in the life of Jesus. There is this unholy alliance that starts to form between all these power groups that normally would be fighting with each other but they all see Jesus as threat to their continued power and existence. Watch how the much of the opposition to Jesus starts to become political now even more than it used to be. The questions may sound similar to the ones that were simply testing His message to see if He was holding true to the Scriptures, but now their reasoning behind those questions is to try to trick Him into saying something that would make Jesus unpopular with the people, would get Him in legal trouble with the Roman authorities, or might somehow disqualify Him from assuming the throne (admittedly this last one is the hardest to figure out, but it goes back to something we talked about in the genealogies in the beginning of the gospels of Matthew and Luke and I'll point it out when we get there). Comments are closed.
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Daniel WestfallI will mostly use this space for recording my "journal" from my daily devotions as I hope to encourage others to read the Bible along with me and to leave a legacy for others. Archives
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