word." He would not, by a single
syllable, give sanction to any prolongation of the proceedings:
"insomuch that the governor marvelled greatly." Flustered and
irresolute himself, he could not comprehend this majestic composure.
The stake of Jesus in the proceedings was nothing less than His life;
yet He was the only calm person in the whole assemblage.

Suddenly, however, amidst the confusion a way of escape from his
embarrassing situation seemed to open to Pilate. They were crying, "He
stirreth up the people, teaching throughout all Jewry, beginning from
Galilee to this place." The mention of Galilee was intended to excite
prejudice against Jesus, because Galilee was noted as a hotbed of
insurrection. But it set agoing a different train of thought in the
mind of Pilate, who asked anxiously if He was a Galilean. It had
flashed upon him that Herod, the ruler of Galilee, was in the city at
the time, having come for the Passover celebration; and, as it was not
an unusual procedure in Roman law to transfer a prisoner from the
territory where he had been arrested to his place of origin or of
domicile, it seemed to him a happy inspiration to send Jesus to be
tried by the ruler of the province to which He belonged, and so get rid
altogether of the case.[2] He acted at once on this idea; and, under
the escort of Pilate's soldiers, Jesus and His accusers were sent away
to the ancient palace of the Maccabees, in which Herod used to reside
on his visits to the Holy City.

Thus was Jesus, on this day of shame, tossed, like a ball, from hand to
hand--from Annas to Caiaphas, from Caiaphas to Pilate, from Pilate to
Herod, with more to follow; and these weary marches[3] in chains and in
the custody of the officers of justice, with His persecutors about Him,
are not to be forgotten in the catalogue of His sufferings.

I.

There are several Herods mentioned in the New Testament, and it must be
made clear which of them this was.

The first of them was he who slew the babes of Bethlehem, when the
infant Saviour was carried away to Egypt. He was called Herod the
Great, and reigned over the whole country, though only by permission of
the Romans. At his death his dominions were divided among his sons by
the foreigner, who thus more effectually brought the country under
control; for the smaller the size of subject states the more absolute
is the power of the suzerain. Judaea was given to Archelaus; but it
was soon taken from