Luke Chapter 23 verse 2 Holy Bible

Pulpit Commentary

Pulpit CommentaryVerse 2. - And they began to accuse him, saying, We found this fellow perverting the nation, and forbidding to give tribute to Caesar, saying that he himself Christ a King. To understand this scene perfectly we must read St. John's account in his eighteenth chapter (ver. 28 and following). From the place of meeting of the Sanhedrin, Jesus was led to the palace of Pilate, the Prsetorium. The Roman governor was evidently prepared for the case; for application must have been made to him the evening before for the guard which arrested Jesus in Gethsemane. St. John tells us that the delegates of the Sanhedrin entered not into the hall of judgment, "lest they should be defiled; but that they might eat the Passover." Pilate, who knew well from his past experience how fiercely these fanatics resented any slight offered to their religious feelings, wishing for his own purposes to conciliate them, went outside. These Jews, prior to eating the Passover, would not enter any dwelling from which all leaven had not been carefully removed; of course, this had not been the case in the palace of Pilate. The governor asks them, in St. John's account, what was their accusation against the Man. They replied that they had three charges: (1) he had perverted the nation; (2) he had forbidden that tribute should be given to Caesar; (3) he had asserted that he was Christ a King.

Ellicott's Commentary

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(2) Perverting the nation, and forbidding to give tribute . . .--St. Luke's report of the accusation is more definite than that in the other Gospels. The question asked in Luke 20:20-26, was obviously intended to lead up to this; and though then baffled by our Lord's answer, the priests now brought, backed by false witnesses, the charge for which they had hoped to find evidence in His own words. It seems probable that these facts came to the writer's knowledge in the same way as those that immediately follow. (See Note on Luke 23:6.) It may be noted that the charge in the Greek is slightly enlarged. The question had referred, as reported by St. Matthew and St. Mark, to one form of tribute--the census, or poll-tax. The charge speaks of "taxes" in the plural, and uses the most general words. In Luke 20:22 the same word is used as in this verse, but in the singular. St. Paul, in a passage which may well have been based upon St. Luke's report of our Lord's words, uses the same term as St. Luke (Romans 13:6-7), first generically in the plural, and then in the singular as contrasted with customs duties.