PILATE SENDS JESUS TO HEROD ANTIPAS

LUKE 23:1–12

As Passover was approaching, the Roman governor, Pontius Pilate, was faced with a dilemma. The high priest, Caiaphas, had brought his entourage requesting that Pilate condemn Jesus to death. Under most circumstances Pilate would have been happy to oblige. This time, however, there was reason for closer scrutiny before carrying out the request, and after several encounters involving Caiaphas and Jesus, Pilate realized the full ramifications of Caiaphas’s request. So when Pilate learned that Jesus was a Galilean and that some of his alleged crimes were committed in Galilee, he sent Jesus to Antipas (the son of Herod the Great).

Antipas was in Jerusalem at the time, and was most likely staying at the Hasmonean palace, located in the Upper City of Jerusalem just a short distance from the palace where Pilate was conducting the trial of Jesus (Luke 23:7). This palace had been built decades earlier by Jewish kings of the Hasmonean dynasty who ruled the Promised Land as an independent state before the arrival of the Romans. Members of this dynasty had built a palace for themselves in Jerusalem near the Temple.26 Of course the days of Jewish independence were long gone, but the Hasmonean palace had remained and likely had come into the possession of Herod the Great’s family when he married the Jewish princess Mariamne.

Excavation of first-century Tiberias. Herod Antipas traveled from Tiberias to Jerusalem for Passover.

Hasmonean palace/Jerusalem palatial mansion excavation. It has been suggested that Herod Antipas stayed at the Hasmonean palace when he came to Jerusalem for Passover.
© Dr. James C. Martin.
The Wohl Archaeological Museum and Burnt House, Jerusalem.

We should in no way perceive that Pilate was extending some sort of political favor to Herod Antipas. Although that day the two men became friends, Luke points out that “before this they had been enemies” (Luke 23:12). Luke also provides reasons for the earlier animosity between these two Roman representatives. Certain Galileans who had come to offer sacrifices at the Temple in Jerusalem were killed at Pilate’s direction, their blood mixing with the blood of their sacrifices (Luke 13:1). The Roman Jewish historian Philo mentions another incident that set these two men at odds with one another. In order to stir up trouble among the Jews of Jerusalem, Pilate had brought idolatrous gold shields into Jerusalem and installed them in his palace. The action was purportedly to honor the Roman emperor but in reality was intended to desecrate Jerusalem. Much to the chagrin of Pilate, Herod Antipas informed the Roman emperor, who subsequently ordered Pilate to remove the shields and return them to Caesarea Maritima.27

In this case, political expediency prevailed. Learning of Jesus’s Galilean roots and knowing that the Galilean king, Antipas, was in Jerusalem, Pilate coaxed Antipas into taking the lead in this trial, thereby removing unwanted ramifications from himself. Pilate had received enough complaints about his rule that expedience dictated that Herod Antipas take the fall if an unpopular verdict against Jesus resulted in a riot. But Herod Antipas had troubles of his own. He had already executed one popular prophet of God—John the Baptist—and while he was interested in ridiculing and mocking Jesus, he was of no mind to take the lead in directing his death. Antipas’s cruelty to Jesus, however, was right in line with Pilate’s, whose desire was to eradicate all traces of Jewish observance.28 Pilate and Antipas were both enemies of Jesus, so when Pilate sent Jesus to Antipas these one-time enemies became friends.

Hasmonean palace/Jerusalem palatial mansion excavations.
© Dr. James C. Martin. The Wohl Archaeological Museum and Burnt House, Jerusalem.

Menorah from the Hasmonean palace/Jerusalem palatial mansion, a possible location where Jesus was taken to see Herod Antipas.
© Dr. James C. Martin. The Wohl Archaeological Museum and Burnt House, Jerusalem.