And they send to him certain of the Pharisees and of the Herodians, that they might catch him in speaking.
The leaders had just heard a parable aimed at them, so now they change tactics. They send men who look like honest questioners — but who were these two groups, and why would enemies join forces against Christ?
The leaders wanted to arrest Him, but the crowd stood in the way, so words became their weapon.
The Pharisees and Herodians present themselves first to catch Him in His words. They did not dare to arrest Him, though they would gladly have done it. They had fully understood that He had spoken the parable of the vineyard and the tenants against them. But the people were still under the influence of His words and His works. The rulers feared the people. They were slaves not only to their own passions and unbelief, but to the people as well.
The two parties named here normally had nothing to do with each other. One was religious, the other political — and opposition to Christ was the one thing that could hold them together.
An alarming alliance! Usually the Pharisees and Herodians were bitter enemies. The Pharisees insisted on religious forms. The Herodians belonged more to the court party: men who used every means to advance their own interests in the world, just as the Pharisees did to win a religious reputation. But where Christ is concerned, the bitterest enemies can unite against Him or His truth.
Who exactly were the Herodians?
The name comes from Herod. It refers to those who joined with him and his successors in spreading Greek and Roman ways and loose living among the Jews. They stood strongly against the Pharisees. That makes it even more striking that they joined with them in trying to trap the Lord in His words.
Both groups wanted to raise themselves in this world. That shared aim shaped how they came to Christ.
They opposed one another, yet they shared one hatred of Christ and one desire to exalt themselves in this world... Inevitably they both find that One who is here only for the glory of God must condemn such aims. So they oppose the Lord. So if they come to Christ, it is not to learn at His feet, but in the hope of catching Him in His words. Their worldly motives had blinded them completely to the glory of Christ. They were so puffed up with pride in their own powers and importance that they really thought they could catch the Lord of glory in His words.
They framed their tax question so that either answer would damage Him.
When the Lord Jesus was on earth, the chief priests and scribes sent some of the Pharisees and the Herodians to Him (Mark 12:13; Luke 20:19). They put a clever question to Him. They wanted either to discredit Him before the people or to make Him challenge the right of Caesar... If the Lord had said they should not pay tax to Caesar, they would have reported Him to the Romans as a rebel. If He had said, Pay the tax to Caesar, they would have said He was not a true patriot.
The same spirit shows up in anyone who reads or listens for a slip instead of for meaning.
If my aim is to pick holes in the word of God, the devil will give me all the help I need to "twist it to my own destruction" (2 Peter 3:16). But if my desire is humbly to find out what God means, He will honour me by opening my understanding... They went to hear Him, not to learn from Him, but "to catch Him in His words." Dear friend, beware of men who quibble about words to no profit.
The men who came to expose Him ended up exposing themselves.
Seeking to catch Him in His words, they fall into their own trap. They show their low condition — plainly before men, and morally before God.
- Fear — the leaders wanted to seize Him but feared the crowd, so they attacked with words instead of hands.
- Alliance — the Pharisees and Herodians were bitter enemies, yet hatred of Christ brought them together.
- Motive — both sides lived to exalt themselves, one by religion and one by politics, and that blinded them to His glory.
- Method — they framed the tax question so that either answer would ruin Him, with Rome or with the people.
- Outcome — those who came to catch Him fell into their own trap, and the warning stands: hear Him to learn, not to find fault.
And they come and say to him, Teacher, we know that thou art true, and carest not for any one; for thou regardest not men's person, but teachest the way of God with truth Is it lawful to give tribute to Caesar or not?
Two groups who normally despised each other arrive together. They open with praise, but the compliment hides a trap. Their question about Roman taxes had two edges: any answer Jesus gave would ruin Him with someone.
One writer names what each group wanted, and what pushed them together.
They were opposed to one another, yet they shared one hatred of Christ, and they were alike in wanting to lift themselves up in this world. The Pharisees wanted a religious reputation, built on keeping outward forms and ceremonies. The Herodians wanted to get ahead in society and politics. Both are bound to find that One who is here entirely for the glory of God must condemn such aims, and so they oppose the Lord.
Another writer draws a wider lesson from this pairing.
Where Christ is concerned, the most opposed can unite against Him or His truth.
Their words named three things: He is true, He shows no favouritism, and He teaches the way of God. All three were accurate. That is what makes their approach so strange. One writer turns the obvious question back on them.
Yet they testify that He is true, that He showed no favouritism to anyone, and that He taught the way of God in truth. (Why then did they not submit to His teaching?) Of course, their sly wickedness meant these words only as flattery, hoping to influence His answer to their question.
They were using a technique that usually works on people.
What is more, they think the tactics that so often work with other people will work with the Lord too. So by flattery and lies they try to trap Him... What they said was true in fact, but it did not express what was really in their evil hearts.
Their description of Him holds up under any test, and one writer weighs how far that sets Him apart.
Notice how, in verse 14, these opponents paid tribute to His perfect truth. In a way far beyond anything they realized — in the fullest sense — He was the truth and taught the truth, never turned aside by man and his small world. No other servant of God fits that description. Even Paul let human considerations sway him, as Acts 21:20-26 shows. Jesus alone is the perfect Servant of God, and He was so poor that He had to ask someone to bring Him a coin.
They were not asking for guidance. Either answer to the tax question would give them something to use against Him.
If the Lord had said they should not pay taxes to Caesar, they would have reported Him to the Romans for stirring up rebellion. If He had said, Pay taxes to Caesar, they would have said He was no true patriot.
There was a deeper pressure in it too. To say yes seemed to abandon Israel's hope of deliverance.
If He said Yes, He seemed to be giving up the hopes of Israel; He was only sealing them up in their bondage to the Romans. How could He be a true-hearted Jew, or even more, the Messiah, the deliverer they were waiting for, if He left them still slaves of Roman power?
Jesus asked for a coin, and their own answer about whose face was on it settled the matter.
He made them admit that they were in bondage to Caesar by pointing to their own coins. Their lips, not His, said the image was Caesar's. Then He gave the answer to their question, which was obvious once they had admitted that. But He did more: He used it to open up the far weightier matter of God's claims on them.
Roman coins circulating in their land pointed to something they had never faced.
Caesar's money circulating in the land was a witness to how low the nation had sunk, in bondage to a foreign power. Sadly, even in this humiliating position they showed no true repentance, for they kept rebelling against Caesar, and they rejected their own Messiah.
- Alliance — Religious strictness and political ambition usually clashed. Against Christ they joined hands.
- Flattery — Every word of their compliment was accurate; none of it was honest. The test of belief is not what you say about Him but whether you submit to His teaching.
- Trap — Yes made Him a traitor to Israel; no made Him a rebel against Rome. They left truth no safe exit.
- Truth — Their bait was true in a way they never grasped. He alone taught with nothing in man to turn Him aside, and He was so poor that He had to ask for a coin.
- Claim — Their own coin proved whose rule they lived under. The answer then moved past taxes to the debt they had ignored: what they owed to God.