Luke 13:31

Herod’s malignant warning, and the Lord’s reply, Luke 13:31-34.

31. The same day The day on which the question of Luke 13:23 was answered; namely, the first of the two closing days of the Peraean ministry.

Certain of the Pharisees Herodian partizans among the Jews, flatterers and tools at the court of Herod Antipas. (See note on Matthew 22:16.) They were Pharisees in profession, but Sadducees in life and practice. It is this same sort of men, if not this very set, who appear in Luke 20:19-20. They appear here as emissaries sent from Herod to Jesus.

For Herod Jesus in Peraea was within the dominions of Herod, and not far from that very fortress of Machaerus where John had been beheaded by this same Herod Antipas. For the life and character of Herod Antipas, and for the superstitious dread he entertained of Jesus, consult our notes on Matthew 14:1-2.

Will kill thee It is evident that Antipas, equally infidel and superstitious, was actually at the present time afraid of Jesus; equally dreading to have him in his dominions, or to touch him with violence, so as to incur the odium of murdering a second holy man. He therefore sends these spies to frighten Jesus out of his dominions.