And upon a set day
Either on some feast day of divine appointment, as a feast day was by the Jews called (dewm) , "a stated day"; or on some day appointed by Herod, for the receiving of the ambassadors of Tyre and Sidon, and of hearing their petitions; or as Josephus F18 says, it was on the second day of the sports and plays, instituted by him in honour of Caesar:
Herod, arrayed in royal apparel;
the same Jewish historian in the same place says, that this his apparel was all of silver, and of a wonderful contexture; and that going in this very early in the morning into the theatre, the silver shone so with the rays of the rising sun, that it struck the spectators with terror and admiration:
sat upon his throne;
and very likely with the other ensigns of royalty, as a crown on his head, and a sceptre in his hand:
and made an oration unto them;
either unto the ambassadors from Tyre and Sidon, or rather unto the common people, the multitude that were gathered together in the theatre, where the above historian says he was.
FOOTNOTES:
F18 Antiqu. l. 19, c. 8. sect 2.
