The kings of the earth set themselves
Rose and stood up in great wrath and fury, and presented
themselves in an hostile manner, and opposed the Messiah: as
Herod the great, king of Judea, who very early bestirred himself,
and sought to take away the life of Jesus in his infancy; and
Herod Antipas, tetrarch of Galilee, who is called a king, (
Mark 6:14 ) ;
who with his men of war mocked him, and set him at nought; and
Pontius Pilate, the governor of Judea, who represented the Roman
emperor, and condemned him to death, ( Matthew
27:26 ) ; and all the kings of the earth ever since, who ever
persecuted Christ in his members, and have set themselves with
all their might to hinder the spread of his Gospel and the
enlargement of his interest;
and the rulers take counsel together;
as did the Jewish sanhedrim, the great court of judicature among
the Jews, the members of which were the rulers of the people, who
frequently met together and consulted to take away the life of
Christ: though it may also include all other governors and
magistrates who have entered into schemes
against the Lord, and against his Anointed,
or Messiah, Christ: by "the Lord", or Jehovah, which is the
great, the glorious, and incommunicable name of God, and is
expressive of his eternal being and self-existence, and of his
being the fountain of essence to all creatures, is meant God the
Father; since he is distinguished from his Son, the Messiah, his
anointed One, as Messiah and Christ signify; and who is so
called, because he is anointed by God with the Holy Ghost,
without measure, to the office of the Mediator, Prophet, Priest,
and King; from whom the saints receive the anointing, which
teacheth all things, and every grace of the Spirit in measure;
and who, after his name, are called Christians. This name of the
promised Redeemer was well known among the Jews, ( John 1:41 ) ( 4:25 ) ; and which they
took from this passage, and from some others;
[saying],
as follows: