He Stirs Up the People - Luke 23:5

Luke the beloved physician wrote how, “the whole multitude of them arose, and led him unto Pilate. And they began to accuse him, saying, We found this fellow perverting the nation, and forbidding to give tribute to Caesar, saying that he himself is Christ a King. And Pilate asked him, saying, Are you the King of the Jews? And he answered him and said, You said it. Then said Pilate to the chief priests and to the people, I find no fault in this man”, and in chapter twenty-three and verse five of his book Luke shared how Pilate says, “they were the more fierce, saying, He stirs up the people” where we read:

And they were the more fierce, saying, He stirs up the people,

teaching throughout all Jewry, beginning from Galilee to this place.

The verse reads, “And they were the more fierce, saying, He stirs up the people, ...” Luke began with the words, “and they were the more fierce” or “and the chief priests and people availed further, insisted stoutly, were made stronger and given additional strength”, “saying” which means “uttering declaring and proclaiming”, “He stirs up” or “He, Jesus, shakes up, excites and rouses” “the people” which means “the men and women of the Jewish nation”. Luke shared how the religious leaders and crowd of people became even more availing by proclaiming that Jesus “excited and roused” the Jewish people by doing the following.

The verse goes on to say, “... teaching throughout all Jewry, beginning from Galilee to this place.” Luke continues with the words, “teaching” which means “holding discourse with others in order to instruct them, delivering didactic discourses and instilling doctrine” “throughout all Jewry” or “toward each, every, the whole and everywhere within the southern portion of Palestine lying on this side of the Jordan and the Dead Sea”, “beginning from Galilee” which means “starting and commencing apart from the region of northern Palestine, bounded on the north by Syria, on the west by Sidon, Tyre, Ptolemais and their territories and the promontory of Carmel, on the south by Samaria and on the east by the Jordan” “to this place” or “to the particular location where Jesus was in front of Pilate”. Luke shared how the “religious leaders” told “Pilate” that Jesus was “imparting doctrine” in the entire region known as Jewry which consisted of the area from “Galilee” to the place in Jerusalem where Jesus was being tried before “Pilate”.

When we consider Luke's words in this verse, we learn how “Pilate's” assessment of Jesus' “innocence” only incensed the “religious leaders and people” who were attempting to condemn Him. They began to tell “Pilate” how Jesus was “instructing” according to His “doctrine” throughout the entire region where the Jews lived. These men were incorrigible, and nothing would persuade them Jesus needed to be set free. God's plan for the “salvation” of man was coming together, and Jesus actually taught good and perfect doctrine throughout the region in which the Jews lived. Those who are wise will understand this was a lynch mob who only desired to see Jesus die, and whatever it took to kill Him, they would exercise. All this was done on behalf of mankind, and those who are wise will not only examine these details, but also yield their lives to Jesus as their personal “Savior and Lord”.

Next time we see Luke share how Pilate, “asked whether the man were a Galilaean”, so read ahead, and we shall join together then.

Until tomorrow…there is more…

Look for the daily devotional book “Equipped for Battle – From Generation to Generation”, the marriage book “So, You Want to Be Married”, “One Year in the Sermon on the Mount” and the new poetry book "Random Mushrooms Volumes I and II" and the new novel "Elizabeth County" in all major bookstore sites, http://www.amazon.com ; http://www.barnesandnobles.com ; download to e-books, and find it locally at www.mrzlc.com/bookstore. All references are from "Strongs Concordance".