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Luke 23:9
ESV - 9 So he questioned him at some length, but he made no answer.
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Herod had no real authority or jurisdiction over Jesus' case. He was a puppet ruler whom the Romans had installed over Galilee, and he served only at their pleasure. Pilate's referral of Jesus to him was a calculated political gesture that Pilate performed both as a courtesy, and so that Herod would be personally implicated in any outcome of the case, and would not be able to use that outcome against Pilate. (As noted in Luke 23:12, Pilate and Herod subsequently became friends as a result of Jesus' trial, although they had been enemies before.) Also, it is questionable whether anything that Herod might have asked of Jesus would have been the result of a sincere desire to know the truth (as in the previous case of Nicodemus, for example). There would therefore have been no point or duty from either a legal or religious perspective in Jesus responding to Herod's questions (as He had with Pilate), or entering into any type of dialogue with him. Jim Bishop's excellent book The Day Christ Died (an hour-by-hour account of the events from the evening of Maundy Thursday to the afternoon of Good Friday) is a very useful resource for this subject.
Jesus was fulfilling scripture. See Isaiah 53:7, "He was oppressed and He was afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth; He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before the shearers is silent, so He opened not His mouth." This speaks of Jesus, the Servant willingly giving His life; it proves His deity and His authority. 1 Peter 2:23, "…who when He was reviled,did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously."
The prophecy was fulfilled in this scene according to Isaiah 53:7 (AMP): "He was oppressed, [yet when] He was afflicted, He was submissive and opened not His mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so He opened not His mouth."
I think it has to do with Matthew 7:6, "Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you." Herod was swine so Jesus didn't answer him. Jesus was just practicing what He preached! I include a quote by a professor whom I had at Dallas Theological Seminary. I had hin for 1 Corinthians in Greek, Dr. S. Lewis Johnson. "Jesus answered him nothing. He at least spoke to Caiaphas and wasted a good prophecy on him. He spoke to Pilate and pleaded with him until finally, Pilate passed that point. With Judas, he had words of tender appeal. Herod, not a word. Ephraim is joined to his idols, let him alone, he will not cast his pearls before swine, as he himself has said. And Herod belongs to the swine."
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