When Herod the king had heard these things, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him.
Ver. 3. When Herod the King heard these things he was troubled] At that wherein the sages and shepherds rejoiced. It is fair weather with the saints when foulest with the wicked. Abraham stands upon the hill, and seeth the smoke of the cities ascend like a furnace. "Behold, my servants shall rejoice, but ye shall be ashamed: my servants shall sing for joy of heart, but ye shall cry for sorrow of heart, and ye shall leave your name for a curse unto my chosen," Isaiah 65:14,15. Aelian (Histor. Animal.) compareth tyrants to swine, which if a man but touch, they begin to cry, as dreaming of nothing but death; forasmuch as they have neither fleece nor milk, nor anything else, but their flesh only to forfeit. But si praesepe vagientis Herodem tantum terruit, quid tribunal iudicantis? saith one. If Christ in the cratch were so terrible, what will he be on the tribunal?
And all Jerusalem with him] Perhaps to comply and ingratiate with the tyrant (as the Arabians, if their king be sick or lame, they all feign themselves so); or, as homines ad servitutem parati; so Tiberius called the Romans, who gave public thanks for all, even the wicked acts of their emperors (Tacitus); or as fearing some new stirs in the state, as the burnt child dreads the fire.