Mark 3:6

And the Pharisees went forth The effect of this miracle was very great. The Scribes and Pharisees were "filled with madness." the Saviour had not merely broken their traditions, but He had put them to silence before all the people. In their blind hate they did not shrink even from joining the Herodians, the court party, and their political opponents, and taking counsel with them how they might put Him to death. As before at Jerusalem so now in Galilee this design is deliberately formed.

the Herodians This is the first occasion on which the Herodians are mentioned. We shall meet with them again in Mark 12:13, on the "Day of Questions" in Holy Week. Just as the partisans of Marius were called "Mariani," of Pompeius "Pompeiani," of Otho "Othoniani," so the partisans of Herod the Great and his successors were called "Herodiani." The sect was rather a political than a religious body. Adopting Sadducean opinions, they held that the hopes of the Jewish nation rested on the Herods as a bulwark against Roman ambition, and almost looked to them for a fulfilment of the prophecies respecting the advent of the Messiah. They favoured the compromise between the ancient faith and later civilisation, which Herod inaugurated, and his successors endeavoured to realise. On one occasion our Lord warns his disciples against "the leaven of Herod" in close connection with "the leaven of the Pharisees" (Mark 8:15; Luke 12:1). Galilee being the chief centre of Christ's activity, the Pharisees from Judæa were glad on the present occasion to avail themselves of any aid from the tetrarch of this part of Palestine and his followers.