John 18:33

Then Pilate entered the judgment hall again.

Before Pilate returned into the judgment hall, where Jesus had been taken, the Jews had made. formal charge that must demand the attention of Pilate, that Jesus was aiming at the sovereignty of Judea and seeking to overturn the Roman government. See Luke 23:2. These charges were well adapted to perplex Pilate. Jesus did claim that he would establish. kingdom and had come into the world to be. King; he had. few days before entered Jerusalem, hailed by the throng as King of the Jews. It was not to be expected that Pilate would understand that his kingdom was spiritual, especially when. dishonest and wily priesthood was perverting every fact to give color to their accusation.

Art thou the King of the Jews?

This was. private investigation within the Prætorium, after the Jews, carefully suppressing the religious grounds on which they had condemned our Lord, had advanced against him. triple accusation of, (1) seditious agitation; (2) prohibition of the payment of the tribute-money, and (3) the assumption of the suspicious title of "King of the Jews" (Luke 23:3). This last accusation amounted to. charge of treason--the greatest crime known to Roman law. Of the three points of accusation, (2) was utterly false; (1) and (3), though in. sense true, were not true in the sense intended.