Luke 23:1-4. First phase of the Trial before Pilate. 1. _the whole multitude_ Rather, THE WHOLE NUMBER (_plethos_, not _ochlos)._ unto Pilate The fact that our Lord "suffered under Pontius Pilate" is also mentioned by Tacitus _(Ann._xv. 44). Pontius Pilatus was a Roman Knight, who (a.d. 26) had be... [ Continue Reading ]
_We found_ A word intended to excite prejudice. _perverting the nation_ The technical Jewish name for an offender of this sort was _Mesith,_-seducer" or -impostor," Acts 13:8-10. This was their _first_head of indictment, and had the advantage of being perfectly vague. _forbidding to give tribute t... [ Continue Reading ]
_Art thou the King of the Jews?_ St Luke narrates the trial very briefly. The Jewish priests had expected that on their authority Pilate would at once order Him to execution; but, on the contrary, he meant first to hear the case, and asked them what accusation they brought, refusing to accept their... [ Continue Reading ]
4. _I find no fault in this man_] This conclusion, which sounds so abrupt in St Luke, was the result of the conversation with Pilate in which Jesus had said "My Kingdom is not of this world." It had convinced Pilate of His innocence, and he expressed his conviction in this unhesitating acquittal. Th... [ Continue Reading ]
5-24. The Trial before Herod. Further endeavours of Pilate to procure His acquittal. The Choice of Barabbas. The condemnation to the Cross. 5. _And they were the more fierce_] Rather, BUT THEY WERE MORE URGENT. This and similar expressions hardly convey to us the terrible violence and excitement of... [ Continue Reading ]
_he sent him to Herod_ The word used is technical _anepempsen_, the Lat. _remisit_and means the remission of a question to a higher court (Acts 25:1; comp. Philemon 1:11; Jos. _B. f._II. 20, § 5). St Luke alone preserves this interesting incident. He seems to have had special in ormation about Herod... [ Continue Reading ]
_many things_ These words should be omitted (א, B, D, K, L, M). _and he hoped to have seen some miracle done by him_ Luke 9:7-9, Herod seems to have deteriorated. He had encouraged the visits of the Baptist on less frivolous grounds than these. It must have been a deep aggravation of Christ's suffe... [ Continue Reading ]
_he answered him nothing_ Isaiah 53:7. A murderer of the Prophets, who was living in open and flagrant incest, and who had no higher motive than mean curiosity, deserved no answer. Our Lord used of Antipas the only purely contemptuous word which He is ever recorded to have uttered (Luke 13:32).... [ Continue Reading ]
_and vehemently accused him_ They were now bent on securing their purpose, and perhaps feared that Herod's well-known weakness and superstition might rob them of their prey; especially as he was much less afraid of them than Pilate was, having strong influence in Rome.... [ Continue Reading ]
_with his men of war_ Literally, "_with his armies f_i.e. with his soldiers. _set him at nought_ treating Him not as a _criminal,_but only as a person worthy of contempt. "He is despised and rejected of men;" "he was despised and we esteemed him not," Isaiah 53:3. _in a gorgeous robe_ Literally, ... [ Continue Reading ]
_were made friends together_ Rather, BECAME FRIENDS WITH ONE ANOTHER. PSALMS 2:1-3. _they were at enmity_ perhaps in consequence of the incident mentioned in Luke 13:1. This is the first type of Judaism and Heathenism leagued together to crush Christianity.... [ Continue Reading ]
_called together the chief priests_ This was a formal speech from a _bema_perhaps the throne of Archelaus set on the tessellated pavement called by the Jews _Gabbatha_(John 19:13). Now was the golden opportunity which Pilate should have seized in order to do what he knew to be _right;_and he was rea... [ Continue Reading ]
_have found no fault in this man_ Thus Pilate's word (_heuron_) is a direct contradiction of that of the High Priest's _(heteromen,_Luke 23:2 _)._ The _I_is emphatic; you bring a charge, _I_after a public examination find it to be baseless.... [ Continue Reading ]
_for I sent you to him_ Or _for he sent Him back to us,_(א, B, K, L, M). _is done unto him_ Rather, hath been done by Him.... [ Continue Reading ]
_I will therefore chastise him_ This was the point at which Pilate began to yield to the fatal vacillation which soon passed into guilt and made it afterwards impossible for him to escape. He had just declared the prisoner _absolutely innocent._To subject Him, therefore, to the horrible punishment o... [ Continue Reading ]
_For of necessity_, &c. Rather, But. The whole verse, however, is of dubious genuineness, and may have come from a marginal gloss. It is omitted in A, B, K, L. In D it is placed after Luke 23:19. The Gospels are our sole authority for this concession, which is, however, entirely in accordance with R... [ Continue Reading ]
_all at once_ If we read _plethei_for _pamplethei_, the meaning will be that -they (the priests) called aloud _to the_multitude," as in Matthew 27:20. The choice of Barabbas by the mob was not spontaneous; it was instigated by these priestly murderers. The guilt of the Crucifixion rests _mainly_with... [ Continue Reading ]
_who_ The word implies -a man of such a kind, that, &c." _and for murder_ "Ye denied the Holy One and the Just, and desired _a murderer_to be granted unto you," Acts 3:14. Nothing is known of Bar-Abbas, but it has been conjectured from his name that he or his father belonged to the order of the San... [ Continue Reading ]
_spake again to them_ Rather, called unto them again. He did not make them a second speech, but simply called out again his question as to their choice..... [ Continue Reading ]
_they cried_ The word implies a continuous cry of increasing vehemence. The _vox populi_was in this instance _vox Diaboli._ Crucify him, _crucify him_ This wild and terrible outcry was provoked by Pilate's unjust question to them how he should deal with Jesus. After this it was quite vain to say, ... [ Continue Reading ]
_the third time_ We can only obtain from all the four Evangelists, and especially from St John, a full conception of the earnestness with which Pilate strove to escape from the necessity of what he felt to be a needless crime. If he was not, as Tertullian says, "_jam pro conscientiasua Christianas"_... [ Continue Reading ]
_the voices of them and of the chief priests prevailed_ St Luke here omits the flagellation (Matthew 27:26 );the derision and mock homage of the soldiery the scarlet sagum and crown of thorns; the awful scene of the Ecce Homo; the fresh terror of Pilate on hearing that He called Himself "the Son of... [ Continue Reading ]
_gave sentence Epekrine_(only found in _2Ma 4:47_), not -followed their praejudicium," but _gave final sentence._The two technical formulae for the sentence of death would be to the Prisoner -Ibis ad crucem" (-Thou shalt go to the Cross"); to the attendant soldier, -I miles, expedi crucem" (-Go sold... [ Continue Reading ]
- 32. Simon the Cyrenian. The Daughters of Jerusalem. 26. _Simon_, _a Cyrenian_ There was a large colony of Jews in the powerful African city of Cyrene, and the Cyrenians had a synagogue at Jerusalem (Acts 2:10; Acts 6:9; Acts 11:20). Simon may have come to keep the feast. St Mark calls him "the fa... [ Continue Reading ]
_of women_ Some of them may have come to offer the anodynes which were supposed to be demanded by the Rabbinic interpretation of Proverbs 31:6. This is the only other recorded incident of the procession to Calvary, and it is mentioned by St Luke alone. It is a sad fact that no man not even His Apost... [ Continue Reading ]
_turning unto them said_ The only recorded words between His condemnation and crucifixion. Pity wrung from Him the utterance which anguish and violence had failed to extort. _Daughters of Jerusalem_ The wailing women were _not_therefore His former Galilaean followers, Luke 8:2-3. _for yourselves_... [ Continue Reading ]
_Blessed are the barren_ Comp. Luke 11:27; Hosea 9:12-16. The words received their most painful illustration in the incident of the Siege, which had long been foretold in prophecy (Deuteronomy 28:53-57; Jeremiah 19:9), that women were driven even to kill and eat their own children: Jos. _B. J._v. 10... [ Continue Reading ]
_to the mountains_, _Fall on us_ Comp. Hosea 10:8. Hundreds of the Jews at the end of the siege hid themselves in subterranean recesses, and no less than 2000 were killed by being buried under the ruins of these hiding-places (Jos. _B. J._vi. 9, § 4). We cannot fail to see in these events something... [ Continue Reading ]
_For if they do these things in a green tree_, _what shall be done in the dry?_ Rather, what must happen in the dry? The meaning of this proverb is not clear, and hence it early received the most absurd explanations. It can however only mean either (1) -If they act thus cruelly and shamefully while... [ Continue Reading ]
_two other_ Perhaps followers of the released Barabbas. They were not -thieves," but -robbers" or -brigands," and this name was not undeservedly given to some of the wild bands which refused Roman authority. See Isaiah 53:9. _malefactors Kakourgoi._The same English word is used in John 18:30, where... [ Continue Reading ]
- 38. The Crucifixion and Mockery. The Title. 33. _the place, which is called Calvary_ It is nowhere in Scripture called -a hill," and it was certainly not in any sense a steep or lofty hill. The only grounds for speaking of it as a hill are (1) tradition; and (2) the name. Calvary is the Latin for... [ Continue Reading ]
_Father, forgive them_ Isaiah 53:12, "He bare the sins of many, and made intercession for the transgressors." These words were probably uttered at the terrible moment when the Sufferer was outstretched upon the Cross and the nails were being driven through the palms of the hands. They are certainly... [ Continue Reading ]
_beholding_ The word implies that they gazed as at a solemn spectacle, Psalms 22:17; Zechariah 12:10. They seem as a body to have been far less active in insult than the others. _with them_ These words are omitted in א, B, C, D, L, &c. _derided_ The same strong word which is used in Luke 16:14; 1E... [ Continue Reading ]
_the soldiers also mocked him_ A quaternion of soldiers (John 19:23) with a centurion. Similarly Tacitus says of the Christian martyrs who perished in the Neronian persecution, "_pereuntibus addita ludibria" (Ann._xv. 44). _offering him vinegar_ It was their duty to watch Him (Matthew 27:36), for su... [ Continue Reading ]
_If thou be the King of the Jews_ as the title over Thy Cross asserts. The soldiers would delight in these taunts, because, like the ancients generally, they detested all Jews. Tumults of the most violent kind often arose from the brutal insolence of hatred which they shewed to the conquered nation... [ Continue Reading ]
_a superscription_ A _tilulus_written in black letters on a board smeared with white _gypsum_, and therefore very conspicuous. To put such a board over the head of a crucified person was the ordinary custom. The jeers of the soldiers were aimed at the Jews in general quite as much as at the Divine S... [ Continue Reading ]
The Penitent Robber. 39. _one of the malefactors_ In St Matthew and St Mark we are told that _both_the robbers "reviled" Him. Here then we might suppose that there was an irreconcilable discrepancy. But though the Evangelists sometimes seem to be on the very verge of mutual contradiction, no single... [ Continue Reading ]
_But the other_ The -bonus latro," or -Penitent Robber,"is called by various traditional names, and in the Arabic -Gospel of the Infancy" (an Apocryphal book) he is called Titus and Dysmas in _Ev. Nicodem._X., and a story is told that he had saved the Virgin and her Child from his comrades during th... [ Continue Reading ]
_we receive the due reward of our deeds_ Literally, _"we receive back things worthy of the crimes we did."_ hath done nothing amiss Literally, "_did nothing out of place_" (like our "out of the way," i.e. nothing unusual or wrong). The word _prasso_ in both clauses implies grave actions (see Luke 2... [ Continue Reading ]
_Jesus, Lord_ Rather, OH, JESUS; the "Lord" is omitted in א, B, C, L. He may well have been encouraged by having heard the prayer of Jesus for His murderers, Luke 23:34. "_Oravit misericordia ut oraret miseria." Aug._ Lord, _remember me_ A truly humble prayer for a far-off remembrance. He calls _Hi... [ Continue Reading ]
_To day_ An unexpected boon, for the crucified often lingered in agony for more than two days. _To day shalt thou be with me in paradise Paradeisos_is derived from the Persian word _Pardes,_meaning a king's garden or pleasaunce. Here it is -a garden" in which are more blessed trees than those in the... [ Continue Reading ]
44-49. Darkness. The Veil of the Temple rent. The End. Remorse of the Spectators. 44. _it was about the sixth hour_ i.e. mid-day. This seems at first sight to contradict John 19:14, but there is fair ground to conjecture that -sixth" was an early misreading for -third" (written Γ). For other propos... [ Continue Reading ]
_And the sun was darkened_ Instead of these words some MSS. (א, B, C, &c.) read "_the sun eclipsing_," or "_failing."_The reading seems only to be an attempt, and that a very unsuccessful one, to account for the darkness. That it could not have been due to an eclipse is certain, for the Paschal moon... [ Continue Reading ]
_And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice_, _he said_ Rather, And, crying with a loud voice, Jesus said. St Luke here omits the _Eli, Eli_, _lama sabachthani_, and the effect of that cry on the multitude (Matthew 27:46-50); the "I thirst," which was the sole word of physical suffering wrung from H... [ Continue Reading ]
_the centurion_ who commanded the quaternion of soldiers. It is remarkable that St Luke gives us several instances of -good centurions," Luke 7:2; Luke 23:47; Acts 10:1; Acts 22:26; Acts 27:43. _saw what was done_ See Mark 15:39; Matthew 27:54. _he glorified God_ A notice characteristic of St Luke... [ Continue Reading ]
_all the people_ Rather, all the crowds. _smote their breasts, and returned_ Rather, returned, smiting their breasts. It must be remembered that the People had not acted spontaneously in this matter, but had been goaded on by the Priests.... [ Continue Reading ]
_And all his acquaintance_ Rather, But. Peculiar to St Luke. Comp. Luke 2:44. _stood afar of beholding these things_ The word used is not _theo-rountes_, as in Luke 23:35. There is, perhaps, in the "afar off," a sad allusion to Psalms 38:11, "My lovers and my friends stand aloof from my sore; and m... [ Continue Reading ]
- 54. Joseph of Arimathaea. The taking down from the Cross. The Entombment. 50. _a counseller_ i.e. a member of the Sanhedrin, and therefore (as one of the 70 most distinguished members of the ruling classes) a person of great distinction. St Mark (Mark 15:43) calls him -an honourable councillor.... [ Continue Reading ]
_the same had not consented to the counsel and deed of them_ It is remarkable that Joseph is the only Sanhedrist of whom this exception is recorded. We cannot, however, doubt that it was true of Nicodemus also, since he was "_the_teacher of Israel" (John 3:10), which may possibly mean the third offi... [ Continue Reading ]
_._ _went unto Pilate, and bogged the body of Jesus_ This was a bold, and might even have proved to be a perilous request. Hence the -boldly" (_tolmesas_) of Mark 15:43. Pilate seems to have granted the boon without a bribe because the Jewish care for burial was well known (Matthew 14:12; Acts 8:2;... [ Continue Reading ]
_wrapped it in linen_ in a _sindon_, or piece of fine white linen. Comp. Mark 14:51. Two other words, _othonia_(John 19:40) and _soudarion_(John 20:7), are used of the various cerements of Jesus. That Joseph bought this _sindon,_apparently on this day (Mark 15:46), is one of the many incidental sign... [ Continue Reading ]
_the preparation_ This word _paraskeue_became the ordinary Greek word for Friday, because on Friday the Jews diligently prepared for the Sabbath, which began at sunset. The afternoon is called _prosabbaton_in Mark 15:42. Jos. _Antt._xvi. 6. We are told that Shammai, the almost contemporary founder o... [ Continue Reading ]
_the women also_ The two other Synoptists mention specially Mary of Magdala and Mary the mother of James and Joses. _followed after_ Literally, _"following closely."_ __... [ Continue Reading ]
_._ _they returned_ As the sunset was now rapidly approaching, they must have hurried home to complete their preparations before the Sabbath began. _prepared spices and ointments_ The spices are dry, the -perfumes" liquid. They wished to complete the imperfect embalming of the body which Joseph and... [ Continue Reading ]