John 18:28

Ver. 28. “ They lead Jesus therefore from Caiaphas to the Praetorium. Now it was early. And they did not themselves enter into the Praetorium, that they might not be defiled, but that they might eat the Passover. ”

The Praetorium was at Rome the place where the praetor sat when he administered justice. This name had been applied to the palaces of the Roman governors in the provinces. Most interpreters hold that this term designates here the palace of Herod, which was in the western part of the upper city. In proof of this the passage of Josephus, Bell. Jude 1:2; Jude 1:2.14, Jude 1:8, is cited, where it is said that “Florus lived at that time (τότε) in the royal palace;” but this passage proves precisely that the Roman governor did not ordinarily live there. It is more probable that Pilate occupied a palace contiguous to the citadel Antonia, where the Roman garrison was stationed, at the north-west corner of the temple. It is there, at all events, that tradition places the starting- point of the Via Dolorosa. Πρωΐ (T. R. πρωΐα), in the early morning, includes the time from three to six o'clock (Mark 13:35). The Roman courts opened their sessions at any hour after sunrise (Westcott). Pilate, as we have seen, was forewarned, since the previous evening, of what was taking place, and he had no doubt consented to receive the Jews at this early hour.

The scruple which prevents the Jews from entering into the governor's house places us again face to face with the contradiction which seems to exist between the narrative of John and that of the Synoptics. If, as these latter seem to say, the Jews had already on the previous evening celebrated the Paschal meal, how can we explain the fact that, through defiling themselves by contact with the leaven which would necessarily be found in a Gentile house, they fear that they may be unable to celebrate this meal on this same evening? The only way of escaping this contradiction, it seems, would be to give a wider sense to the expression to eat the Passover, by referring it, not to the Paschal meal properly so called, but to the food of the feast in general, such as the unleavened bread and the flesh of the peace-offerings which were celebrated during the seven days of the feast.

Some passages are thought to have been found in the Old Testament where the word Passover is taken in this more general sense; thus Deuteronomy 16:2-3: “ Thou shalt sacrifice the Passover to the Lord, of the flock and of the herd, and with it (these meats) thou shalt eat unleavened bread seven days. ” Comp. the analogous expression 2 Chronicles 30:22 (literally): “ And they ate the feast (the feast- sacrifices) seven days, offering sacrifices of peace offerings and praising the Lord; ” 2 Chronicles 35:7-9: “ And Josiah gave to those of the people who were there lambs and kids, to the number of thirty thousand, all of them for Passover offerings, and three thousand bullocks, of the king's substance. ” To confirm this conclusion it is alleged that, according to the Talmud, the defilement which the Jews would have contracted by entering the Praetorium would have continued in any case only until the end of the day, and consequently would not have prevented them from eating the Paschal meal in the evening.

But the passages cited do not prove what they would need to prove. As to the first (Deu 16:2-3), the term Passover is applied exclusively, in John 18:5-6, which immediately follow, to the Paschal lamb; hence it follows that in John 18:2 the expression of the herd and of the flock is not an explanatory apposition of the word pesach (Passover), but a supplementary addition by which all the secondary sacrifices which complete the Paschal supper during the course of the week are designated. At all events, if the term Passover really included here, together with the Paschal lamb, all the other sacrifices of the feast, it would not follow therefrom that it could designate, as would be the case in our passage, these last apart from the first. As to the with it, it refers to all the sacrificial meats which were to be accompanied by unleavened bread during the entire week.

In 2 Chronicles 30 the name Passover is applied in 2 Chronicles 30:15; 2Ch 30:17-18 exclusively to the Paschal lamb. Why, then, should the chronicler in John 18:22 substitute for the proper term: to eat the Passover, the more general expression to eat the feast, if it was not because he wished now to speak of the sacrifices of the feast, exclusive of the eating of the Paschal lamb? Besides, the reading: and they ate (vajokelou) the feast, is very doubtful. The LXX certainly read: vajekallou, and they finished the feast; for they translate: καὶ συνετέλεσαν.

In the third passage (2Ch 35:7-9) the distinction between the lambs or kids which were intended to serve for the Paschal meal (pesachim) and the bullocks which were consecrated to the other sacrifices and feasts is obvious.

But even supposing that in some passages of the Old Testament the term Passover had received from the context a wider meaning than ordinary, would it follow from this that a phrase so common in the New Testament, in Josephus and in the Talmud, as that of eating the Passover, could be applied, without any explanatory indication, to entirely different meals from the Paschal supper, and this even to the exclusion of the latter?

As to the objection derived from the duration of the defilement which the Jews would have contracted:

1. It is impossible to form any certain conclusion, with reference to the time of Jesus, from a passage of the Rabbi Maimonides written about the year 1200.

2. This passage refers to a defilement arising from contact with dead animals, etc., and not to the defilement arising from leaven, and with special relation to the Paschal feast.

The same is the case with the examples borrowed from other kinds of defilement (Leviticus 15:5 ff., Leviticus 15:19 ff.). After the analogy of Numbers 9:6 ff., the Jews would simply have been obliged to put off the celebration of the Passover until the 14th of the following month.

3. If the question were only of the feast-meals in general, the members of the Sanhedrim might have abstained altogether from taking part in them; for these meals were voluntary; the Paschal supper alone did not allow of abstention.

4. The defilement thus contracted would, in any case, have forced the priests, who were members of the Sanhedrim, to abstain from participating in the sacrifice of the lamb in the afternoon, an abstention which was incompatible with their official duty.

For all these reasons it is impossible for me to adopt the opinion of many and learned interpreters who refer the expression to eat the Passover in our verse to the peace-offering (the Chagigah), which the Jews offered on the 16th of Nisan at mid-day; we will mention among the modern writers only Tholuck, Olshausen, Hengstenberg, Wieseler, Hofmann, Lange, Riggenbach, Baumlein, Langen, Luthardt, Kirchner and Keil.

The pronoun αὐτοί, themselves, contrasts the Jews, with their Levitical purity, to Jesus, whom nothing could any longer defile, so defiled was He already in their eyes. He was immediately delivered over to the governor, and introduced into the Praetorium. From this time, therefore, Pilate will go from the Praetorium to the Jews (John 18:29; John 18:38, John 19:4-12) and from the Jews to the Praetorium (John 18:33; John 19:1; John 19:9). Keim judges this situation to be historically impossible, and jests about this ambulant judge, this peripatetic negotiator, whom the narrative of John presents to us. But the apostle clearly perceived that this situation had an exceptional character, and he has precisely explained it by this John 18:28. Pilate does not feel himself free in his position with regard to the Jews; the sequel shows this only too clearly. This is the reason why he bears with their scruples.

The first position taken by the Jews: