NOW WHEN MORNING WAS COME (πρωιας δε γενομενης). Genitive absolute. After dawn came the Sanhedrin held a formal meeting to condemn Jesus and so ratify the illegal trial during the night (Mark 15:1; Luke 22:66-71). Luke gives the details of this second ratification consultation. The phrase used,TO... [ Continue Reading ]
DELIVERED HIM UP TO PILATE THE GOVERNOR (παρεδωκαν Πειλατω τω ηγεμον). What they had done was all a form and a farce. Pilate had the power of death, but they had greatly enjoyed the condemnation and the buffeting of Jesus now in their power bound as a condemned criminal. He was no longer the mast... [ Continue Reading ]
REPENTED HIMSELF (μεταμεληθεις). Probably Judas saw Jesus led away to Pilate and thus knew that the condemnation had taken place. This verb (first aorist passive participle of μεταμελομα) really means to be sorry afterwards like the English word _repent_ from the Latin _repoenitet_, to have pain a... [ Continue Reading ]
SEE THOU TO IT (συ οψη). Judas made a belated confession of his sin in betraying innocent blood to the Sanhedrin, but not to God, nor to Jesus. The Sanhedrin ignore the innocent or righteous blood (αιμα αθωιον or δικαιον) and tell Judas to look after his own guilt himself. They ignore also their... [ Continue Reading ]
HANGED HIMSELF (απηγξατο). Direct middle. His act was sudden after he hurled the money into the sanctuary (εις τον ναον), the sacred enclosure where the priests were. The motives of Judas in the betrayal were mixed as is usually the case with criminals. The money cut a small figure with him save... [ Continue Reading ]
INTO THE TREASURY (εις τον κορβαναν). Josephus (_War_ II. 9,4) uses this very word for the sacred treasury. _Korban_ is Aramaic for _gift_ (δωρον) as is plain in Mark 7:11. The price of blood (blood-money) was pollution to the treasury (Deuteronomy 23:18). So they took the money out and used it f... [ Continue Reading ]
THE POTTER'S FIELD (του αγρου του κεραμεως). Grotius suggests that it was a small field where potter's clay was obtained, like a brickyard (Broadus). Otherwise we do not know why the name exists. In Acts 1:18 we have another account of the death of Judas by bursting open (possibly falling after h... [ Continue Reading ]
THE FIELD OF BLOOD (αγρος αιματος). This name was attached to it because it was the price of blood and that is not inconsistent with Acts 1:18. Today potter's field carries the idea here started of burial place for strangers who have no where else to lie (εις ταφην τοις ξενοις), probably at first... [ Continue Reading ]
BY JEREMIAH THE PROPHET (δια Ιερεμιου). This quotation comes mainly from Zechariah 11:13 though not in exact language. In Jeremiah 18:18 the prophet tells of a visit to a potter's house and in Jeremiah 32:6 of the purchase of a field. It is in Zechariah that the thirty pieces of silver are mention... [ Continue Reading ]
NOW JESUS STOOD BEFORE THE GOVERNOR (ο δε Ιησους εσταθη εμπροσθεν του ηγεμονος). Here is one of the dramatic episodes of history. Jesus stood face to face with the Roman governor. The verb εσταθη, not εστη (second aorist active), is first aorist passive and can mean "was placed" there, but he sto... [ Continue Reading ]
AND HE GAVE HIM NO ANSWER, NOT EVEN TO ONE WORD (κα ουκ απεκριθη αυτω προς ουδε εν ρημα). Jesus refused to answer the charges of the Jews (verse Matthew 27:12). Now he continued silent under the direct question of Pilate. The Greek is very precise besides the double negative. "He did not reply to... [ Continue Reading ]
BARABBAS OR JESUS WHICH IS CALLED CHRIST? (Βαραββαν η Ιησουν τον λεγομενον Χριστον;). Pilate was catching at straws or seeking any loophole to escape condemning a harmless lunatic or exponent of a superstitious cult such as he deemed Jesus to be, certainly in no political sense a rival of Caesar.... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR ENVY (δια φθονον). Pilate was dense about many things, but he knew that the Jewish leaders were jealous of the power of Jesus with the people. He may have heard of the events of the Triumphal Entry and the Temple Teaching. The envy, of course, came primarily from the leaders.... [ Continue Reading ]
HIS WIFE (η γυνη αυτου). Poor Pilate was getting more entangled every moment as he hesitated to set Jesus free whom he knew to be free of any crime against Caesar. Just at the moment when he was trying to enlist the people in behalf of Jesus against the schemes of the Jewish leaders, his wife sen... [ Continue Reading ]
PERSUADED (επεισαν). The chief priests (Sadducees) and elders (Pharisees) saw the peril of the situation and took no chances. While Pilate wavered in pressing the question, they used all their arts to get the people to "ask for themselves" (αιτησωντα, indirect middle ingressive aorist subjunctive... [ Continue Reading ]
WHAT THEN SHALL I DO UNTO JESUS WHICH IS CALLED CHRIST? (τ ουν ποιησω Ιησουν τον λεγομενον Χριστον;). They had asked for Barabbas under the tutelage of the Sanhedrin, but Pilate pressed home the problem of Jesus with the dim hope that they might ask for Jesus also. But they had learned their less... [ Continue Reading ]
WHY, WHAT EVIL HATH HE DONE? (τ γαρ κακον εποιησεν;). This was a feeble protest by a flickering conscience. Pilate descended to that level of arguing with the mob now inflamed with passion for the blood of Jesus, a veritable lynching fiasco. But this exhibition of weakness made the mob fear refus... [ Continue Reading ]
WASHED HIS HANDS (απενιψατο τας χειρας). As a last resort since the hubbub (θορυβος) increased because of his vacillation. The verb απονιπτω means to wash off and the middle voice means that he washed off his hands for himself as a common symbol of cleanliness and added his pious claim with a sla... [ Continue Reading ]
HIS BLOOD BE UPON US AND UPON OUR CHILDREN (το αιμα αυτου κα επ τα τεκνα ημων). These solemn words do show a consciousness that the Jewish people recognized their guilt and were even proud of it. But Pilate could not wash away his own guilt that easily. The water did not wash away the blood of Je... [ Continue Reading ]
SCOURGED (φραγελλωσας). The Latin verb _flagellare_. Pilate apparently lost interest in Jesus when he discovered that he had no friends in the crowd. The religious leaders had been eager to get Jesus condemned before many of the Galilean crowd friendly to Jesus came into the city. They had appare... [ Continue Reading ]
INTO THE PALACE (εις το πραιτωριον). In Rome the praetorium was the camp of the praetorian (from praetor) guard of soldiers (Philippians 1:13), but in the provinces it was the palace in which the governor resided as in Acts 23:35 in Caesarea. So here in Jerusalem Pilate ordered Jesus and all the... [ Continue Reading ]
A SCARLET ROBE (χλαμυδα κοκκινην). A kind of short cloak worn by soldiers, military officers, magistrates, kings, emperors (2Macc. 12:35; Josephus, _Ant_. V. 1,10), a soldier's _sagum_ or scarf. Carr (_Cambridge Gk. Test._) suggests that it may have been a worn-out scarf of Pilate's. The scarlet c... [ Continue Reading ]
A CROWN OF THORNS (στεφανον εξ ακανθων). They wove a crown out of thorns which would grow even in the palace grounds. It is immaterial whether they were young and tender thorn bushes, as probable in the spring, or hard bushes with sharp prongs. The soldiers would not care, for they were after rid... [ Continue Reading ]
COMPELLED (ηγγαρευσαν). This word of Persian origin was used in Matthew 5:41, which see. There are numerous papyri examples of Ptolemaic date and it survives in modern Greek vernacular. So the soldiers treat Simon of Cyrene (a town of Libya) as a Persian courier (αγγαρος) and impress him into ser... [ Continue Reading ]
GOLGOTHA (Γολγοθα). Chaldaic or Aramaic _Gulgatha_, Hebrew _Gulgoleth_, place of a skull-shaped mount, not place of skulls. Latin Vulgate _Calvariae locus_, hence our Calvary. Tyndale misunderstood it as a place of dead men's skulls. Calvary or Golgotha is not the traditional place of the Holy Se... [ Continue Reading ]
WINE MINGLED WITH GALL (οινον μετα χολης μεμιγμενον). Late MSS. readVINEGAR (οξος) instead of wine and Mark (Mark 15:23) has myrrh instead of gall. The myrrh gave the sour wine a better flavour and like the bitter gall had a narcotic and stupefying effect. Both elements may have been in the dri... [ Continue Reading ]
WATCHED HIM THERE (ετηρουν αυτον εκε). Imperfect tense descriptive of the task to prevent the possibility of rescue or removal of the body. These rough Roman soldiers casting lots over the garments of Christ give a picture of comedy at the foot of the Cross, the tragedy of the ages.... [ Continue Reading ]
HIS ACCUSATION (την αιτιαν αυτου). The title (τιτλος, John 19:19) or placard of the crime (the inscription, ε επιγραφη) which was carried before the victim or hung around his neck as he walked to execution was now placed above (επ' ανω) the head of Jesus on the projecting piece (χρυξ ιμμυρυς). Th... [ Continue Reading ]
ROBBERS (ληιστα). Not thieves (κλεπτα) as in Authorized Version. See Matthew 26:55. These two robbers were probably members of the band of Barabbas on whose cross Jesus now hung.... [ Continue Reading ]
WAGGING THEIR HEADS (κινουντες τας κεφαλας αυτων). Probably in mock commiseration. "Jews again appear on the scene, with a malice like that shewn in the trial before the Sanhedrin" (McNeile). "To us it may seem incredible that even his worst enemies could be guilty of anything so brutal as to hur... [ Continue Reading ]
IF THOU ART THE SON OF GOD (ε υιος ε του θεου). More exactly, "If thou art a son of God," the very language of the devil to Jesus (Matthew 4:3) in the early temptations, now hurled at Jesus under the devil's prompting as he hung upon the Cross. There is allusion, of course, to the claim of Jesus... [ Continue Reading ]
THE CHIEF PRIESTS MOCKING (ο αρχιερεις εμπαιζοντες). The Sanhedrin in fact, for "the scribes and elders" are included. The word for mocking (εμπαιζοντεσ, εν, and παιζω, from παις, child) means acting like silly children who love to guy one another. These grave and reverend seniors had already giv... [ Continue Reading ]
HE SAVED OTHERS; HIMSELF HE CANNOT SAVE (αλλους εσωσεν; εαυτον ου δυνατα σωσα). The sarcasm is true, though they do not know its full significance. If he had saved himself now, he could not have saved any one. The paradox is precisely the philosophy of life proclaimed by Jesus himself (Matthew 10... [ Continue Reading ]
LET HIM DELIVER HIM NOW (ρυσασθω νυν). They add the word "now" to Matthew 27:21; Matthew 22:8. That is the point of the sneer at Christ's claim to be God's son thrown in his teeth again and at the willingness and power of God to help his "son." The verb θελω here may meanLOVE as in the Septuagi... [ Continue Reading ]
THE ROBBERS ALSO (κα ο ληιστα). Probably "even the robbers" (Weymouth) who felt a momentary superiority to Jesus thus maligned by all. So the inchoative imperfect ωνειδιζον means "began to reproach him.... [ Continue Reading ]
FROM THE SIXTH HOUR (απο εκτης ωρας). Curiously enough McNeile takes this to mean the trial before Pilate (John 18:14). But clearly John uses Roman time, writing at the close of the century when Jewish time was no longer in vogue. It was six o'clock in the morning Roman time when the trial occurre... [ Continue Reading ]
MY GOD, MY GOD, WHY HAST THOU FORSAKEN ME? (Θεε μου, θεε μου, ινα τ με εγκατελιπεσ;). Matthew first transliterates the Aramaic, according to the Vatican manuscript (B), the words used by Jesus: _Eloi, eloi, lema sabachthanei_; Some of the MSS. give the transliteration of these words from Psalms 22... [ Continue Reading ]
GAVE HIM TO DRINK (εποτιζεν). Imperfect of conative action,OFFERED HIM A DRINK of vinegar on the sponge on a reed. Others interrupted this kindly man, but Jesus did taste this mild stimulant (John 19:30) for he thirsted (John 19:28).... [ Continue Reading ]
WHETHER ELIJAH COMETH TO SAVE HIM (ε ερχετα Ελειας σωσων αυτον). The excuse had a pious sound as they misunderstood the words of Jesus in his outcry of soul anguish. We have here one of the rare instances (σωσων) of the future participle to express purpose in the N.T. though a common Greek idiom.... [ Continue Reading ]
YIELDED UP HIS SPIRIT (αφηκεν το πνευμα). The loud cry may have been Psalms 31:5 as given in Luke 23:46: "Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit." John (John 19:30) givesIT IS FINISHED (τετελεστα), though which was actually last is not clear. Jesus did not die from slow exhaustion, but with... [ Continue Reading ]
WAS RENT (εσχισθη). Both Mark (Mark 15:38) and Luke (Luke 23:45) mention also this fact. Matthew connects it with the earthquake, "the earth did quake" (η γη εσεισθη). Josephus (_War_ VI. 299) tells of a quaking in the temple before the destruction and the Talmud tells of a quaking forty years be... [ Continue Reading ]
THE TOMBS WERE OPENED (τα μνημεια ανεωιχθησαν). First aorist passive indicative (double augment). The splitting of the rocks by the earthquake and the opening of tombs can be due to the earthquake. But the raising of the bodies of the dead after the resurrection of Jesus which appeared to many in... [ Continue Reading ]
TRULY THIS WAS THE SON OF GOD (αληθως θεου υιος ην ουτος). There is no article with God or Son in the Greek so that it means "God's Son," either "the Son of God" or "a Son of God." There is no way to tell. Evidently the centurion (εκατονταρχος here, ruler of a hundred, Latin word _kenturion_ in Ma... [ Continue Reading ]
MANY WOMEN (γυναικες πολλα). We have come to expect the women from Galilee to be faithful, last at the Cross and first at the tomb. Luke (Luke 23:49) says that "all his acquaintance" (παντες ο γνωστο αυτω) stood at a distance and saw the end. One may hope that the apostles were in that sad group.... [ Continue Reading ]
AND WHEN EVEN WAS COME (οψιας δε γενομενης). It was the Preparation (παρασκευη), the day before the sabbath (Mark 15:42; Luke 23:54; John 31:42). Παρασκευη is the name in modern Greek today for Friday. The Jews were anxious that these bodies should be taken down before the sabbath began at 6 P.M.... [ Continue Reading ]
SIR, WE REMEMBER (κυριε, εμνεσθημεν). This was the next day, on our Saturday, the Jewish Sabbath, the day after the Preparation (Matthew 27:62). Ingressive aorist indicative, we have just recalled. It is objected that the Jewish rulers would know nothing of such a prediction, but in Matthew 12:40... [ Continue Reading ]
THE LAST ERROR (η εσχατη πλανη). The last delusion, imposture (Weymouth), fraud (Moffatt). Latin _error_ is used in both senses, from _errare_, to go astray. The first fraud was belief in the Messiahship of Jesus, the second belief in his resurrection.... [ Continue Reading ]
MAKE IT AS SURE AS YOU CAN (ασφαλισασθε ως οιδατε). "Make it secure for yourselves (ingressive aorist middle) as you know how."HAVE A GUARD (εχετε κουστωδιαν), present imperative, a guard of Roman soldiers, not mere temple police. The Latin term _koustodia_ occurs in an Oxyrhynchus papyrus of A... [ Continue Reading ]
SEALING THE STONE, THE GUARD BEING WITH THEM (σφραγισαντης τον λιθον μετα της κουστωδιας). Probably by a cord stretched across the stone and sealed at each end as in Daniel 6:17. The sealing was done in the presence of the Roman guard who were left in charge to protect this stamp of Roman authori... [ Continue Reading ]