John 18:39

John 18:39. But ye have a custom, that I should release unto you one at the passover; will ye therefore that I release unto you the Sing of the Jews? The origin of the custom thus alluded to is unknown, although it is generally supposed with no small measure of probability that, as connected with the Passover, it had been introduced as a symbolical expression of the deliverance of Israel out of Egypt. Pilate's object in making the proposal and in styling Jesus the King of the Jews is neither ‘unwise mocking bitterness,' nor ‘abortive cunning.' He had been impressed by the majesty of Jesus, and was satisfied of His innocence. But he had no depth of feeling in the matter, and his sense of justice was hardly a wakened by it. Any irony in his words therefore has reference to the Jews and not to Jesus. Surely the poverty, the humiliation, the sufferings of the latter make Him a fit King for the former. As he really cares not what becomes of Him, but sees no reason to detain Him, he will make an effort to let Him go.

One subordinate circumstance connected with the words now before us must be noticed. They supply an argument for the fact that the Passover had begun, and that John cannot be understood in other passages to mean that it was still to be celebrated, on the evening of the day following the night in which we at present find ourselves. Even were it true, as urged by some, that the phrase ‘at the Passover' might have been used of the 14 th as well as the 15 th Nisan, it is to be observed that, on the supposition of variance between John and his predecessors, the 14 th, according to the ordinary method of reckoning, was not yet come, because daylight of, the 14 th had not yet broken. But if so, we must either accept the supposition that ‘at' or rather ‘in' the Passover could be applied to the night between the 13 th and the 14 th (for Pilate is speaking of the present moment), or we must reject the idea that this last is the night in which we are now standing. The former supposition, besides being in a high degree improbable, is destitute of all proof; and the only theory consistent with the facts is that which proceeds upon the perfect harmony of all the Evangelists, placing us, at the instant before us, in the night between the 14 th and the 15 th. It may be worth while to add that those who understand the words of chap. John 19:14, ‘the preparation of the Passover,' as meaning the day previous to it, have no right to say that when the words ‘at the Passover' occur here, we are substantially at the same point of time. Surely A.M. cannot be said to be ‘at the Passover,' and 6 A.M. to be ‘the preparation of the Passover.'