_CHRIST IS DELIVERED BOUND TO PILATE. JUDAS HANGETH HIMSELF. PILATE, ADMONISHED BY HIS WIFE, WASHETH HIS HANDS, AND LOOSETH BARABBAS. CHRIST IS CROWNED WITH THORNS, CRUCIFIED, REVILED, DIETH, AND IS BURIED: HIS SEPULCHRE IS SEALED AND WATCHED._ _Anno Domini 33._... [ Continue Reading ]
WHEN THE MORNING WAS COME, &C.— The preceding transactions of this malignant night being over, as soon as the day dawned, the priests and elders, having condemned Jesus, resolved to carry him, loaded with chains, before the governor, that hemightlikewisegivesentenceagainsthim:they could not otherwis... [ Continue Reading ]
THEN JUDAS—REPENTED HIMSELF, &C.— St. Matthew introduces this account of the fate of Judas, as we see, immediately after the Jews had delivered Jesus to Pilate; but after this the Jews must have been so intent on persuadingPilate to consent to his death, that there was hardly time for the Sanhedrim'... [ Continue Reading ]
AND WENT AND HANGED HIMSELF— When Judas found that he could not prevent the horrid effects of his treachery, his conscience lashed him more furiously than before, suggesting thoughts which by turns made the deepest wounds in his soul. His Master's innocence and benevolence, the usefulness of his lif... [ Continue Reading ]
THE TREASURY, &C.— Κορβαναν : the place where the gifts set apart for the service of the temple, and for other pious uses, were deposited, 2 Kings 12:10. Mark 12:41. Such an offering as this _price of blood_ would have been as much an abomination to the Lord, as the _hire of a whore, or the price of... [ Continue Reading ]
THEN WAS FULFILLED, &C.— I. Concerning this prophesy we must, _first,_ remark, that Zachary, not Jeremy, is the prophet in whose writings this passage is found. Some learned men have supposed, that there might have been such a passage as this in some of Jeremiah's writings, which were extant in the... [ Continue Reading ]
AND JESUS STOOD, &C.— See John 18:29; John 18:40 and Luke 23:2 for a more full account of our Saviour's appearance before Pilate.... [ Continue Reading ]
AND HE ANSWERED HIM TO NEVER A WORD, &C.— Jesus made no reply to the heavycharges laid against him; nay, he continued mute, notwithstanding the governor expressly required him to speak in his own defence. See Isaiah 53:7. A conduct so extraordinaryin such circumstances, astonished Pilate exceedingly... [ Continue Reading ]
NOW AT THAT FEAST, &C.— Pilate had already sent Jesus to Herod, having learned that he belonged to Galilee; and Herod had sent him back to him. Luke 23:6. At former passovers the governor had courted the favour of the people, by gratifying them with the pardon of any one prisoner whom they pleased.... [ Continue Reading ]
A NOTABLE PRISONER— _A notorious criminal._ Heylin. It seems he was the head of the rebels; (see John 18:40. Luke 23:19; Luke 23:25.) the ringleader of a sedition, in which murder had been committed.... [ Continue Reading ]
_Matthew 27:18_. (_For he knew that for envy they had delivered him._) Pilate had probably heard of the stir made by the rulers on this occasion; and, as a prudent magistrate, could not but have inquired into the reason of it. The modesty with which Jesus appeared before him, must have given credit... [ Continue Reading ]
WHEN HE WAS SET DOWN, &C.— Or, _While he was sitting on,_ &c. While Rome was governed by a commonwealth, it was unusual for the governors of provinces to take their wives with them; but afterwards it grew customary, and the motion made against it in the fourth year of Tiberius was rejected with some... [ Continue Reading ]
WHY, WHAT EVIL HATH HE DONE?— So bent were the chief-priests and elders to have Jesus put to death, that though the governor urged them again and again to desire his release, declaring his innocence, and offering there several times to dismiss him, they would not hear him; to such a pitch was their... [ Continue Reading ]
PILATE—TOOK WATER, &C.— It is well known that the Jews in some cases were appointed to wash their hands, as a solemn token that they were not themselves concerned in a murder committed by some unknown person. See Deuteronomy 21:6. In allusion to which law the Psalmist says, _I will wash mine hands i... [ Continue Reading ]
HIS BLOOD BE ON US, &C.— As this terrible imprecation was dreadfully answered in the ruin so quickly brought on the Jewish nation, and the calamities which have since pursued that wretched people, in almost all ages and countries; so it was peculiarly illustrated in the severity with which Titus, me... [ Continue Reading ]
AND WHEN HE HAD SCOURGED JESUS— The Romans usually scourged the criminals whom they condemned to be crucified: this was the reason why Pilate ordered our Lord to be scourged, before he delivered him to the soldiers to be crucified. St. Matthew and St. Mark insinuate, that the scourging was performed... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THEY—PUT ON HIM A SCARLET ROBE— St. Mark says, they _cloathed him with purple;_ but the ancients gave the name of _purple_ to all colours which had any mixture of _red_ in them. This was probably some old purple robe which they put upon him in derision of his claim to the kingdom of Judea, _purp... [ Continue Reading ]
AND WHEN THEY HAD PLATTED A CROWN OF THORNS— Though it is unquestionable that they intended hereby to expose our Lord's pretended royalty to ridicule and contempt, as well as by the purple robe and mock sceptre; yet had that been all, a crown of thorns alone might have served as well. They meant, wi... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY TOOK THE ROBE OFF FROM, &C.— It is not said that they took the crown of thorns off his head, which served to gratify their passions both of malice and contempt: probably our Lord died wearing it, that the title which was written over him might be better understood. It was a Jewish custom in the... [ Continue Reading ]
AND AS THEY CAME OUT, &C.— We learn from the other Evangelists, that our blessed Lord had borne his cross agreeable to the custom in executions, at his first setting out. It was not indeed the whole cross which criminals carried, but only that transverse piece of wood to which the arms were fastened... [ Continue Reading ]
A PLACE CALLED GOLGOTHA— A Syriac word, which signifies a _skull_ or _head._ In Latin it is called _Calvary:_ the place was so named, either because malefactors used to be executed there, or because the charnel house, or common repository for bones and skulls, might have been there. See Mark 15:22.... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY GAVE HIM VINEGAR TO DRINK MINGLED WITH GALL— It was usual to give criminals, before they suffered, a stupifying potion to render them insensible of the ignominy and pain of their punishment; but our blessed Lord, because he would bear his sufferings, howeversharp, not by intoxicating and stupif... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THEY CRUCIFIED HIM, AND PARTED HIS GARMENTS, &C.— This was the custom of the Romans; the soldiers performing the office of executioners, divided among them the spoils of the criminals. There was only Christ's_tunick_ which they did not divide, but cast lots to see whose it should be. See John 19... [ Continue Reading ]
THEN WERE THERE TWO THIEVES CRUCIFIED WITH HIM— They placed Jesus in the middle, by way of mock honour, because he had called himself a king, and was now crowned with thorns; or, if the priests had any hand in this, they might design hereby to impress the spectators with the thought of his being an... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THEY THAT PASSED BY REVILED— The common people whom the priests had incensed against our Lord by the malicious lies which they spread concerning him, and which they pretended to found on the evidence of the witnesses seeing him hang as a malefactor on the cross, and reading the superscription pl... [ Continue Reading ]
LIKEWISE ALSO THE CHIEF PRIESTS, MOCKING, &C.— The rulers having, as theyimagined, wholly overturned our Lord's pretensions as Messiah, ridiculed him on that head, and with a meanness of soul which will for ever render them infamous, mocked him even in the agonies of death. They scoffed at the mirac... [ Continue Reading ]
THE THIEVES ALSO—CAST THE SAME IN HIS TEETH— _Reproached him in like manner._ St. Luke says, that _one_ only of the thieves reproached him. See Luke 23:39. Some commentators endeavour to remove this difficulty, by supposing that both the thieves might revile Jesus at first; but this solution is not... [ Continue Reading ]
NOW FROM THE SIXTH HOUR, &C.— During the last three hours that our Lord hung on the cross, a darkness covered the face of the earth, to the great terror and amazement of the people present at his execution. This extraordinary alteration in the face of nature was peculiarly proper, while the Sun of R... [ Continue Reading ]
JESUS CRIED WITH A LOUD VOICE, SAYING, &C.— A little before he expired, Jesus repeated the first verse of the 22nd Psalm, pronouncing it in the Syriac dialect, which was the common language of the country; and speaking with a loud voice, that all who stood around might hear him distinctly, and know... [ Continue Reading ]
THIS MAN CALLETH FOR ELIAS— Though Jesus spoke in the vulgar dialect, some of the people present did not understand him; for they fancied that he called upon the prophet Elijah to help him. Hence some have conjectured, that they were Roman soldiers who thus misunderstood Christ's words. The conjectu... [ Continue Reading ]
ONE OF THEM—TOOK A SPONGE, &C.— We have before observed, that vinegar, or a small sharp wine and water,—a mixture which was called _posca,_—was the common drink of the Roman soldiers. Possibly, therefore, this vinegar was set here for their use, or for that of the crucified persons, whose torture wo... [ Continue Reading ]
JESUS, WHEN HE HAD CRIED AGAIN WITH A LOUD VOICE, YIELDED UP THE GHOST— St. John tells us, that when our Lord had received the vinegar, he said, _It is finished._ "The predictions of the prophets are all fulfilled, and the redemption of the world is finished, to accomplish which I came into the worl... [ Continue Reading ]
THE VEIL OF THE TEMPLE WAS RENT, &C.— While Jesus breathed his last, the veil of the temple was miraculously rent from top to bottom; most probably in the presence of the priest who burned the incense in the holy place at the evening sacrifice; for the _ninth hour,_ at which Jesus expired, was the h... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE GRAVES WERE OPENED, &C.— The ancient sepulchres were hewn out of rocks, which being rent by the earthquake, discovered the cells wherein the bodies of the dead were deposited; but though these sepulchres were opened by the earthquake at our Lord's death, yet the dead in them did not come to... [ Continue Reading ]
TRULY THIS WAS THE SON OF GOD— Or _the Messiah._ It is probable that this centurion was a proselyte to the Jewish religion, and acquainted with their opinions. Others however think, that it should be rendered, _This was a Son of God;_ for as the centurion was a Roman, say they, among whom it was not... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE MOTHER OF ZEBEDEE'S CHILDREN— Though the construction of the original be dubious, yet I think it very rational, says Dr. Doddridge, to conclude, that the mother of the sons of Zebedee, or of James the greater and John, was a different person from the mother of James the less and Joses; both... [ Continue Reading ]
A RICH MAN OF ARIMATHEA— A city of the Jews, anciently called _Ramoth,_ which lay in the tribe of Ephraim, and was the city of the prophet Samuel. St. Mark 15:43 describes Joseph under these two characters; _first,_ that he _was an honourable counsellor; secondly,_ that _he waited for the kingdom of... [ Continue Reading ]
HE WENT TO PILATE AND BEGGED THE BODY OF JESUS— St. Mark says, Mark 15:43 that _he went in boldly, and craved the body._ And it was certainly a courageous act for that rich and noble senator thus publicly to own his friendship for Jesus in the midst of his greatest infamy; and a person of such sagac... [ Continue Reading ]
IN HIS OWN NEW TOMB— See John 19:41. The sepulchre in which they laid our Lord, being but lately made, was unfinished, and had not yet a lock on its door; therefore they fastened the door by _rolling a great stone_ to it. The word _roll_ implies, that the stone was both ponderous and large, too larg... [ Continue Reading ]
NOW THE NEXT DAY, THAT FOLLOWED THE DAY OF THE PREPARATION, &C.— That is, after the sun was set. They took this measure, therefore, not on the _morrow,_ in our sense of the word, but in the evening after sun-setting, when the Jewish sabbath was begun, and when they understood the body was buried: to... [ Continue Reading ]
PILATE SAID UNTO THEM, YE HAVE A WATCH— See Matthew 27:54. Pilate, thinking their request reasonable, allowed them to take as many soldiers as they pleased out of the cohort, which at the feast came from the castle Antonia, and kept guard in the porticoes of the temple; for, that they were not Jewis... [ Continue Reading ]
SO THEY WENT, &C.— The priests going along with the guards granted them by the governor, placed them in their post, and sealed the stone that was rolled to the door of the sepulchre, to hinder the guards from combining with the disciples in carrying on any fraud whatever. We find a precaution of the... [ Continue Reading ]