XXVII. (1) TOOK COUNSEL. — Better, _held a council._ (Comp. the use of the word in Acts 25:12.) Another formal meeting was held (according to the Jewish rule that the sentence of the judges was not to be given at the same sitting as the trial) to confirm the previous decision, and probably to deter... [ Continue Reading ]
PONTIUS PILATE. — It may be well to bring together the chief known facts as to the previous history of the Governor, or more accurately, the Procurator, of Judæa, whose name is conspicuous as occupying a solitary prominence in the creeds of Christendom. He must have belonged, by birth or adoption, t... [ Continue Reading ]
THEN JUDAS, WHICH HAD BETRAYED HIM. — Better, _the betrayer._ The Greek participle is in the present tense. The narrative which follows is found only in St. Matthew, but another version of the same facts is given in Acts 1:18. Here, too, as in the case of Peter, we have to guess at motives. Had he l... [ Continue Reading ]
I HAVE SINNED IN THAT I HAVE BETRAYED. — More accurately, _I sinned in betraying._ WHAT IS THAT TO US? — We instinctively feel, as we read these words, that deep as was the guilt of Judas, that of those who thus mocked him was deeper still. Speaking after the manner of men, we may say that a word o... [ Continue Reading ]
HE CAST DOWN THE PIECES OF SILVER IN THE TEMPLE. — The Greek word for “Temple” is that which specially denotes (as in Matthew 23:16; Matthew 26:61; John 2:19), not the whole building, but the “_s_anctuary,” which only the priests could enter. They had stood, it would seem, talking with Judas before... [ Continue Reading ]
IT IS NOT LAWFUL FOR TO PUT THEM INTO THE TREASURY. — The Greek for the last word is the Corban, or sacred treasure-chest of the Temple, into which no foreign coins were admitted, and from which the Law (Deuteronomy 23:18) excluded the unclean offerings of the price of shame, which entered largely i... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THEY TOOK COUNSEL. — As before, _they held a council._ THE POTTER’S FIELD. — In Jeremiah 18:2 we read of the “potter’s house” as being outside the city, probably, from Jeremiah 19:2, in the Valley of Hinnom (_Gehenna_)_,_ on the south side of Jerusalem. It is probable that it had been worked out... [ Continue Reading ]
THE FIELD OF BLOOD. — St. Luke (Acts 1:19) gives the Aramaic form, _Akeldama,_ but assigns the death of Judas in a field which he had bought as the origin of the name. It is possible that two spots may have been known by the same name for distinct reasons, and the fact that two places have been show... [ Continue Reading ]
THEN WAS FULFILLED. — Three questions present themselves, more or less difficult: — (1) The words cited are found in our present Old Testament, not in Jeremiah, but in Zechariah 11:13, and there is no trace of their ever having occupied any other place in the Hebrew Canon. How is this discrepancy to... [ Continue Reading ]
AND JESUS STOOD BEFORE THE GOVERNOR. — We may infer from the greater fulness with which St. John relates what passed between our Lord and Pilate, that here, too, his acquaintance with the high priest gave him access to knowledge which others did not possess. We learn from him (1) that in his first c... [ Continue Reading ]
HE ANSWERED NOTHING. — Here, as before in Matthew 26:63, we have to realise the contrast between the vehement clamour of the accusers, the calm, imperturbable, patient silence of the accused, and the wonder of the judge at what was so different from anything that had previously come within the range... [ Continue Reading ]
THE GOVERNOR WAS WONT TO RELEASE. — It is not known when the practice began, nor whether it was primarily a Jewish or a Roman one. The fact that the release of criminals was a common incident of a Latin _lectisternium,_ or feast in honour of the gods, makes the latter the more probable. If introduce... [ Continue Reading ]
A NOTABLE PRISONER, CALLED BARABBAS. — There is considerable, though not quite decisive, evidence in favour of the reading which gives “Jesus Barabbas” as the name of the prisoner. The name Bar-abbas (=son of Abbas, or of “a father”), like Bar-timseus and Bartholomew, was a patronymic, and it would... [ Continue Reading ]
WHOM WILL YE THAT I RELEASE UNTO YOU? — This, we must remember, was all but the last attempt of Pilate to shift off from himself the dreaded burden of responsibility.... [ Continue Reading ]
HE KNEW THAT FOR ENVY. — Pilate knew enough of the accusers to see through the hollowness of their pretended zeal for their own religion, or for the authority of the emperor. He found their real motive in “envy” — fear of the loss of influence and power, if the work of the new Teacher was to continu... [ Continue Reading ]
THE JUDGMENT SEAT. — The chair of judgment was placed upon a Mosaic pavement, and was indispensable to the official action of any provincial ruler. (Comp. Note on John 19:13.) HIS WIFE SENT UNTO HIM. — Under the old regime of the Republic provincial governors were not allowed to take their wives wit... [ Continue Reading ]
THE CHIEF PRIESTS AND ELDERS. — Brief as the statement is it implies much; the members of the Sanhedrin standing before Pilate’s palace, mingling with the crowd, whispering — now to this man, now to that — praises of the robber, scoffs and slander against the Christ. As the next verse shows, they di... [ Continue Reading ]
LET HIM BE CRUCIFIED. — It may be noted that this was the first direct intimation of the mode of death to which the priests destined their prisoner. It was implied, indeed, in their fixed resolve to make the Roman governor the executioner of their sentence, as shown in the dialogue recorded by St. J... [ Continue Reading ]
WHY, WHAT EVIL HATH HE DONE? — The question attested the judge’s conviction of the innocence of the accused, but it attested also the cowardice of the judge. He was startled at the passionate malignity of the cry of the multitude and the priests, but had not the courage to resist it. We find from Lu... [ Continue Reading ]
HE TOOK WATER, AND WASHED HIS HANDS. — The act belonged to an obvious and almost universal symbolism. So in Deuteronomy 21:6 the elders of a city in which an undiscovered murder had been committed were to wash their hands over the sin-offering, and to say, “Our hands have not shed this blood, neithe... [ Continue Reading ]
HIS BLOOD BE ON US, AND ON OUR CHILDREN. — The passionate hate of the people leads them, as if remembering the words of their own Law, to invert the prayer — which Pilate’s act had, it may be, brought to their remembrance — “Lay not innocent blood to Thy people of Israel’s charge” (Deuteronomy 21:8)... [ Continue Reading ]
WHEN HE HAD SCOURGED JESUS. — The word used by St. Matthew, derived from the Latin _flagellum,_ shows that it was the Roman punishment with knotted thongs of leather (like the Russian “knout” or the English “cat”), not the Jewish beating with rods (2 Corinthians 11:24). The pictures of the Stations,... [ Continue Reading ]
THE COMMON HALL. — Literally, the _Prætorium,_ a word which, applied originally to the tent of the prætor, or general, and so to the head-quarters of the camp. had come to be used, with a somewhat wide range of meaning, (1) for the residence of a prince or governor; or (2) for the barracks attached... [ Continue Reading ]
A SCARLET ROBE. — Here again we have a technical word, the _chlamys_ or _paludamentum,_ used for the military cloak worn by emperors in their character as generals, and by other officers of high rank (Pliny, xxii. 2, 3). St. Mark and St. John call it purple (Mark 15:17; John 19:2); but the “purple “... [ Continue Reading ]
A CROWN OF THORNS. — The word is too vague to enable us to identify the plant with certainty, but most writers have fixed on the _Zizyphus Spina Christi,_ known locally as the _Nebk,_ a shrub growing plentifully in the valley of the Jordan, with branches pliant and flexible, and leaves of a dark glo... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY SPIT UPON HIM. — See Note on Matthew 26:67.... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY TOOK THE ROBE _OFF_ FROM HIM. — At this point we have to insert the account which St. John gives (John 19:4) of Pilate’s last attempt to rescue the “just Man” whom he had unjustly condemned. He showed the silent Sufferer in the mock insignia of royalty, as if asking them, Is not this enough? Th... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY FOUND A MAN OF CYRENE, SIMON BY NAME. — There seems at that time to have been a flourishing settlement of Jews in Cyrene, and members of that community appear as prominent in the crowd of the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:10), among the disputants who opposed Stephen (Acts 6:9), and among the active... [ Continue Reading ]
A PLACE CALLED GOLGOTHA. — The other Gospels give the name with the definite article, as though it were a well-known locality. It is not mentioned, however, by any Jewish writer, and its position is matter of conjecture. It was “nigh unto the city” (John 19:20), and therefore outside the walls (comp... [ Continue Reading ]
VINEGAR TO DRINK MINGLED WITH GALL. — In Mark 15:23, “wine mingled with myrrh.” The animal secretion known as “gall” is clearly out of the question, and the meaning of the word is determined by its use in the Greek version of the Old Testament, where it stands for the “wormwood” of Proverbs 5:4, for... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY CRUCIFIED HIM. — The cross employed in capital punishment varied in its form, being sometimes simply a stake on which the sufferer was impaled, sometimes consisting of two pieces of timber put together in the form of a T or an X (as in what we know as the St. Andrew’s cross); sometimes in that... [ Continue Reading ]
THIS IS JESUS THE KING OF THE JEWS. — This was what was technically known as the _titulus_ — the bill, or placard, showing who the condemned person was, and why he was punished. Each Gospel gives it in a slightly different form — Mark (Mark 15:26), “The King of the Jews;” Luke (Luke 23:38), “This is... [ Continue Reading ]
THEN WERE THERE TWO THIEVES CRUCIFIED WITH HIM. — Better, _robbers,_ the word being the same as that used of Barabbas (John 18:40). It would seem, as there is no record of their trial, as if they were already under sentence of death; and it is probable enough that they were members of the same band,... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY THAT PASSED BY. — The words bring before us the picture of a lounging crowd, strolling from one cross to the other, and mocking the central sufferer of the three. Rulers and chief priests were not ashamed to take part in the brutal mockery of a dying man. The spoken taunts were doubtless often... [ Continue Reading ]
THOU THAT DESTROYEST THE TEMPLE. — Our Lord had not been formally condemned on this charge, the evidence being insufficient, but it had clearly impressed itself on the minds of the people, and was probably that which most worked upon them to demand His death. The other words, “If thou be the Son of... [ Continue Reading ]
THE CHIEF PRIESTS MOCKING HIM, WITH THE SCRIBES AND ELDERS. — It would seem as if all, or nearly all, the members of the Sanhedrin — those, at least, who had taken part in the condemnation — had come to feast their eyes with the sight of their Victim’s sufferings.... [ Continue Reading ]
HE SAVED OTHERS. — The mockers, as before (comp. John 11:50), bear unconscious witness to the truth. They referred, it may be, to the works of healing and the raising of the dead which had been wrought in Galilee and Jerusalem, but their words were true in a yet higher sense. He had come into the wo... [ Continue Reading ]
LET HIM DELIVER HIM NOW. — It seems at first hardly conceivable that priests and scribes could thus have quoted the very words of Psalms 22:8, and so have fulfilled one of the great Messianic prophecies. But (1) we must remember that they, ignoring the idea of a suffering Christ, would not look on t... [ Continue Reading ]
THE THIEVES ALSO... CAST THE SAME IN HIS TEETH. — Literally, _reviled Him._ On the change which afterwards came over one of them, see Note on Luke 23:40.... [ Continue Reading ]
FROM THE SIXTH HOUR. — The first three Gospels agree as to time and fact. Assuming them to follow the usual Jewish reckoning (as in Acts 2:15; Acts 3:1; Acts 10:3; Acts 10:9) this would be noon, the fixing to the cross having been at the third hour, 9 A.M. (Mark 15:25), and the darkness lasting till... [ Continue Reading ]
ELI, ELI, LAMA SABACHTHANI. — The cry is recorded only by St. Matthew and St. Mark. The very syllables or tones dwelt in the memory of those who heard and understood it, and its absence from St. John’s narrative was probably due to the fact that he had before this taken the Virgin-Mother from the sc... [ Continue Reading ]
THIS MAN CALLETH FOR ELIAS. — There is no ground for looking on this as a wilful, derisive misinterpretation. The words may have been imperfectly understood, or some of those who listened may have been Hellenistic Jews. The dominant expectation of the coming of Elijah (see Notes on Matthew 16:14; Ma... [ Continue Reading ]
TOOK A SPUNGE, AND FILLED IT WITH VINEGAR. — The “vinegar” was the sour wine, or wine and water, which was the common drink of the Roman soldiers. and which they at an earlier stage, and as in derision (Luke 23:36), had offered to the Sufferer. The sponge had probably served instead of a cork to the... [ Continue Reading ]
LET US SEE WHETHER ELIAS WILL COME. — Here again we have eager expectation rather than derision. Was the “great and dreadful day” (Malachi 4:5) about to burst on them? Would the long-expected prophet at last appear? The sponge and vinegar would seem to minds thus on the stretch an unworthy interrupt... [ Continue Reading ]
WHEN HE HAD CRIED AGAIN WITH A LOUD VOICE. — It is well that we should remember what the words were which immediately preceded the last death cry; the “It is finished” of John 19:30, the “Father, into Thy hands I commend My spirit” of Luke 23:46, expressing as they did, the fulness of peace and trus... [ Continue Reading ]
THE VEIL OF THE TEMPLE WAS RENT IN TWAIN. — Better, _the veil of the sanctuary,_ or, if we do not alter the word, we must remember that it is the veil that divided the Holy Place from the Holy of Holies that is here meant. The fact, which the high priests would naturally have wished to conceal, and... [ Continue Reading ]
MANY BODIES OF THE SAINTS WHICH SLEPT AROSE. — It is scarcely, perhaps, surprising that a narrative so exceptional in its marvellousness, and standing, as it does, without any collateral testimony in any other part of the New Testament, should have presented to many minds difficulties which have see... [ Continue Reading ]
TRULY THIS WAS THE SON OF GOD. — St. Luke’s report softens down the witness thus borne into “Truly this Man was righteous.” As reported by St. Matthew and St. Mark (Mark 15:39), the words probably meant little more than that. We must interpret them from the stand-point of the centurion’s knowledge,... [ Continue Reading ]
MANY WOMEN WERE THERE BEHOLDING. — The group was obviously distinct from that of “the daughters of Jerusalem,” of Luke 23:28, but was probably identical with that mentioned in Luke 8:2, as accompanying our Lord in many of His journeyings.... [ Continue Reading ]
MARY MAGDALENE. — This is the first mention of the name in St. Matthew. The most natural explanation of it is that she came from the town of Magdala, or Magadan (the reading of the chief MSS.), not far from Tiberias, on the western side of the Sea of Galilee. The two prominent facts in her history p... [ Continue Reading ]
A RICH MAN OF ARIMATHÆA. — The place so named was probably identical with the Ramah of 1 Samuel 1:19, the birth-place of the prophet. In 1 Samuel 1:1 the name is given in its uncontracted form as Ramathaim-zophim, and in the LXX. version it appears throughout as Armathaim, in Josephus as Armatha, in... [ Continue Reading ]
HE WENT TO PILATE. — Assuming the death of our Lord to have been soon after the ninth hour (3 P.M.), Joseph would seem to have hastened at once to the Prætorium, and asked Pilate’s permission to inter the body. St. Mark records Pilate’s wonder that death should have come so soon (Mark 15:44). In his... [ Continue Reading ]
A CLEAN LINEN CLOTH. — The word for “linen cloth,” _Sindôn,_ points, according to different derivations, to a Sidonian or an Indian fabric. It was probably of the nature of muslin rather than linen, and seems to have been specially used by the Egyptians for folding round their mummies, but sometimes... [ Continue Reading ]
LAID IT IN HIS OWN NEW TOMB. — The garden, or orchard, was therefore the property of Joseph (see Note on Matthew 27:33). All the first three Gospels dwell on the fact of its not being, as so many graves were, a natural cavern, but cut, and, as St. Luke’s word implies. to some extent, smoothed and po... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THERE WAS MARY MAGDALENE. — The words imply that they remained by the cross while the body was taken down, and watched its entombment: then returning to the house where they lodged, they prepared their spices and ointment before the Sabbath began, for a more complete embalmment, so that they mig... [ Continue Reading ]
THE NEXT DAY, THAT FOLLOWED THE DAY OF THE PREPARATION. — The narrative that follows is peculiar to St. Matthew, and, like the report of the rending of the veil of the Temple, may, perhaps, be traced to the converted priests of Acts 6:7. This was, as we find from what follows, the Sabbath. The “prep... [ Continue Reading ]
WE REMEMBER THAT THAT DECEIVER SAID... — It appears, then, that though they had deliberately stirred up the passions of the people by representing the mysterious words of John 2:14 as threatening a literal destruction of the Temple (Matthew 26:61; Matthew 27:40), they themselves had understood, whol... [ Continue Reading ]
UNTIL THE THIRD DAY. — The phrase is worth noting as indicating the meaning which the priests attached to the words “after three days.” They were looking for the fraud which they anticipated as likely to be attempted at the beginning of the third day from the death. THE LAST ERROR. — Better, _decei... [ Continue Reading ]
YE HAVE A WATCH. — Better, _Take ye a guard._ The Greek verb may be either imperative or indicative. The former gives the better meaning. The “watch,” or “guard,” was a body of Roman soldiers (St. Matthew uses the Latin term _custodia_)_,_ who could not be set to such a task without Pilate’s permiss... [ Continue Reading ]
SEALING THE STONE. — The opening of the tomb had been already closed by the stone which had been rolled so as to fill, or nearly fill, it. The sealing was probably effected by drawing one or more ropes across the stone and fastening either end to the rock with wax or cement of some kind. AND SETTIN... [ Continue Reading ]