CHAPTER XIX. _Jesus is scourged, crowned with thorns, and mocked by the_ _soldiers_, 1-3. _He to brought forth by Pilate, wearing the purple robe; and the_ _Jews clamour for his death_, 4-8. _Conversation between our Lord and Pilate_, 9-11. _Pilate expostulates with the Jews on their barbarous... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse John 19:2. _PLATTED A CROWN OF THORNS_] Matthew 27:29, Matthew 27:29.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse John 19:5. _AND PILATE SAITH_] The word _Pilate_, which we supply in our version, is added by one MS., the later _Syriac_, later _Arabic_, and the _Coptic_. _BEHOLD THE MAN!_] The man who, according to you, affects the government, and threatens to take away the empire from the Romans. Behold... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse John 19:6. _CRUCIFY HIM_] αυτον, which is necessary to the text, and which is wanting in the common editions, and is supplied by our version in Italics, is added here on the authority of almost every MS. and version of importance. As it is omitted in the common editions, it affords another pro... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse John 19:7. _WE HAVE A LAW_] In Leviticus 24:14-3, we find that blasphemers of God were to be put to death; and the chief priests having charged Jesus with blasphemy, they therefore voted that he deserved to die. See Matthew 26:65-40. They might refer also to the law against false prophets, Deu... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse John 19:8. _HE WAS THE MORE AFRAID_] While Jesus was accused only as a disturber of the peace of the nation, which accusation Pilate knew to be _false_, he knew he could deliver him, because the judgment in that case belonged to himself; but when the Jews brought a charge against him of the m... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse John 19:9. _WHENCE ART THOU?_] This certainly does not mean, From what _country_ art thou? for Pilate knew this well enough; but it appears he made this inquiry to know who were the parents of Christ; what were his pretensions, and whether he really were a _demigod_, such as the heathens belie... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse John 19:11. _HATH THE GREATER SIN._] It is a sin in thee to condemn me, while thou art convinced in thy conscience that I am _innocent_: but the _Jews_ who delivered me to thee, and _Judas_ who delivered me to the Jews, have the _greater_ crime to answer for. Thy ignorance in some measure excu... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse John 19:12. _PILATE SOUGHT TO RELEASE HIM_] Pilate made _five_ several attempts to release our Lord; as we may learn from Luke 23:4; Luke 23:15; Luke 23:20; Luke 23:22; John 19:4; John 19:12. _THOU ART NOT CAESAR'S FRIEND_] Thou dost not act like a person who has the interest of the emperor... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse John 19:13. _THE PAVEMENT_] λιθοστρωτον, literally, _a stone_ _pavement_: probably it was that place in the open court where the chair of justice was set, for the prefects of provinces always held their courts of justice in the open air, and which was paved with stones of _various colours_, li... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse John 19:14. _IT WAS THE PREPARATION OF THE PASSOVER_] That is, the time in which they were just preparing to kill the paschal lamb. Critics differ widely concerning the time of our Lord's crucifixion; and this verse is variously understood. Some think it signifies merely the preparation of the... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse John 19:15. _AWAY WITH HIM_] αρον: probably this means, _kill him_. In Isaiah 57:1, it is said, και ανδρες, δικαιοι αιρονται, _and just men are taken away_; that is, according to some, by a violent death.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse John 19:16. _THEN DELIVERED HE HIM_] This was not till after he had washed his hands, Matthew 27:24, to show, by that symbolical action, that he was innocent of the death of Christ. John omits this circumstance, together with the insults which Christ received from the soldiers. See Matthew 27:... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse John 19:17. _BEARING HIS CROSS_] He bore it all alone _first_; when he could no longer carry the _whole_ through weakness, occasioned by the ill usage he had received, _Simon_, a Cyrenian, _helped_ him to carry it: Matthew 27:32, Matthew 27:32. _GOLGOTHA_] Matthew 27:33, Matthew 27:33.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse John 19:18. _TWO OTHER_] Matthew and Mark in the parallel places calls them _robbers_ or _murderers_; they probably belonged to the _gang_ of Barabbas. See about the _figure_ of the cross, and the _nature_ of crucifixion, on Matthew 27:35.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse John 19:19. _PILATE WROTE A TITLE_] Matthew 27:37, Matthew 27:37.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse John 19:20. _HEBREW, - GREEK, - LATIN._] Luke 23:38. On Matthew 27:37, I have given this title in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin, as mentioned by this evangelist. The reader, however, will not be displeased to find the same title repeated here in a character which was written in the _fourth_ centu... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 22. _WHAT I HAVE WRITTEN, I HAVE WRITTEN._] That is, I will not alter what I have written. The Roman laws forbad the sentence to be altered when once pronounced; and as this inscription was considered as the _sentence_ pronounced against our Lord, therefore, it could not be changed: but this f... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 23. _TO EVERY SOLDIER A PART_] So it appears there were _four_ soldiers employed in nailing him to and rearing up the cross. _THE COAT WAS WITHOUT SEAM_] Several have seriously doubted whether this can be literally understood, as they imagine that nothing with sleeves, c. can be woven without... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 24. _THAT THE SCRIPTURE MIGHT BE FULFILLED_] These words are found in the common printed text, in Matthew 27:35; but they are omitted by ABDEFGHKLMSU, Mt. BHV, 150 others; the principal _versions, Chrysostom, Titus Bost., Euthymius, Theophylact,_ _Origen, Hilary, Augustin, Juven_. See _Griesba... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 25. _MARY THE_ WIFE _OF CLEOPHAS_] She is said, in Matthew 27:56, (see the note there,) and Mark 15:40, to have been the mother of James the Less, and of Joses; and this James her son is said, in Matthew 10:3, to have been the son of Alpheus; hence it seems that _Alpheus_ and _Cleopas_ were t... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 26. _THE DISCIPLE - WHOM HE LOVED_] John, the writer of this Gospel. _WOMAN, BEHOLD THY SON!_] This is a remarkable expression, and has been much misunderstood. It conveys no idea of _disrespect_, nor of unconcern, as has been commonly supposed. In the way of compellation, _man_! and _woman_... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 28. _I THIRST._] The scripture that referred to his drinking the vinegar is Psalms 69:21. The fatigue which he had undergone, the grief he had felt, the heat of the day, and the loss of blood, were the natural causes of this thirst. This he would have borne without complaint; but he wished to... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 29. _A VESSEL FULL OF VINEGAR_] This was probably that _tart_ small wine which we are assured was the common drink of the Roman soldiers. Our word _vinegar_ comes from the French _vin aigre, sour_ or _tart wine_; and, although it is probable that it was brought at this time for the use of the... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 30. _IT IS FINISHED_] As if he had said: "I have executed the great designs of the Almighty - I have satisfied the demands of his justice - I have accomplished all that was written in the prophets, and suffered the utmost malice of my enemies; and now the way to the holy of holies is made mani... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 31. _IT WAS THE PREPARATION_] Every Sabbath had a preparation which began at the _ninth_ hour (that is, three o'clock) the preceding evening. Josephus, Ant. b. xvi. c. 6, s. 2, recites an edict of the Emperor Augustus in favour of the Jews, which orders, "that no one shall be obliged to give b... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 34. _WITH A SPEAR PIERCED HIS SIDE_] The soldier who pierced our Lord's side has been called by the Roman Catholic writers _Longinus_, which seems to be a corruption of λογχη, _lonche_, a _spear_ or _dart_, the word in the text. They moreover tell us that this man was converted-that it was he... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 35. _HE THAT SAW IT_] Most probably John himself, who must have been pretty near the cross to have been able to distinguish between the blood and the water, as they issued from the side of our blessed Lord. _AND HE KNOWETH_] This appears to be an appeal to the Lord Jesus, for the truth of the... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 38. _JOSEPH OF ARIMATHEA_] See on Matthew 27:57-40; and particularly Mark 15:42-41.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 39. _NICODEMUS_] John 3:1, c. _MYRRH AND ALOES_] Which drugs were used to preserve bodies from putrefaction. _Calmet_ says that the aloes mentioned here is a liquor which runs from an aromatic tree, and is widely different from that called _aloes_ among us. Some have objected that a hundred... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse John 19:40. _WOUND IT IN LINEN_] John 11:34.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse John 19:41. _THERE WAS A GARDEN_] It was an ancient custom for particular families to have burying places in their gardens. See 2 Kings 21:18; 2 Kings 21:26. _NEW SEPULCHRE_] Matthew 27:60.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse John 19:42. _BECAUSE OF THE JEWS' PREPARATION_] From this it may be conjectured that they had designed to have put him in a more magnificent tomb; or, that they intended to make one expressly for himself after the passover: or, that they had designed to have put him somewhere else, but could n... [ Continue Reading ]