CHAPTER XXVII. _In the morning, Christ is bound and delivered to Pontius_ _Pilate_, 1, 2. _Judas, seeing his Master condemned, repents, acknowledges his_ _transgression to the chief priests, attests Christ's innocence,_ _throws down the money, and goes and hangs himself_, 3-5. _They buy the po... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Matthew 27:2. _THEY - DELIVERED HIM TO PONTIUS PILATE_] The Sanhedrin had the power of life and death in their own hands in every thing that concerned _religion_; but as they had not evidence to put Christ to death because of _false doctrine_, they wished to give countenance to their conduct b... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Matthew 27:3. _JUDAS - WHEN HE SAW THAT HE WAS CONDEMNED, REPENTED_] There is much of the wisdom and goodness of God to be seen in this part of Judas's conduct. Had our Lord been condemned to death on the evidence of one of his own disciples, it would have furnished infidels with a strong arg... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Matthew 27:4. _INNOCENT BLOOD._] αιμα αθωον, a Hebraism, for an _innocent man_. But instead of αθωον, _innocent_, two ancient MSS., _Syriac, Vulgate, Sahidic, Armenian_, and all the _Itala; Origen,_ _Cyprian, Lucifer, Ambrose, Leo_, read δικαιον, _righteous_, or _just_. _WHAT_ IS THAT _TO US?... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Matthew 27:5. _IN THE TEMPLE_] ναος signifies, properly, the temple itself, into which none but the priests were permitted to enter; therefore εν τω ναω must signify, _near the temple_, by the temple door, where the boxes stood to receive the free-will offerings of the people, for the support... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Matthew 27:6. _THE TREASURY_] κορβαναν - the place whither the people brought their free-will offerings for the service of the temple, so called from the Hebrew קרבן _korban_, AN OFFERING, from קרב _karab, he drew nigh_, because the person who brought the gift _came_ _nigh_ to that place where... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Matthew 27:7. _TO BURY STRANGERS IN._] τοις ξενοις, _the strangers_, probably meaning, as some learned men conjecture, the _Jewish_ strangers who might have come to Jerusalem, either to worship, or on some other business, and died there during their stay. See here, the very money for which the... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Matthew 27:8. _THE FIELD OF BLOOD_] In vain do the wicked attempt to conceal themselves; God makes them instrumental in discovering their own wickedness. Judas, by returning the money, and the priests, by laying it out, raise to themselves an eternal monument - the one of _his_ treachery, the... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Matthew 27:9. _JEREMY THE PROPHET_] The words quoted here are not found in the Prophet _Jeremiah_, but in Zechariah 11:13. But St. Jerome says that a Hebrew of the sect of the Nazarenes showed him this prophecy in a Hebrew apocryphal copy of Jeremiah; but probably they were _inserted_ there on... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Matthew 27:11. _BEFORE THE GOVERNOR_] My old MS. English Bible translates ηγημων _Meyr cheef justyse, Presedent_. _ART THOU THE XING OF THE JEWS?_] The Jews had undoubtedly delivered him to Pilate as one who was rising up against the imperial authority, and assuming the regal office. See on M... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Matthew 27:12. _HE ANSWERED NOTHING._] An answer to such accusations was not necessary: they sufficiently confuted themselves.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Matthew 27:14. _MARVELLED GREATLY._] _Silence_ under _calumny_ manifests the utmost magnanimity. The chief priests did not admire this because it confounded them; but Pilate, who had no interest to serve by it, was deeply affected. This very silence was predicted. Isaiah 53:7.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Matthew 27:15. _THE GOVERNOR WAS WONT TO RELEASE_] Whence this custom originated among the Jews is not known, - probably it was introduced by the Romans themselves, or by Pilate, merely to oblige the Jews, by showing them this public token of respect; but if it originated with him, he must hav... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Matthew 27:16. _A NOTABLE PRISONER - BARABBAS._] This person had, a short time before, raised an insurrection in Jerusalem, in which it appears, from Mark 15:7, some lives were lost. In some MSS., and in the _Armenian_ and _Syriac Hieros_., this man has the surname of _Jesus_. Professor Birch... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Matthew 27:18. _FOR ENVY_] δια φθονον, _through malice_. Then it was his business, as an upright judge, to have dispersed this mob, and immediately released Jesus. Seeing _malice_ is capable of putting even Christ himself to death, how careful should we be not to let the least spark of it har... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Matthew 27:19. _I HAVE SUFFERED MANY THINGS - IN A DREAM_] There is no doubt that God had appeared unto this woman, testifying the innocence of Christ, and showing the evils which should pursue Pilate if this innocent blood should be shed by his authority. See Matthew 27:2.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Matthew 27:20. _ASK BARABBAS_] Who had raised an _insurrection_ and committed _murder - and to destroy Jesus, whose voice_ was never _heard_ _in their streets_, and who had, during the space of three years and a half, gone about unweariedly, from village to village, _instructing_ the _ignorant... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Matthew 27:21. _THEY SAID, BARABBAS._] What a fickle crowd! A little before they all hailed him as the _Son of David_, and acknowledged him as a gift from God; now they prefer a murderer to him! But this it appears they did at the instigation of the chief priests. We see here how dangerous wic... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Matthew 27:22. _WHAT SHALL I DO THEN WITH JESUS?_] Showing, hereby, that it was his wish to release him.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Matthew 27:23. _WHAT EVIL HATH HE DONE?_] Pilate plainly saw that there was nothing laid to his charge for which, consistently with the Roman laws, he could condemn him. _BUT THEY CRIED OUT THE MORE_] What strange fury and injustice! They could not answer Pilate's question, _What evil hath he... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Matthew 27:24. _PILATE - TOOK WATER, AND WASHED HIS HANDS_] Thus signifying his innocence. It was a custom among the Hebrews, Greeks, and Latins, to wash the hands in token of innocence, and to show that they were pure from any imputed guilt. In case of an undiscovered murder, the elders of t... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Matthew 27:25. _HIS BLOOD BE ON US AND ON OUR CHILDREN._] If this man be _innocent_, and we put him to death as a _guilty_ person, may the punishment due to such a crime be visited upon us, and upon our children after us! What a dreadful imprecation! and how literally fulfilled! The notes on... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Matthew 27:26. _SCOURGED JESUS_] This is allowed to have been a very severe punishment of itself among the Romans, the flesh being generally _cut_ by the whips used for this purpose: so the poet: - ----_Horribili_ SECTERE _flagello_. "To be cut by the horrible whip."-HOR. Sat. I. 3. 119. And... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Matthew 27:27. _THE COMMON HALL_] Or, _praetorium_. Called so from the _praetor_, a principal magistrate among the Romans, whose business it was to administer justice in the absence of the _consul_. This place night be termed in English the _court house_, or _common hall_.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Matthew 27:28. _STRIPPED HIM_] Took off his mantle, or _upper garment_. _A SCARLET ROBE_] Or, according to Mark and John, a _purple_ robe, such as emperors and kings wore.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 29. _A CROWN OF THORNS_] στεφανον εξ ακανθων. It does not appear that this crown was intended to be an instrument of _punishment_ or _torture_ to his head, but rather to render him ridiculous; for which cause also they put a _reed_ in his hand, by way of _sceptre_, and bowed their knees, pret... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 30. _AND THEY SPIT UPON HIM_] "Let us pay our adoration," says the same pious writer, "and humble ourselves in silence at the sight of a spectacle which faith alone renders credible, and which our senses would hardly endure. Jesus Christ, in this condition, preaches to the kings of the earth t... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 32. _A MAN OF CYRENE - HIM THEY COMPELLED TO BEAR HIS_ _CROSS._] In John, John 19:16, we are told Christ himself bore the cross, and this, it is likely, he did for a _part_ of the way; but, being exhausted with the scourging and other cruel usage which he had received, he was found incapable o... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 33. _A PLACE CALLED GOLGOTHA_] From the Hebrew גלגתה or גלגלת, _golgoleth, a skull_, probably so called from the many skulls of these who had suffered crucifixion and other capital punishments scattered up and down in the place. It is the same as _Calvary_, Calvaria, i.e. _calvi capitis area_,... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 34. _THEY GAVE HIM VINEGAR - MINGLED WITH GALL_] Perhaps χολη, commonly translated _gall_, signifies no more than _bitters_ of any kind. It was a common custom to administer a stupefying potion compounded of sour wine, which is the same as vinegar, from the French _vinaigre_, frankincense, an... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 35. _AND THEY CRUCIFIED HIM_] Crucifixion properly means the act of nailing or tying to a cross. The cross was made of two beams, either crossing at the top at right angles, like a T, or in the middle of their length, like an X. There was, besides, a piece on the centre of the transverse beam... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 36. _THEY WATCHED HIM_] To prevent his disciples or relatives from taking away the body or affording any relief to the sufferer.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 37. _HIS ACCUSATION_] It was a common custom to affix a label to the cross, giving a statement of the crime for which the person suffered. This is still the case in China, when a person is crucified. Sometimes a person was employed to carry this before the criminal, while going to the place of... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 38. _TWO THIEVES_] λησται, _robbers_, or cutthroats: men who had committed robbery and murder; for it does not appear that persons were crucified for robbery only. Thus was our Lord _numbered_ (his name enrolled, placed as it were in the death warrant) _with transgressors_, according to the pr... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 39. _WAGGING THEIR HEADS_] In token of contempt.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 40. _THOU THAT DESTROYEST_] Who didst pretend that thou couldst have destroyed the temple, and built it up again in three days. This malicious torturing of our Lord's words has been noticed before. _Cruelty_ is obliged to take refuge in _lies_, in order to vindicate its infamous proceedings.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 41. _CHIEF PRIESTS - SCRIBES AND ELDERS_] To these, several ancient MSS. and versions add, και Φαρισαιων, _and Pharisees_. But though the authority for this reading is respectable, yet it does not appear that the Pharisees joined in with the others in the condemnation of our Lord. Probably his... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 42. _HE SAVED OTHERS; HIMSELF HE CANNOT SAVE._] Or, _Cannot_ _he save himself_? Several MSS. read this with the mark of _interrogation_ as above; and this makes the sarcasm still more keen. A _high priest_ who designs to _destroy the temple of God: a_ _Saviour_ who saves not _himself_; and t... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 43. _IF HE WILL HAVE HIM_] Or, _if he delight in him _- ει θελει αυτον. The verbs θελω and εθελω, are used by the _Septuagint_ in more than forty places for the Hebrew חפץ _chaphets_, which signifies, _earnestly to desire_, or _delight in_. Now as this is a quotation from Psalms 22:8, _He trus... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 44. _THE THIEVES ALSO - CAST THE SAME IN HIS TEETH._] That is, _one_ of the robbers; for one, we find, was a penitent, Luke 23:39. See this form of expression accounted for, on Matthew 26:8.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 45. _THERE WAS DARKNESS OVER ALL THE LAND_] I am of opinion that πασαν την γην does not mean all the world, but only the land of Judea. So the word is used Matthew 24:30; Luke 4:25, and in other places. Several eminent critics are of this opinion: _Beza_ defends this meaning of the word, and... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 46. _MY GOD! MY GOD! WHY HAST THOU FORSAKEN ME!_] These words are quoted by our Lord from Psalms 22:1; they are of very great importance, and should be carefully considered. Some suppose "that the _divinity_ had now _departed_ from Christ, and that his _human nature_ was left unsupported to... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 47. _THIS_ MAN _CALLETH FOR ELIAS._] Probably these were _Hellenistic_ Jews, who did not fully understand the meaning of our Lord's words. Elijah was daily expected to appear as the forerunner of the Messiah, whose arrival, under the character of a mighty prince, was generally supposed to be a... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 48. _TOOK A SPONGE_] This being the most convenient way to reach a liquid to his mouth; _tied it on a reed_, that they might be able to reach his lips with it. This reed, as we learn from St. John, was a stalk of _hyssop_, which, in that country, must have grown to a considerable magnitude. Th... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 49. After this verse, BCL and five others add, _Another,_ _taking a spear, pierced his side, and there came out blood and_ _water_. Several of the fathers add the same words here: they appear, however, to be an interpolation from John 19:34.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 50. _YIELDED UP THE GHOST._] αφηκε το πνευμα, _He dismissed_ _the spirit_. He himself willingly gave up that life which it was impossible for man to take away. It is not said that he _hung_ on the _cross till he died_ through pain and agony; nor is it said that his _bones_ were _broken_, the _... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 51. _THE VEIL OF THE TEMPLE WAS RENT_] That is, the veil which separated the _holy place_, where the priests ministered, from the _holy_ of _holies_, into which the high priest only entered, and that once a year, to make a general expiation for the sins of the people. This _rending_ of the _ve... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 52. _AND THE GRAVES WERE OPENED_] By the earthquake; and many bodies of saints which slept, i.e. were _dead, sleep_ being a common expression for _death_ in the Scriptures.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 53. _AND CAME OUT OF THE GRAVES AFTER HIS RESURRECTION_] Not BEFORE, as some have thought, for Christ was himself the FIRST FRUITS of them who slept, 1 Corinthians 15:20. The _graves_ were opened at his _death_, by the earthquake, and the _bodies_ came out at his _resurrection_. _AND APPEARED... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 54. _THE CENTURION_] The Roman officer who superintended the execution, called _centurio_, from _centum_, a hundred, because he had the command of one hundred men. _TRULY THIS WAS THE SON OF GOD._] An innocent, holy, and Divine person; and God thus shows his disapprobation of this bloody trag... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 55. _MANY WOMEN_] To their everlasting honour, these women evidenced more _courage_, and _affectionate attachment_ to their Lord and Master, than the disciples did, who had promised to _die_ with him rather than forsake him. _BEHOLDING AFAR OFF_] _At a distance _- απο μακροθεν. Though this ex... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 56. _MARY MAGDALENE_] She probably had her name from _Magdala_, a village or district in Lower Galilee. See Matthew 15:39. Some think she was called Magdalene from מגדלא _magdala_, which signifies a _plaiter of hair_. See Lightfoot. _MARY THE MOTHER OF JAMES_] She was mother of him called _Ja... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 57. _WHEN THE EVEN_] This must have been about three o'clock, or a little after; for our Lord having expired about _three o'clock_, Matthew 27:46, and the Jewish passover beginning about _four_, it was necessary that Joseph, who would not fail to eat the passover at the usual time, should have... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 58. _BEGGED THE BODY_] That he might bury it honourably otherwise, by the Jewish customs, he would have either been _burned_, or buried in the common place appointed for executed criminals.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 59. _WRAPPED IT IN A CLEAN LINEN CLOTH_] The Jews, as well as the Egyptians, added spices to keep the body from putrefaction, and the linen was wrapped about every part to keep the aromatics in contact with the flesh. From John 19:39, we learn that a mixture of myrrh and aloes of one hundred... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Matthew 27:60. _LAID IT IN HIS OWN NEW TOMB_] To all human appearance the body of Christ must have had the same burial-place with those of the two robbers, as he was numbered with the _transgressors_, and suffered with them; for _then_ he was a sacrifice, bearing the sin of the world in his o... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Matthew 27:61. _MARY MAGDALENE, AND THE OTHER MARY_] The mother of James and Joses, Matthew 27:56. The mother of our Lord had probably, by this time, been taken home to the house of John. See John 19:26. _SITTING OVER AGAINST THE SEPULCHRE._] These holy women, filled with that love to their L... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Matthew 27:62. _THE NEXT DAY_] This was the _seventh_, or _Saturday_, and might be what we should term the evening of the _sixth_, or _Friday_, because the Jews always ended their day when the sun set, and then began the next. _THAT FOLLOWED THE DAY OF THE PREPARATION_] That is, of the _Sabb... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Matthew 27:63. _SIR, WE REMEMBER_, c.] While these wicked men are fulfilling their own vicious counsels, they are subserving the great cause of Christianity. Every thing depended on the resurrection of Christ if it did not appear that he rose from the dead, then the whole system was false, and... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Matthew 27:64. _LEST HIS DISCIPLES COME BY NIGHT_] Νυκτος, _by night_, is wanting in _ten_ of the uncial MSS., and in several others, and in most of the versions. _Erasmus, Aldus, Bengel_, and _Boghard_, with _Griesbach_, leave it out of the text.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Matthew 27:65. _YE HAVE A WATCH_] The Jews had a corps of Roman troops, consisting of several companies, as a guard for the temple, Acts 4:1. These companies mounted guard by turns, see Luke 22:4. Some of these companies, which were not then on duty, Pilate gave them leave to employ to watch t... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Matthew 27:66. _MADE THE SEPULCHRE SURE, SEALING THE STONE, AND_ _SETTING A WATCH._] Or rather, _made the tomb secure by the guard,_ _and by sealing the stone_. I follow _Kypke_, in construing μετα της κουστωδιας, with ησφαλισαντο. The _guard_ was to take care that the disciples should not ste... [ Continue Reading ]