13. fZECH. xi. 12, was spoken by Jeremy the prophet, saying, And they took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of him that was • valued, whom they of the children of Israel did 。 value; 10 and gave them for the potter's field, as the Lord P appointed me. i 11 And Jesus stood before the governor and the governor asked him, saying, Art thou the King of the Jews? g 1 Tim. vi. 13. And Jesus said unto him, Thou sayest. 12 And when h ch. xxvi. 63. he was accused of the chief priests and elders, h he anch. xxvi. 62. swered nothing. 13 Then said Pilate unto him, Hearest thou not how many things they witness against thee? 14 And he answered him to never a word; insomuch that the governor marvelled greatly. 15 Now at that feast the governor was wont to release unto the people a prisoner, whom they would. 16 And they had then a notable prisoner, called Barabbas. 17 Therefore when they were • render in both cases, set a price on. similar instances in two places in the apology of Stephen, Acts vii. 4, 16,-and in Mark ii. 26. Various means of evading this have been resorted to, which are not worth recounting. Jer. xviii. 1, 2, or perhaps Jer. xxxii. 6-12, may have given rise to it or it may have arisen from a Jewish idea [see Wordsworth here], "that Zechariah had the spirit of Jeremiah." The quotation here is very different from the Septuagint,-and not much more like the Hebrew. I put it to any faithful Christian to say, whether of the two presents the greater obstacle to his faith, the solution given above, or that given by a commentator of our own day, that the name of one prophet is here substituted for that of another, to teach us not to regard the prophets as the authors of their prophecies, but to trace them to divine Inspi ration. 11-14.] HE IS EXAMINED BY PILATE. Mark xv. 2-5. Luke xxiii. 2-5. John xviii. 29-38. Our narrative of the hearing before Pilate is the least circumstantial of the four-having however two remarkable additional particulars, vv. 19 and 24. John is the fullest in giving the words of our Lord. Compare the notes there. 11.] Before this Pilate had come out and demanded the cause of his being delivered up; the Jews not entering the Prætorium. The primary accusation against Him seems to have been that He said that He was Christ a King. This is presupposed in the enquiry of this verse. Thou sayest is not to be rendered as a doubtful answer-much less with Theophylact, as meaning, Thou sayest it, not I but as a strong affirmative. See above on ch. xxvi. 64. 12-14.] This part of the narrative occurs only in Mark besides, but is explained by Luke ver 5. The charges were, of exciting the people from Galilee to Jerusalem. On the mention of Galilee, Pilate sent Him to Herod, Luke, vv. 6-12. 15-26.] BARABBAS PREFERRED ΤΟ HIM. HE IS DELIVERED TO BE CRUCIFIED. Mark xv. 6-15. Luke xxiii. 17-25. John xviii. 39, 40. In the substance of this account the Four are in remarkable agreement. St. John gives merely a compendium, uniting in one these three attempts of Pilate to liberate Jesus, and omitting any definite statement of the fact of Barabbas being liberated, and Jesus delivered to them. 15. at that feast] literally, feast by feast; i. e. at every feast. The name Bar-abbas, son of his father,' was not an uncommon one. It does not appear why this man was notable. The murderers in the insurrection in which he was involved were many (Mark ver. 7). 17.] In St. John's narrative, the suggestion of liberating Barabbas seems to come from the Jews themselves; but not necessarily so he may only be giving, as gathered together, Pilate said unto them, Whom will ye that I release unto you? Barabbas, or Jesus which is called Christ? 18 For he knew that for envy they had delivered him. 19 When he was set down on the judgment seat, his wife sent unto him, saying, Have thou nothing to do with that just man: for I have suffered many things this day in a dream because of him. 20k But the chief k Acts iii. 14. priests and elders persuaded the multitude that they should ask Barabbas, and destroy Jesus. 21 The governor answered and said unto them, Whether of the twain will ye that I release unto you? They said, Barabbas. 22 Pilate saith unto them, What shall I do then with Jesus which is called Christ? They all say, [unto him], Let him be crucified. 23 And the governor said, Why, what evil hath he done? But they cried out the more, saying, Let him be crucified. 24 When Pilate saw that he could prevail nothing, but that rather a tumult was made, he took 1 Deut. xxi. 6. water, and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, 10. Josh. ii. I am innocent of the blood of this [ just] person: see ye m Deut. xix. to it. 25 Then answered all the people, and said, m His blood [t be] on us, and on our children. romit. 26 Then released 8 omitted by several ancient authorities. t not expressed in the original: it may be, [is]. before, a general report of what passed. that the addition, which is called Christ, 18.] The whole narrative presupposes what this verse and the next distinctly assert, that Pilate was before acquainted with the acts and character of Jesus. 19.] The judgment seat was in a place called in Hebrew Gabbatha, the Pavement-John xix. 13, where however Pilate is not related to have gone thither, till after the scourging and mocking of the soldiers. But he may have sat there when he came out in some of his previous interviews with the Jews. his wife] It had become the custom in Augustus's time for the governors of Provinces to take their wives with them abroad; under Tiberius, Cæcina attempted to pass a law forbidding it, but was vehemently opposed (by Drusus among others) and put down. We know nothing 19. 2 Sam. i. 16. 1 Kings i. 32. Acts v. 28. more of this woman than is here related. Tradition gives her the name of Procla, or Claudia Procula. In the apocryphal gospel of Nicodemus, c. 2, we read that Pilate called the Jews and said to them, "Ye know how that my wife is a worshipper of God, and is rather of your religion than mine. They say unto him, Yea, we know it." that just man is a term which shews that she knew the character for purity and sanctity which Jesus had. In the gospel of Nicodemus, the Jews are made to reply, "Did we not tell thee that he is a magician? behold, he hath sent a dreamtoken to thy wife." 20.] So St. Mark also. St. Luke and St. John merely give, that they all cried out, &c. The exciting of the crowd seems to have taken place while Pilate was receiving the message from his wife. 21.] answered, not necessarily to the incitements of the Sanhedrists which he overheard, but rather to the state of confusion and indecision which prevailed. 22.] They chose crucifixion as the ordinary Roman punishment for sedition, and because of their hate to Jesus. 24.] The washing of the n Isa. liii. 5. Isa. liii. 3. he Barabbas unto them: and when he had scourged Jesus, he delivered him to be crucified. 27 n Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the common hall, and gathered unto him the whole band of soldiers. 28 And they stripped him, and put on him a, o Ps. Ixix. 19. scarlet robe. 29 And when they had platted a crown of thorns, they put it upon his head, and a reed in his right hand and they bowed the knee before him, and mocked him, saying, Hail, King of the Jews. 30 And P they spit upon him, and took the reed, and smote him on the head. 31 And after that they had mocked him, they took the 36. 1 Kings robe off from him, and put his own raiment on him, ¶ and vii 58. Heb. led him away to crucify him. 32 And as they came out, p Isa. 1. 6. ch. xxvi. 67. q Isa. liii. 7. xxi. 13. Acts xiii. 12. : a literally, the prætorium. hands, to betoken innocence from blood- custom of scourging before execution was him to the Roman soldiers, whose office the execution would be. 27-30.] JESUS MOCKED BY THE SOLDIERS. Mark xv. 16-19 (omitted in Luke). John xix. 1-3. The assertion "delivered him to be crucified" in ver. 26 is not strictly in its place there. Before that, the contents of this passage come in, and the last attempt of Pilate to liberate Him. 27. the common hall] literally, the prætorium. The residence of the Roman governor was the former palace of Herod, in the upper city. the whole band] The band is the cohort-the tenth part of a legion. The term the whole is of course not to be pressed. unto him -to make sport with Him. This happened in the guard-room of the cohort and the narrative of it we may well believe may have come from the centurion or others (see ver. 54), who were afterwards deeply impressed at the crucifixion. 28.] Possibly the mantle in which He had been sent back from Herod-see note on Luke, ver. 11: or perhaps one of the ordinary soldiers' cloaks. 29.] It does not ap- 31-34.] HE IS LED TO CRUCIFIXION. liar to Matt. and Mark. they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name: him they compelled to bear his cross. 33 And when they were come unto a place called Golgotha, that is to say, a place 8 see ver. 48. of a skull, 34 they gave him vinegar to drink mingled Ps. Ixix. 21. with gall: and when he had tasted thereof, he would not drink. 35 And they crucified him, and parted his garments, casting lots [tw that it might be fulfilled which was t Ps. xxii. 18. spoken by the prophet, They parted my garments among them, and upon my vesture did they cast lots]. 36 And sitting down they watched him there; 37 and set up over his the word is the same as in Matt. v. brings examples to shew that the same was the custom of the Romans. 32.] Previously, Jesus had borne his own cross: John, ver. 17. We have no data to ascertain any further particulars about this Simon of Cyrene. The only assumption which we are perhaps justified in making, is that he was afterwards known in the Church as a convert: see note on Mark, ver. 21. He was coming from the country, Mark, ibid.; Luke, ver. 26. Meyer suggests, to account for the selection of one out of the multitude present, that possibly he was a slave; the indignity of the service to be rendered preventing their taking any other person. 33.] Gol gotha, a skull: the name is by Jerome, and generally, explained from its being the usual place of executions, and abounding with skulls-not however unburied, which was not allowed. This last consideration raises an objection to the explanation, and as the name does not import a place of skulls, but a place of a skull or simply a skull (Luke), many understand it as applying to the shape of the hill or rock. But neither does this seem satisfactory, as we have no analogy to guide us, and no such hill or rock is known to have existed. As regards the situation, we await some evidence which may decide between the conflicting claims of the commonly-received site of Calvary and the Holy Sepulchre, and that upheld by Mr. Ferguson, who holds that the Dome of the Rock, usually known as the Mosque of Omar, is in reality the spot of our Lord's entombment. See his Article "Jerusalem" in Dr. Smith's Biblical Dictionary and on the other side, Williams's Holy City, and Stanley's Sinai and Palestine, edn. 3, p. 459 ff. 34.] It was customary to give a stupefying drink to criminals on their way to execution: of which our Lord would not partake, having shewn by tasting it, that he was In St. Mark's aware of its purpose. account it is "wine mingled with myrrh -and though wine and vinegar might mean the same thing, myrrh and gall cannot. We may observe here (and if the remark be applied with caution and reverence, it is a most useful one), how St. Matt. often adopts in his narrative the very words of prophecy, where one or more of the other Evangelists give the matter of fact detail; see above on ch. xxvi. 15, and compare with this verse, Ps. Ixix. 21. Mark xv. 35-38.] HE IS CRUCIFIED. 24-28. Luke xxiii. 32-34, 38. John xix. 18-24. The four accounts are distinct from one another, and independent of any one source in common. 35. they crucified him] The cross was an upright pale or beam, intersected by a transverse one at right angles, generally in the shape of a T. In this case, from the 'title' being placed over the Head, the upright beam probably projected above the horizontal one, as usually represented †. To this cross, the criminal, being stripped of his clothes, was fixed by nails driven through the hands and (not always, nor perhaps generally, though certainly not seldom - see note at Luke xxiv. 39) through the feet, separate or united. The body was not supported by the nails, but by a piece of wood which passed between the legs. On the rest of the verse, see notes on John. The words omitted in the text as not found in any of the ancient manuscripts, are clearly interpolated from John, ver. 24, with just the phrase which was spoken by the prophet assimilated to St. Matthew's usual form of citation. 36.] watched him-this was usual, to prevent the friends taking crucified persons down. There were four soldiers, John, ver. 23; a centurion and three others. 37.] St. Matthew finishes relating what the soldiers did, and then goes back to the course of the narrative. The 'title' head his accusation written, This is Jesus the King of the v Isa. liii. 12. Jews. 38 v Then were there two thieves crucified with him, one on the right hand, and another on the left. w Ps. xxii. 7: cix. 25. xch. xxvi. 6. y ch. xxvi. 63. John ii. 19. W If thou be 41 Likewise scribes and 39 And they that passed by reviled him, wagging their heads, 40 and saying, Thou that destroyest the temple, and buildest it in three days, save thyself. the Son of God, come down from the cross. also the chief priests mocking him, with the elders, said, 42 He saved others; himself he cannot save. X If he be the King of Israel, let him now come down from the cross, and we will believe him. 43 z He trusted in God; let him deliver him now, if he will have him: for he said, I am the Son of God. 447 The thieves also, which a Amos viii. 9. were crucified with him, cast the same in his teeth. 45 a Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the 2 Ps. xxii. 8. I most ancient copies read, He is King of Israel. land y render, In like manner did the thieves also revile him, which were crucified with him. z render, earth. appears to have been written by Pilate (see John, ver. 19) and sent to be affixed on the cross. It is not known whether the affixing of this title was customary. In Dio Cassius and others, we read of such a title being hung round the neck of a criminal on his way to execution. On the difference in the four Gospels as to the words of the inscription itself, it is hardly worth while to comment, except to remark, that the advocates for the verbal and literal exactness of each gospel may here find an undoubted example of the absurdity of their view, which may serve to guide them in less plain and obvious cases. (See this further noticed in the Introduction.) A title was written, con-taining certain words; not four titles, all different, but one, differing probably from all of these four, but certainly from three of them. Let us bear this in mind, when the narratives of words spoken, or events, differ in a similar manner. Respecting the title, see further on John, vv. 20-22. 38.] Then, i. e. after the crucifixion of Jesus was accomplished. These thieves were led out with Jesus, and crucified, perhaps by the same soldiers, or perhaps, from ver. 36, by another band. 39-44.] HE IS MOCKED ON THE CROSS. Mark xv. 29-32. Luke xxiii. 35-37, 39-43. Our narrative and that of St. Mark are from a common source. St. Luke's is wholly distinct. The whole of these in dignities are omitted by St. John. 39. they that passed by] These words say nothing as to its being a working-day, or as to the situation of the spot. A matter of so much public interest would be sure to attract a crowd, among whom we find, ver. 41, the chief priests, scribes, and elders. These passers-by were the multitude going in and out of the city, some coming to see, others returning. wagging their heads] see Ps. xxii. 7. The first reproach refers to ch. xxvi. 61; the second to the same, ver. 64. 42.1 St. Luke gives, more exactly, the second reproach in this verse as proceeding from the soldiers. 43.] This is omitted by St. Mark and St. Luke. 44.] Neither St. Matt. nor St. Mark is in possession of the more particular account given by St. Luke, vv. 39-43, where see notes. For the other incident which happened at this time, see John, vv. 25-27, and notes. 15-50.] SUPERNATURAL DARKNESS. LAST WORDS, AND DEATH OF JESUS. Mark xv. 33-37. Luke xxiii. 44-46. John xix. 28-30. The three accounts are here and there very closely allied; Matthew and Mark almost verbally. Luke only, however, contains the words which the Lord uttered before He expired,omits the incident which takes up our vv. 46-49, and inserts here the rending of the veil. John is entirely distinct. 45.] According to Mark, ver. 25, |
