Bible Commentary (1871–1879 Edition)
Jesus before Annas and Caiaphas. JOPIN XVIII. Pcteis Denial of his Master, that he was a privileged person. He gaith, I am not— "He denied before them all, s.aying, I know not what thou sayest," Matthew 26. 70—a common form of pointblank deni.al ; "I know (supply ' Him') not, neither understand I what tliou sayest," Mark 14.68; "Woman, X know Him not," Luke 22.57. Tills was the Fiiwr demal. "And he went out into the porcli (thinking, perliaps, to steal away), and the cock creiv," Mark 14.08. 19-31. Tlie higli priest asked Jesus of His disciples, and of His doctrine—Probably to entrap Him into some statements which miglit be used against Him at the trial. From our Lord's answer it would seem that "His disciples" were understood to be some secret party. I spake (' have spoken') openly to the world—.See ch. 7. 4. 1 ever taught in the synago,';;ues and in the temple, whither the Jews always resort—Courting publicity, though with sulilime noiselessness. In secret have I said (' spake I') nothing i.e., nothing of any different nature; all His private communications witli the Twelve being but explanations and developments of His public teaching—cf. Isaiall 45. 19; 48. 10. Why askest ineT ask them which hear«l me . . . they know what I said—This seems to imply that He saw the attempt to draw Him into selfcrimination, and resented it by falling back upon the right of every accused party to have some charge laid against Him by competent witnesses. Struck .Tesiu with the palms . . . Answerest the iUgU priest so—.See Isaiah .50. 0; and cf. Acts 21 2. If I have spoken—'If 1 sjioke' evil, in reply to the high priest. If well—He does not say " If not" evil, as if His reply were merely unobjectionable: "W'elV seems to ch.'illenge more than this as due to His remonstrance. [Bi-;ngei..] This s'lows that Matthew ,5. f>9 is not to be taken to the letter. 24-'J7. Now Annas had sent Him bound unto C'aiaplias—Our translators so render the words, understanding llial tlie foregoing interview took place before Otiaphas; .iniias, declining to meddle with the case, having sent Him to Caiaphas at once. But the words here literally are, 'Annas sent Him (not 'had sent Him') to Caiaplias'—and the "now" being of doubtful autliority. Thus read, the verse artords no evidence that He was sent to Caiaplias be/ore the interview just recorded, but implies rather the contrary. We take this interview, then, with some of the ablest interpreters, to be a preliminary and iion-otricial on* with Anmr.t, at an hour of the night when Caiaphas' Council could not cpnvene; and one tliat ouglit not to be con i'ounded witli that solemn one recorded liy the other Evangelists, wlien all were assembled and witnesses niado thoni foel that "no man took His life from Him, but tliat He laid it down of Himself." 13. and led Him away—"In that hour," says Matthew (26. .S5, .56), and probably now, on the way to judgment, when the crowds were pressing upon Him, "said Jesns to the multitudes, Are ye come out as against a thief, with swords and staves, for to take me"—expressive of tiie indignity which he felt to be thus done to Him—" I sat daily witli you in the temple, and ye laid no hold on me. But tliis" (adds Luke 22. .5.3) "is your hour and the power of darkness." Matthew •continues—" But all this was done that the Scriptures of tlie pr Ophcts might be fulfilled. Then all the disciples forsook Him and fled" (Matthew 26. 56)—thus fulfilling His prediction, Mark 11. 27; ch. 10. 32.
13-27. Jesus before Annas and Caiaphas—Fali. of Petf.b. 13, 14. And led hiin away to Annas ilr«t—See on Luke 3. 2, and on Matthew 26. 57. 15-18. Simon Peter followed Jesiis — Natural though this was, and safe enough, had he only "watched and prayed that he enter not into temptation," as his Master bade him (Matthew
26. 41), it was, in his case, a fatal step, ami another disciple— Rather, 'the other disciple'— our Kvangelist himself, no doubt, known unto tl»e liigU priest—See on V. 10. AVeiit in witli Jesus into tlie palace of tlie high priest. But Peter stood at tlie door without by preconcerted ari-augement with his friend till he should get access for him. Tlien went ont that other. . . and spake to her that kept the door, and brought In Peter—tlie naturalness of tlie.se small details is not uuwortliy of notice. This other disciple first made good his own entrance on the .score of acquaintance with the high priest ; this secured, he goes fortli again, now as a privileged person, to make interest for Peter's admission. But thus our poor disciple is in the coils of the serpent. The next steps will best he seen by invertinfj verses 17 and
18. And the servants and officers—The meni.als and some of the "band" that "took Jesus." stood tliere, who had made ('having made') a lire of coals, for it was cold, and they warmed tliemselves—'John alone notices tlie material ('charcoal') of which thefire was made, and tlie reason for a fire—the coldness of the night.' fWKBSTER and Wilkinson.] " Peter went in and sat with the servants to see the end (Matthew 26..58), and warrried hims(df at the fire." (Mark 14. 5-1.) These two statements are extremely interesting. His wisliing to "see the end," or issue of these proceedings, was what led hiin into the palace, for he evidently feared the worst. But once in, the serpent-coil is drawn chxser ; it is a cold night, and wliy should not he t.alce ail vantage of the fire as well as others 7 Besides, in the talk of tlie crowd about the all-engrossing cal led. But the bu Uding in. which both met with Jesns appear.i to have been the same, the room only beimj different, and the court, of course, in that ca,<>e, one. And Simon Pelerwns standing and warming liimyelf. Tliey said tlierefore. Art tliou not also one of his disciples !—In Mattliew 26.
topic, he may pick up .sometliing whicli he would like to hear. ".\nd as Peter was beneath in the palace" (Mark
14.66). Matthew (26. 69) says, "sat withoul in the palace." According to Oriental architecture, and especially in large buildings, as here, the street door, or heavy folding gate through which single perstms entered by a wicket kept by a porter—opened by a passage or "porch" (Mark lt.6K) into a qu.adrangular cmirt, here called tlie "j>al Hce" or
71 tlie second cliarge was made by " another maid, when he was gone out into tlie porch," who "saw him, and said unto them that were there, Tills [fellowj was also witli Jesus of Nazareth." So also Mark 14. 09. But in Luke '22.
58 it is said, "After a little while" (from the lime of the first denial), " another \nmn] s:i w hiin, and .said, Tliou art ftaH, wliich w.as open nb(yi!e,nrn\ is frequently 7«(cfi with flagstones. In the centre of this court the "fire" would be kindled (in a brazier). At the upper end of it, probaalso of them." Possibly it was thrown ivt him by moi-e than one; but tlie.se ciicnmstantial variations only (ronfirni the truth of t he narr.itive. Hedf i>l> d it, and said, I am not— bly, Wixs the diamber in which the trial was held, open to
In Matthew 2li. 72, " He denieil irith an o<i!h, I do not know the man." This was I'Hio sv;coNi:) iikniai.. 0>ie of the the co-u.rt and not far from the fire (Luke 22. 01), but on a higher level; for Mark says the court was " foim^/t" it. The ascent was, perliaps, by a sliort fllglit of steps. This explanation will make the intensely interesting (htails ser\ai«».s of the high piicst, l>eliig ills kinsmiin, whose ear Peter cut oil", saklli. t>id not I see thee In tlie garden wiilk Illm—No doubt his rehitionsliip to ilalcliusdrew attention to tlie man wlio smote him, and thin enabled him to identify Peter. ' Sad reprisals !' [Be.noki..] The more intelligible. Then saitli the damsel that Icept tlie door—"one of the maids of the higli priest," says Ma; k (M. (Ki). "When she saw Peter warming liinisclf, she looked upon him and said" (Mark M. 67). Luke is more otlier Kvaiigelists make his detection to turn upon his
Oialcet. ".Viler a wliilo ('about the space of one hr.ur grapliic (22. 50)—,Slie " Ix'held him as he sat by the lire 0 it., niter,' Luke "22. r>S>) came unto him they that Kto<Hi by and said to Peter. .Surely thou also art one of them, for thy speech betrayel h thee," .Matthew 20. 7.i. (" Tliou art a <j«J-
'the light'), and earnestly looked on him (' fixed her ga/.e opon liltn'), and said." 'His demeanour and timidity,
must have vividly showed tliemselves, as it so geneially liappcns, l(>a<llng to llie recognition of hiin.'
i lean. 11 lid thy speech iigreeth thereto," Rlark 1 1. 70; and so Luke 22. 5!i.) Tlie Galilean dialect had a more Syrian cast than that of Jiidtsa. If Peter had held his peace, this pecu-
Ol.sii AllSEN.J Art tlioii not also one of tlil.s mtin's disciples ! i. (?.. tliou as well as " that other disciple," wlioni Bhe knew to bo one, but did not challenge, piirceiviiig liarity liftd not been observed; but liopiug, probably, lo l(i2
Arraignment before Pilate, JOHN XVIII. who Questions Him as to who lie it.
ready to meet such an avowal : To your eyes, which are but eyes of flesh, there stands at this bar only a mortal like yourselves, and He at tlie mercy of the ecclesiastical aud civil authorities: "Nevertheless," a day is coming when ye shall see another sight: Those eyes, which now gaze on me with proud disdain, shall see this very prisoner at the right hand of the Majestj' on high, and coining in the clouds of heaven: Then shall the judged One be revealed as the Judge, and His judges in tliis chamber appear at His august tribunal; then shall the. xmrighteoits judges be impartially iutieA ; and while they are wishing that they had never been born. He for whom they now watcii as tlveir Victim shall be greeted with tlie hallelujahs of heaven, and the welcome of Him tliat sittetli upon the throne!' r..3, 01. "Then the high priest rent his clothes, and saitli, What need we any further witnesses? Ye have heard the blasphemy"—"of his own mouth," Luke 22. 71; an affectation of religious horror. "What think ye?"—'Say, what verdict would ye pronounce.' "They all condemned him to be guilty of death"—of a capital crime. (See Leviticus 2!. 16.) 65. "And some began to spit on him" ("Then did they spit in his face," Matthew 26. 67). See Isaiah 50. 6. " And to cover his face, and to bulfet liim, and to say unto him, Propliesy"—or 'divine' "unto us, thou Christ, Wlio is he that smote thee?" The sarcasm in styling Him "the Christ," and as such demanding of Him tlie perpetrator of tlie blows inflicted upon Him, was in tliem as infamous as to Him it was stinging, and ttie servants did strike liim witli tlie palms of titeir liands— " And many other things blasphemously spake they ag.ainst him," Luke 22. 6.5. Thia general statement is important, as sliowiiig that virulent and varied as were the recorded affronts put upon Him, they are but a small specimen of wliat He endured on tliat black occasion.] — 28. TJien led they Jesus from Cainplias to tlie liall of Judgment—but not till "in the morning the chief priests held a consultation with the elders and scribes and the whole council agair.st him to put him to death, and bound him" (Matthew 27. 1; and see on Mark lo. 1 ). The word here rendered " hall of judgment" is from the Latin, and denotes 'the palace of tlie governor of a Koman province.' they ttiemselves went mot into tlie palace, lest tliey slioiild be deflled—by contact with ceremonially unclean Gentiles, but tliat lliey mlgUt eat the Passover—If this refer to tlie principal part of_ tlie festival, tlie eating of the lamb, the question put thern off the scent hy joinins in the fireside tallc, he only thus discovered himself. Peter then dtnled again —But, if the challenge of Malchus" kinsman was made simultane 'usly with this on account of his Galilean dialect, it was no simple denial; for Matthew 2G. 7-1 says, "Then began he to curse and to swear, saying, I know not the man." So Mark 14. 71. This was the third dejiai>. Aud Immediately ("while he yet spake," Luke 22. (iO) tUe cock crew—As Mark is the only Evangelist who tells as that our Lord predicted that the cock should crow txnce
(ch. 11. 30), so he only mentions that it did crow twice {v.
72'. The other Evangelists, who tell us merely tliat our Lord predicted that " before the cock should crotv he would deny Him tlirice" (Matthew 26. 34; Luke22.31; John 13. 38), mention only one actual crowing, which was Mark's last. This is something affecting in this Evangelist—who, according to the earliest tradition (confirmed by internal evidence), derived his materials so largely from Peter as to have been styled his " interpreter," being the only one who gives both the sad prediction and its still sadder fulfilment in full. It seems to show that Peter himself not only retained through all his after-life the most vivid recollection of the circumstances of his fall, but that he was willing that others should know them too. The immediately subsequent acts are given full only in Luke (22. 61,
62): "And the Lord turned and looked upon Peter," from the hall of judgment to the court, in the way already explained. But who can tell what lightning-flashes of wounded love and piercing reproach shot from that " loolc" through the eje of Peter into his heart! "And Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how he had said unto liim. Before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me tlirioe. And Peter went out and wept bitterly." How dirt'erent from the sequel of Judas' act! Doubtless the nearts of the two men towards the Saviour were perfectly different from the first; and the treason of Judas was but the consunimalion of the wretched man's resistance of the blaze of light in the midst of which he had lived for three years, while Peter's denial was but a momentary obscuration of the heavenly light and love to his JIaster
ruled his life. But the immediate cause of the plessed revulsion, which made Peter " weep bitterly," w;is, beyond all doubt, this heart-piercing "look" which his Lord gave him. And remembering the Saviour's own words at ttie table, "Simon, Simon, Satan hath desired to have you tliat he may sift you as wlieat, but I have vrayed (rather, ' I prayed") for thee that thy faith fail not" is, how our Lord and his disciples came to eat it the night before; and, as it was an evening meal, how ceremonial defilement contracted in the morning would uuflt tliem for partaking of it, as after 6 o'clock it was reckoned a new day. These are questions which have occasioned immense research and learned treatises. But as the usages of the Jews appear to have somewhat varied at different times, and our present knowledge of tliem is not sufficient to clear up all difficulties, they are among the not very Important questions which probably will never be entirely solved. 39-33. Pilate went out to tltem, and said, 'W'liat accusation bring ye agaiiisit tliis man 1 State your charge. If lie were not a malefactor, we would not liave delivered lilm up unto tiiee—They were conscious they had no case of which I'ilate could take cognizance, and therefore insinuate that they had already found liim worthy of deatli by their own law; but not having the power, under the Roman government, to carry their sentence into execution, they had come merely for his sanction, tliat tlie saying migiit be fulfilled wlilcli lie spake, signifying wiint death lie sliould die— e., by criiciflxion (ch. 12. 32, 33; Mattliew 20.
(see on Luke 22.31, 32), may we not say that this prayer fetched doivn all that there was in that " look" to pierce and break the heart of Peter, to keep it from despair, to work In it " repentance unto salvation not to be rejiented of,'' and at length, under otlier healing touches, to "restore his soul?" (See on Mark 18. 7.)
28-10. Je!3U.S bkfore Pilate. N. B. Our Evangelist, haxying given the interview with Annas, omitted by the other
Evangi'lUsts, here omits the trial and condemnation before Caiaphas, which the others had recorded. See on JIarIc H.
53-(io. [Tlie notes broken otT there at t). 61 are here concluded. (Mark U.) 61. "The high priest asked him. Art tliou tlie Christ, tlie Son of tlie blessed ?''—Matthew says the higli priest pid him upon solemn oath, saying, I adjure thee by the living God tliat thou tell us whether thou lie the Christ, the Son of God" (26. ffi). This rendered an answer by our Lord legally necessary, Leviticus 5. 1. Accordingly. 6!4. "Jesus said, I am" ("Thou hast said," Matthew 26. (M). In Luke 22. 67, 68, some otlier words are given, "Ii I tell you, ye will not believe; and if I also ask you, ye will not answer me, nor let me go." Tiiis seems to ha%'e been uttered before giving His direct answer, as a calm remonstrance and dignified protest against the pre-
19); which being a Iloman mode of execution, could only be carried into effect by order of tlio governor. (The Jewisli moile in such cases as this was by sloni7jg.) 3;t3H. Pilate called Jesus, and said. Art thou the king of the Jews I—In Lulce 23. 2 they cliarge our Lord belbre Pilate with " perverting the nation, anil I'orliidding to give judgment of His case and the unfairness of their mode of procedure, "and ye shall see the Son of man," &c.— This concluding part of our Lord's answer is given somewhat more fully by Matthew and r,nke. " Nev< rtlieless I say unto you, Hereafter (ratlier, 'From henceforth') shall ye see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven." (MaltlieM' 26.61; Luke 22. 6!».) {j. d. 'I know the scorn wltii whiclj ye are triljute to Ca!sar, saying that he himself is Christ a king.' Perhaps this was what occasioned Pilate's question. Jesus answered, Snyest thou this nf thyself, or did others tell it of me I—an important question for our
1(13
Clvri&Cs Anmev to Pilate. JOHN XIX. Jcsm Scourged, arid Crowned with Thunts.
but never man yet answered.' And when l»e had said tills—as if, by putting such a question, he was getting into interminable and unseasonable inquiries, when this business demanded rather prompt action — he w«nt again unto the Jews—thus missing a noljle opjiortunity
Ijord's case, to bring out whetlier the word "king" were meant in a political sense, witli which Pilute had a riglit to deal, or wliether he were merely put up to it by His accusers, wlio had no claims to charge him but such as were of a purely religions nature, with which Pilate liad notliing to do. PUate answered, Ami a.Iewl TUlne owu nation and tlic cUlef priests delivered (lice to me: What hast tlioudoiiel q. d., 'Jewish questions I neither understand nor meddle with; but tliou art here on a charge whicli, though it seems only Jewish, may yet involve treasonable matter: As they state it, I cannot decide the point ; tell me, then, what procedure of thine has brouglit thee into this position.' In modern phrase, I'ifor liimself, and giving utterance to tli.at consciousness of the want of all intellectual and moral certainty, whicli was tlie feeling of every thoughtful mind at that time. 'The only certainty,' says the elder Pliny, ' is that nothing is certain, nor more miserable than man, nor more proud. The fearful laxity of morals at that time must doubtless be traced in a great degree to this skepticism. The revelation of the eternal truth alone was able to breathe new life into ruined human nature, and that in the apprehension of complete redemption.' [Ol8HAUlate's object in this question was merely to determine the relevancy of tlie charge, Jesiis answered, My kiu|;doiii is not of tliis world—He does not say 'not over,' but 'not of tills world' i.e., in its origin a.nd na Uire; therefore 'no such kingdom as need give thee or thy master tlie least alarm.' If my kingdom were of tlais world, tlien would my servants flgUt, tliat I shoitlil not be delivered to the Jews—'A very convincing argument; for if His servants did not fight to prevent their King from being delivered up to His enemies, much less would they use force
-SEN.] aiidsaith unto thein—in the hearing of our Lord, who had been brought forth—I find no fault in him— no crime. This so exasperated "the chief priests and elders" that, afrai<l of losing their prey, t hey poured forth a volley of charges against him, as appears from Luke '2;?.
4,5: on Pilate's affirming his innocence, "they were tfie more fierce, saying. He stirreth up the people, tep.ching tliroughout all Jewry, beginning from Galilee to this place." They see no hope of getting Pilate's sanction to His death unless they can fasten iipoii Him a charge of conspiracy against the government; and as Galilee WAa noted for its turbulence (Luke 13.1; Acts 5. S7), and our Lord's ministry lay chiefly there, they artfully introduce lor the establisliment of His kingdom.' [Webster and AViLKlNSON.] Imt now—but tlie fact is. is my kingdom not from hence—Our Lord only says whence His kingdom is not—first simply affirming it, next giving proof of it, Then reafllrming it. This was all that Pi late had to do wi 111.
The positive nature of His kingdom He would not obtrude upon one who was as li Ctle able to comprehend it, as entiit to give colour to their charge. "And the chief priests accuseii him of many things, but he answered nothing (Mark 15.3). Then said Pilate unto him, Hearest thou not how many things they witness against thee? And heanswered him to never a word, insomuch that the governor marvelled greatly" (Matthew '27. 13, U). Kee on Mark 15.
tled oflicially to information about it. (It is worthy of notice tliat the "MY," which occurs/ow)- times in this one verse —thrice of His Icingdom, and once of His servants—is put in the emplial ic foi ni.) Art thou a king, then 1—There was no saicasm or disdain in this question [as TuoiyUCK, AlFOKD, &c., allege], else our Lord's answer would have been
In his perplexity, Pilate, hearing of Galilee, bethinks himself of the expedient of sending Him to Herod, in the hope of thereby farther shaking ofT responsibility in the case. See on Mark 15.6, and on Luke 21 (>-13. The return of tiie prisoner only deepened the perplexity of diirereiit. Putting empliasis upon "thou," his question betrays a mixture of surprise and uneasiness, partljat the possibility of there being, after all, something dangerous under the claim, and partly from a certain awe which our Lord's demeanour probably struck into him. Tliou sayest that I am a king—It is even so. To this end was
Pilate, who, "calling together the chief priests, rulers, and people," tells them plainly tliat not one of their charges against "this man" had been made good, while even Herod, to whose jurisdiction he more naturally belonged, had done nothing to him: He "will therefore chastise and release him" (Luke '2;?. 13-16). But ye liave n custom that I should release one unto you at the Passover, itc.—See on Mark 15. 7-11. 'On the typical import of the choice of Chrisl to suffer, by which Harabbas was set free, see Leviticus 16., particularly r. 5-10, where the subject is the sin-offering on the great day of atonement.'—[Kuafft in LUTHARDT.]
I (' have I been') born, and to this end caiuel—('am I come')—into the world, that I may bear witness to the truth— Ilis birlli expresses His manhood; His coming into the world. His existence before assuming humanity: The truth, tlien, here aflirraed, though Pilate would catch little of it, was, that His Incarnation was expressly in order to the a-ssumplion of Royally in our nature. Yet, instead of saying, He came to be a king, which is His meaning, He says He came to testify to the truth. Why this? Because, in such circumstances it required a nol)le courage not to flinch from His royal claims; and our Lord, conscious that
CHAPTER XIX.
Jle was pulling /ortli that courage, gives a turn to His con-
Ver. 1-lfi. Jesus before Pilate—ScouRfiED—Treated WITH other Severities and Insults—Delivered Up, AND Led away to be Crucified. 1-3. Pilate took .Jesus ai»d scourged him — in hope of appeasing tliem. See on Mark 15. 15. "And the soldiers led him away into the palace, and they call the whole band" (Mark 15. Ifi)—the body of the military cohort stationed there—to take part fessiou expressive of it. It is to this that Paul alludes, in tliose remarkable words to Timothy: "I charge thee before God, who quickeneth all things, and before Christ
Jesus, wlio, in the presence of I'oiitius Pilate, witnessed the good confession." (1 Timothy C. i;{.) Tliis one act of our Lord's life, His courageous witness-bearing before the governor, selected as an encouraging example of tlie in the mock coronation now to be enacted, the soldiers platted a crown of thorns, and put It on his head—in mockery of a regal crown, and they put on him a purple rolic—in mockery of the imperial purple ; first "stripping him" (Matthew 27. 28) of His own outer garment. The rolie may have been the "gorgeous" one in which Herod arrayed and sent Him back to Pilate (I>uke 23. 11).' "And they put a reed into his right hand" (Malthew 27.
fidelity wliich Timothy ought to display. As the Lofd
(says Olsuausen beautifully] owned Himself i/ie iS'od of Ood before tlie most exalted theocratic council, so He confessed His reg(d dignity in presence of the representative of tlie highest political authority on earth. Every one that is of tlie truth heareth my voice—Our Lord here not only ailirms tliat His word bad in itaself-evidcnclng, self-recommending power, but ginitiy insinuated the
29)— in mockery of the regal sceptre. "And they bowed the kn<-R before him" (Matthew '27.29). and 8ai«l, Hall, King of the .Jews !—doing Him derisive homage, in the form used on approaching the emperors. "And tliey spit upon 1 1 im, and took the reed and smote Him on the head" (Malttiew '27.30). The best comment on these all'ectiiig detrue secret of the growth and grandeur of His kingd(mi—HK A Kingdom of tiiutii, in its highest sense, into whicli all souls who have learned to live and count all things but loss for the trutli are, by a most heavenly attraction, drawn as into their proper element; thk Kino of whom
Jesus is, fetching tln in In and ruling them by His <'aptivatlng power over their hearts. Pilate saitli unto Ilim, tails is to co Dcr //ic/o.cc. 4, 5. Pilate went forlh again, and saiih, Behold I bring Cam bringing,' i. e., gning to
Wliiit is truth 1—7. ri., 'Thou stirrest the question of bring) hlin forth to you, Vl»<«t y« may know 1 liad 110 questions, wlucli tiie thoughtful of every age have asked,
Jexus Ddh-ered to be Crucified. JOHN XIX. His Crucifixion and Death.
by the Romans), in the Hebrew, Gabbatha—from Its being raised. It was tlie preparation i.e., the day before the Jewish sabbath, and about tlie sixth hour The true reading here is probablj', 'the t?iird hour'—or 9 fault In Ulm—niul, by scourging him and allowing tlie SoUUors to make sport of him, have gone as far to meet your exasperation as can l}e expected from a juilge. .Tesiis tlierefore came forth, wearing the crown of thorns, •nd the pnrple robe. And Pilate snith unto them, Behold the man!—Tliere is no reason to tliinlt: that con-
A. M.—which agrees best with the whole series of events, as well as with the other Evangelists, he saltli to the Jews, Behold your King !—Having now made up his mind to .yield to them, he takes a sort of quiet revenge on them by this irony, which he knew would sting them. This only reawakens their cry to despatcli Him. Crucify your king! We have no king but Ciiesar—' Some of those who thus cried died miserably in rebellion against Crosar forty years afterwards. But it suited their present tempt dictated (his speech. There was clearly a struggle in the breast of this wretched man. Not only was he reluctant to surrender to mere clamour an innocent man, but a feelinir of anxiety about His mysterious claims, as is plain from what follows, was beginning to rack his breast, and the object of his exclamation seems to have been to ?j!oi e iheir pity. But, be hix meaning what it may, those three words have been eagerly appropriated by all Christendom, ami enshrined for ever in its heart, as a sublime expressi<m of its calm, rapt admiration of its suffering Lord. 0, 7. When tlie chief priests saw him, they cried out—their fii-ndish rage kindling afresh at tlie siglit of Him—criK-ify film, einclf.v him—See on Mark lo. 14. Pilate saith unto them. Take ye him, and crucify him ; for I find no fault In him—as if this would relieve him of the responsibility of the deed, who, by surrendering Him. incurred it all! The Jews answered him. We have a law, and by our I.tw he ought to die, because he made himself the Son of CJod—Their criminal charges having conie to notliing, tliey give up that point, and as Pilate was throwi ng the whole responsibility upon them, purpose.' [AI.PORD.] Then delivered he him therefore unto them to be crucified, etc.—See on Mark 15. 1.").
17-.30. CliUCIFIXION AND DrATH OF THE LORD JeSUS.
17. And he bearing l»is cross—See on Luke 23. 2(i—vrent forth— C'f. Hebrews 13. 11-13, " without the camp ;" " without the gate." On arriving at the place, " they gave Him vinegar to drink mingled with gall (wine mingled with myrrh, Mark 15. 23), and when He had tasted thereof. He would not drink," Mattliew 27. 34. This potion was stupefying, and given to criminals just before execution, to deaden the sense of pain.
" Vill high the bowl, and epice it well, ami pour
The dews oblivions : for the Cross is sharp, The Cross is sharp, and tie tliey retreat into their own .Jewish law, by which, as claiming equality with God (see on ch. 5. 18 and 8. h'.)). He ought to die; insinuating that it was Pilate's dut.v, even as civil governor, to protect their law from such insult. 8-11. When Pilate heard this saying, he was the more afraid—the name "Sox of God," the lofty sense evidently attached to it by His .lewish accusers, the dialogue he hail already held with Him, and the dream of his wife (Matthew 27. 19), all working together in the breast of tt)e wretched man. and went again Into the judgment-hall, and saitlt to .Tesus, Whence ai-t thou ? —beyond nil doubt a question relating not to His ?nmiou but to His personal nririin. Jesus gave him no answer He had said enough ; the time for answering such a que.s-
Is tenderer than a lamb." [Keble.]
But otir Lord wcndd die with evei-y faeuUy clear, and in full sensibilily to all His sufferinys.
"Thou wilt feel all, that Thou may'st pity all
And rather would'st Thou wrestle with strong pain,
Than overcloud Thy soul,
So clear in agony. Or lose one glimpse of Heaven before tlie time, 0 most entire and perfect Sacrifice, Renewed in every pulse," &c.—[KEBT.E.]
18. they crucified him, and two others with hlin "malefactors" (fjuke 23. 33), "thieves" (rather 'robbers,' Matthew 27. .38; Mark 15.27). On either side one and Jesus In the midst—a hellish expedient, to hold Him up as the worst of the three. But in this, as in many other of their doings, " the Scripture was fulfilled, which saith (Isaiah 53. 12), And he was numbered with the trangressors"— (Mark 15.28) — though the prediction reaches deeper. "Then said Jesus— ' probably while being nailed to the Cross' [Olsiiau.sen], Father, forgive them, for they KNOW NOT WHAT THEY Do" (Luke '23. 34)—and again the Scripture was fulfilled which said, "And He made inteicessiou for the transgressors" (Isaiah .5.3. 12), though this also reaches deeper. .See Acts .3. 17 ; 13. 27; and cf. 1 Timothy 1. 13. Often have we occasion to observe how our Lord is the first to fulfil His own precepts—thus furnisaing the right interpretation and the perfect Model of them. (See on Matthew 5. 44.) How quickly was it seen in "His martyr Stephen," that though He had left the earth in Person, His Spirit remained behind, and Himself could, in some of His brightest lineaments, be reproduced in His disciples! (Acts 7. 60.) And what does the world in every ageowe to these few words, spoken whei-e eind a.5they were spoken ! 19-ii'i, Pilate wrote a title, and put it on the cross, Jesus of IVazareth, the King of the Jews . . . and tioj) was past ; the weak and wavering governor is already on the point of giving way. Then saith Pilate unto him, Vpeakest thou not to me 1—The "me" is the empliatic word in the question. He falls back upon the priila of nfllrc. which doubtless tended to blunt tlie workings of his conscience, knowest thou not that I have power to crucify thee, and have power to release thee I —«ai<l to work upon him at once l;y fetir and by hope. Thou couldst (rather 'shouldst') have no power at all against me—neither to crucify, nor to relejise, nor to do anytliing what'^ver against me. [Benrei,.] e-vcept it xvere (' unless it had been') given thee from .Tbove q. d., 'Thou thinkest too much of thy power, Pilate: against Me that power is none, save wliat is meted out to thee by special Divine appointment, for a special end.' therefore he that delivered me unto thee (Caiaphas, to wit but he only as representing the Jewish authorities as a body) hath the greater sin—as having better opportunities and more knowledge of such matters. 13-16. And from henceforth—particularly this speech, which seems to have filled him with awe, and redoubled his anxiety. Pilate sought to release him i. e.. to gain their consent to it, for he could have done it at once on his authority, but tlie Jews cried—seeing their advantage, and not slow to profit by It. If thou let this man go, thou art not Cucsar's friend, Ac.— it was written In Hebrew—or S.yro-Chaldaic, the language of the country—and Greek—the current language —and Latin—the official language. These were the chief languages of the earth, and this secured that all spectators should be able to read it. Stung by this, the Jewisli ecclesiastics entreat that it may be so altered as to express, not His real dignity, but His false claim to it. But Pilate thought he had yielded quite enough to them ; and having intended expressly to spite and insult them by this title, for having got him to act against his own sense of justice, he peremptorily refused them. And thus, amidst tliecon-
' This was equivalent to a threat of impeachment, which we know was much <lreaded by such officers as the procurators, especially of the character of Pilate or Felix. It also consummates the treachery and disgrace of the Jewish rulers, who were willing, for the. purpose of destroying .Tesus, to afTe'ct a zeal for the supremacy of a foreign prince.' See r. 1.5. [WEnsTEK and Wilkinson.] When Pilate heard that, he brought Jesus forth, and sat down In (' upon') the Judgmentscat—that he might pronounce sentence against the Prisoner, on this charge, the m')re solemnly—in a place called the Pavement (a tesseluted paveineiit, much used flicting passions of men, was proclaimed, In the chief tongues of mankind, from the Cross Itself and in circumstances which threw upon it a lurid yet grand light, the
The Soldiers Cast Lots /or Christ's Garments. JOHN XIX. lie Commcndclh His Mother to John.
of Isracl,t\\<2 Chosen, the»S'f») of Ood," the soldiers, to whom truth which drew the Magi tollis manger, and will yet he owned by all thu world! !43, then tike soldiers, «-Jk«n lliey liHd criicitied •Jesus, tooit Ikis garments, and made four part; to every soldier—of the lour who nailed llim to the cross, and wliose perquisite they were, a part, and also Ills eoat— the Roman tunic, or elo.e-^ittlll vest. >vitliout seam, woven from tUe top tlironglioiii— all such phraseology was mere Jewisli Jargon, make sport of Him as a pretender to royalty ("kino of the Jews"), an office and dignity whicli it lielonged to tliem to comprehend. " The thieves also, wliich were crucified with him, cast the same in his teeth," Matthew 27. 4-1 ; Mark 15.32, Not both of them, however, as some commentators unnaturally think we must understand tliese words; a.s If some sudden change came over the penitent one, wliicli turned him from an unfeeling railer into a trembling petitioner. The plural "thieves" need not denote more tlian the quarter or class whence came this last and crudest taunt q. d., 'Not only did scoffs proceed from the passei'S-by, the ecclesiastics, the soldiery, but even from Hla
' perliaps denoting considerable skill and labour us necessary to produce such a garment, tue work probably of one or more of tlie women wlio ministered in such things unto him, Luke S. 3.' [Webster and Wilkinson.] Let us not rend it, but cast lots Aviiose it sUall be, tliat tlte Scripture mlglit be ful Alled wliieU saitli, Tliey parted iny raiment amon them ; and for my vesture tliey did cast lots, &c.—Fsalm 22. 18. That a prediction so exceedingly specific — distinguisliing one piece of dress from fellow-sufferers,' a mode of speaking whieli no one would think necessarily meant both of them. Cf. Matthew 2. 20, " They Me dead which souglit the ciiild's life," meaning Herod; and Mark 9. 1, " There be some standing here," where it is next to certain tliat only John, the youngest and last survivor of the apostles, is meant. And is it conceivable that this penitent thief should have first himself reviled tlie Saviour, and then, on his views of Christ suddenly changing, he should have turned upon hisfellow-suflererand fellow-reviler, and rebuked him not only with dignified sharpness, but in the language of astonishment that lie should be capable of such conduct? Besides, there is a deep calmness in all that he utters, extremely unlike what we should expect from one who was the subject of a mental revolution so sudden and total. On the scene itself, see on Luke 23. 29-43. a.^i-ii?. Now there stood by the cross of Je$<is his mother, and hlg mother's sister, Mary, wife of Cleopltas—This sliould be read, as in margin," Clopas," the same as "Alpheus," Matthew 10.3. The "Cleopas" of Luke 24. IS was a different person. When Jesus saw his motlter, aiul the disciple whom he loved, standing by, he sni<i to hla mother, WoMAN, Behold thy son ! Then saith he to the fiisclple, BEHOLD THY MOTHER .'—What forgetfuluess of self, what filial love, and to the "mother" and "sou" what parting words! front that hour . . . took her to his own home—or, home witli him; for his father Zcliedee and his mother Salome were both alive, and the latter here present (Mark 15. 40). See on Matthew 13. 55. Now occurred the supernatural darfrness, recorded by all the other Kvangelists, but not here. "Now from the 6th hour (12, noon) there was darkness over all the land unto the 9tli hour," Matthew 27. 45. No ordinary eclipse of the sun could have occurred at this time, it being then otliers, and announcing that while those should be parted amongst several, Chat should be given by lot to one person —that such a prediction should not only be fulfilled to llie letter, but by a party of heathen militiry, without interference from either the friends or the enemies of the Crucified One, is surely worthy to be ranked among tlie wonders of this all-wonderful scene. Now come the mockeries, and from four different quarters: — (1.) "And they that passed 6^ reviled him, waggir.g their heads" in ridicule. Psalm 22. 7; ltJ9. 25; cf. Jeremiah 18. 16; Lamentations 2.
15. "Ah!" ' Ha,' an exclamation here of derision. "Thou that destroyest the temple, and buildesl it in tliree da.ys, save thyself and come down from the cross," Matthew 27.
39, 40; Mark 15. 29,30. 'It is evident that our Lord's saying, or rather tills perversion of it (for He claimed not to destroy, but to rebuild the temple destroyed by them) had greatly exasperated the feeling wliich the priests and Pharisees had contrived to excite against Him. It is referred to as the principal fact brouglit out in evidence against Him on the trial (cf. Acts ti. 13, H), as an oll'cnce for which He deserved to suffer. And it is veiy remarkable tliat now, while it was receiving its real fnlfilmenl, it should be man's more public and more impressive by the insulting proclamation of His enemies. Hence the importance attached to it after the resurrection, ch. 2. 22.' [Web.ster and Wilkinson.] (2.) " Likewise also chief priests, mocking him, with the scribes and elders, said. He saved others, himself he cannot save." There was a deep trutli in this, as in other taunts ; for both He could not do, having "come to give His life a ransom for many." No doubt this added an unknown sting to the reproacli. "If he be the king of Israel, let him now come down from tlie
Cross, and we will believe him." Jo, they would not; for those who resisted the evidence from the resurrection of Lazarus, and from His own resurrection, were beyond the reach of any amount of merely external evidence. "He trusted in God that He would deliver him; let him deliver him now if he will liave him (or 'delight in him,' full moon, and this oliscuration lasted ahowl twelve times the length of any ordinary eclipse. Cf. Exodus lu. 21, 23. Beyond doubt, tlie Divine intention of the portent was to invest this darkest of all tragedies with a gloom expressive of its real character. "And aliout the ninth hour Jesus d ied, Eli, Eli, lama samactiiani . . . My God, my God, wliy hast thou forsaken mef" Matthew 27. 4(). As the darkness commenced at the (ith hour, the second of the Jewisli hours of prayer, so It continued till the 9th hour, cf. Psalm 18. 19; Deuteronomy 21. 11); for he said, I am the Son of God," Matthew 27. 41-t3. We tliank you, O ye chief priests, scribes, and elders, for this triple testimony, unconsciously borne by you, to our Christ: first to His habitual trust in God, as a feature in His character so marked and palpable tliat even ye found upon it your impotent taunt ; next, to His identity with the Nuffcrer nf the 22d Psalm, wliose very words (u. 8) ye unwittingl,v appropriate, thus serving yourselves heirs to the dark oftlce and impotent malignity of Messiah's enemies; and again, to the true sense of tliat august title which lie took to Himself, "The Son op God," whicli he rightly Interpreted at the very first (see on ch. h. IS) as a claim to that oneness of nature with Him, and dearness to Him, which a son has to his father. (.!.) "And tlie soldiers also mocked him, coming to him and offering him vinegar, and saying. If thou be the king of the Jews, save thyself," Luke 2.'!. Sfi, 37. Tiiey insultingly offer to share with Him their own vinegar, or sour wine, the usual drink of Uoman soldiers, it being about the time Of their midday meal. In the taunt of the soldiers we nave one of \\\qso undesigned coincidences wMch so strikingly verify tliese historical records. While the ecclesiasthe hour of the evening sacrifice, incieasiiig probably in depth, and reaching its dee2>est gloom, at the 'moment of this mysterious cry, when the fiame of the one great " Evening Sacrifice" was burning fiercest. The words were made to His hand. They are the opening words of a Psalm (the
22(1) full of the last " sufferings of Christ and the following glories" (1 Peter 1. II). " Fatheii," was the cry in the first prayerwhicli Heulteredon the cross, fur matters had not then come to the worst. "Eather" was llie cry of His last prayer, for matters had then passeil their worst. But at this crisis of His sufferings, "P'athi r" does not issue from his lips, for the light of a Father's countenaneo was then mysteriously eclipsed. Hi! falls back, however, on a title expressive of His offlciiil relation, which, though lower and more distant in itself, yet when grasjied in pure and naked faith was niiglit,v In Its chiims, and rich in psalniodic associat ions. And what deep earnest" ness Is conveyed by the redoubling of this title! But as for the cr.v itself, it will never be fully comprehended. An absolute desertion Is not Indeed to lie Miought of ; but a total eclip.se of the felt seijse of God's presence It certics deride Him for calling Himself " llie Vlirisl, the King
Chrial Yie.ldeUt up (he ijhost. JOHN XIX. He is Jiuried by Joseph and Nkodemw, the ghost!" v. 30. What is finished ? The Law Is fulfilled as never before, nor since, in His " obedience unto death, eventhedeath of the cross;" Messianic prophecy is accomplished ; Redemption is completed; "He hath finished the transgression, and made reconciliation for iniquity, and brought in everlasting righteousness, and sealed up the vision and prophecy, and anointed a holy of holies;" He has inaugurated the kingdom of God and given birth to a new world.
talnly expresses. It expresses surprinf, a-s under the experience of something not only 7iever be/ore knoum, but inexplicable on the footing whicli hnd till then subsisted between ITim and God. It u a niieslion ir!iich the lost cannot utter. They are forsaken, but they know why. Jesus is forsaken, but does not knoiv and demands to know why. It is thus the cry of conscious innocence, but of innocence unavailing to draw down, at tliat moment, the least token of approval from the unseen Judse—innocence who.se only recognition at that moment lay in the thick .surrounding gloom which but reflected the horror of great darkness that invested his own spirit. There was indeed a cause for
31-42. Burial of Christ. 31-37. The preparation— sabbath eve. tliat the bodies should not remain—over night, against the Mosaic law. Deuteronomy 21. 22, 23. on the sabbath day, for that day was an high (or ' great') day—the first day of unleavened bread, and, as concurring with an ordinary sabbaith, the most solemn season of the ecclesiastical year. Hence their peculiar jealousy lest the law should be infringed, besought Pilate that their legs might be broken— to hasten their death, which wa3 done in .such cases with clubs. But when they came to it, and He knew It too—the " why" must not be pressed so far a.s to exclude this. ITe must taste this bitterest of the wages of sin "Who did vm sin." But that is not the point now. In Him there was no cause at all (ch. It. SO), and He takes refuge in the glorious fact. When no ray from above shines in upon Him, He strikes a li;^ht out of His own breast. If God will not own Him, He shall own Himself. On the rock of His unsullied allegiance to Heaven He.Testis, and saw that lie was dead already—There being in His case elements of suffering, unknown to the malefactors, which might naturally hasten His death, lingering though it always was in such cases, not to speak of Jim previous sufferings, they brake not his legs—a fact —of vast importance, as showing that the reality of His death was visible to those whose business it was to see to will stand, till the light of Heaven returns to His spirit.
And it is near to comi". Whilst He is yet speaking, the fierceness of the ilnme is beginning to abate. One incident and insult more, and the experience of one other predicted element of suffering, and the victory Is His. The incident, and the insult springing out of it, is the misunderstanding of the cry, lor we can hardly suppose that it was anything else. "Rome of them that stood there, when they heard that, said. This man calleth for Ellas," Matthew 27. 47. 28-30. After this, Jcsiis knowing that all thlusfs were now accomplished i. e., the moment for the fulfilment of the last of them; for there was one other small particular, and the time v.'as come it. The other Divine purpose served by it will appear presently. But one of tlie soldiers—to make assurance of the fact doubly sure—with a spear pierced his side making a wound deep and wide, as indeed is plain from ch. 20. 27, 29. Had life still remained, it must have fled now—and forthwith came thereout blood and water
'It is now well known that the effect of long-continued and intense agony is frequently to produce a secretion of a colourless lymph within the pericardium (the membrane enveloping the heart), amounting in many cases to a very considerable quantity.' [Webster and AVii.kinfor that too, in consequence of the burning thirst which the fpvere<l state of His frame occasioned fPsalm 22. 15). that the Scrlptttre (Psalm (in. 21) might be fultilled, saith, I thirst—Now there was set a vessel full of vinepar 'see on the offer of the soldiers" vinegar, above); and they—"one of them," Matlliew 27. 4S—lille«l a sponge ^rith vinegar, and put It npon (a stalk of) hyssop, and put it to his month—Though a stalk of this plant does not exceed eighteen Inches in length, it would suffice, as the fret of crucified persons were not raised higher. "The rest said, Let be" i. e.,as would spem, 'Slop that officious service'—" let us see whether Ellas will come to save him," Matthew 27.49. This was the last cruelty He was to suffer, but It was one of the most unfeeling. "And when Jpsus had cried with a loud voice," Luke 23. 46. This "loud voice," noticed by three of the Evangelists, does not imply, as some able interpreters contend, that our li Ord's strength was so far from being exhausted that He needed not to die then, and surrendered up His life sooner than Nature required, merely because it was the appointed time. It was indeed the appointed time, but time that He should be "crucified through v:enl~ness" (2 Corinth inns 13. 4), and Nature was nowreaeliing its utmost exhaustion. But Just a-s even His own dying saints, particularly the martyrs of Jesus, have sometimes had such gleams of coming glory immediately before breathing their liist, as to Impart to them a strength to utter their feelings which has amazed the bystanders, so this mighty voice of the expiring Redeemer was nothing else but the exultant spirit of the Dying Victor, receiving the fruit of His travail Just about to be embrace<l, and nerving the organs of utterance to an ecstatic expression of its sublime feelings (not so much in the 7'TOmcrf(a?e/,v following words of tranquil surrender, in Luke, as in the final shout, recorded only by .lohn): "Father, into thy hands I COMMEND MY SPIRIT!" Luke 2-'!. 40. Yes, the darkness is past, and the true light now shineth. . His soul has emerged from it,s mysterious horrors; " God" is heard no more, but in unclouded light He yields sublime into His Father's hands the infinitely precious spirit—using here also the words of those matchless Psalms (31.5) which were ever on his lips. 'As the Father receives the spirit of Jesus, so Jesus receives those of the faithful.' Acts 7.
.SON.] And he that saw it bare record (' hath borne witness'), and his witness is true, and he knoweth that he saith true, that ye might believe—This solemn way of referring to his own testimony in this matter has no reference to what he says in his Epistle about Christ's "coming by water and blood" (see on I John 5. 6), but ia intended to call attention both to the fulfilment of Scripture in these particulars, and to the undenialjle evidence he was thus furnishing of the reality of Christ's death, and consequently of His resurrection ; perhaps also to meet the growing tendency, in the Asiatio churches, to deny the reality of our Lord's body, or that "Jesus Christ is come in tli flesh." (1 John 4. 1-3.) that the Scripture should be fulfilled, A bone of him shall not be broken—The reference is to the paschal lamb, as to which this ordinance v/as stringent. Exodus 12.46; Numbers 9. 12. (Cf. 1 Corinthians 5. 7.) But though we are to see here the fulfilment of a very definite typical ordinance, we shall, on searching deeper, see in it a. remarkable Divine interposition to protect the sacred body of Christ from the least indignity after He had finished the work given Him to do. Every imaginable indignity had been permitted before that, up to the moment of his death. But no sooner is that over than an Unseen hand is found to have provided against the clubs of the rude soldiers coming in contact with that temple of the Godhead. Very ditferent from such violence was that spear-Otrust, for which not only doubting Thomas would thank the soldier, but intelligent believers in every age, to whom the certainty of their Lord's death and resurrection is tlie life of their whole Christianity. And again another Scripture saith. They shall look on him whom they pierced The quotation is from Zechariah 12. 10; not taken as usual from the Septuagint (the current Greek version), which here is all wrong, but direct from the Hebrew. And there is a remarkable nicety in the choice of the words employed both by the prophet and the Evangelist for "piercing." The word in Zechariah meanfi \o thrust through with spear. Javelin, sword, or any such weapon. Jn that sense
GO. [Bengel.] And now comes the expiring mighty shout,
It is used In all the ten places, besides this, where It la found. How suitable this was to express the action of
'It IS finished! and He bowed His head and gave up