said unto them: behold, they know what I said. And when he 22 had thus spoken, one of the officers which stood by, struck Jesus with the palm of his hand, saying, Answerest thou the highpriest so? Jesus answered him, If I have spoken evil, bear 23 witness of the evil: but if well, why smitest thou me? (Now 24 Annas had sent him bound unto Caiaphas the high-priest.) And Simon Peter stood and warmed himself. They said there- 25 fore unto him, Art not thou also one of his disciples? He denied it, and said, I am not. One of the servants of the high-priest 26 (being his kinsman whose ear Peter cut off) saith, Did not I see thee in the garden with him? Peter then denied again and im- 27 mediately the cock crew. Then led they Jesus from Caiaphas unto the hall of judgment: 28 and it was early; and they themselves went not into the judgment-hall, lest they should be defiled; but that they might eat the passover. Pilate then went out unto them, and said, 29 judicial customs to question the prisoner himself. 22, 23. With the palm of his hand. Or, with a rod. The original is indefinite. This cruel insolence could only have occurred by the permission and under the well-known, though secret approbation of the presiding officer. If I have spoken evil. Some interpreters construe this declaration with reference to the doctrine or former preaching of Christ. See ver. 19, 20, 21. But it is more natural and simple to understand it of the reply he had just made to the high-priest. "If my answer is improper, show wherein it is so, but if not, why the blow?" 24, 25. Now Annas, &c. This verse is parenthetical, and properly relates what had taken place before, between ver. 13 and 14. - They said therefore, &c. Instead of therefore, it is better to read then or now. tious judgment, by entering a house 29. Pilate then went out unto them. Out of condescension to their scrupulousness. It was not unusual to 30 What accusation bring ye against this man? They answered and said unto him, If he were not a malefactor, we would not have 31 delivered him up unto thee. Then said Pilate unto them, Take ye him, and judge him according to your law. The Jews therefore said unto him, It is not lawful for us to put any man to death: 32 that the saying of Jesus might be fulfilled, which he spake, sig33 nifying what death he should die. -Then Pilate entered into the judgment-hall again, and called Jesus, and said unto him, 34 Art thou the King of the Jews? Jesus answered him, Sayest 35 thou this thing of thyself, or did others tell it thee of me? Pilate answered, Am I a Jew? Thine own nation, and the chief-priests, 36 have delivered thee unto me. What hast thou done? Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were have tribunals of justice erected in the open air, or under a portico, in the warm countries of the east. What accusation, &c. Pilate takes up the case from the beginning, without regard to any sentence passed by the Sanhedrim. 31, 32. Take ye him, &c. As the Jews did not declare the ground of their proceedings against Jesus, but haughtily replied to the Roman governor, that the very fact, that they brought the prisoner before him, was sufficient evidence against him; Pilate gives them an ironical reply, — "Well, then you may dispose of him yourselves;" all the time knowing, what they knew also, that they had no jurisdiction over such a case. — It is not lawful for us, &c. At what period, or under what restrictions, the Jews were debarred from taking cognizance of passing sentence of execution in capital cases, under the Roman government, is unknown; but the fact stands here, distinctly acknowledged by themselves. Signifying what death, i. e. by being delivered up to the Gentiles, and crucified. Mat. xx. 19; Luke xviii. 32; John iii. 14, xii. 32, 33. As Jesus was to rise again, crucifixion, though the most terrible mode of capital execution, was preferable on one account, because it left the body free from the mutilation, produced by beheading, stoning, and other kinds of punishment. 33-35. It was at this moment, that the Jews, finding they must specify their charges against the Messiah, accused him of political crimes. Luke xxiii. 2, 5. This accounts for Pilate's question to Jesus-" Art thou the king of the Jews?"- Or did others tell it thee of me. He inquires the source of the accusation, by way of reminding Pilate that the testimony of enemies was suspicious, and that he should be on his guard not to be unjustly biased in his decision. - Am I a Jew? The Roman virtually replied, that as he was a foreigner, he knew nothing about Jewish quarrels ; he only knew the fact, that the prisoner had been brought before him, and he demanded the nature of his offence. 36. My kingdom is not of this world. You need be under no apprehensions from me. I have nothing to do with civil governments or political parties, as such; for my kingdom is a moral and spiritual one, established in the hearts and consciences of mankind, and interferes of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from hence. Pilate therefore said unto him, Art thou a king then? Jesus an- 37 swered, Thou sayest that I am a king. To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth, heareth my voice. Pilate saith unto him, What is truth? And when he had 38 said this, he went out again unto the Jews, and saith unto them, I find in him no fault at all. But ye have a custom that I should 39 release unto you one at the passover will ye therefore, that I release unto you the King of the Jews? Then cried they all again, 40 saying, Not this man, but Barabbas. Now Barabbas was a robber. CHAPTER XIX. The Conclusion of the Trial, the Crucifixion, and the Burial of the Messiah. THEN Pilate therefore took Jesus, and scourged him. And the 2 neither with Jew nor Roman. "This answer of Jesus is very remarkable; it became the foundation of his religion, and the pledge of its universality; because it detached it from the interests of all governments." Fight. It is one of the features of the governments of the world, that they are maintained by physical force, but my kingdom is not indebted to the sword for its existence. My disciples do not fight, even to prevent my being taken by my enemies. 37. Thou sayest, &c. Meaning, Yes, I am a king; and he then proceeds to give a sublime description of his regal character. "For this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, to bear witness to the truth, and every true man is my subject;" since, as the commentators remark, the phrase heareth my voice, means, when translated out of the oriental idiom into our own language, obeys me, or, is a subject of my kingdom. Glorious king of a glorious empire! Thy triumphs have been extending from land to land, and they shall, in due time, fill the whole earth. 38. What is truth? Not so much a question, which the Roman wished or expected to have answered, if we may judge by his immediately going out, as an exclamation of indifference or contempt. "Truth! what is truth to me? or, What has truth to do with this case?" The proud and arbitrary Pilate had, by his crooked policy and violence, so perverted himself as to have little sympathy left for so abstract a cause, as that of truth, or little faith to respond to its power. What was truth to such a nature, but the mere shadow of a shade, - empty air,-not a solid, eternal, rock reality! - I find in him no fault at all. The course pursued by the Jews to blacken the character of our Lord, only seemed to manifest more gloriously his stainless virtue; as aromatic substances, to use Bacon's figure, when bruised and crushed, shed their odors in greater sweetness and abundance. 39, 40. See Mat. xxvii. 15-26, and notes thereon. CHAPTER XIX. Most of this chapter is parallel with parts of Mat. xxvi., Mark xv., soldiers platted a crown of thorns, and put it on his head, and 3 they put on him a purple robe, and said, Hail, King of the Jews! 4 and they smote him with their hands. Pilate therefore went forth again, and saith unto them, Behold, I bring him forth to 5 you, that ye may know that I find no fault in him. Then came Jesus forth, wearing the crown of thorns, and the purple robe. 6 And Pilate saith unto them, Behold the man! When the chiefpriests therefore and officers saw him, they cried out, saying, Crucify him, crucify him. Pilate saith unto them, Take ye him, 7 and crucify him: for I find no fault in him. The Jews answered him, We have a law, and by our law he ought to die, because he 8 made himself the Son of God. When Pilate therefore heard 9 that saying, he was the more afraid; and went again into the judgment-hall, and saith unto Jesus, Whence art thou? But Je10 sus gave him no answer. Then saith Pilate unto him, Speakest and Luke xxiii., and will there be found to be explained and illustrated. 1. Scourged him. Pilate caused this terrible punishment to be inflicted on Jesus, not, as it would seem, by way of preparation for crucifixion, but to move the Jews by the sight of the sufferer to compassion, that they might give up their wicked purpose of destroying the innocent. Ver. 4, 5. This, then, was one of the Roman's unsuccessful steps to release his prisoner. 5. Behold the man! As if to say, See how harmless is he, how incapable of defending himself, how much to be commiserated for what he has suffered! Relent, then, from further harassing one, who is at once so innocent and so much to be pitied. "Behold the man! by all condemned, Assaulted by a host of foes, "Behold the man! though scorned below, not succeed. Their ferocious passions were too deeply stirred to be calmed by the sight of the bleeding, thorn-crowned sufferer. They even broke forth into fierce cries against their unoffending victim. Take ye him, &c. As if to remind them, that if Jesus was put to death, the responsibility would rest with them, or that in reality they had no power of their own to destroy him. 7. We have a law, &c. They could refer to no law but that against blasphemy. Deut. xviii. 20; Mat. xxvi. 65. Foiled in their political charge, the Jews return, at this point of the proceedings, to the religious accusation. 8, 9. He was the more afraid. The reason of his apprehension was probably, that he might, in doing violence to Jesus, be laying a sacrilegious hand on some great being in disguise; for, according to the heathen mythology, the gods sometimes descended to mingle, incognito, in the affairs of men. Hence the earnest question of Pilate "Whence art thou?" as if to ascertain, if possi 6. But the expedient of Pilate did ble, the origin of his prisoner. thou not unto me? knowest thou not, that I have power to crucify thee, and have power to release thee? Jesus answered, 11 Thou couldest have no power at all against me, except it were given thee from above: therefore he that delivered me unto thee hath the greater sin. And from thenceforth Pilate sought to 12 release him but the Jews cried out, saying, If thou let this man go, thou art not Cesar's friend. Whosoever maketh himself a king, speaketh against Cesar. When Pilate therefore heard that 13 saying, he brought Jesus forth, and sat down in the judgment-seat, in a place that is called the Pavement, but in the Hebrew, Gabbatha. And it was the preparation of the passover, and about 14 the sixth hour and he saith unto the Jews, Behold your King! 10, 11. Knowest thou not, &c. Piqued that Jesus did not treat him with the same supple and flattering attention, which he had been accustomed to receive from his own courtiers, Pilate reminds him, by way of menace, that his life was suspended on his will. Given thee from above. This phrase may mean, either that the Roman derived his power from God, as our version intimates; or, that he had obtained possession of Jesus' person by means of others, or from another quarter, i. e. the Jews, or the Sanhedrim. The latter is preferable, for it connects better, as observed by Coleridge, with the next clause. Pilate would have had no jurisdiction over Jesus, had it not been given him by his enemies; there fore they who delivered him up were the most sinful. 12, 13. The rough Roman seems to be touched by this magnanimous interpretation, or palliation of his conduct by Jesus, and is more desirous than ever to release him. But at this critical moment, another cry, more appalling to the governor's heart, than any he had yet heard, burst from the excited mass, that rolled like a boisterous sea around his palace: "If thou let this man go, thou art not Cesar's friend." They knew well where to touch the tender place in Pilate's breast. He had a jealous master, the dark, gloomy, unscrupulous Tiberius, who then sat on the throne of the Cesars, and spread his web of tyranny over the whole world, so that none who were suspected persons, if we may credit Tacitus and Suetonius, could escape being entangled in it. An unfavorable report of Pilate's conduct at the imperial court, might cost him his province, or his life; and what exemplifies remarkably the swift-following retribution of Heaven, is, that such a representation, from the Jewish people too, did, in after years, deprive him of his government and his liberty, and the miserable man perished by his own hand, in exile, in the barbarous region of Gaul. When, therefore, the Jews impugned his loyalty to the emperor, the appeal was too much for his wavering sense of justice; he broke through the slender trammels that still held him, and pronounced the awful sentence. - Pavement - Gabbatha, i. e. according to its derivation, raised. The tribunal of the procurator was placed on a tessellated stone floor, or pavement of Mosaic work. 14, 15. The preparation of the passover, i. e. of the paschal Sabbath. Ver. 31.- Sixth hour. Mark reads third. This discrepancy has been |