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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, and 10 gave them for the potter's field; as the Lord appointed me."

And Jesus stood before the governor; and the governor asked him, 11 saying: Art thou the king of the Jews? And Jesus said unto him: Thou sayest. And when he was accused of the chief priests and elders, 12

be applied with propriety to the present transaction. We cannot suppose that there was any exact fulfilment of prophecy in this case.— Jeremy the prophet. It has been conjectured that an incorrect quotation is made here from Jeremiah xxxii. 9-11. But the common and more probable opinion is that Zech. xi. 12, 13 is intended, though there is considerable difference of language and ideas. A difficulty however arises, for Jeremiah is expressly mentioned as the author of the quotation. To obviate this, various conjectures have been made. Some have asserted that Jeremiah wrote some of the chapters which go by the name of Zechariah, including the text. Lightfoot advocates the view that the Hebrew Scriptures were divided into three parts, the Law, the Psalms, and Jeremiah, which last included the writings of the prophets; and that Matthew quotes, under the name of him who stood first in the volume, the language which was in fact written by another hand. But the exactness with which other quotations in the Gospels are referred to their several authors rebuts this theory. Again, some critics believe the writer to have made a mistake as to the name. But perhaps the most probable view is that Matthew simply wrote the prophet, and that the addition of Jeremiah was the blunder of an early copyist, for some early manuscripts and the Syriac

version omit it.

11-31. Mark xv. 2-20. Luke

xxiii. 2-25. John xviii. 28-40. xix. 1-16.

11. The narrative dropped at verse 2 is here resumed. John, xviii. 28-32, gives a particular account of the introductory interview between the priests and Pilate. It appears that they wished to have him execute their sentence of death against Jesus without any further inquiry into the merits of the case. But they were obliged to allow him to investigate the matter himself from the beginning. Yet knowing that the charge of blasphemy, upon which they had sentenced him, would not avail before a Gentile magistrate, they artfully change the grounds of attack, and accuse Jesus of a political offence against the authority of Rome, Luke xxiii. 2, which involved them in the guilt of

downright falsehood. The trial, if such it might be called, laying aside its religious aspect, and assuming a political one, must now be attended to by one jealous of the interests of Rome. We suppose it to be at this point of time, that Matthew introduces Pilate saying, in the words of this verse, Art thou the King of the Jews? Or, to give it a form that expresses surprise as well as inquiry, Thou art the King of the Jews? Thou, so humble and meek a person? The question of Pilate appears to refer to the accusation in Luke xxiii. 2, that Jesus called himself Christ, a king; which to Pilate's mind would convey no idea but that of political assumption.-Thou sayest, i. e.

I am.

13 he answered nothing. Then said Pilate unto him: Hearest thou not 14 how many things they witness against thee? And he answered him 15 to never a word; insomuch that the governor marvelled greatly. Now at that feast the governor was wont to release unto the people a pris16 oner, whom they would. And they had then a notable prisoner, call17 ed Barabbas. Therefore, when they were gathered together, Pilate

1 Tim. vi. 13. But Jesus explains, John xix. 36, 37, that his kingdom was a spiritual and not a temporal one, and that therefore the Romans had nothing to fear from him. This satisfied Pilate, and he goes out to the Jews and tells them, Luke xxiii. 4, John xviii. 38, that he found the prisoner entirely innocent, a memorable declaration, from which he did not recede, though he inconsistently sentenced him to be crucified at last.

12-14. Upon this it appears that his accusers became more urgent, probably fearing that he might escape their malice. They related how he had agitated the people through the whole country, from Galilee to Jerusalem. Luke xxiii. 5. When the ear of Pilate caught the word Galilee, he instantly bethought himself of sending the perplexing case to Herod, who held jurisdiction over Galilee, and was then fortunately in the city. Luke xxiii. 7-12. Pilate was evidently glad to shift off his responsibility upon another person, but the plan wholly failed in the end. -To never a word. Not even a single word; he answered nothing. Having declared himself to Pilate, he would not wrangle with those who were incapable, in their rage, of appreciating any defence or explanation he might offer. Silence under such circumstances was the manly course, and testified to his innocence more powerfully than words. This was such unusual conduct on the part of a prisoner, and such was, no doubt, the calm

majesty of Jesus, that Pilate was struck with wonder.

15. Herod was gratified with the opportunity he had long desired, of seeing Jesus, but after questioning him in vain he treated the whole affair with ridicule, rather than as deserving any serious thought. Arraying Jesus in mock dignity, he remanded him to Pilate, with whom from that time he became reconciled. Luke xxiii. 7-12.

-At that feast, i. e. the passover.— The governor was wont to release, &c. Had been accustomed to release. This was perhaps partly done to conciliate and soothe the Jews intheir subjection. Similar customs have prevailed both in ancient and modern nations. Days of festivity and national joy have been celebrated by the pardon of crimes and the release of prisoners. Pilate seemed resolved to use every expedient to release Jesus without giving popular offence.

16. A notable prisoner, i. e. notorious or infamous. For, according to Mark and Luke, he had been imprisoned for sedition and murder in a late insurrection.-Barabbas. The most ancient authorities are said to have contained the reading, Jesus, the son of Abbas, both in this and the following verse. Jesus, or Joshua, was a very common name among the Jews. The omission of this part of Barabbas' name is supposed to have been made in honor of Christ.

17. When they were gathered together, i. e. at their return from

said unto them: Whom will ye that I release unto you? Barabbas? or Jesus, which is called Christ? For he knew that for envy they had 18 delivered him. When he was set down on the judgment seat, his 19 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.- -But the chief priests and elders persuaded the multitude that 20

Herod. How appalling to Pilate must it have been to behold the ferocious crowds swarming back to his palace, more eager than ever for blood!—Whom will ye that I relcase unto you? He put this question desiring that they might choose to have the innocent rather than the guilty released, but their sense of justice as well as of mercy was swallowed up in one burning passion of hate against Jesus.

18, 19. According to Campbell, these two verses would more properly be included in a parenthesis, as they are a digression from the narrative. For envy. Or, malice. Pilate understood their motives. They envied, or, rather, hated Jesus, for his power of working miracles, and speaking as man had never spoken. They hated him especially for his severe censures of their wickedness, and for his popularity with the people, which conflicted with their own insatiate love of domination.-Delivered. Should be delivered up. As it now stands, it means freed, the very opposite to the true sense. -When he was set down on the judgment seat. The tribunal was a high seat or throne placed in the open court in front of the Prætorium upon a pavement of Mosaic. John xix. 13. Since the Jews, through a hypocritical scrupulousness, could not enter the Prætorium, or Roman judgment hall, Pilate went forth to them from time to time to make or receive communications. John xviii. 29, 33, 38, xix. 4, 9, 13.-Have thou nothing to do with that just man, i. e. by

way of injury. Pilate's wife was Claudia Procula. Testimonies to the innocence of Jesus came from the most unsuspicious quarters: from Judas the betrayer, from Pilate the heathen, and Herod the Jewish ruler, from Pilate's wife, and from the Roman centurion who superintended the execution. It was customary at this period for the Roman officers to be accompanied by their wives in their circuits.

Suffered many things this day in a dream because of him. She was acquainted with the emergency in which her husband was placed, and the agitation of her mind naturally caused her to dream upon the exciting subject. Common rumor had spread the intelligence of Jesus' wonderful character and goodness, which now painfully mingles with her imaginations in sleep, and excites her apprehension lest her husband would be forced to condemn him against his better judgment. The dream was, no doubt, natural. We are to recollect that it was now early in the day, and that this might have occurred during her morning slumbers, when, according to general belief, dreams were most veracious.

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21 they should ask Barabbas, and destroy Jesus. The governor answered and said unto them: Whether of the twain will ye that I release 22 unto you? They said: Barabbas. Pilate saith unto them: What shall I do then with Jesus, which is called Christ? They all said unto him: 23 Let him be crucified. 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 water, and washed his hands before the multitude, saying: I am innocent of the blood of this just person; see ye 25 to it. Then answered all the people, and said: His blood be on us,

the Messiah. Multitudes had thronged him wherever he went. He had entered Jerusalem itself in peaceful triumph. Now the scribes and priests were obliged to exert themselves to turn this popular tide. Jesus perished, in fact, by a cabal of the city and temple, not by the enmity of the great majority of his nation.

21. Ask. Should be ask for. They succeeded but too well in poisoning the minds of an already agitated and fickle crowd against their innocent victim. Whether of the twain. Which of the two.

23. Why? what evil hath he done? Pilate was fully persuaded that he had committed no crime worthy of death, and becoming interested in his prisoner, he was more and more anxious to save him.-They cried out the more. They employed only clamor, sensible that they were unsupported by reason and justice. 24. We are led to believe, from the narrative in Luke and John, that Pilate caused Jesus to be scourged with a view to appease the ferocity of his enemies and procure his release. Luke xxiii. 16-22. John xix. 1-6. But the expedient was in vain. Like tigers, they raged with new fury at the sight of blood. -Saw that he could prevail nothing, i. e. his exertions to release Jesus were unavailing. Observe the candor and charity of the writers, who

assign the only plausible ground of excuse for Pilate, that he was overborne by a popular tumult stirred up by the priests, and that he acted contrary to his own will in condemning his innocent prisoner to death. They heaped no abuse upon his name, nor called him weak and time-serving, as in reality he was, but let the plain facts speak for themselves, without comment. -Took water, and washed his hands. This was a syınbolical act, common among the oriental people, showing that he disclained the responsibility and guilt of the transaction. Deut. xxi. 6, 7. Ps. xxvi. 6. But no washing of the hands could cleanse a conscience spotted with the blood of the innocent, whom he was bound to protect, at every hazard. He forgot that most excellent law of the Romans, that "the idle clamor of the populace is not to be regarded when they call for a guilty man to be acquitted, or an innocent one to be condemned." But "Pilate thought, as many politicians do, that the safety of the state was to be preferred to a single act of injustice, and that he had better condemn an innocent person to death, than run the hazard to the state of a public commotion ?"-See ye to it. Let the blame rest with you.

25. 1 Kings ii. 37.-His blood be on us, &c. A fearful imprecation,

and on our children. Then released he Barabbas unto them; and 26 when he had scourged Jesus, he delivered him to be crucified.Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the common hall, 27

fearfully fulfilled. Not that the Jews, as a nation, brought down all the after woes upon themselves, merely by a handful of men saying these words in a mob at Jerusalem, but their stiff-neckedness and hardheartedness were the real causes, under the government of God, of their succeeding unparalleled calamities. The same fell spirit of unbelief and wickedness, which broke out SO furiously against Jesus, continued to wax stronger, and at last occasioned their final, decisive overthrow, in their terrible conflict with the Romans. It is a remarkable instance of the retributions of Divine Providence, that, in forty years from the time the Jews cried, Crucify him, Crucify him, before Pilate's Prætorium, Titus, the Roman general,besieging Jerusalem, crucified thousands, probably including some of the enemies of Jesus, around the walls of the city, so that there was not room enough for the crosses, nor crosses enough for the

men.

26. At this point of the tragedy, Carpenter gives the following as the probable order of events: "Pilate, after washing his hands, yields to the Jews, releases Barabbas to them, and, in their presence, has Jesus scourged for crucifixion. Jesus is then taken within the fortress, and mocked by the Roman soldiers. Pilate brings him forth to the Jews, and afterwards has another conference with him within the Prætorium. He then brings him forth, formally condemns him, and delivers him up to be crucified." According to this view, there was but one scourging, and that was inflicted as preparatory to crucifixion;

but yet was employed, as mentioned in the note on verse 24 of this chapter, in order to soften the Jews, that they might be moved to spare the life of Jesus.-Scourged Jesus. The cruelty of this infliction may be conceived of, when it is remembered that the thongs were usually filled with pieces of lead, iron, or bone, to cause a greater laceration of the flesh, and that the poor sufferer was obliged to receive the blows upon the naked back in a stooping posture. The ancient scourging appears to have very much resembled the modern knout of Russia. The law of Moses forbade more than forty stripes, but the Romans were subject to no such merciful restriction. The punishment sometimes occasioned death, and appears to have weakened Jesus, in conjunction with other causes, so that he was unable to carry his cross, and so that he died in a few hours after he was put upon the fatal tree. Scourging always preceded crucifixion, as well as other executions, and added greatly to its pains, on account of the pressure of the torn and bleeding back against the frame of the cross, and the general inflammation of the system.Delivered him to be crucified. Delivered up. The account in John is much more full in this connection. John xix. 1—16.

27. Common hall, i. e. the Prætorium, Mark xv. 16, which was a magnificent edifice, built by Herod the Great, and occupied by the procurator of Judea, and his officers and soldiers, when he was in the city.-The whole band, i. e. of Roman soldiers. Probably a cohort is intended, the number of which va

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