Mark 15:1

Mark 15:1-15. The Examination before Pilate

1. And straightway As the day dawned, a second and more formal meeting of the Sanhedrim was convened in one of the halls or courts near at hand. A legal Sanhedrim it could hardly be called, for there are scarcely any traces of such legal assemblies during the Roman period. In theory the action of this august court was humane, and the proceedings were conducted with the greatest care. A greater anxiety was manifested to clear the arraigned than to secure his condemnation, especially in matters of life and death. It was enacted (i) that a majority of at least two must be secured before condemnation; (ii) that while a verdict of acquittalcould be given on the same day, one of guiltymust be reserved for the following day; (iii) that no criminal trial could be carried through in the night; (iv) that the judges who condemned a criminal to death must fast all day; (v) that the sentence itself could be revised; and that (vi) if even on the way to execution the criminal reflected that he had something fresh to adduce in his favour, he might be led back and have the validity of his statement examined. See Ginsburg's Article on The Sanhedrimin Kitto's Biblical Cyclopædia, iii. 767. But the influence of the Sadducees, who were now in the ascendancy, and were Draconian in their severity, had changed all this, and it was resolved to endorse the sentence already pronounced, and deliver over the Great Accused to the secular arm.

carried him away Either (i) to one of the two gorgeous palaces which the first Herod had erected, or (ii) to a palace near the Tower of Antonia, for hither the governor had come up from Cæsarea "on the sea" to keep order during the feast.

to Pilate The Roman governor roused thus early that eventful morning to preside in a case, which has handed down his name through the centuries in connection with the greatest crime committed since the world began, was Pontius Pilate. (i) His namePontius is thought to indicate that he was connected, either by descent or adoption, with the gens of the Pontii, first conspicuous in Roman history in the person of C. Pontius Telesinus, the great Samnite general. His cognomen Pilatus has been interpreted as = (a) "armed with the pilumor javelin," as = (b) an abbreviation of pileatus, from pileus, the cap or badge of manumitted slaves, indicating that he was either a libertus("freedman"), or descended from one. He succeeded Valerius Gratus a. d. 26, and brought with him his wife Procla or Claudia Procula. (ii) His officewas that of procuratorunder the governor (proprætor) of Syria, but within his own province he had the power of a legatus. His headquarters were at Cæsarea (Acts 23:23); he had assessors to assist him in council (Acts 25:12); wore the military dress; was attended by a cohort as a body-guard (Matthew 27:27); and at the great festivals came up to Jerusalem to keep order. When presiding as judge he would sit on a Bemaor portable tribunal erected on a tesselated pavement, called in Hebrew Gabbatha(John 19:13), and was invested with the power of life and death (Matthew 27:26). (iii) In characterhe was not insensible to the claims of mercy and justice, but he was weak and vacillating, and incapable of compromising his own safety in obedience to the dictates of his conscience. As a governorhe had shewn himself cruel and unscrupulous (Luke 13:1-2), and cared little for the religious susceptibilities of a people, whom he despised and could not understand.