Matthew 27 - Introduction
CHAPTER 27. THE PASSION HISTORY CONTINUED.... [ Continue Reading ]
CHAPTER 27. THE PASSION HISTORY CONTINUED.... [ Continue Reading ]
συμβούλιον ἔλαβον : this consultation took place at a meeting of Sanhedrim, which was probably only a continuation of the night meeting, though regarded as formally a second meeting, to keep right with the law which humanely required, at least, two sittings in a grave criminal case; the Sanhedrists... [ Continue Reading ]
_Morning meeting of the Sanhedrim_ (Mark 15:1; Luke 22:66; Luke 23:1).... [ Continue Reading ]
δήσαντες : no mention of binding before in Mt.'s narrative. If Jesus was bound at His apprehension the fetters must have been taken off during the trial. ἀπήγαγον, etc., they led Him away and delivered Him to Pontius Pilate. No mention at this point what they had resolved to say to Pilate. That come... [ Continue Reading ]
τότε connects the repentance of Judas with the leading of Jesus away to Pilate which he regarded as sealing his fate. What happened was but the natural result of the apprehension which he himself had brought about, and he doubtless had the natural issue in view at the moment of apprehension. But rea... [ Continue Reading ]
_The despair of Judas_. Peculiar to Matthew; interesting to the evangelist as a testimony even from the false disciple to the innocence of Jesus, and the wickedness of His enemies, and as a curious instance of prophecy fulfilled.... [ Continue Reading ]
ἥμαρτον, I sinned, I did wrong. παραδοὺς α. ἀ. explains how. The sinning and the betraying are one, therefore the participle does not point to an act antecedent to that of the main verb. αἷμα ἀθῶον, innocent blood, for the blood of an innocent person. So in Deuteronomy 27:25. Palairet cites examples... [ Continue Reading ]
εἰς τὸν ναόν : not in that part of the temple where the Sanhedrim met (Grotius), or in the temple at large, in a place accessible to laymen (Fritzsche, Bleek), or near the temple (Kypke), but in the holy place itself (Meyer, Weiss, Schanz, Carr, Morison); the act of a desperate man determined they s... [ Continue Reading ]
κορβανᾶν, the treasury, referred to by this name by Joseph. (B. J. ii. 9, 4). τιμὴ αἵματός ἐστι : exclusion of blood money from the treasury, an extension of the law against the wages of harlotry (Deuteronomy 23:18).... [ Continue Reading ]
τὸν ἀγρὸν τ. κεραμέως, the field of the potter. The smallness of the price has suggested to some (Grotius, _e.g._) that it was a field for potter's clay got cheap because worked out. But in that case it would naturally be called the field of the potters. ξένοις most take as referring to Jews from ot... [ Continue Reading ]
ἀγρὸς αἵματος = _aceldama_, Acts 1:18, name otherwise explained there. ἕως τῆς σήμερον : phrase frequent in O. T. history; sign of late date of Gospel, thinks De Wette.... [ Continue Reading ]
_Prophetic reference_, τότε, as in Matthew 2:17, not ἵνα or ὅπως. διὰ Ἰερεμίου, by Jeremiah, in reality by Zechariah (Zechariah 11:13), the reference to Jeremiah probably due to there being somewhat similar texts in that prophet (Jeremiah 18:2-3; Jeremiah 32:6-15) running in the evangelist's mind. A... [ Continue Reading ]
ὁ δὲ Ἰησοῦς : δὲ resumes an interrupted story (Matthew 27:2). σὺ εἶ, etc.: Art Thou the King of the Jews? The question reveals the form in which the Sanhedrists presented their accusation. They had translated “Christ” into “King of the Jews” for Pilate's benefit, so astutely giving a political aspec... [ Continue Reading ]
_Jesus before Pilate_ (Mark 15:2-15; Luke 23:2-7; Luke 23:13-25).... [ Continue Reading ]
he accusations here referred to appear to have been made on the back of Pilate's first question and Christ's answer. Mark indicates that they were copious. In Luke the charge is formulated before Pilate begins to interrogate (Matthew 23:2). The purpose of their statements would be to substantiate th... [ Continue Reading ]
ilate noting His silence directs His attention to what they have been saying.... [ Continue Reading ]
καὶ οὐκ ἀπεκρίθη : still no reply, though no disrespect to the governor intended. ὤστε θαυμάζειν, etc., the governor was very much (λίαν, at the end, emphatic) astonished: at the _silence_, and at the _man_; the silence attracting attention to the Silent One. A new type of Jew this. The result of hi... [ Continue Reading ]
κατὰ ἑορτὴν, at feast time (_singulis festis_, Hermann, _Viger_, p. 633), not all feasts, but the passover meant. εἰώθει, was accustomed; time and circumstances of the origin of this custom unknown; a custom likely to arise sooner or later, as it symbolised the nature of the passover as a passing ov... [ Continue Reading ]
_Appeal to the people_. Pilate, not inexperienced in Jewish affairs, nor without insight into the ways of the ruling class, suspects that there are two sides to this matter. The very accusation suggests that the accused may be innocently popular, and the accusers jealous. An existing custom gives th... [ Continue Reading ]
εἶχον : they, the people (ὄχλῳ, Matthew 27:15). ἐπίσημον : pointing not to the magnitude of his crime, but to the fact that for some reason or other he was an object of popular interest. Βαραββᾶν, accusative of Βαραββᾶς = son of a father, or with double ρ, and retaining the _v_ at the end, Bar-Rabba... [ Continue Reading ]
τίνα θέλετε ἀπολύσω. Here Pilate seems to take the initiative; in Mk. he is first reminded of the custom (Matthew 15:8). Mk.'s whole account is fuller and clearer. Βαρ. ἢ Ἰησ. The two names put before the people, as presumably both popular more or less, Barabbas for some unknown reason, Jesus by inf... [ Continue Reading ]
ᾔδει, he knew, perhaps too strong a word, the fact being that he shrewdly suspected knew his men, and instinctively divined that if Jesus was a popular favourite the Pharisees would be jealous. This explains his _sang froid_ in reference to the title “King of the Jews,” also his offering the name of... [ Continue Reading ]
μηδὲν, etc., nothing to thee and that just one = have nothing to do with proceedings against Him. πολλὰ γὰρ : reason for the advice, an unpleasant dream in the morning (σήμερον, to-day, early). The historicity of this incident is of course doubted, the use made of it, with embellishments, in apocryp... [ Continue Reading ]
_Interlude of Pilate's wife_, in Mt. alone, probably introduced to explain the bias of Pilate in favour of Jesus apparent in the sequel (Weiss-Meyer).... [ Continue Reading ]
οἱ δὲ ἀρχ., etc.: the Sanhedrists saw the danger, and set themselves to bias the popular judgment, not sure what might otherwise happen with success, ἔπεισαν. So when, after due interval, the governor put the question, the reply was (Matthew 27:21) τὸν Βαραββᾶν, and to the further question what then... [ Continue Reading ]
_Result of the appeal to the people_.... [ Continue Reading ]
τί γὰρ κακὸν : elliptical, implying unwillingness to carry out the popular will. (Fritzsche, Grotius.) Some, Palairet, Raphel, etc., take γὰρ as redundant. περισσῶς ἔκραζον, they kept crying out more loudly. _Cf._ Mk., where the force of περισσῶς comes out more distinctly.... [ Continue Reading ]
ὅτι οὐδὲν ὠφελεῖ, that it was no use, but rather only provoked a more savage demand, as is the way of mobs. λαβὼν ὕδωρ, etc.: washed his hands, following a Jewish custom, the meaning of which all present fully understood, accompanying the action with verbal protestations of innocence. This also, wit... [ Continue Reading ]
τότε ἀπέλυσεν : Pilate, lacking the passion for justice, judges not according to the merits but according to policy. When he discovered that Jesus was not a popular favourite, in fact had no friends, he had no more interest in Him, but acted as the people wished, loosing Barabbas and delivering Jesu... [ Continue Reading ]
τότε : when Jesus had been sentenced to crucifixion. οἱ στρατιῶται τ. ἡ., the soldiers of the governor, _i.e._, his bodyguard. παραλαβόντες, etc.: they conducted Jesus from the scene of judgment (without) to the πραιτώριον, _i.e._, the official residence of the procurator, either Herod's palace, or... [ Continue Reading ]
_Jesus the sport of the soldiery_ (Mark 15:16-20).... [ Continue Reading ]
ἐκδύσαντες (or ἐνδ.) α.: taking off (or putting on) His clothes. If we adopt the former reading, the implied situation will be this: Jesus first stripped for scourging, then reclothed; then _stripped again_ at the commencement of the mocking process. If the latter, this: Jesus after scourging led na... [ Continue Reading ]
t this point rough sport turns into brutal treatment, as the moment for execution of the sentence approaches. ἐμπτύσαντες : spitting, substituted for kissing, the final act of homage, followed by striking with the mock sceptre (ἔτυπτον ε. τ. κ.).... [ Continue Reading ]
ἐξέδυσαν, etc.: they took off the mock royal robe, and put on again His own garments (τὰ ἱμάτια, the upper garments, but why the plural?). No mention of the crown; left on according to some of the ancients, Origen, _e.g._ : “semel imposita et nunquam detracta”; and, according to the same Father, con... [ Continue Reading ]
ἐξερχόμενοι : going out (of the city) according to later Roman custom, and in harmony also with Jewish usage (Numbers 15:35; 1 Kings 21:23; Acts 7:58). ἄνθρ. Κυρ.: a man of Cyrene, in Libya, presumably recognisable as a stranger, with whom liberties might be taken. ἠγγάρευσαν, compelled; a military... [ Continue Reading ]
_Crucifixion_ (Mark 15:21-27; Luke 23:26; Luke 23:35-38). This part of the story begins with the closing words of Matthew 27:31 : “they led Him away to be crucified”.... [ Continue Reading ]
οἶνον μετὰ χολῆς μ., wine mingled with gall. Mk. has ἐσμυρνισμένον οἶν., wine drugged with myrrh, a drink given by a merciful custom before execution to deaden the sense of pain. The wine would be the sour wine or _posca_ used by Roman soldiers. In Mk. Jesus declines the drink, apparently without ta... [ Continue Reading ]
σταυρώσαντες (from σταυρόω, to drive stakes; in later Greek, and in N. T., to impale on a stake, σταυρός). All the evangelists touch lightly the fact of crucifixion, hurrying over the painful subject as quickly as possible; Mt., most of all, disposing of it in a participial clause. Many questions on... [ Continue Reading ]
: this statement about the executioners sitting down to watch Jesus takes the place of a statement as to the time of execution in Mk. he purpose apparently was to guard against a rescue.... [ Continue Reading ]
: this fact is mentioned out of its proper place. t is probable that the placard with the accusation was fixed up before the cross was erected. As it stands in Mt.'s narrative, it looks like an after-thought of the soldiers as they sat keeping watch, their final jest at the expense of their victim a... [ Continue Reading ]
: τότε introduces the fact mentioned as an accompaniment of the crucifixion of Jesus, ithout indicating its precise place in the course of events. σταυροῦνται, the historical present with lively effect; and passive, probably to imply that this act was performed by other soldiers. This very slight no... [ Continue Reading ]
οἱ παραπορευόμενοι, the passers by: the place of crucifixion therefore near a road; going to or from the temple services (_Speaker's Com._); or on work-day business, the 13th not the 14th of the month? (Fritzsche, De Wette). κινοῦντες τ. κ. α., shaking or nodding the head in the direction of the cro... [ Continue Reading ]
_Taunts of spectators_ (Mark 15:29-32; Luke 23:35-37; Luke 23:39). The last drop in Christ's bitter cup. To us it may seem incredible that even His worst enemies could be guilty of anything so brutal as to hurl taunts at one suffering the agonies of crucifixion. But men then felt very differently fr... [ Continue Reading ]
ὁ καταλύων (_cf._ ἡ ἀποκτείνουσα, Matthew 23:37), this and the other taunts seem to be echoes of words said to or about Jesus at the trial, of which a report has already gone abroad among the populace. Whether the saying about destroying the temple was otherwise known can only be a matter of conject... [ Continue Reading ]
ὁμοίως, etc.: one might have expected the dignitaries, priests, scribes, elders, to have left that low-minded work to the mob. But they condescend to their level, yet with a difference. They speak _about_ the Sufferer, not _to_ Him, and in a tone of affected seriousness and fairness.... [ Continue Reading ]
ἄλλους ἔσωσεν, etc., He saved others, Himself He cannot save. Both _facts_; the former they can now afford to admit, and they do so all the more readily that it serves as a foil to the other fact patent to everybody. βασιλεὺς Ἰ. Messianic King the claim involved in the confession before the Sanhedri... [ Continue Reading ]
his looks like a mere echo of Psalms 22:9 (not a literal quotation from the Sept [153], however, rather recalling Isaiah 36:5) rather than a word likely to be spoken by the Sanhedrists. What did they know about the personal piety of Jesus? Probably they were aware that He used to call God “Father,”... [ Continue Reading ]
: the co-crucified brigands join with the mob and the priests in ribaldry. τὸ αὐτὸ : Fritzsche supplies ἐποίουν after this phrase and renders: the same thing did the robbers, or they too reproached Him (“idem vero etiam latrones fecerunt, nempe ei conviciati sunt”). It seems simpler to take αὐτὸ as... [ Continue Reading ]
ἀπὸ δὲ ἕκτης ὥρας : three hours, according to Mark (Matthew 27:25, _cf. Matthew 27:33_), after the crucifixion the darkness came on. This is the first reference in Matthew to a time of day. The definiteness of the statement in this respect seems to vouch for the historicity of the fact stated. Those... [ Continue Reading ]
_Darkness without and within_ (Mark 15:33-36; Luke 23:44-46).... [ Continue Reading ]
ἠλί, ἠλί, etc.: the opening words of Psalms 22, but partly at least in Aramaic not in Hebrew, wholly so as they stand in Codex [155] (W.H [156]), ἐλωί, ἐλωί, etc., corresponding exactly to the version in Mark. ἠλί, ἠλί, if the true reading in Matthew, seems to be an alteration made to suit what foll... [ Continue Reading ]
τινὲς δὲ : not Roman soldiers, for they knew nothing about Elias; might be Hellenistic Jews who did not understand Hebrew or Aramaean (Grotius); more probably heartless persons who only affected to misunderstand. It was poor wit, and showed small capacity for turning to advantage the words spoken. H... [ Continue Reading ]
εἷς ἐξ αὐτῶν, one of the bystanders, not one of the τινὲς, with some human pity, acting under the impression, how got not indicated, that the sufferer was afflicted with thirst. ὄξους, sour wine, _posca_, the drink of Roman soldiers, with sponge and reed at hand, for use on such occasions.... [ Continue Reading ]
ἄφες : either redundant coalescing with ἴδωμεν = let us see (_cf._ chap. Matthew 7:4), _age videamus_, Grotius (_vide_ also Burton, M. T., § 161), or meaning: hold, stop, don't give Him the drink, let us see whether Elias will come (ἔρχεται, comes without fail) to help Him. The latter is the more pr... [ Continue Reading ]
πάλιν, pointing back to the cry in Matthew 27:46. φωνῇ μεγάλῃ. The Fathers found in the loud cry a proof that Jesus died voluntarily, not from physical exhaustion. Some modern writers, on the contrary, regard the cry as the utterance of one dying of a ruptured heart (Dr. Stroud on _The Physical Caus... [ Continue Reading ]
_Death and its accompaniments_ (Mark 15:37-41; Luke 23:46-49).... [ Continue Reading ]
καὶ ἰδοὺ, introducing solemnly a series of preternatural accompaniments, all but the first peculiar to Mt. τὸ καταπέτασμα, the veil between the holy place and the most holy. ἐσχίσθη : this fact, the rending of the veil, is mentioned by all the Synoptists, though Lk. introduces it at an early point i... [ Continue Reading ]
μετὰ τὴν ἔγερσιν αὐτοῦ, after the raising (active) of Jesus (by God), _i.e._, after Christ's own resurrection: not after the raising (of them) by Him, as if αὐτοῦ were genitive subjective. So Fritzsche, who, however, brackets the phrase as a doubtful reading. ἔγερσιν occurs here only in N. T.... [ Continue Reading ]
ἑκατόνταρχος = κεντυρίων in Mk., the officer in charge of the detachment entrusted with the execution, not hitherto mentioned. οἱ μετʼ αὐτοῦ, etc.: the whole military party make pious reflections in Mt.; in Mk., with more probability, the centurion only. καὶ τὰ γινόμενα, and (generally) the things h... [ Continue Reading ]
γυναῖκες, _women_, bolder than men, love casting out fear. Lk. associates with them others called οἱ γνωστοὶ αὐτῷ, His acquaintance, which might include the disciples. Though they fled panic-stricken they may have rallied and returned to see the end, either along with the women or mixed in the crowd... [ Continue Reading ]
ἐν αἷς : three out of the many named, with a reference to the sequel, or as the best known. Mary of Magdala (first mention in Mt.), Mary, the mother of a well-known pair of brothers, and the mother of the sons of Zebedee (Salome in Mk.).... [ Continue Reading ]
_Burial_ (Mark 15:42-47; Luke 23:50-56). ἦλθεν, etc., there came (to the place of crucifixion, the centre of interest in the preceding narrative) a _man_ (unknown to readers), _rich_ (this fact put in the forefront by Mt. εὐσχήμων βουλευτής in Mk. On εὐσχήμων Phrynichus remarks that the vulgar take... [ Continue Reading ]
προσελθὼν : from the cross Joseph returns, and approaches Pilate to beg the body of Jesus for burial. In the case of the crucified such a request was necessary, but was generally granted (“Eorum in quos animadvertitur corpora non aliter sepeliuntur quam si fuerit petitum et permissum”. Ulpian. de Ca... [ Continue Reading ]
ἐνετύλιξεν (little used, found in Aristophanes), wrapped. σινδόνι καθαρᾷ, in clean, _i.e._, never before used linen. σινδών is of uncertain derivation and varying sense, being applied to cloths of diverse material, but here generally understood as meaning linen cloth, wrapped in strips round the bod... [ Continue Reading ]
ἐν τῷ καινῷ αὐτοῦ μνημείῳ, in his _own_ new tomb, recently prepared for himself. This not brought out in parallels. ἐλατόμησεν (λᾶς τέμνω): the aorist for the pluperfect, as in Matthew 27:55; he had hewn out of the rock = ἐν τῇ πέτρᾳ, the article pointing to the custom of making sepulchres in rock.... [ Continue Reading ]
ἦν δὲ ἐκεῖ, etc., but, in contrast to Joseph, there was there Mary, the woman of Magdala, also the other Mary, sitting in front of the tomb. τάφου here, as in Matthew 23:27; Matthew 23:29, used of a place of burial, not of the act of burial. The word is peculiar to Mt. in the N. T.... [ Continue Reading ]
τῇ ἐπαύριον, the next day, _i.e._, the Jewish Sabbath, curiously described as the day (ἥτις) μετὰ τὴν παρασκευήν, the more important day defined by reference to the less important, suggesting that Mt. has his eye on Mk.'s narrative (Mark 15:42). So Weiss-Meyer.... [ Continue Reading ]
_Precautions against theft of the body_; peculiar to Mt., and among the less certain elements of the Passion history, owing its origin and presence in this Gospel apparently to the exigencies of the primitive Christian apologetic against Jewish unbelief, which, as we gather from Matthew 27:64, must... [ Continue Reading ]
ἐκεῖνος : contemptuous reference, as to one not worthy to be named, and far off, a thing of the past removed for ever by death. ὁ πλάνος : a wanderer in the first place, then derivatively, from the character of many wanderers, in N. T. a deceiver. ἐγείρομαι, present for future, expressing strong con... [ Continue Reading ]
ἕως τ. τρίτης ἡμέρας : the definite specification of time here and in Matthew 27:63 may have been imported into the story in the course of the tradition. ἡ ἐσχάτη πλάνη, the last delusion = faith in the resurrection, belief in the Messiahship of Jesus being the first. χείρων, worse, not so much in c... [ Continue Reading ]
ἔχετε : probably imperative, not indicative = have your watch, the ready assent of a man who thinks there is not likely to be much need for it, but has no objections to gratify their wish in a small matter. So most recent interpreters Meyer, Weiss, Holtz., Weizsäcker, Morison, Spk., _Com._, Alford.... [ Continue Reading ]
ἠσφαλίσαντο is to be taken with the last clause μετὰ τῆς κουστωδίας, which points to the main means of securing the tomb against plunder. The participial clause σφραγίσαντες τὸν λίθον is a parenthesis pointing to an additional precaution, sealing the stone, with a thread over it and sealed to the to... [ Continue Reading ]