Matthew 27:1-66
BEFORE PILATE. THE CRUCIFIXION 1, 2. Jesus delivered to Pilate (Mark 15:1; Luke 23:1; John 18:28 : see on Jn).... [ Continue Reading ]
BEFORE PILATE. THE CRUCIFIXION 1, 2. Jesus delivered to Pilate (Mark 15:1; Luke 23:1; John 18:28 : see on Jn).... [ Continue Reading ]
WHEN THE MORNING] Since according to St. Luke, who follows an excellent and independent authority, the trial itself did not take place 'until it was day' (Luke 22:66), this second meeting must be placed some time later in the morning, considerably after cock-crowing (Matthew 26:74). The object of th... [ Continue Reading ]
PILATE] the fifth Roman procurator of Judaea, was appointed in 26 a.d., and held office for ten years. He was then summoned to Rome to answer certain charges made against him, and was banished to Vienna in Gaul, where he is said to have committed suicide. The Roman governor resided generally at Cæes... [ Continue Reading ]
WHEN HE SAW THAT HE WAS CONDEMNED] This somewhat favours the view that Judas did not intend by betraying Jesus to cause His death. But it is more probable that the meek demeanour of the Sufferer at His arrest and during His trial, brought about a revulsion of feeling in Judas, who now detested himse... [ Continue Reading ]
END OF JUDAS (see Acts 1:18). The divergences of the two accounts of the end of Judas are well known. In St. Matthew he hangs himself; in Acts he is killed by a fall. In St. Matthew the priests buy a field with the blood-money to bury strangers in; in Acts Judas himself buys a field, presumably for... [ Continue Reading ]
WHAT _is that?_] His wicked companions n crime desert him when the crime is done.... [ Continue Reading ]
IN THE TEMPLE] RV 'into the sanctuary,' i.e. into the holy place. Judas in his recklessness and despair penetrated where no one but the priests had a right to enter, or, it may be, standing outside the holy place, flung the money violently through the door.... [ Continue Reading ]
IT IS NOT LAWFUL] An argument from Deuteronomy 23:18. THE TREASURY] lit. 'the Corbanas,' so called because what was placed in it was 'Corban,' i.e. given to God: see John 8:20.... [ Continue Reading ]
BOUGHT] In Acts Judas buys the field. THE POTTER'S FIELD] The potter probably used to obtain clay from it.... [ Continue Reading ]
THE FIELD OF BLOOD (Heb. _Aceldama_)] In Acts it receives its name from the death of Judas in it.... [ Continue Reading ]
BY JEREMY THE PROPHET] This quotation, really from Zechariah 11:12; (q.v.), is ascribed to Jeremiah, because Jeremiah stood first in the book of the Prophets, from which it was taken; the order being Jeremiah, Ezechiel, Isaiah, the Twelve Minor Prophets. The passage is paraphrased rather than quoted... [ Continue Reading ]
AND GAVE] RM 'and I gave.'... [ Continue Reading ]
THOU SAYEST] i.e. 'I am.' But Jesus explained to Pilate privately that His kingdom was not of this world (Jn). Here, as so often, the Fourth Gospel alone renders the narrative clearly intelligible.... [ Continue Reading ]
TRIAL BEFORE PILATE] (Mark 15:2; Luke 23:1; Luke 23:13; John 18:28 to John 19:16). St. Matthew and St. Mark give practically the same account. St. Luke and St. John are independent of one another and of the others. All give a substantially harmonious account of the trial. Peculiar to St. Matthew was... [ Continue Reading ]
AT THAT FEAST] This is the only evidence of such a custom, which is, however, appropriate to the season of the Passover, which commemorates a deliverance.... [ Continue Reading ]
BARABBAS] Some ancient authorities have here. the interesting reading 'Jesus Barabbas,' which may really have been the man's full name. The people may have preferred him to Christ because he had led a rebellion against Rome, whereas Christ had said, 'Render to Cæsar the things that are Cæsar's.' The... [ Continue Reading ]
HIS, WIFE] In tradition her name is given as Procla, or Claudia Procula, and she is said to have been inclined to Judaism, or even to have been a proselyte, and afterwards to have become a Christian. In the Greek Church she is canonised. From the time of Augustus the wives of provincial governors co... [ Continue Reading ]
The multitudes were not unfriendly, until the chief priests used their influence against Jesus.... [ Continue Reading ]
WASHED _his_ HANDS] A piece of Jewish symbolism (see Deuteronomy 21:6) adopted by Pilate to make himself intelligible to the multitude. I AM INNOCENT] It was customary for Gentile judges to protest 'before the sun' that they were innocent of the blood of the person about to be condemned.... [ Continue Reading ]
HIS BLOOD _be_ ON US] A cry of blind and vindictive rage. They care not who bears the blame, so that Jesus be put to death. There is tragic irony in this unconscious prophecy, which was fulfilled in two ways. (1) As a curse upon the unbelieving part of the nation, on whom the blood of Jesus was aven... [ Continue Reading ]
SCOURGED] in accordance with the Roman custom before crucifixion. The culprit was stripped and tied in a bending posture to a pillar, or stretched on a frame, and the punishment was inflicted with a scourge made of leathern thongs, weighted with sharp pieces of bone or lead. Criminals sometimes died... [ Continue Reading ]
COMMON HALL] RV 'palace': see on John 18:28. But the expression may mean 'barracks.' THE WHOLE BAND] RM 'cohort': about 600 men: see on John 18:3; John 18:12.... [ Continue Reading ]
JESUS IS MOCKED BY THE ROMAN SOLDIERS (Mark 15:16; John 19:1).... [ Continue Reading ]
STRIPPED HIM] RM 'Some ancient authorities read, CLOTHED HIM.' The latter is probably right. He had been stripped previously for scourging. A SCARLET (_or_ purple) ROBE] an emblem of royalty. The REED was to represent a sceptre.... [ Continue Reading ]
HE IS LED TO THE CROSS (Mark 15:20; Luke 23:26; John 19:16). The cross was regarded as the most horrible and most degrading form of punishment, fit only for slaves. 'It is an outrage for a Roman citizen to be bound; a crime for him to be scourged. It is almost parricide to have him put to death. Wha... [ Continue Reading ]
AS THEY CAME OUT] viz. of the city, executions being forbidden within the walls (Numbers 15:35; 1 Kings 21:13; Acts 7:58; Hebrews 13:12). Up to this point Jesus had carried His own cross (_patibulum_): see John 19:17. The tradition that Jesus fainted under the cross is probably true: see Mark 15:22.... [ Continue Reading ]
GOLGOTHA (Aramaic), or _Calvaria_ (Latin), means 'a skull.' It received its name either from being the place of execution, or from being an eminence shaped like a skull. It was certainly not a 'mountain,' as it has been popularly called since the 5th cent. Calvary was close by the garden in which Je... [ Continue Reading ]
VINEGAR (RV 'wine') .. MINGLED WITH GALL] Mk 'wine mingled with myrrh': see Psalms 69:21. Pious women of Jerusalem were ac customed to offer to condemned criminals a draught of wine and myrrh just before their execution, to stupefy them. The editor of the Gk. Matthew, not understanding the custom, a... [ Continue Reading ]
CRUCIFIED HIM] It is important to notice, as bearing upon the question of the reality of Christ's death and resurrection, that the feet were nailed as well as the hands. Even if Christ was not quite dead, the nailing of the feet would effectually prevent His leaving the tomb to appear to the apostle... [ Continue Reading ]
THIEVES] RV 'robbers,' i.e. brigands, as distinguished from thieves: see on Lk.... [ Continue Reading ]
PASSED BY] The reference to the passengers along the roads is another indication that this was a working day, not the Passover.... [ Continue Reading ]
THOU THAT DESTROYEST THE TEMPLE (RV 'sanctuary')] They called upon Him to perform what He was actually about to do, for 'the temple' was His body: see John 2:21.... [ Continue Reading ]
HE TRUSTED IN GOD] Psalms 22:8. The action of the judges in jeering at the sufferings of the man they had condemned to death, is indecent and brutal. Their misuse of the words of Scripture is blasphemous.... [ Continue Reading ]
FROM THE SIXTH HOUR (noon)] Jesus had now been about three hours on the cross (Mark 15:25). DARKNESS OVER ALL THE LAND (or, 'earth')] The chief, if not the only, historical objection to this darkness, is the silence of Josephus. But Josephus is silent, not only as to this, but as to almost every e... [ Continue Reading ]
ELI, ELI, etc.] Psalms 22:1. It is not certain whether Jesus spoke in Hebrew or Aramaic, for most MSS contain a mixture of both. These words are a cry of the human nature of Jesus, which alone could suffer desertion, when He experienced the bitterness of death. They may serve to comfort Christian me... [ Continue Reading ]
CALLETH FOR ELIAS] RV 'calleth Elijah.' 'No Jew could have mistaken _Eli_ for the name of Elijah, nor yet misinterpreted a quotation of Psalms 22:1 as a call for the prophet' (Edersheim). 'The Jews said this in mockery, having many stories of appearances of Elijah to rescue men from peril of death'... [ Continue Reading ]
VINEGAR] i.e. _posca,_ the sour common wine drunk by the Roman soldiers. Whatever may have been the sentiments of the bystanders, the motive of the man who offered the vinegar was compassion. The Fourth Gospel alone gives the reason of the act. It was our Lord's fifth word, 'I thirst' (John 19:28).... [ Continue Reading ]
Here many ancient authorities insert an account of the spear-thrust mentioned John 19:34. It is remarkable that the interpolation (if such it is) mentions the spear-thrust before the death of Jesus, and not after it, as in St. John.... [ Continue Reading ]
CRIED AGAIN] with a loud voice in triumph, 'It is finished' (John 19:30), adding immediately, 'Father, into thy hands,' etc. (Luke 23:46). YIELDED UP] He died voluntarily (John 10:18).... [ Continue Reading ]
THE VEIL OF THE TEMPLE] Two veils, a cubit apart, hung before the Holy of Holies. They are said to have been 40 cubits (60 ft.) long, 20 wide, and of the thickness of the palm of the hand. Both were rent. Josephus, for obvious reasons, does not record this event. The significance of the rending of t... [ Continue Reading ]
THE GRAVES WERE OPENED] i.e. by the shock of the earthquake. AND MANY BODIES OF THE SAINTS, etc.] i.e. they rose, not immediately, but with Christ at His Resurrection. This incident seems to be a pictorial setting forth of the truth that in the Resurrection of Christ is involved the resurrection of... [ Continue Reading ]
THE SON OF GOD] RM 'a son of God,' i.e. a hero or demigod, which is more suitable in the mouth of a heathen soldier. St. Luke, 'Truly this man was righteous.'... [ Continue Reading ]
MINISTERING] It was the custom of Jewish women to contribute to the support of famous rabbis: see on Luke 8:1.... [ Continue Reading ]
MARY MAGDALENE] Most authorities regard 'Magdalene' as equivalent to 'of Magdala,' a town near Tiberias. There is no ground for the common identification of this Mary with the sister of Lazarus, or with the 'sinner' who anointed our Lord's feet (Luke 7:37). MARY THE MOTHER OF JAMES AND JOSES] St. M... [ Continue Reading ]
ARIMATHÆA] unidentified. Perhaps Ramathaim Zophim in the hill-country of Ephraim. JOSEPH] According to St. Luke he was a member of the Sanhedrin, who had not consented to the death of Jesus. According to St. John he was assisted by Nicodemus.... [ Continue Reading ]
BURIAL OF JESUS (Mark 15:42; Luke 23:51; John 19:38 : see on Jn). The burial of Jesus in the tomb of a wealthy and influential man was a literal fulfilment of Isaiah 53:9 : 'with the rich in his death.'... [ Continue Reading ]
BEGGED THE BODY] According to St. Mark, Pilate assured himself that Jesus was really dead before surrendering the body. It was not lawful to suffer a man to hang all night upon a tree, Deuteronomy 21:23. Strictly speaking, Jesus had no legal right to honourable burial. The Jewish law was, 'They that... [ Continue Reading ]
HE HAD HEWN] Only St. Matthew mentions that the tomb belonged to Joseph.... [ Continue Reading ]
THE OTHER MARY] i.e. Mary the mother of James and Joses.... [ Continue Reading ]
NOW THE NEXT DAY] RV 'Now on the morrow, which is the day after the Preparation.' The 'Preparation' is the usual word for Friday.... [ Continue Reading ]
THE SEPULCHRE IS GUARDED (peculiar to St. Matthew). It is sometimes argued that this incident is unauthentic, because the enemies of Christ would not be likely to remember obscure prophecies of the Resurrection, which even the disciples failed to understand. This view is possible. But they remembere... [ Continue Reading ]
AFTER THREE DAYS] John 2:19; Matthew 12:40, etc.... [ Continue Reading ]
YE HAVE] BM 'Take a guard,' viz. of Roman soldiers.... [ Continue Reading ]
AND SETTING A WATCH] RV 'the guard being with them.'... [ Continue Reading ]