THEN PILATE THEREFORE TOOK JESUS,.... Finding that the Jews would not agree to his release, but that Barabbas was the person they chose, and being very desirous, if possible, to save his life, thought of this method: he ordered Jesus to be taken by the proper officers, AND SCOURGED HIM; that is, co... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE SOLDIERS PLATTED A CROWN OF THORNS,.... This was an emblem of his being surrounded by wicked men, sons of Belial, comparable to thorns, whilst he hung suffering on the cross; and of the sins of his people compassing him about, which were as thorns, very grievous to him; and of his various tr... [ Continue Reading ]
AND SAID, HAIL, KING OF THE JEWS!.... Some copies before this clause read, "and they came unto him"; and so read the Vulgate Latin, Arabic, Coptic, and Ethiopic versions; that is, they came and prostrated themselves before him; bowed the knee unto him, and addressed him in a mock way, as if he was a... [ Continue Reading ]
PILATE THEREFORE WENT FORTH AGAIN,.... When all this was done to Jesus, Pilate went again out of the judgment hall, or however from the place where Jesus had been scourged, and ill used in the manner he was: he went a little before him unto the Jews that stood without, AND SAITH UNTO THEM, BEHOLD I... [ Continue Reading ]
THEN CAME JESUS FORTH,.... Out of the judgment hall, or place where he had been scourged, as soon as Pilate had said these words: WEARING THE CROWN OF THORNS, AND THE PURPLE ROBE; with his temples scratched and torn with the thorny crown, and the blood running down from thence, and his face and eye... [ Continue Reading ]
WHEN THE CHIEF PRIESTS THEREFORE, AND OFFICERS, SAW HIM,.... In this piteous condition, in his mock dress, and having on him all the marks of cruel usage, enough to have moved an heart of stone: and though they were the principal men of the priesthood, and who made great pretensions to religion and... [ Continue Reading ]
THE JEWS ANSWERED HIM,.... Finding they could make nothing of the charge of sedition against him, and that Pilate could not be prevailed upon to condemn him to death upon that score, they try another method, and charge him with blasphemy; which, if the other had succeeded, they would have concealed;... [ Continue Reading ]
WHEN PILATE THEREFORE HEARD THAT SAYING,.... That Jesus had asserted himself to be the Son of God, and that the Jews had a law to put such a person to death that was guilty of such blasphemy: HE WAS THE MORE AFRAID; he was afraid to put him to death, or to consent to it before; partly on account of... [ Continue Reading ]
AND WENT AGAIN INTO THE JUDGMENT HALL,.... From whence he came out, taking Jesus along with him, in order to interrogate him alone upon this head: AND SAITH UNTO JESUS, WHENCE ART THOU? meaning not of what country he was, for he knew he was of the nation of the Jews; nor in what place he was born,... [ Continue Reading ]
THEN SAITH PILATE UNTO HIM,.... Being angry with him, resenting his silence, and looking upon it as a contempt of him; SPEAKEST THOU NOT UNTO ME? he wondered that he stood in no fear of him, who was the Roman governor, his judge; who had the power of life and death; and that he should make no answe... [ Continue Reading ]
JESUS ANSWERED,.... With great intrepidity and courage, with freedom and boldness, as being not at all dismayed with his threatenings, or affected with his proud boasts, and in order to expose the vanity of them: THOU COULDST HAVE NO POWER AT ALL AGAINST ME, EXCEPT IT WERE GIVEN THEE FROM ABOVE: me... [ Continue Reading ]
AND FROM THENCEFORTH PILATE SOUGHT TO RELEASE HIM,.... From the time that Christ spoke the above words; or, as the Syriac version renders it, מטול הדא, "because of this", or on account of the words he had spoken; to which agree the Arabic and Ethiopic versions: he sought by all means, and studied ev... [ Continue Reading ]
WHEN PILATE THEREFORE HEARD THAT SAYING,.... Of the Jews, that a freeing of Jesus would show an unfriendliness to Caesar; and gave very broad hints that they would accuse him to Caesar of treachery and unfaithfulness, in letting go a man, that made pretensions to be a king in his territories; and kn... [ Continue Reading ]
AND IT WAS THE PREPARATION OF THE PASSOVER,.... So the Jews x say, that Jesus suffered on the eve of the passover; and the author of the blasphemous account of his life says y, it was the eve both of the passover and the sabbath; which account so far agrees with the evangelic history; but then this... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT THEY CRIED OUT, AWAY WITH HIM,.... As a person hateful and loathsome to them, the sight of whom they could not bear; and this they said with great indignation and wrath, and with great vehemency, earnestness and importunacy, in a very clamorous way; repeating the words AWAY WITH HIM: they were... [ Continue Reading ]
THEN DELIVERED HE HIM THEREFORE,.... Perceiving he could not by any means work upon them, and that nothing would satisfy them but his death; he therefore passed sentence on him, and gave him up to their will, UNTO THEM TO BE CRUCIFIED; as they requested, and which was done in a judicial way, and al... [ Continue Reading ]
AND HE BEARING HIS CROSS,.... Which was usual for malefactors to do, as Lipsius i shows out of Artemidorus, and Plutarch; the former says, "the cross is like to death, and he that is to be fixed to it, first bears it;'' and the latter says, "and everyone of the malefactors that are punished in bo... [ Continue Reading ]
WHERE THEY CRUCIFIED HIM,.... Namely, at Golgotha, the same with Calvary; and so had what they were so desirous of: AND TWO OTHER WITH HIM, ON EITHER SIDE ONE, AND JESUS IN THE MIDST: these other two men were thieves, as the other evangelists declare; among whom Christ was placed, being numbered an... [ Continue Reading ]
AND PILATE WROTE A TITLE,.... Luke calls it a superscription, Mark, the superscription of his accusation, and Matthew, the accusation itself; it contained the substance of the charge against him, and was written upon a table or board, and nailed to the cross, as Nonnus suggests; to this is the allus... [ Continue Reading ]
THIS TITLE THEN READ MANY OF THE JEWS,.... Who were in great numbers, at the place of execution, rejoicing at his crucifixion, and insulting him as he hung on the cross: FOR THE PLACE WHERE JESUS WAS CRUCIFIED, WAS NIGH UNTO THE CITY; Golgotha, the place of Christ's crucifixion, was not more than t... [ Continue Reading ]
THEN SAID THE CHIEF PRIESTS OF THE JEWS TO PILATE,.... Who were not only informed of this inscription, but might read it themselves, for they were present at the crucifying of Christ, and mocked at him as he hung on the tree; these, when they read the title, were greatly offended at it, partly becau... [ Continue Reading ]
PILATE ANSWERED, WHAT I HAVE WRITTEN I HAVE WRITTEN,.... He seems to say this, as one angry and displeased with them; either because they would not consent to release Jesus, which he was desirous of, but pressed him so very hard to crucify him; or at their insolence, in directing him in what form to... [ Continue Reading ]
THEN THE SOLDIERS, WHEN THEY HAD CRUCIFIED JESUS,.... The crucifixion of Christ was at the request and solicitation of the Jews, was ordered by the Roman governor, and performed by the Roman soldiers; the sinful men into whose hands Christ was to be delivered: TOOK HIS GARMENTS; which they had stri... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY SAID THEREFORE AMONG THEMSELVES,.... When they saw what a curious piece of work it was, and that it was pity to divide it into parts: and besides, that it would have been rendered entirely useless thereby: they moved it to each other, saying, LET US NOT REND IT, BUT CAST LOTS FOR IT, WHOSE IT... [ Continue Reading ]
NOW THERE STOOD BY THE CROSS OF JESUS,.... So near as not only to see him, but to hear him speak: HIS MOTHER; the mother of Jesus, Mary; which showed her affection to Christ, and her constancy in abiding by him to the last; though it must be a cutting sight, and now was fulfilled Simeon's prophecy,... [ Continue Reading ]
WHEN JESUS THEREFORE SAW HIS MOTHER,.... Standing near him, within the reach of his voice, as well as sight, he took notice of her, and showed a concern for her temporal, as well as for her eternal good: AND THE DISCIPLE STANDING BY; either by his cross, his mother, or both: WHOM HE LOVED: meaning... [ Continue Reading ]
THEN SAITH HE TO THE DISCIPLE,.... The same disciple John: BEHOLD THY MOTHER; take care of her, and provide for her, as if she was thine own mother: this shows the meanness of Christ, who had nothing to leave her, though Lord of all; it is very probable that Joseph was dead, and Mary now a widow; a... [ Continue Reading ]
AFTER THIS,.... After he had committed his mother to the care of John, which was about the sixth hour, before the darkness came over the land: and three hours after this was the following circumstance, which was not without the previous knowledge of Christ: JESUS KNOWING THAT ALL THINGS WERE NOW AC... [ Continue Reading ]
NOW THERE WAS SET A VESSEL FULL OF VINEGAR,.... In a place near at hand, as Nonnus observes; not on purpose, for the sake of them that were crucified, either to refresh their spirits, or stop a too great effusion of blood, that they might continue the longer in their misery; but for the use of the s... [ Continue Reading ]
WHEN JESUS THEREFORE HAD RECEIVED THE VINEGAR,.... Of the Roman soldiers, who offered it to him, either by way of reproach, or to quench his thirst; and he drank of it, as is very likely: HE SAID, IT IS FINISHED; that is, the whole will of God; as that he should be incarnate, be exposed to shame an... [ Continue Reading ]
THE JEWS THEREFORE, BECAUSE IT WAS THE PREPARATION,.... That is, either of the passover, as in John 19:14 which was the Chagigah or grand festival in which they offered their peace offerings and slew their oxen, and feasted together in great mirth and jollity; or of the sabbath, the evening of it, o... [ Continue Reading ]
THEN CAME THE SOLDIERS,.... Pilate having granted the Jews what they desired; either the soldiers that crucified Christ, and the others with him, and watched their bodies, being ordered by Pilate, went from the place where they sat; or a fresh company, which were sent for this purpose, came from the... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT WHEN THEY CAME TO JESUS,.... Whom they passed by before, and now returned to; this they did not out of tenderness to him, but that he might be the longer in his torture, and whom they reserved till last, that they might use him with the greater cruelty and barbarity: AND SAW THAT HE WAS DEAD AL... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT ONE OF THE SOLDIERS,.... Whose name some pretend to say was Longinns, and so called from the spear with which he pierced Christ: WITH A SPEAR PIERCED HIS SIDE; his left side, where the heart lies; though the painters make this wound on the right, and the Arabic version of Erpenius, as cited by... [ Continue Reading ]
AND HE THAT SAW IT, BARE RECORD,.... Meaning himself, John the evangelist, the writer of this Gospel, who, in his great modesty, frequently conceals himself, under one circumlocution or another; he was an eyewitness of this fact, not only of the piercing of his side with a spear, but of the blood an... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR THESE THINGS WERE DONE,.... The not breaking his bones and piercing his side, and that not by chance, and without design; but, THAT THE SCRIPTURE SHOULD BE FULFILLED, A BONE OF HIM SHALL NOT BE BROKEN; referring either to Psalms 34:20 he keepeth all his bones, not one of them is broken; which i... [ Continue Reading ]
AND AGAIN ANOTHER SCRIPTURE SAITH,.... Zechariah 12:10 which as the former is referred to on account of the not breaking of his bones, this is cited as fulfilled by the piercing of his side: THEY SHALL LOOK ON HIM WHOM THEY PIERCED; in the Hebrew text it is, "upon me whom they have pierced"; the re... [ Continue Reading ]
AND AFTER THIS,.... That is, after Jesus had given up the ghost, when it was a clear case that he was dead; as it was before the soldiers came to break the legs of the crucified, and before one of them pierced the side of Jesus with his spear, though that confirmed it: but it seems to be before thes... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THERE CAME ALSO NICODEMUS,.... To the cross, at the same time as Joseph did; who, whether they were brethren, as some conjecture, and met here by consent, since one prepared one thing, and another, for the interment of Christ, is not certain. This Nicodemus is thought to be the same with Nicodem... [ Continue Reading ]
THEN TOOK THEY THE BODY OF JESUS,.... It being taken down from the cross, and carried to the designed place of interment; they, Joseph and Nicodemus, either themselves, or by their servants, took the body; AND WOUND IT IN LINEN CLOTHES; or "swathed", or "wrapped it in linen"; rolled it about the bo... [ Continue Reading ]
NOW IN THE PLACE WHERE HE WAS CRUCIFIED,.... Which takes in all that spot of ground that lay on that side of the city where he was crucified; or near to the place of his crucifixion, for it was not a garden in which he was crucified: THERE WAS A GARDEN; all gardens, except rose gardens, were withou... [ Continue Reading ]
THERE LAID THEY JESUS THEREFORE,.... Because it was a new sepulchre, and no man had been ever laid there before; and some other reasons are added: BECAUSE OF THE JEWS' PREPARATION DAY; either for the Chagigah, or the sabbath, which was just at hand; the Persic version reads, "the night of the sabba... [ Continue Reading ]