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who was sitting on the tribunal in the pavement, and begged him to have no hand in the death of the righteous person he was judging. Matt xxvii. 19. When he was set down on the judgment-seat, his wife sent unto him, saying, Have thou nothing to do with that just man; for 1 have suffered many things this day in a dream because of him. The people had not yet said whether they would have Jesus or Barabbas released to them. Therefore when Pilate received his wife's message, he called the chief priests and the rulers together, and, in the hearing of the multitude, made a speech to them, wherein he gave an account of the exa mination which Jesus had undergone at his tribunal, and at Herod's, and declared that in both courts the trial had turned out honourably for his character. Wherefore he proposed to them that he should be the object of the people's favour. Luke xxiii. 13. And Pilate, when he had called together the chief priests, and the rulers, and the people, 14. Said unto them, Ye have brought this man unto me, as one that perverteth the people: and behold, I having examined him before you, have found no fault in this man touching these things whereof ye accuse him; 15. No, nor yet Herod: for I sent you to him, and lo, nething worthy of death is done unto him, (xsxgayμevov avto, is done by him.) 16. Į will therefore chastise him, and release him. 17. For of necessity he must release one unto them at the feast. Pilate did the priests the honour of desiring to know their inclinations in particular, perhaps with a design to soften them. But he expected that however averse they might be to his proposal, it would have been acceptable to the populace, not doubting but they would embrace the first opportunity of declaring in his favour. Yet he was disappointed. Matt. xxvii. 20. But the chief priests and elders persuaded the multitude, (Mark, moved the people: ances TOY exλ) that they should ask Barabbas, and destroy Jesus. Luke xxiii. 18. * And they cried out all at once, saying, Away with this man (aige Tutar, tolle istum in crucem, crucify this fel low) and release unto us Barabbas. John xviii. 40. Now Barabbas was a robber, Luke xxiii. 19. who for a certain sedition made in the city, the crime which they falsely accused Jesus of, and for murder, was cast into prison. Thus the Jewish rulers demanded

this.

Luke 18. And they cried out all at once, &c.] John says, xviii. 40Then cried they all again (radıy saying, &c. But the word er does not imply, that the people had refused Jesus and asked Barabbas before The proper meaning of the passage is, that they cried out in opposition to Pilate, who proposed to release Jesus. For a signifies, not only repetition but opposition; contra, ediverso: thus, Matt. iv. 7. « It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord;" i. e. it is written on the other hand, in opposition to the text which the tempter had perverted. Пa signifies also addition, Matt. v. 33. av nxxcutt, Moreover ye have beard, &c. Wherefore the proper translation of John xviii. 40. is, Then cried they all in return, saying, &c.

demanded the release of Barabbas, a notorious villain, who had really been guilty of the crime whereof they falsely accused Jesus; had made an insurrection with some accomplices, and committed murder in the insurrection; a crime which, though their impudence exceeded all bounds, they durst not lay to his charge. For this infamous creature the people likewise begged life, preferring him to the Son of God, who had made it his whole study to do them good. Luke xxiii. 20. Pilate therefore willing to release Jesus, spake again to them. Luke does not tell us what the governor said to the people, but the other evangelists have supplied that defect. Matt. xxvii. 21. The governor answered and said unto them, Whether of the train will ye that I release unto you? He had asked this question before, (Matt. 17.) and repeated it now, not so much for his own information, as to express his surprise at their choice. They said, Barabbas. They said, Barabbas. 22. Pilate saith unto them, What shall I do then with Jesus, which is called Christ? (Mark, What will ye then hit I shall do unto him whom ye call the King of the Jews?) Is it possible that you desire me to crucify him whom so many of you have acknowledged as your Messiah? Luke xxiii. 21. But they (Matt. all) cried, saying, Crucify him, crucify him. Mark xv. 14. Then Pilate said unto them, (Luke, the third time) Why, what evil hath he done? Luke xxiii. 22. I have found no cause of death in him: I will therefore chastise him and let him go. Mark xv. 14. And they cried out the more exceedingly, Crucify him, (Luke, and they were instant with loud voices, requiring that he might be crucified.) So bent were they to have him killed, that though the governor urged them again and again to desire his release, declaring his innocence, and offered three several times to dismiss him, they would not hear it, uitering their rage sometimes in hollow distant iuarticulate murmurs, and sometimes in furious outcries: to such a pitch were their passions raised by the craft of the priests. Pilate, therefore, finding it in vain to struggle with them, called for a bason of water, and washed his hands before the multitude, crying out at the same time, that the prisoner was a good nan, and that he was innocent of his blood. Matt. xxvii. 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 to it. Perhaps Pilate did this agreeably to the rites of heathenism, which prescribed lustrations for such as ignorantly or unwillingly had committed murder. Orather, as he intended thereby to make an impression on a Jewish mob, he did it in compliance with the institutions of Moses, which by this time he could not be altogether ignorant of, and which, in the case of an unknown murder, ordered the elders of the nearest city to wash their hands publicly, and say, "Our hands have not shed this

blood,"

blood," Deut. xxi. 6, 7. In allusion to which law the Psalmist says, "I will wash mine hands in innocence," that is, in testimony of mine innocence. Wherefore, according to the Jewish rites, Pilate by this action made the most solemn public declaration that was in his power of Christ's innocence, and of his resoJution to have no hand in his death. It would appear that he thought to have terrified the mob; for one of his understanding and education could not but be sensible, that all the water in the universe was not able to wash away the guilt of an unrighteous sentence. Nevertheless, solemn as his declaration was, it had no effect; for the people continued inflexible, crying out with one consent, that they were willing to take the guilt of his death upon themselves, Matt. xxvii. 25. His blood be on us and on our children: An imprecation the weight of which lies heavy on the nation to this day! The governor finding by the sound of the cry that it was general, and that the people were fixed in their choice, passed the sentence they desired. Luke xxiii. 24. And the voices of them and of the chief priests prevailed. And Pilate gave sentence that it should be as they required. Mark xv. 15. And so Pilate willing to content the people, released Barabbas unto them. Luke xxiii. 25. And he released unto them him that for sedition and murder was cast into prison, whom they had desired.

The Romans usually scourged the criminals whom they condemned to be crucified. See Jos. Bell. ii. 25. Lucian Revivisc. p. 385. and Elsner in loc. This was the reason that Pilate ordered our Lord to be scourged, before he delivered him to the soldiers to be crucified. John xix. 1. Then Pilate therefore took Jesus and scourged him. Matt. xxvii. 26. And when he had scourged Jesus, he delivered him to be crucified, (Luke, delivered Jesus to their will). Matthew and Mark insinuate, that the scourging was performed on the pavement; for they tell us, that after it was over the soldiers took Jesus into the prætorium, and mocked him. We may therefore suppose that the priests and the multitude required the governor to scourge him openly in their sight; and that he, to pacify them, consented, contrary to his inclination, which, as he believed Jesus to be innocent, must have led him to shew him all the favour in his power.

§ CXLII. Pilate's fourth attempt to save Jesus. Having suffered him to be scourged and mocked, he shews him to the peo ple, in order to excite their pity. Matt. xxvii. 27,-30. Mark xv. 16,-19. John xix. 2,-7.

THE soldiers having received orders to crucify Jesus, carried him into the prætorium after they had scourged him. Here they added he shame of disgrace to the bitterness of his punishment; for, sore as he was by reason of the stripes they had laid

ол

*

on him, they dressed him as a fool, in an old purple robe, (Mark, John) in derision of his being king of the Jews. Then they put a reed into his hand instead of a sceptre; and having made a wreath of thorns, they put it on his head for a crown, forcing it down in such a rude manner that his temples were torn, and his face besmeared with blood. To the Son of God, in this condition, the rude soldiers bowed the knee, pretending respect, but at the same time gave him severe blows, which drove the prickies of the wreath afresh into his temples, then spit upon him, to express the highest contempt of him. Matt. xxvii. 27: Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the common hall, (Mark, the hall called prætorium. See on John xviii. 28. § 138.) and gathered unto him the whole band of soldiers. 28. And they stripped him, and put on him a scarlet robe. (Mark, they clothed him with purple.) 29. And when they had platted a crown of thorns, they put it upon his head, and a reed in his right hand: and they bored the knee before him, (Mark, worshipped him) and mocked him, (Mark, and began to salute him) saying, Hail, King of the Jews. 30. And they spit upon him, and took the reed, and smote him on the head. John xix. 3. And they smote him with their hands: They smote him, some with the reed, and others with their hands. Those who smote him with the reed laid the blows upon the thorns with which his head was crowned; those who smote him with their hands aimed at his cheeks, or some part of his body. The governor, who according to custom was present all the while, found his heart ready to burst with grief. The sight of an innocent and virtuous man treated with such barbarity, raised in him the most painful feelings of pity. And though he had given sentence that it should be as the Jews desired, and had delivered Jesus to the soldiers to be crucified, he thought if he was shewed to the people in that condition, they might yet relent and let him go. With this view, therefore, he resolved to carry him out, a spectacle which might have softened the most envenomed, obdurate, enraged enemies. And that the impression might be the stronger, he went out himself and spike to them. John xix. 4. Pilate therefore went forth again, and saith unto them, Behold I bring him forth to you, that ye may know that I find no fault in him. Though I have sentenced him to die, and have scourged him as one that is to be crucified, I bring him forth to you this once, that I may testify to you again, how fully I am persuaded of his innocence; and that ye may yet have an opportunity to save his life. Upon this Jesus appeared on the pavement, having his face, hair, and shoulders

Mark, They clothed him with purple.] Matthew calls it a scarlet robe. But the ancients gave the name of purple to all colours that had any mixture of red in them; consequently scarlet itself obtained that See Braun. de Vestitu Sacerdotum, lib. i. cap. 14.

name.

shoulders all clotted with blood, and the purple robe bedawbed with spittle. 5. Then came Jesus forth, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. But that the sight of Jesus in this distress might make the greater impression on the multitude, Pilate, while he was coming forward, cried, Behold the man! As if he had said, Will nothing make you relent? have you no bowels, no feelings of pity? can you bear to see the innocent thus injured? Perhaps also the soldiers were allowed to mock and buffet him anew on the pavement, before the multitude. For though the Jews would not take pity on Jesus as a person unjustly condemned, yet when they saw one of their countrymen insulted by heathens, it was natural for the governor to think that their national pride being provoked, they would have demanded his release out of spite. And Pilate saith unto them, Behold the man. But all was to no purpose. But all was to no purpose. The priests, whose rage and malice had extinguished not only the sentiments of jus tice and feelings of pity natural to the human heart, but that love which countrymen bear to one another, no sooner saw Jesus than they began to fear the fickle populace might relent. And therefore, laying decency aside, they led the way to the mob, crying out with all their might, Crucify him! crucify him! John xix. 6. When the chief priests therefore and officers saw him, they cried out, saying, Crucify him, crucify him. The governor, vexed to find the grandees thus obstinately bent on the destruction of a person, from whom they had nothing to fear that was dan gerous either to the church or the state, fell into a passion, and told them plainly, that if they would have him crucified, they must do it themselves, because he would not suffer his people to murder a man who was guilty of no crime. Pilate saith unto them, Take ye him, and crucify him; for I find no fault in him. But they refused this also, thinking it dishonourable to receive permission to punish one who had been more than once publicly declared innocent by his judge. Besides, they considered with themselves, that the governor afterwards might have called it sedition, as the permission had been extorted from him. Wherefore they told him, that though none of the things alleged against the prisoner were true, he had committed such a crime in presence of the council itself, as by their law (Lev. xxiv. 10.) deserved the most ignominious death. He had spoken blasphemy, calling himself the Son of God, a title which no mortal could assume without the highest degree of guilt. 7. The Jews answered him, We have a law, and by our law he ought to die; because he made himself the Son of God. Though Cesar is our master, he governs us by our laws. And therefore, since by our law blasphemy merits death, you ought, by all means, to crucify this blasphe

mer.

§ CXLIII

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