EXHORT ONE ANOTHER DAILY, WHILE IT IS CALLED TO-DAY; LEST ANY OF YOU BE HARDENED THROUGH THE DECEITFULNESS OF SIN.-Heb. iii. 13.

Pilate intercedes the fifth time for Jesus' release.—Luke xxiii, 13—.6.*

13 And Pilate, when-he-had-called-together the chief-priests and the rulers and the 14 people, said unto them, Ye-have-brought this man unto-me, as one that-perverteth алоσтреДоvта the people: and, behold, I, having-examined him before you, have-found 15 no fault in this man touching those things whereof ye-accuse him: no, nor-yet Herod : 16 for I-sent you to him; and, lo, nothing worthy of-death is done unto-him.

therefore -chastise him, and-release him.

a-notable prisoner
δέσμιον επισημον,
called Barabbas.

I-will

LUKE Xxiii. 17-.9.

JOHN.

(For of-necessity 17 he-must release one unto-them at the-feast.)

named Barabbas,
which lay bound with them
that-had-made-insurrection-with-
him, who had-committed
murder in the insurrection.

SCRIPTURE ILLUSTRATIONS.
gathered the children of Jerusalem, as a hen gather-
eth her brood under her wings, resulted in the utter
destruction of their place and nation, Is. viii. 8; Mt.
xxiii. 37, § 85, p. 320; xxiv. 28, § 86, p. 336; Lu.
xix. 41-.4, § 82, pp. 264, ..5.

Lu. xxiii. 14. as one that perverteth, &c.—see on ver. 2, p. 445. found no fault-1 Pe. ii. 15, 'So is the will of God, that with well doing ye may put to silence the igno

rance of foolish men:

15. no, nor yet Herod-who had opportunity of

knowing the truth respecting Jesus' guilt, if there
had been any, ch. ix. 7, § 40, p. 304.
16. I will therefore chastise, &c.-Pr. xii. 10, The
tender mercies of the wicked are cruel.'
Mt. xxvii. 15. was wont lo release-Jno. xviii. 39,
p. 442, supra.

guilty of that with which Jesus had been wrongfully
Mk. xv. 7. insurrection - Barabbas was actually
charged, Lu. xxiii. 2, p. 445, stirring up sedition-
besides which he was a murderer.

NOTES.

is said, 1 Sa. xii. 12, The LORD your God was your
king. Some of those who now cried this, died miser-
ably in rebellion against Cæsar about forty years
afterwards. It was a mere pretence; since the Jews
always maintained that they owed no allegiance to
any earthly monarch, but were subjects of God only.
They were so eager to accomplish the destruction of
Jesus, that they did not scruple to make such an
acknowledgment of Cæsar's sovereignty over them,
as was at variance with all their national principles
and feelings. See on Mt. xxii. 17, § 84, p. 296.
Lu. xxiii. 14. Having examined him, &c. See on
15. And, lo, nothing worthy of death is done unto
him. The meaning is, "And, lo, nothing suitable
to the case of one who deserves death has been done
to Jesus by Herod." But the original admits of a
different translation, and may mean, " And now it is
evident that nothing worthy of death has been done
by Jesus."-Lonsdale and Hale.

ver. 4, p. 446.

16. I will therefore chastise him. Here Pilate began to give ground, which only encouraged them to press on. [maidsugas, "having chastised." Παιδεύειν prothe adjunct, to correct, either generally, or in some perly signifies to educate a child; and then, from particular manner, expressed or understood. Here punishment by flagellation is meant; which, among The kind of flagellation varied according to the the Romans, always preceded capital punishment. offence, being sometimes simply flogging with rods; in most cases scourging with the flagella. Here, however, the flagellation meant must be that spoken of by St. Paul, 2 Co. xi. 25, "Thrice was I beaten with rods,"-Comp. Jno. xix. 1, p. 443.'-Bloomf.)

Mt. xxvii. 15. Was wont to release unto the people, c. It is impossible to ascertain with any certainty at what time, or by whom, this custom originated. Livy acquaints us that in Rome, on some certain holidays, the prisoners were freed from their chains. PRACTICAL REFLECTION. [Lu. xxiii. 13-.6. It argues little for the consis- justice of his accusers. A ruler altogether weakens tency or probity of the judge, to acknowledge the his own authority as well as that of the law, who, prisoner innocent, and yet propose to punish him, under the influence of even priestly or popular clampretending at the same time to complain of the in- our, perpetrates palpable injustice.] *VII. The chief priests, therefore, as our Lord's accusers, and the rest of the multitude, being again assembled before Pilate sitting pro tribunali in his former attitude, and Jesus also being present in public, the language of irony is dropped, and the people are addressed in the serious manner recorded by St. Luke, xxiii. 13-6, concluding with a proposal to inflict a moderate chastisement on the accused party, such as might seem to be due for aspiring, however innocently, at the name of King, and so let him go; the fact of which proposal, under such circumstances, is substantially confirmed by St. Matthew and by St. Mark; and makes the second instance of the kind since the commencement of this examination, but the fifth which had occurred upon the whole.

VOL. II.]

THE COUNSELS OF THE WICKED ARE DECEIT.-Prov. xii. 5.

THEY THAT ARE AFTER THE FLESH DO MIND THE THINGS OF THE FLESH; BUT THEY THAT ARE AFTER THE SPIRIT, ETC.-Rom. viii. 5.

[419

THE TONGUE CAN NO MAN TAME; IT IS AN UNRULY EVIL, FULL OF DEADLY POISON.-Jas. iii. 8.

Pilate's wife's message,
MARK.

TO HIM THAT KNOWETH TO DO GOOD, AND DOETH IT NOT, TO HIM IT IS SIN.-Jas. iv. 17.

SCRIPTURE ILLUSTRATIONS.

NOTES.

PRACTICAL REFLECTIONS.

See foot-note (V.), p. 448.

'VIII. Though the proposal was rejected-yet was it renewed once and again; making together the third THE WICKED SHALL DO WICKEDLY:-Dan. xii. 10.

LET US BE THANKFUL TO GOD THAT WE LIVE IN A LAND WHERE THE MINISTRATION OF THE LAW

Mt. xxvii. 20. persuaded-Je. v. 30, .1, 'A wonderful and horrible thing... The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule by their means; and my people love to have it so:'-Ho. vi. 9, And as troops of robbers wait for a man, so the company of priests murder,' &c.-Mi. iii. 5, 6, Thus saith the LORD concerning the prophets that make my people err, Therefore night shall be unto you, that ye shall not have a vision;'-Mt. xv. 14, § 44, p. 9, They be blind leaders of the blind.'

JOHN.

have accused Jesus of claiming to be their King-His own view of the kingdom is not so limited, Is. xlv. 22, Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth:-25, In the LORD shall all the seed of Israel be justified, and shall glory.'-See on Jno. xviii. 33-.7, p. 441, supra.

...

called himself the King of the Jews, or that he King of the Jews-It does not appear that Jesus was so called by his disciples-By Nathanael he had been confessed, Jno. i. 49, § 10, p. 73, the Son of God; Lu. xxiii. 20. willing to release Jesus-Pilate, Ac. the King of Israel.'-By Peter, Mt. xvi. 16, § 50, iii. 13, was determined to let him go.'-And yet both p. 37, The Christ, the Son of the living God.'- and he he and Herod are recognised as being against Christ, speaks of himself as sent unto the lost sheep of the iv. 27-They acknowledged his innocence, Lu. xxiii. house of Israel.' xv. 24, § 45, p. 14-At an early period 13-.5, p. 419, supra, and gave him the titles and the of his ministry, many of the Jews, even at Jerusalem, forms of royalty, but this as despising his authority, 'believed in his name,' but he did not commit himJno. xix. 1-5, p. 443, supra; Lu. xxiii. 11, p. 448, self unto them,' knowing what was in man,' Jno. supra-and delivering him into the hands of his ii. 23.5, § 12, p. 82-And when Nicodemus, one of the enemies, whilst making a shew of resistance to the rulers, came to him by night, so far from lending malignity of the chief priests, Mt. xxvii. 24, .5, p. 452, himself to any seditious design, in order to become infra. King of the Jews, he gave essentially the same deMt. xxvii. 22. Christ-see before, ver. 17, p. 450. scription of his kingdom as he afterwards did to Pilate-comp. iii. 3-21, § ib., pp. 83-.7, with xviii. Mk. xv. 12. whom ye call, &c.-The Jews appear to 36, .7, p. 441, supra.

NOTES.

Mt. xxvii. 20. Persuaded the multitude, &c. The exciting of the crowd seems to have taken place while Pilate was receiving the message from his wife.

Ask Barabbas, who had raised an insurrection and committed murder;

And destroy Jesus, who had, during the space of three years and a half, gone about unweariedly, from village to village, instructing the ignorant, healing the diseased, and raising the dead.

Lu. xxiii. 18. All at once. аμλnosì, 'the whole multitude together.'

PRACTICAL REFLECTION.-Mt. xxvii. 20. See margin.

and fourth instances respectively, since the beginning of this trial in public, but the sixth and the seventh in all and these are instances recorded by each of the three evangelists, and in terms, especially as concerns the second of them, very much the same.

VOL. II.]

THE PLOWING OF THE WICKED, IS SIN.-Prov. xxi. 4.

[451

IS UNINFLUENCED BY POPULAR CLAMOUR, STIRRED INTO MADNESS BY PRIESTLY INTRIGUE.

IN ALL LABOUR THERE IS PROFIT: BUT THE TALK OF THE LIPS TENDETH ONLY TO PENURY.-Prov. xiv. 23.

SCRIPTURE ILLUSTRATIONS. Lu. xxiii. 22. what evil, &c.-so for David did Jonathan plead with Saul his father, and said, I Sa. xix. 4,5, Wherefore then wilt thou sin against innocent blood, to slay David without a cause ?'-xx. 32, Wherefore shall he be slain? what hath he done ?'

JOHN.

would ascend into the hill of the Lord, and stand in his holy place, must have clean hands, Ps. xxiv. 3, 4 But it is not any ceremonial washing that can answer the demand, Is. i. 16, Wash you, make you clean;'-Ps. xxvi. 6, 'I will wash mine hands in innocency so will I compass thine altar, O LORD:'-Pr. xviii. 5, It is not good to accept the person of the wicked, to overthrow the righteous in judgment."Ps. xliii. 1, Judge me, O God, and plead my cause against an ungodly nation: O deliver me from the deceitful and unjust man.'

Mt. xxvii. 24. washed his hands-If a person were found slain in the land of Israel, the elders of the nearest city were to wash their hands over a heifer, the head of which had been struck off, in a valley that had been neither ploughed nor sown, and they were to say, De. xxi. 7, 8, Our hands have not shed this blood, neither have our eyes seen it. Be this just, &c.-Is. liii. 11, 'By his knowledge'-which merciful, O LORD, unto thy people Israel, whom thou Pilate stopped not to acquire, Jno. xviii. 38, p. 442, hast redeemed, and lay not innocent blood unto thy supra-' shall my righteous servant justify many;" people of Israel's charge. And the blood shall be-Je. xxiii. 6, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSforgiven them.'-Pilate might have added the words NESS.-2 Co. v. 21, For he hath made him to be sin of Job to his miserable subterfuge, ch. ix. 30, .1, 'If for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the I wash myself with snow water, and make my hands righteousness of God in him.'-1 Pe. iii. 18, For never so clean; yet shalt thou plunge me in the ditch, Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the and mine own clothes shall abhor me.'-He that unjust, that he might bring us to God,'

NOTES.

Lu. xxiii. 22. What evil hath he done? From this, it is evident that Pilate was convinced that there was nothing laid to his charge, for which, consistently with the Roman laws, he could condemn him.

Mt. xxvii. 23. They cried out the more. Trying, by the increased violence of their clamour, to make up for their inability to answer the reasonable question of the governor.

24. A tumult was made. And he might fear the consequences of it, if he disregarded their request. He took water, &c. The washing of the hands to betoken innocence from blood-guiltiness is prescribed, De. xxi. 6-9; and alluded to Ps. xxvi. 6; and Pilate uses it here as intelligible to the Jews. It was also the custom among the heathens, when they had shed blood, to wash their hands in water to purify themselves. So, also, a judge on passing sentence upon a criminal, usually raised his hands

towards heaven, and testified he was guiltless, àãos,
of the blood of the person condemned.
[The reluctance of Pilate to sentence Christ, con-
sidering his merciless character, is signally remark-
able; and, still more, his repeated protestations of
the innocence of his prisoner, although he had
generally made no scruple of confounding the inno-
cent with the guilty. But he was unquestionably
influenced by the overruling providence of God, to
make the righteousness of his Son appear in the
clearest light, by the fullest, the most authentic, and
of his judges;-2ndly, by the message of Pilate's
the most public evidence-1st, by the testimony even
wife;-3rdly, by the testimony of the traitor who
hanged himself in despair for betraying the innocent
blood;-4thly, by the testimony of the Roman centu-
rion and guard at his crucifixion; and lastly, of his
fellow-sufferer on the cross. Never was innocence
attested like unto his.]

IX. The obstinacy of the Jews remaining invincible, Pilate now takes water; and to attest his own innocency in consenting to the death of Jesus out of deference to their importunity, performs before the eyes of the people the symbolical action recorded by St. Matthew alone.

452]

THE LORD SHALL JUDGE HIS PEOPLE.-Heb. x. 30.

[VOL. II.

THE CROWN OF THE WISE IS THEIR RICHES:

BUT THE FOOLISHNESS OF FOOLS IS FOLLY

Prov. xiv. 24.

LET US PRAY THAT THE BLOOD OF JESUS WHICH HAS BEEN SO LONG UPON THE JEWS

and when-he-had

scourged Jesus,
he-delivered
him
to be-crucified.

and delivered

Jesus, when-he-hadscourged him, d to be-crucified.

LUKE Xxiii. 24, .5.

people,

And Pilate 24

5 gave-sentence that-it-
should-be as-they required.

And he-released 25
unto-them him
that-for sedition and
murder was-cast into prison,
whom they-had-desired;
but he-delivered
Jesus

d to their will. SCRIPTURE ILLUSTRATIONS. Mt. xxvii. 25. His blood be on us, &c.-Nu. xxxv. 33, "Blood it defileth the land: and the land cannot be cleansed of the blood that is shed therein, but by the blood of him that shed it.'-De. xix. 10, That innocent blood be not shed in thy land, . . . . and so blood be upon thee.'-Ps. ix. 10, They that know thy name. will put their trust in thee:'-12, When he maketh inquisition for blood, he remembereth thein: he forgetteth not the cry of the humble.'-By their slaying the messengers of peace, even the visits of mercy were to the Jews to be turned into curse, Mt. xxiii. 34, .5, § 85, p. 319, Behold, I send unto you prophets,.... That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias,' &c.—He. x. 29-31, Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace? 30, For we know him that hath said, Vengeance belongeth unto me, I will recompense, saith the Lord. And again, The Lord shall judge his people. 31, It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.'

Lu. xxiii. 24. as they required-It is to be observed that the death of Jesus had been determined on before his enemies had fixed upon a particular form

JOHN xix. 16.

(Ver. 15, p. 448.)

Then delivered- 16 he him

therefore unto-them

of accusation. The accusation, King of the Jews,' was not once mentioned in his examination before the high priest, but Christ, the Son of God,' which to Pilate could not be a very intelligible accusation, except it were understood, that by that title Jesus claimed to rule, as a temporal prince, over the Jews, in opposition to the Roman government-Although this was a false accusation, it was the only feasible one with which they could come before Pilate-But dreading a popular demonstration in favour of Jesus, Mt. xxvi. 4, 5, § 86, p. 356, they wished to dispose of him as speedily and quietly as was consistent with the forms of law, and according to a secret understanding they had wished to have with the governor, Jno. xviii. 30, p. 440, supra, and without giving that publicity which ultimately was given to the supposed claims of Jesus as the Christ-Their eagerness to gratify their malevolence, in a manner so characteristic of treacherous Judah, see Je. iii. 11, appears to have irritated the Roman governor into a course of conduct the very opposite to that which the Jewish priests had desired-He shewed how utterly he could despise any popular feeling in behalf of one bearing the title of King of the Jews, until, emboldened by his conduct, the priests began to feel they might act less covertly, and guide, rather than stand in awe of, the public clamour, so as to compel Pilate in a manner to change places with them, and from a bold despiser of justice, become a base betrayer of it.

NOTES.

Mt. xxvii. 26. When he had scourged Jesus. Among the Romans scourging was always inflicted previously to crucifixion, as appears from several passages in their writings.

The Jews used a whip of three cords, and limited the number of stripes to thirty-nine, 2 Co. xi. 24; but the Romans' most usual way of scourging was with such rods or wands as the lictors carried in a bundle before the chief magistrates; and this scourging was exceedingly cruel, tearing the flesh to the veins and arteries.

Mt. xxvii. 24. See ye to it. Take it upon yourselves, for ye put him to death. 25. His blood be on us, &c. Among the Greeks and Romans this kind of denunciation or devotement was used by the witnesses. It was therefore appositely expressed before a Roman tribunal. It was as much as to say, if this man be innocent, and we put him to death as a guilty person, may the punishment due to such a crime be visited upon us, and upon our children after us! What a dreadful imprecation! and how literally fulfilled! The notes on ch. xxiv. § 86, will shew how they fell victims to their own imprecation, being visited with a series of Delivered him to be crucified. Tacitus, the Roman calamities unexampled in the history of the world. historian, mentions the death of Christ in very reMk. xv. 15. Willing to content the, &c. 8xλ romarkable terms:- Nero put those who commonly ixavor moiñoai. To satisfy the wishes of the people,' went by the name of Christians to the most exquisite or, as Grotius explains it, agreeably to the usage of tortures. The author of this name was CHRIST, satis facere in Latin writers, to remove all causes of who was capitally punished in the reign of TIBERIUS, complaint on their part.'-Comp. Jno. xix. 1, 16, p. 443. by PONTIUS PILATE the PROCURATOR.' PRACTICAL REFLECTIONS.

Mt. xxvii. 25. Let us take heed-fearfully has that prayer of the Jews been answered.—And see margin. (Mk. xv. 15. What an unjust judge! Willing to content the people!']

[Let the awful consequences of disregarding justice in the case of this one poor man, the despised Propnet of Nazareth, teach the utter unprofitableness of consulting expediency in preference to the claims of justice and of truth.]

X. This being done, and the sacrifice of Jesus to the will of the people being now resolved upon-as a necessary preliminary to the execution of his sentence, according to the custom of the Roman law-he is

VOL. 11.]

WE ARE SAVED BY HOPE:-Rom. viii. 24.

[453

FOR CONDEMNATION, MAY SOON BE FOUND UPON THEM FOR JUSTIFICATION.