Matthew Chapter Twenty-Seven
The Final Counsel, 27:1, 2.
(Mark 15:1; Luke 23:1; John 18:28)
1. took counsel.—The counsel now taken was different from that described in the previous chapter. They had then pronounced him worthy of death; they now take counsel "to put him to death." It was not lawful for the Sanhedrim to put any one to death (John 18:31), that power having been taken away by the Romans and lodged in the Roman governor. The question now discussed was the best method of obtaining Pilate's consent to the execution of Jesus. Doubtless the course which they proceeded to take before Pilate was the one which they now agreed upon.
2. when they had bound him.—He was bound when he was first arrested (John 18:12), and the fact that he was now bound again shows either that his bonds had been loosed while in the presence of the Sanhedrim, or that he was now bound more securely on account of the greater danger of his being rescued by his friends. The latter is the more probable supposition
Pontius Pilate the governor.—After Archelaus, son of Herod the Great (2:22), had reigned over Judea ten years, he was deposed by the Roman government, and Judea was placed under Procurators sent out from Rome. Pilate was the sixth of these, and was appointed in the twelfth year of Tiberius Cæsar, or about three years before the beginning of John's ministry. (Comp. Luke 3:1.) He had now been in office about six years. His character is sufficiently indicated by the incidents connected with the death of Jesus. His official career is fully described in Josephus, and a very succinct account of it is given in Smith's Dictionary.
Remorse and Death of Judas, 3-10
3. saw that he was condemned.—The condemnation is that by Pilate, not that by the Sanhedrim. This appears from the fact that when Judas came to the chief priests to return the money, they were in the temple (verse 5); but after the condemnation by the Sanhedrim "the whole multitude of them arose and led him to Pilate" (Luke 23:1), and they remained about the hall of Pilate until he pronounced the desired sentence of death. It was now time for them to be at their posts in the temple to execute the morning service, and there Judas found them. The incident is introduced in advance of its chronological order so as not to interrupt the subsequent narration.
repented himself.—The word here rendered repented (μεταμέλομαι) means, as we have already stated under 21:29, 32, not to repent, but to regret. In this place the regret was most intense, amounting to remorse.
4. the innocent blood.—Not the innocent blood; the article is not in the original, and is not needed in English. This confession has been rightly regarded as forcible testimony in favor of Jesus. If Judas could have named as an excuse for himself any wrongdoing in the life of his victim, he would surely have done so, and have saved himself the mortification of making this confession. But Judas had enjoyed every possible opportunity of knowing the private life of Jesus, and if he pronounced him innocent he must have been so. It is the unwilling testimony of an enemy whose every interest prompted him to withhold it. The only escape from the argument would be to deny the credibility of the story; but this is prevented by the naturalness of the description, and by the exceeding improbability that just such a story could have been invented.
What is that to us?—This reply of the priests was both hypocritical and cruel. If Jesus was innocent, it concerned them as much as it did Judas, and now that they had used him as a tool, it was the extreme of meanness to try to throw the entire responsibility on him.
5. he cast down the pieces.—Bad as Judas was, there is one point in which he compares favorably with many men who consider themselves his superiors. How many there are possessed of ill-gotten gain who never think, of returning it, but cling to it with desperation until death loosens their grasp! But Judas could not do this: he offers to return it, and when the offer is refused he dashes it on the ground as a thing that he hates. While in pursuit of that money it glittered in his eyes; but now that he has it he spurns it as a thing accursed.
went and hanged himself.—The extreme remorse of Judas is hardly reconcilable with the idea that he had been moved by malice toward Jesus, and it shows that in all probability he had not expected a fatal result. He had seen Jesus escape from death too often to think that he would now allow himself to be slain. He had been instigated to the foul deed of betrayal by love of money alone, and never has that overmastering passion displayed its power more strikingly. Jesus had said every thing to him that had a tendency to shake his purpose. He had told the disciples that one of them would betray him, and by the announcement had drawn from them an expression of horror against such an act. He had then pointed out Judas as the man, and had said in his hearing that it were better for him that he had never been born than that he should do the deed. At last, when he was about to depart from the supper to fulfill his contract, Jesus had said, with reproachful sadness, "That thou doest, do quickly." Deaf to all these warnings, and untouched by sympathy for his unresentful victim, he had doggedly and stolidly maintained his purpose. It was not until his purpose was gained, and consequences against which he had deliberately shut his eyes began to show themselves, that he realized how worthless was his prize and how villainous the means by which he had won it. So it is with every man who comes under the dominion of this base passion: it blinds his eyes and blunts his sensibilities while in the pursuit of gold, only to show him at last that he has bartered his soul for a price which, even while he holds it in his hands, becomes an object of loathing and disgust.
6. It is not lawful.—It would be almost incredible, did not thousands of other examples present themselves, that men could be as blind and inconsistent as these chief priests and elders; too conscientious to put this blood money into the Lord's treasury, but not at all scrupulous about paying it out as the price of innocent blood.
Well did Jesus charge them with straining out gnats and swallowing camels. In the present instance, too, the gnat was one of their own making; for it was their own tradition and not the law which forbade the putting of such money into the treasury. They are not the only men in history who have been less scrupulous about shedding innocent blood than about the observance of their own traditions.
7. the potter's field.—The definite article shows that it was some well known potter's field, and the low price indicates that it was but a small piece of ground, or one of little value. The strangers, for whose burial-place it was purchased, were of course poor strangers, and hence the modern application of the name "potter's field" to all burial-grounds for the poor.
8. unto this day.—This remark shows that Matthew wrote a considerable length of time after the transaction—long enough for it to be worthy of remark that the field still retained its name, "The field of blood."
9, 10. spoken by Jeremy the prophet.—No such passage as the one here quoted is found in the extant writings of Jeremiah; but the following passage from Zechariah bears a striking resemblance to it: "And I said to them, If you think good, give me my price; and if not, forbear. So they weighed for my price thirty pieces of silver. And the Lord said to me, Cast it unto the potter: a goodly price that I was prized at of them. And I took the thirty pieces of silver and cast them to the potter in the house of the Lord." (Zech. 11:12, 13.) It is altogether probable that the quotation in the text is a free rendering of this passage, and that the name Jeremiah has been substituted by transcribers for that of Zechariah. It may be, however, that the quotation is made from some passage of Jeremiah's prophecies not now extant. This is a question for future investigation by critical scholars.
Silence of Jesus before Pilate, Matthew 27:11-14.
(Mark 15:2-5)
11. the King of the Jews.—Pilate understood the cause of Jesus better than the Pharisees pretended to understand it: for although in answer to his question Jesus admitted that he claimed to be King of the Jews, Pilate so construed this claim that he found no fault in Jesus. He knew that the kingdom in question was not to be a rival of Cæsar's.
12-14. he answered nothing.—It was to the accusations of the priests and elders that he answered nothing. He left Pilate to discover from the words and actions of his accusers themselves that their accusations were false and malicious. There is no vindication so complete as that which is found in the proofs presented by the accuser: this vindication was accorded to Jesus by Pilate.
marveled greatly.—Pilate had never before known a prisoner, accused of a capital crime, and prosecuted by powerful enemies, appear so indifferent to the result of his trial. He marveled greatly, because he felt sure that Jesus could vindicate himself, and yet he was making no effort to do so.
Barabbas Preferred, and the Message from Pilate's Wife, Matthew 27:15-23.
(Mark 15:6-15; Luke 23:18-23; John 18:39, 40)
15. to release... a prisoner.—Under the ordinary and just administration of government the people do not desire the release of prisoners; but Judea was a conquered country, and the Jews naturally sympathized with their own countrymen who were prisoners in the hands of the Romans, even when the imprisonment was just; and especially was this the case in regard to political prisoners. It added, therefore, to the general good feeling prevalent during the Passover, and rendered the governor himself more popular, to release to the people such a prisoner as the majority of them would call for: hence the custom here stated.
16. a notable prisoner.—For what he was notable, Matthew does not say; but Mark and John incidentally supplement his account by supplying the needed information. (See John 18:40, and note on Mark 15:7.) Hero again the narratives furnish incidental proofs of each other's fidelity to the truth.
18. for envy.—Nothing had transpired during that morning to convince Pilate that they were moved with envy toward Jesus, except as he connected it with what he had known of their feelings before. This shows that he was familiar with the issues between the parties.
19. his wife sent to him.—The statements concerning Barabbas, and the people's preference for him, are interrupted in order to mention this message from Pilate's wife, and from this we infer that the message was received at this juncture. He had probably left her in bed, and the early arousing of her husband to hear the case of Jesus had caused her, when falling asleep again, to have the dream in question. She, too, it seems, was already convinced that Jesus was a "just man."
20. persuaded the multitude.—The common people who had by this time assembled about Pilate's pretorium, were not of themselves go disaffected toward Jesus as to prefer Barabbas; on the contrary, Pilate made the proposal to them in the expectation that they would call for Jesus, and that he would thus get rid of the case; but "the chief priests and elders persuaded the multitude," and their persuasions prevailed. They doubtless represented to the people that Jesus had been guilty of blasphemy, and that he had already been tried and convicted by the highest tribunal of their nation. This story, strongly supported by the most influential men of the city, produced a sudden revolution in public sentiment, so that the multitude whose friendship for Jesus had two days ago made the Pharisees afraid to arrest him (Matthew 26:4, 5), were now persuaded to cry out for his crucifixion. This was doubtless a part of the plan agreed upon at the counsel before they brought Jesus to Pilate. (Verse 1.)
22, 23. what evil hath he done?—Pilate's question was pertinent and demanded an answer; but in the response we see nothing but the unreasoning spirit of a mob: no argument; no answer to objections; no patience with opposition; no attention to entreaties; nothing but an insane clamor for the one thing desired.
Pilate Yields to the People, Matthew 27:24-26.
(Mark 15:15; Luke 23:24, 25)
24. and washed his hands.—Pilate could have done nothing to more forcibly declare the innocence of Jesus. If the people had not been phrensied, when they saw him solemnly washing his hands, and declaring himself free from the innocent blood about to be shed, they would surely have been deterred from their purpose. But while Pilate's act had this significance, it also displayed his own weakness and hypocrisy. He was there with his men of war to execute justice among the people, and to restrain them when tempted to deeds of lawlessness; but instead of this he consents to the murder of a man in the same breath in which he pronounces him innocent, and he hypocritically pretends to wash away a responsibility which rested more on him than on any other man. For this act his name must ever stand intimately associated with that of Judas Iscariot, and the world scarcely knows which to look upon with greater loathing the timeserving politician, or the money loving traitor.
25. His blood be on us.—With the same desperation which prompted the cry, "Crucify him," the people accepted the blood guiltiness thrown upon them by Pilate. Little did they think what fate they were bringing down on themselves and their children.
26. released Barabbas.—We know not what afterward became of Barabbas. If he lived to know more of Jesus, he must have experienced strange reflections in reference to his own escape from crucifixion. The sentence of death pronounced against Jesus released one man from a similar death, and the execution of the sentence opened for every man a way of escape from death eternal. The innocent suffered that the guilty might go free, Barabbas being the first man saved by the death of Jesus.
scourged Jesus.—It was customary to scourge men just before crucifying them, and Pilate made no exception in favor of "this just person.
Argument of Section 8
The evidence which the foregoing section furnishes in behalf of Jesus is very striking. It shows that a court organized to convict, and resorting to the most unscrupulous measures to effect their purpose, utterly failed to find in his conduct any thing worthy of censure, much less any thing worthy of death. His condemnation was based on his confession of that which he had always openly proclaimed, and which he had substantiated by his life and his miracles. The man who betrayed him into the hands of his enemies declared him innocent, and the judge who pronounced the sentence of death declared him, in the same breath, a just person. Never did such circumstances attend the death of any other man. They attest with a force which no honest mind can resist, the unspotted character of Jesus, and thereby they attest the truthfulness of his claim to be the Christ, the Son of the living God. Moreover, his demeanor throughout these iniquitous proceedings, so perfectly in harmony with his exalted pretensions, affords no mean support to the argument in his favor.
Death, Burial, and Resurrection of Jesus, 27:27-28:20
Mocked and Led away by the Soldiers, 27-32.
(Mark 15:16-21; Luke 23:26-32; John 19:1-3)
27-29. Mocked him.—It seems that after the scourging, Jesus was given up for a few moments to the pleasure of the heathen soldiery. More amused than offended at his pretensions to be a king, they began their mocking in a spirit of levity.
30. spit upon him.—The scene which commenced in sportive mockery terminated in more serious feeling and more contemptuous conduct. Exasperated, perhaps, by the meek demeanor of Jesus, the soldiers turned their mockery into indecency and violence. Next to the crucifixion itself, here was the greatest extreme of the world's cruelty to its Maker and its Benefactor. This was a strange sight to the angels. It can not be contemplated by men without a shudder.
31. took the robe off.—Before leading him away to the crucifixion they restored to him his own raiment, but not till Pilate had led him forth to the people wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe, and said, "Behold the man." (John 19:5.)
32. a man of Cyrene.—Cyrene was a flourishing city in the north of Africa, but Simon, as his name indicates, was a Jew. They compelled him to carry the cross merely because he was a stranger, and they met him at the moment that a man was needed for the purpose, Jesus himself having borne it thus far (John 19:17), and being in all probability exhausted by the effort Simon, like all of us when called on to bear the cross, took it up reluctantly, no doubt, but like us when we have borne it faithfully, he was brought to Calvary and to the blood of atonement. There were many Cyrenians afterward engaged in spreading the gospel (Acts 2:10; 11:20; 13:1), and we may indulge the thought that in all probability Simon was one of them.
The Crucifixion At Golgotha, 33-38.
(Mark 15:22-28; Luke 23:33, 34; John 19:16-24)
33. Golgotha.—A Syro-Chaldaic word, meaning, as translated in the text, "a place of a skull." The spot was so called, no doubt, from some circumstance of which we know nothing, and in reference to which conjectures are in vain. All that we certainly know of the locality is that it was outside of the city (Heb. 13:12), and yet "nigh to the city" (John 19:20).
34. he would not drink.—The mixture of vinegar (sour wine) and gall was intended to render him less susceptible to pain; but Jesus, having resolved to suffer, declined any such relief.
35. casting lots.—Here again Matthew states a fact needing explanation, and John incidentally furnishes the explanation needed. There appears from Matthew's account no reason why they should have cast lots in order to divide the garments; but we learn from John that the coat, which was the principal garment, was seamless, so that the goods in it could not be divided, and that it was on this the lots were cast. (John 19:23, 24.) The reference to the prophet in this verse is interpolated from John 19:24.
36. they watched him.—That is, they kept guard over him to prevent his being removed from the cross.
37. his accusation.—That is, the ground or cause of his accusation, which was the title that he claimed as King of the Jews.
38. two thieves.—Not (κλεπται) thieves, but (λησται) robbers. They had been condemned to death for robbery, and were executed at this time probably to save the trouble of a separate execution; but the circumstance, whether so intended or not, added materially to the indignity heaped upon Jesus.
Revilings of the People, 39-44.
(Mark 15:29-32; Luke 23:35-43.)
39, 40. that destroyest the temple.—It is strange how tenaciously the minds of the people clung to the old slander that Jesus threatened to destroy the temple and build it again in three days. The remark from which it sprang was made during his first visit to Jerusalem after his baptism (John 2:18-22), and yet it is now thrown in his teeth while he hangs on the cross, as though it were the most boastful speech that he had ever made.
41, 42. He saved others.—The chief priests, with the scribes and elders, mock him with reference not to his boast of power, but to his exercise of it. They had doubtless feared that he would save himself, and they were now exulting in the thought that he could not do so.
43. He trusted in God.—As he seemed unable to save himself, they now taunt him with his profession of trust in God, and assume that he can not be the Son of God, or the Father himself would deliver him. All of these revilings are indicative of guilty fear mingled with cruel exultation.
44. The thieves also.—They felt exasperated, perhaps, because his execution hastened their own. We learn from Luke, however, that one of them repented (Luke 23:35-43), and rebuked his companion for reviling Jesus. Matthew, therefore, either uses the plural indefinitely here, as he does in Matthew 26:8, 9, or he states what both the robbers did at the beginning, and omits the subsequent repentance of one of them.
The Darkness and the End, 45-56.
(Mark 15:33-41; Luke 23:44-49; John 19:28-30)
45. there was darkness.—This darkness, as Alford well remarks, can not have been caused by an eclipse of the sun, because the moon was full at the time, as it always was on the first day of the Passover. Whether the darkness was over "all the earth," in our sense of the terms, or only over the small portion of it to which the Jews often applied these words, is uncertain. It came suddenly at noon, and passed away at three o'clock; consequently it prevailed during the three hours in which the sun has usually its greatest heat and brilliancy.
46. why hast thou forsaken me?—The depth of meaning contained in this bitter outcry can never, we suppose, be fathomed by human thought, yet the word "forsaken" directs our thought in the right channel. If a good man who has long trusted in God and delighted in his favor could suddenly realize that God had forsaken him, he would enter, at least partly, into the Savior's feeling. But the peculiar relation which Jesus sustained to the Father rendered this feeling more intense than human hearts can experience, and at the same time it renders most mysterious to us the forsaking itself. It is enough to know that in it lay the chief bitterness of the Savior's death.
47. calleth for Elias.—I am constrained to think, notwithstanding various opinions of commentators to the contrary (see Lange and Alford), that the persons who made this remark misunderstood Jesus, and took the word Eli for Elias. The mistake arose, not from ignorance of the language, but from the indistinct articulation of Jesus. He had now been on the cross about six hours, and the feverish thirst produced by his intense suffering and some loss of blood, together with the great strain on the muscles of his chest, which resulted from hanging on his outstretched hands, must have rendered articulation difficult and indistinct.
48. gave him to drink.—The drink of vinegar was to remove the painful dryness of the throat which his articulation betrayed. We learn from John also that he said, "I thirst." (John 19:28, 29.)
49. The rest said.—The rest of those who thought that he called for Elias. On the import of their remark, see the note, Mark 15:36.
50. yielded up the ghost.—An obsolete expression for "gave up the spirit." It contemplates the body as the man, and the spirit as being released that it may depart. The thought is utterly inconsistent with Materialism. Luke reports that Jesus said, "Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit," and that "having said thus, he gave up the spirit." (Luke 23:46.)
51. the veil of the temple.—This is the heavy curtain which hung between the holy and most holy places within the temple. By shutting out from the most holy place all persons except the high priest, who alone was permitted to pass through it, and this only once in the year, it signified that the way into the holiest—that is, into heaven—was not yet made manifest while the first tabernacle was standing. (Heb. 9:7, 8.) But the moment that Jesus died, thus making the way manifest, the veil was appropriately rent in twain from top to bottom, disclosing the most holy place to the priests who were at that time offering the evening incense in the holy place.
52, 53. arose, and came out.—The earthquake, the rending of the rooks (verse 51), and the consequent opening of graves, occurred at the moment that Jesus died; while the resurrection and visible appearance in the city of the bodies of the saints occurred "after his resurrection." Matthew chooses to mention the last event here because of its association with the rending of the rocks, which opened the rock-hewn sepulchers in which the saints had slept. There has been much speculation as to what became of these resurrected saints. We have no positive information, but the natural presumption is that they ascended to heaven. The fact that this very singular incident is mentioned by Matthew alone, does not detract from its credibility.
54. this was the Son of God.—From the fact that the centurion was of heathen education, and that the words Son and God are without the article in Greek, some have understood him as meaning, "This was a son of a god." (See George Campbell's notes on Matthew.) But the expression Son of God, with both words anarthrous, occurs frequently in connections which show that it means the same as when the article is used. (Verse 43; Luke 1:35; John 19:7.) It must be remembered also that these Roman officers, while resident in Judea, made it a part of their business to study the peculiarities of the people with whom they had to deal, and that sometimes, as in the case of Cornelius and the centurion of Capernaum (8:8-10), they became converts to the Jewish religion. This man lived in Jerusalem in the midst of the excitement about Jesus; he had this very day heard him charged with blasphemy for claiming to be the Son of God; and he had heard the same idea expressed concerning him since he was suspended on the cross (verse 43); and therefore he must have been stupid indeed if he did not know what was meant by the expression. it is almost certain that he knew what Jesus claimed to be, and that when he saw the miracles accompanying his death, he was convinced that the claim was just.
55, 56. many women.—These women, "who had followed Jesus from Galilee, ministering to him," are represented as "beholding afar off." This accounts for the fact that the mother of Jesus, though present, is not mentioned among them; for she, with the apostle John, was standing nearer, near enough for Jesus to point her out by a look (his only way of doing so) as the one whom John was henceforth to regard as his own mother. (John 19:25-27.)
56. among which.—Matthew names only three of the "many women" (verse 55) who were "beholding afar off." (For a brief account of Mary Magdalene, see note on Mark 16:9.) "Mary the mother of James and Joses "is called by John the wife of Cleophas (John 19:25), another form of the name Alpheus; consequently the James here mentioned as her son is "James the son of Alpheus" (10:3), who was one of the apostles. "The mother of Zebedee's children" was so called because of the celebrity of her two sons, James and John, and probably also because of the death of her husband. (Comp. Matthew 20:20.) Her name was Salome. (Mark 16:1.)
The Burial of Jesus, 57-61.
(Mark 15:42-47; Luke 23:50-56; John 19:31-42)
57, 58. and begged the body.—It was seldom that persona who were crucified had friends to care for their remains; bat Pilate knew too well the popularity of Jesus to be surprised that even a man in Joseph's position should propose to give him a decent burial, and having no malice to gratify, he readily granted the request.
59, 60. in his own new tomb.—The circumstance that Joseph had a new tomb near the spot, in all probability suggested to him the thought of burying the body. That he rolled a stone to the door of it, indicates that it was a vault hewn horizontally into the rock. He undertook the task alone, aided of course by servants, but Nicodemus joined him ere he had completed his task. (John 19:38-41.)
61. sitting over against.—The two Marys had remained near the cross till the body was taken down, and had followed the men, who were probably strangers to them, as they bore the body to the tomb. No doubt it had been their own purpose to have it cared for as best they could, and now that they see all needful attention given to it by others, they quietly sit down opposite the sepulcher and watch the proceedings.
Precaution of the Pharisees, 62-66 62. the next day.—How early the next day is not stated, but as the purpose was to prevent the disciples from stealing the body away (64), the earlier the better. The next day commenced at sunset, and the probability is that the guard was stationed at the tomb before dark.
63, 64. After three days.—It should be observed that although the Pharisees quote Jesus as saying that he would rise "after three days," they ask that the sepulcher be guarded only "until the third day," showing that they regarded the time designated by "after three days" as terminating "on the third day." (For a full discussion of this peculiar usage, see note under 12:40.)
lest his disciples.—Nothing was farther from the minds of the disciples than the resurrection of Jesus, and the fact that when the resurrection took place, they knew not till fifty days had passed what use to make of the fact, is sufficient proof that they could not have planned a pretended resurrection. The singular fact that the enemies of Jesus were more apprehensive of his resurrection than his friends, is accounted for by the consideration that the latter, with their present conceptions, had little to hope for in his resurrection, while the former had much to dread from either the fact itself or a belief of it among the people. A guilty fear makes men more watchful than a languid hope.
65. Ye have a watch.—Not that they had a watch already, for in that case they would not have applied to him for one, but Pilate used this formula to place one at their disposal.
66. sealing the stone.—This was to prevent any one from removing the stone, taking away the body, then replacing the stone and pretending that Jesus had arisen. The stone could not be removed without breaking the seal, and the seal at once would tell the story.
The New Testament Commentary: Vol. I - Matthew and Mark.
(Mark 15:1; Luke 23:1; John 18:28)
1. took counsel.—The counsel now taken was different from that described in the previous chapter. They had then pronounced him worthy of death; they now take counsel "to put him to death." It was not lawful for the Sanhedrim to put any one to death (John 18:31), that power having been taken away by the Romans and lodged in the Roman governor. The question now discussed was the best method of obtaining Pilate's consent to the execution of Jesus. Doubtless the course which they proceeded to take before Pilate was the one which they now agreed upon.
2. when they had bound him.—He was bound when he was first arrested (John 18:12), and the fact that he was now bound again shows either that his bonds had been loosed while in the presence of the Sanhedrim, or that he was now bound more securely on account of the greater danger of his being rescued by his friends. The latter is the more probable supposition
Pontius Pilate the governor.—After Archelaus, son of Herod the Great (2:22), had reigned over Judea ten years, he was deposed by the Roman government, and Judea was placed under Procurators sent out from Rome. Pilate was the sixth of these, and was appointed in the twelfth year of Tiberius Cæsar, or about three years before the beginning of John's ministry. (Comp. Luke 3:1.) He had now been in office about six years. His character is sufficiently indicated by the incidents connected with the death of Jesus. His official career is fully described in Josephus, and a very succinct account of it is given in Smith's Dictionary.
Remorse and Death of Judas, 3-10
3. saw that he was condemned.—The condemnation is that by Pilate, not that by the Sanhedrim. This appears from the fact that when Judas came to the chief priests to return the money, they were in the temple (verse 5); but after the condemnation by the Sanhedrim "the whole multitude of them arose and led him to Pilate" (Luke 23:1), and they remained about the hall of Pilate until he pronounced the desired sentence of death. It was now time for them to be at their posts in the temple to execute the morning service, and there Judas found them. The incident is introduced in advance of its chronological order so as not to interrupt the subsequent narration.
repented himself.—The word here rendered repented (μεταμέλομαι) means, as we have already stated under 21:29, 32, not to repent, but to regret. In this place the regret was most intense, amounting to remorse.
4. the innocent blood.—Not the innocent blood; the article is not in the original, and is not needed in English. This confession has been rightly regarded as forcible testimony in favor of Jesus. If Judas could have named as an excuse for himself any wrongdoing in the life of his victim, he would surely have done so, and have saved himself the mortification of making this confession. But Judas had enjoyed every possible opportunity of knowing the private life of Jesus, and if he pronounced him innocent he must have been so. It is the unwilling testimony of an enemy whose every interest prompted him to withhold it. The only escape from the argument would be to deny the credibility of the story; but this is prevented by the naturalness of the description, and by the exceeding improbability that just such a story could have been invented.
What is that to us?—This reply of the priests was both hypocritical and cruel. If Jesus was innocent, it concerned them as much as it did Judas, and now that they had used him as a tool, it was the extreme of meanness to try to throw the entire responsibility on him.
5. he cast down the pieces.—Bad as Judas was, there is one point in which he compares favorably with many men who consider themselves his superiors. How many there are possessed of ill-gotten gain who never think, of returning it, but cling to it with desperation until death loosens their grasp! But Judas could not do this: he offers to return it, and when the offer is refused he dashes it on the ground as a thing that he hates. While in pursuit of that money it glittered in his eyes; but now that he has it he spurns it as a thing accursed.
went and hanged himself.—The extreme remorse of Judas is hardly reconcilable with the idea that he had been moved by malice toward Jesus, and it shows that in all probability he had not expected a fatal result. He had seen Jesus escape from death too often to think that he would now allow himself to be slain. He had been instigated to the foul deed of betrayal by love of money alone, and never has that overmastering passion displayed its power more strikingly. Jesus had said every thing to him that had a tendency to shake his purpose. He had told the disciples that one of them would betray him, and by the announcement had drawn from them an expression of horror against such an act. He had then pointed out Judas as the man, and had said in his hearing that it were better for him that he had never been born than that he should do the deed. At last, when he was about to depart from the supper to fulfill his contract, Jesus had said, with reproachful sadness, "That thou doest, do quickly." Deaf to all these warnings, and untouched by sympathy for his unresentful victim, he had doggedly and stolidly maintained his purpose. It was not until his purpose was gained, and consequences against which he had deliberately shut his eyes began to show themselves, that he realized how worthless was his prize and how villainous the means by which he had won it. So it is with every man who comes under the dominion of this base passion: it blinds his eyes and blunts his sensibilities while in the pursuit of gold, only to show him at last that he has bartered his soul for a price which, even while he holds it in his hands, becomes an object of loathing and disgust.
6. It is not lawful.—It would be almost incredible, did not thousands of other examples present themselves, that men could be as blind and inconsistent as these chief priests and elders; too conscientious to put this blood money into the Lord's treasury, but not at all scrupulous about paying it out as the price of innocent blood.
Well did Jesus charge them with straining out gnats and swallowing camels. In the present instance, too, the gnat was one of their own making; for it was their own tradition and not the law which forbade the putting of such money into the treasury. They are not the only men in history who have been less scrupulous about shedding innocent blood than about the observance of their own traditions.
7. the potter's field.—The definite article shows that it was some well known potter's field, and the low price indicates that it was but a small piece of ground, or one of little value. The strangers, for whose burial-place it was purchased, were of course poor strangers, and hence the modern application of the name "potter's field" to all burial-grounds for the poor.
8. unto this day.—This remark shows that Matthew wrote a considerable length of time after the transaction—long enough for it to be worthy of remark that the field still retained its name, "The field of blood."
9, 10. spoken by Jeremy the prophet.—No such passage as the one here quoted is found in the extant writings of Jeremiah; but the following passage from Zechariah bears a striking resemblance to it: "And I said to them, If you think good, give me my price; and if not, forbear. So they weighed for my price thirty pieces of silver. And the Lord said to me, Cast it unto the potter: a goodly price that I was prized at of them. And I took the thirty pieces of silver and cast them to the potter in the house of the Lord." (Zech. 11:12, 13.) It is altogether probable that the quotation in the text is a free rendering of this passage, and that the name Jeremiah has been substituted by transcribers for that of Zechariah. It may be, however, that the quotation is made from some passage of Jeremiah's prophecies not now extant. This is a question for future investigation by critical scholars.
Silence of Jesus before Pilate, Matthew 27:11-14.
(Mark 15:2-5)
11. the King of the Jews.—Pilate understood the cause of Jesus better than the Pharisees pretended to understand it: for although in answer to his question Jesus admitted that he claimed to be King of the Jews, Pilate so construed this claim that he found no fault in Jesus. He knew that the kingdom in question was not to be a rival of Cæsar's.
12-14. he answered nothing.—It was to the accusations of the priests and elders that he answered nothing. He left Pilate to discover from the words and actions of his accusers themselves that their accusations were false and malicious. There is no vindication so complete as that which is found in the proofs presented by the accuser: this vindication was accorded to Jesus by Pilate.
marveled greatly.—Pilate had never before known a prisoner, accused of a capital crime, and prosecuted by powerful enemies, appear so indifferent to the result of his trial. He marveled greatly, because he felt sure that Jesus could vindicate himself, and yet he was making no effort to do so.
Barabbas Preferred, and the Message from Pilate's Wife, Matthew 27:15-23.
(Mark 15:6-15; Luke 23:18-23; John 18:39, 40)
15. to release... a prisoner.—Under the ordinary and just administration of government the people do not desire the release of prisoners; but Judea was a conquered country, and the Jews naturally sympathized with their own countrymen who were prisoners in the hands of the Romans, even when the imprisonment was just; and especially was this the case in regard to political prisoners. It added, therefore, to the general good feeling prevalent during the Passover, and rendered the governor himself more popular, to release to the people such a prisoner as the majority of them would call for: hence the custom here stated.
16. a notable prisoner.—For what he was notable, Matthew does not say; but Mark and John incidentally supplement his account by supplying the needed information. (See John 18:40, and note on Mark 15:7.) Hero again the narratives furnish incidental proofs of each other's fidelity to the truth.
18. for envy.—Nothing had transpired during that morning to convince Pilate that they were moved with envy toward Jesus, except as he connected it with what he had known of their feelings before. This shows that he was familiar with the issues between the parties.
19. his wife sent to him.—The statements concerning Barabbas, and the people's preference for him, are interrupted in order to mention this message from Pilate's wife, and from this we infer that the message was received at this juncture. He had probably left her in bed, and the early arousing of her husband to hear the case of Jesus had caused her, when falling asleep again, to have the dream in question. She, too, it seems, was already convinced that Jesus was a "just man."
20. persuaded the multitude.—The common people who had by this time assembled about Pilate's pretorium, were not of themselves go disaffected toward Jesus as to prefer Barabbas; on the contrary, Pilate made the proposal to them in the expectation that they would call for Jesus, and that he would thus get rid of the case; but "the chief priests and elders persuaded the multitude," and their persuasions prevailed. They doubtless represented to the people that Jesus had been guilty of blasphemy, and that he had already been tried and convicted by the highest tribunal of their nation. This story, strongly supported by the most influential men of the city, produced a sudden revolution in public sentiment, so that the multitude whose friendship for Jesus had two days ago made the Pharisees afraid to arrest him (Matthew 26:4, 5), were now persuaded to cry out for his crucifixion. This was doubtless a part of the plan agreed upon at the counsel before they brought Jesus to Pilate. (Verse 1.)
22, 23. what evil hath he done?—Pilate's question was pertinent and demanded an answer; but in the response we see nothing but the unreasoning spirit of a mob: no argument; no answer to objections; no patience with opposition; no attention to entreaties; nothing but an insane clamor for the one thing desired.
Pilate Yields to the People, Matthew 27:24-26.
(Mark 15:15; Luke 23:24, 25)
24. and washed his hands.—Pilate could have done nothing to more forcibly declare the innocence of Jesus. If the people had not been phrensied, when they saw him solemnly washing his hands, and declaring himself free from the innocent blood about to be shed, they would surely have been deterred from their purpose. But while Pilate's act had this significance, it also displayed his own weakness and hypocrisy. He was there with his men of war to execute justice among the people, and to restrain them when tempted to deeds of lawlessness; but instead of this he consents to the murder of a man in the same breath in which he pronounces him innocent, and he hypocritically pretends to wash away a responsibility which rested more on him than on any other man. For this act his name must ever stand intimately associated with that of Judas Iscariot, and the world scarcely knows which to look upon with greater loathing the timeserving politician, or the money loving traitor.
25. His blood be on us.—With the same desperation which prompted the cry, "Crucify him," the people accepted the blood guiltiness thrown upon them by Pilate. Little did they think what fate they were bringing down on themselves and their children.
26. released Barabbas.—We know not what afterward became of Barabbas. If he lived to know more of Jesus, he must have experienced strange reflections in reference to his own escape from crucifixion. The sentence of death pronounced against Jesus released one man from a similar death, and the execution of the sentence opened for every man a way of escape from death eternal. The innocent suffered that the guilty might go free, Barabbas being the first man saved by the death of Jesus.
scourged Jesus.—It was customary to scourge men just before crucifying them, and Pilate made no exception in favor of "this just person.
Argument of Section 8
The evidence which the foregoing section furnishes in behalf of Jesus is very striking. It shows that a court organized to convict, and resorting to the most unscrupulous measures to effect their purpose, utterly failed to find in his conduct any thing worthy of censure, much less any thing worthy of death. His condemnation was based on his confession of that which he had always openly proclaimed, and which he had substantiated by his life and his miracles. The man who betrayed him into the hands of his enemies declared him innocent, and the judge who pronounced the sentence of death declared him, in the same breath, a just person. Never did such circumstances attend the death of any other man. They attest with a force which no honest mind can resist, the unspotted character of Jesus, and thereby they attest the truthfulness of his claim to be the Christ, the Son of the living God. Moreover, his demeanor throughout these iniquitous proceedings, so perfectly in harmony with his exalted pretensions, affords no mean support to the argument in his favor.
Death, Burial, and Resurrection of Jesus, 27:27-28:20
Mocked and Led away by the Soldiers, 27-32.
(Mark 15:16-21; Luke 23:26-32; John 19:1-3)
27-29. Mocked him.—It seems that after the scourging, Jesus was given up for a few moments to the pleasure of the heathen soldiery. More amused than offended at his pretensions to be a king, they began their mocking in a spirit of levity.
30. spit upon him.—The scene which commenced in sportive mockery terminated in more serious feeling and more contemptuous conduct. Exasperated, perhaps, by the meek demeanor of Jesus, the soldiers turned their mockery into indecency and violence. Next to the crucifixion itself, here was the greatest extreme of the world's cruelty to its Maker and its Benefactor. This was a strange sight to the angels. It can not be contemplated by men without a shudder.
31. took the robe off.—Before leading him away to the crucifixion they restored to him his own raiment, but not till Pilate had led him forth to the people wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe, and said, "Behold the man." (John 19:5.)
32. a man of Cyrene.—Cyrene was a flourishing city in the north of Africa, but Simon, as his name indicates, was a Jew. They compelled him to carry the cross merely because he was a stranger, and they met him at the moment that a man was needed for the purpose, Jesus himself having borne it thus far (John 19:17), and being in all probability exhausted by the effort Simon, like all of us when called on to bear the cross, took it up reluctantly, no doubt, but like us when we have borne it faithfully, he was brought to Calvary and to the blood of atonement. There were many Cyrenians afterward engaged in spreading the gospel (Acts 2:10; 11:20; 13:1), and we may indulge the thought that in all probability Simon was one of them.
The Crucifixion At Golgotha, 33-38.
(Mark 15:22-28; Luke 23:33, 34; John 19:16-24)
33. Golgotha.—A Syro-Chaldaic word, meaning, as translated in the text, "a place of a skull." The spot was so called, no doubt, from some circumstance of which we know nothing, and in reference to which conjectures are in vain. All that we certainly know of the locality is that it was outside of the city (Heb. 13:12), and yet "nigh to the city" (John 19:20).
34. he would not drink.—The mixture of vinegar (sour wine) and gall was intended to render him less susceptible to pain; but Jesus, having resolved to suffer, declined any such relief.
35. casting lots.—Here again Matthew states a fact needing explanation, and John incidentally furnishes the explanation needed. There appears from Matthew's account no reason why they should have cast lots in order to divide the garments; but we learn from John that the coat, which was the principal garment, was seamless, so that the goods in it could not be divided, and that it was on this the lots were cast. (John 19:23, 24.) The reference to the prophet in this verse is interpolated from John 19:24.
36. they watched him.—That is, they kept guard over him to prevent his being removed from the cross.
37. his accusation.—That is, the ground or cause of his accusation, which was the title that he claimed as King of the Jews.
38. two thieves.—Not (κλεπται) thieves, but (λησται) robbers. They had been condemned to death for robbery, and were executed at this time probably to save the trouble of a separate execution; but the circumstance, whether so intended or not, added materially to the indignity heaped upon Jesus.
Revilings of the People, 39-44.
(Mark 15:29-32; Luke 23:35-43.)
39, 40. that destroyest the temple.—It is strange how tenaciously the minds of the people clung to the old slander that Jesus threatened to destroy the temple and build it again in three days. The remark from which it sprang was made during his first visit to Jerusalem after his baptism (John 2:18-22), and yet it is now thrown in his teeth while he hangs on the cross, as though it were the most boastful speech that he had ever made.
41, 42. He saved others.—The chief priests, with the scribes and elders, mock him with reference not to his boast of power, but to his exercise of it. They had doubtless feared that he would save himself, and they were now exulting in the thought that he could not do so.
43. He trusted in God.—As he seemed unable to save himself, they now taunt him with his profession of trust in God, and assume that he can not be the Son of God, or the Father himself would deliver him. All of these revilings are indicative of guilty fear mingled with cruel exultation.
44. The thieves also.—They felt exasperated, perhaps, because his execution hastened their own. We learn from Luke, however, that one of them repented (Luke 23:35-43), and rebuked his companion for reviling Jesus. Matthew, therefore, either uses the plural indefinitely here, as he does in Matthew 26:8, 9, or he states what both the robbers did at the beginning, and omits the subsequent repentance of one of them.
The Darkness and the End, 45-56.
(Mark 15:33-41; Luke 23:44-49; John 19:28-30)
45. there was darkness.—This darkness, as Alford well remarks, can not have been caused by an eclipse of the sun, because the moon was full at the time, as it always was on the first day of the Passover. Whether the darkness was over "all the earth," in our sense of the terms, or only over the small portion of it to which the Jews often applied these words, is uncertain. It came suddenly at noon, and passed away at three o'clock; consequently it prevailed during the three hours in which the sun has usually its greatest heat and brilliancy.
46. why hast thou forsaken me?—The depth of meaning contained in this bitter outcry can never, we suppose, be fathomed by human thought, yet the word "forsaken" directs our thought in the right channel. If a good man who has long trusted in God and delighted in his favor could suddenly realize that God had forsaken him, he would enter, at least partly, into the Savior's feeling. But the peculiar relation which Jesus sustained to the Father rendered this feeling more intense than human hearts can experience, and at the same time it renders most mysterious to us the forsaking itself. It is enough to know that in it lay the chief bitterness of the Savior's death.
47. calleth for Elias.—I am constrained to think, notwithstanding various opinions of commentators to the contrary (see Lange and Alford), that the persons who made this remark misunderstood Jesus, and took the word Eli for Elias. The mistake arose, not from ignorance of the language, but from the indistinct articulation of Jesus. He had now been on the cross about six hours, and the feverish thirst produced by his intense suffering and some loss of blood, together with the great strain on the muscles of his chest, which resulted from hanging on his outstretched hands, must have rendered articulation difficult and indistinct.
48. gave him to drink.—The drink of vinegar was to remove the painful dryness of the throat which his articulation betrayed. We learn from John also that he said, "I thirst." (John 19:28, 29.)
49. The rest said.—The rest of those who thought that he called for Elias. On the import of their remark, see the note, Mark 15:36.
50. yielded up the ghost.—An obsolete expression for "gave up the spirit." It contemplates the body as the man, and the spirit as being released that it may depart. The thought is utterly inconsistent with Materialism. Luke reports that Jesus said, "Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit," and that "having said thus, he gave up the spirit." (Luke 23:46.)
51. the veil of the temple.—This is the heavy curtain which hung between the holy and most holy places within the temple. By shutting out from the most holy place all persons except the high priest, who alone was permitted to pass through it, and this only once in the year, it signified that the way into the holiest—that is, into heaven—was not yet made manifest while the first tabernacle was standing. (Heb. 9:7, 8.) But the moment that Jesus died, thus making the way manifest, the veil was appropriately rent in twain from top to bottom, disclosing the most holy place to the priests who were at that time offering the evening incense in the holy place.
52, 53. arose, and came out.—The earthquake, the rending of the rooks (verse 51), and the consequent opening of graves, occurred at the moment that Jesus died; while the resurrection and visible appearance in the city of the bodies of the saints occurred "after his resurrection." Matthew chooses to mention the last event here because of its association with the rending of the rocks, which opened the rock-hewn sepulchers in which the saints had slept. There has been much speculation as to what became of these resurrected saints. We have no positive information, but the natural presumption is that they ascended to heaven. The fact that this very singular incident is mentioned by Matthew alone, does not detract from its credibility.
54. this was the Son of God.—From the fact that the centurion was of heathen education, and that the words Son and God are without the article in Greek, some have understood him as meaning, "This was a son of a god." (See George Campbell's notes on Matthew.) But the expression Son of God, with both words anarthrous, occurs frequently in connections which show that it means the same as when the article is used. (Verse 43; Luke 1:35; John 19:7.) It must be remembered also that these Roman officers, while resident in Judea, made it a part of their business to study the peculiarities of the people with whom they had to deal, and that sometimes, as in the case of Cornelius and the centurion of Capernaum (8:8-10), they became converts to the Jewish religion. This man lived in Jerusalem in the midst of the excitement about Jesus; he had this very day heard him charged with blasphemy for claiming to be the Son of God; and he had heard the same idea expressed concerning him since he was suspended on the cross (verse 43); and therefore he must have been stupid indeed if he did not know what was meant by the expression. it is almost certain that he knew what Jesus claimed to be, and that when he saw the miracles accompanying his death, he was convinced that the claim was just.
55, 56. many women.—These women, "who had followed Jesus from Galilee, ministering to him," are represented as "beholding afar off." This accounts for the fact that the mother of Jesus, though present, is not mentioned among them; for she, with the apostle John, was standing nearer, near enough for Jesus to point her out by a look (his only way of doing so) as the one whom John was henceforth to regard as his own mother. (John 19:25-27.)
56. among which.—Matthew names only three of the "many women" (verse 55) who were "beholding afar off." (For a brief account of Mary Magdalene, see note on Mark 16:9.) "Mary the mother of James and Joses "is called by John the wife of Cleophas (John 19:25), another form of the name Alpheus; consequently the James here mentioned as her son is "James the son of Alpheus" (10:3), who was one of the apostles. "The mother of Zebedee's children" was so called because of the celebrity of her two sons, James and John, and probably also because of the death of her husband. (Comp. Matthew 20:20.) Her name was Salome. (Mark 16:1.)
The Burial of Jesus, 57-61.
(Mark 15:42-47; Luke 23:50-56; John 19:31-42)
57, 58. and begged the body.—It was seldom that persona who were crucified had friends to care for their remains; bat Pilate knew too well the popularity of Jesus to be surprised that even a man in Joseph's position should propose to give him a decent burial, and having no malice to gratify, he readily granted the request.
59, 60. in his own new tomb.—The circumstance that Joseph had a new tomb near the spot, in all probability suggested to him the thought of burying the body. That he rolled a stone to the door of it, indicates that it was a vault hewn horizontally into the rock. He undertook the task alone, aided of course by servants, but Nicodemus joined him ere he had completed his task. (John 19:38-41.)
61. sitting over against.—The two Marys had remained near the cross till the body was taken down, and had followed the men, who were probably strangers to them, as they bore the body to the tomb. No doubt it had been their own purpose to have it cared for as best they could, and now that they see all needful attention given to it by others, they quietly sit down opposite the sepulcher and watch the proceedings.
Precaution of the Pharisees, 62-66 62. the next day.—How early the next day is not stated, but as the purpose was to prevent the disciples from stealing the body away (64), the earlier the better. The next day commenced at sunset, and the probability is that the guard was stationed at the tomb before dark.
63, 64. After three days.—It should be observed that although the Pharisees quote Jesus as saying that he would rise "after three days," they ask that the sepulcher be guarded only "until the third day," showing that they regarded the time designated by "after three days" as terminating "on the third day." (For a full discussion of this peculiar usage, see note under 12:40.)
lest his disciples.—Nothing was farther from the minds of the disciples than the resurrection of Jesus, and the fact that when the resurrection took place, they knew not till fifty days had passed what use to make of the fact, is sufficient proof that they could not have planned a pretended resurrection. The singular fact that the enemies of Jesus were more apprehensive of his resurrection than his friends, is accounted for by the consideration that the latter, with their present conceptions, had little to hope for in his resurrection, while the former had much to dread from either the fact itself or a belief of it among the people. A guilty fear makes men more watchful than a languid hope.
65. Ye have a watch.—Not that they had a watch already, for in that case they would not have applied to him for one, but Pilate used this formula to place one at their disposal.
66. sealing the stone.—This was to prevent any one from removing the stone, taking away the body, then replacing the stone and pretending that Jesus had arisen. The stone could not be removed without breaking the seal, and the seal at once would tell the story.
The New Testament Commentary: Vol. I - Matthew and Mark.
