390 John Jesus is scourged and crowned with thorns. SECT. advisable to seem at least to consent to it, and clxxxviii therefore took Jesus and scourged him; hoping that, after he had been severely scourged, the XIX. 1. rage of the populace would be something abated, and they might at last be prevailed upon to consent that he should be dismissed. XXVII. MAT. XXVII. 27. Then the soldiers of Mat. Then the soldiers of the governor, knowing 27 that it was the Roman custom to scourge prison- the governor took Jeers just before they were put to death, inter- sus and fled him apreted Pilate's order on this head as a declara- way] into the common hall [called pretion that he was immediately to be crucified: torium,] and gathered and therefore they took Jesus [and] led him away unto him the whole into the common-hall in Pilate's palace, which band of soldiers. [MARK XV. 16.] was called the prætorium (as being the place where the prætor, a Roman magistrate, used to keep his court ;) and there they gathered to him the whole band, or cohort, to insult and torment him, not being concerned to keep any measures with a person whom they looked upon as en28 tirely abandoned to their will. And having And having 28 And they stripstripped him of that splendid garment in which ped him, and [clothHerod had contemptuously dressed him, in order ed him with purple, to vary the mockery and affront, they wantonly scarlet robe: [MARK and] put on him a clothed him in a vest of imperial purple, [and] XV. 17.-JOHN XIX. put on him a scarlet robe over it, that in this -2.] gaudy dress he might have something of a mock 29 resemblance to a prince: And, farther to ridicule his pretensions to royalty, which they considered as an affront to their nation and emperor, the soldiers having maliciously platted a crown of thorns, put it upon his head, and put a large reed, or cane, into his right-hand, to represent a sceptre: and then they began in a ludicrous manner to pay their homage and salutations to him, as to a new-created prince on his a Then the soldiers, &c.] The evangelist John so plainly speaks of their crowning our Lord with thorns, and these other indignities, as previous to Pilate's last attempt to save him, that I think it proper to transpose those verses in Matthew and Mark, which mention these circumstances as after his condemnation, and immediately preceding the execution. Some of them might probably be repeated after Pilate had delivered him to be crucified, while the instruments of death were preparing; and therefore Matthew and Mark mention the whole series of these cruelties together: or the word role, then (which is used by Matthew,) may only signify that it was done about that time,) not determining the order of each particular so absolutely as to be inconsistent with the most accurate and coronation 29 And when[JонN, the soldiers] had plat ted a crown of thorns, they put it upon his head, and a reed in his [began to salute him, and] bowed the knee before him, [and worshipped him,] and right-hand and they mocked him, saying, Hail, distinct account which John gives of the whole process of this affair. Many instances of the indeterminate use of that particle occur in the evangelists: See Mat. ix. 14. xxiv. 40. Mark xiii. 14, 26. Luke xxi. 10, 21. and John xix. 16. b Having platted a crown of thorns, &c.] It is certain they intended hereby to expose his pretended royalty to ridicule and contempt: but had that been all, a crown of stratos might have served as well. They undoubtedly meant to add cruelly to their scorn, which especially appeared in their striking him on the head when this crown was put on.-If the best descriptions of the eastern thorns are to be credited, they are much larger than any commonly known in these parts. © Took Pilate's wife sends to him to let Jesus alone. smote him with their XIX. 2-3.] 30 And they [did] spit upon him, and on the head. [MARK XV, 19.] took the reed and smote him 391 clxxxviii. Hail, king of the Jews: coronation-day: [and] bowing the knee before 2CT. [JOHN, and they him, they did him reverence in a scoffing way, hands:] [MARK XV. and mocked him, saying, All hail thou most mag- Mat. -17. 19-19. JOHN nificent king of the Jews! Hail mighty Monarch! XXVIL we give thee joy on thine accession to the crown! 29 and then approaching him as if they would have offered him some present, as is usual on such occasions, they smote him with their hands: And 30 proceeded so far as to spit upon him, even in his very face; and at last took the reed, or cane, out of his hand, and barbarously struck him with it on the head; and so, as it were, nailed down the thorns into his forehead and temples, and occasioned thereby exquisite pain, as well as a great effusion of blood: all which this holy Sufferer bore with the utmost meekness and composure, neither reviling nor threatening them, but silently committing himself to the righteous invisible Judge. (1 Pet. ii. 23.) MAT. XXVII. 19. When he was set down on the judgment-seat, his wife sent unto him, In the mean time Pilate was taken up with Mat. trying and condemning some other prisoners XXVII. who were to be executed that day; and while he 19 saying, Have thou no- thus was sitting on the tribunal he had erected, thing to do with that his wife, having by this time been informed that suffered many things Jesus had been brought before him, and was this day in a dream going to be given up to death, sent a very im just man: for I have because of him. portunate message to him, saying, I beseech < Took the reed, or cane, out of his hand.] The word aakap does indeed sometimes signify a slender reed, (Mat. xi. 7. xii. 20. and 3 John, ver. 13) but it includes all kind of canes; and it is most probable this was a walking-staff, which they put into his hand as a sceptre, for a blow with a slight reed would scarce have been felt, or have deserved a mention in a detail of such dreadful sufferings. d His wife sent to him.] While Rome was governed by a commonwealth it was unusual for the governors of provinces to take their wives with them; but afterwards it grew customary, and the motion made against it in the fourth year of Tiberius was rejected with some indignation. See Tacit. Annal. lib. iii. cap. 33, 34. e I have suffered many things to-day on his account in a dream.] Perhaps the word epipa, to-day, may imply, that she had very dreamt these things that morning, since Pi- 392 Pilate again declares he found no fault in him. SECT. very morning, that I cannot but look upon it as clxxxviii. something Divine; and conclude that if thou Mat. doest upon any terms consent to his death, it XXVII. will be attended with dreadful consequences to thyself and thy family. 19 John XIX. 4. 5 6 JOHN XIX. 4. Pilate therefore went forth again, and saith unto find no fault in him. Pilate therefore, alarmed by such a message. as this, went into the common-hall himself to see what they were doing with the prisoner; and them, Behold, I bring when he beheld with strong emotion all those him forth to you, that indignities and torments which Jesus had borne, ye may know that f and saw how severely the soldiers had scourged him, thinking that the sight of him in so sad a condition might move the Jews to compassion, he determined to make one trial more. And accordingly he came out again to the public tribunal where the Jews were assembled, and having ordered Jesus to be led thither, he said to them, just before he appeared, Behold I am bringing him out to you again, that ye may know and observe it, that I can find no fault in him, though the tortures he has now undergone are such as must surely have brought him to confession, if he were indeed guilty. the crown of thorns, and Then, as he spake these words, Jesus came out 5 Then came Jesus of the prætorium wearing the thorny crown, and forth, wearing the purple robe, now also dyed in his own blood, the purple robe. And which streamed forth from all parts of his body: Pilate saith unto them, and [Pilate] said to them, Behold the man! view Behold the man. him attentively; and when you see what dreadful things the poor unhappy creature has suffered, let that content you; for surely, considering his innocence, he has suffered already much more than enough. officers saw him, they cried out, saying, Crucify him, crucify him.- priests therefore and When therefore the chief priests and [their] at- 6 When the chief tending officers saw him, fearing lest the people should relent, they presently renewed their exclamations, and eagerly cried out as before, saying, We know the man sufficiently away with him to the cross; crucify [him], crucify [him] ; and immediately order the wretch to be executed. -Pilate saith unto and crucify him: tor Pilate on this said to them, If ye are thus resolute and inexorable, I leave him in your hands, them, Take ye him, to dispose of him as you think fit: take ye him I find no fault in him, therefore, if it must be so, and crucify [him] yourselves; bnt I desire to discharge myself from having any thing to do in it, either by myself, or by my Roman guards; for, as I have told you again and again, I find no fault in him worthy of any such punishment. The Pilate is afraid, and examines him again. 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. 8 When Pilate saying, he was the more afraid; 393 SECT. clxxxviii. The Jews then answered him, There is no room to represent him as a faultless person, nor any reason to be backward to condemn him; John but these objections you have made oblige us XIX. 7. to mention one circumstance which, for the horror of it, we would willingly have concealed: we have a Divine law which we received from heaven, by which blasphemy is forbidden on the highest penalties; and by this our law he ought to die, though he were not chargeable with sedition and treason, because he has made himself the Son of the most high God, in such a sense as no creature can be ; and this he declared but this morning in open court. (Compare Mat. xxvi. 63, 64. Mark xiv. 62. and Luke xxii. 70, p. 372.) When Pilate therefore heard this expression, g therefore heard that he was still more afraid than before f; for the Romans believed many poetical stories of men begotten by their deities, and thought them a kind of demi-gods, who could not be injured without engaging their divine parents in the 9 And went again quarrel. And therefore apprehending that his 9 into the judgment-hall, wife's dream might also take its rise from such a Whence art thou? cause, he entered again into the palace, and But Jesus gave him taking him aside, he said to Jesus, Tell me and saith unto Jesus, no answer. plainly from whence thou camest, and from f He was still more afraid than before.] Though I think, with Mr. Cradock, and several others, the interpretation given in the paraphrase the most natural; yet I cannot forbear mentioning that of Dr. Lardner, who thinks he was afraid of a sedition among the Jews, from his knowledge of their great obstinacy in any thing in which religion might seem to be concerned: and he adds, he might be the more reasonably alarmed on this head, as since the beginning of his government he had met with two remarkable instances of their stiffness; one in an attempt he made to bring the image of Cæsar into Jerusalem; the other in a design he had formed of supplying the City with water at the expence of the sacred treasury of the temple. See Lard. Credib. part i. Vol. I. p. 330–338. Then Whence art thou?] It is strange Mr. Locke should think (as he does in his Reasonableness of Christianity, Vol. I. p. 133.) that Christ declined giving him an answer, lest, when he heard he was born at Bethiehem, he should have any such apprchensions as Herod had entertained. Pilate probably knew nothing at all of that prophecy, as Herod himself indeed did not, till he had learnt it from the Jewish scribes whom he consulted on Christ's birth. (Mat. ii. 4, 5, 6, Vol. VI. p. 78.) The answer which our Lord had made to his former inquiries shewed how far he was from declining any danger; and the true reason of his present silence was that Pilate's unsteady conduct rendered him unworthy of any farther information. h Dost 394 Pilate, convinced of his innocence, sought to release him. SECT. clxxxviii. John Then Pilate in surprise said to him, What, dost 10 Then saith Pilate thou make me no reply, and not so much as speak thou not unto me? unto him, Speakest to me in such a circumstance as this, in which Knowest thou not, XIX. 10 thy life is so evidently concerned? Dost thou that I have power to not know that I have power and authority to crucify thee, and have crucify thee, and have power to release thee, if I please, notwithstanding all the clamorous demands of thine enemies h power to release thee? 11 Jesus answered, Thou couldst have no power at all against livered me unto thee 11 Jesus calmly replied,Thou couldst have no power at all against me, except it were given thee from above, from the God of heaven, whose provi- me, except it were dence I acknowledge in all these events: there- given thee from above: fore he who has delivered me to thee, even the therefore he that deJewish high-priest with his council, having far hath the greater sin. greater opportunities of knowing him and his law, hath the greater and more aggravated sin; yet thou thyself canst not but know that on the principles of natural equity an innocent person ought not to be given up to popular fury. 12 12 And from thencerelease him: but the Jews And from this time Pilate was so far satisfied of the injustice of the prosecution, and of the forth Pilate sought to innocence of Jesus, that he endeavoured the more earnestly to release him. But the Jews still insisted on his passing sentence on him to be crucified; and apprehensive of the governor's design, h Dost thou not know that I have power to crucify thee? &c.] Even they who maintain that the Jews had a power of executing capital sentences in Christ's time, acknowledge that power to have been under the control of the Roman governor; and that it was in fact so often controlled, that at last the Jewish sanhedrim removed from the chamber in which alone they could regularly pass them, that they might not have the mortification of seeing continually how little their decisions availed, when the most notorious criminal, if he had but money, could buy a pardon from their common masters. So that the dispute, after all the noise it has made in the learned world, scems at last to terminate in this nicety, "whether the consent of the Roman governor were expressly asked before the Jews proceeded to an execution, or were taken for granted if the contrary did not appear?" Or, in other words, "Whether the efficacy of a sentence passed by the Jews were owing to the express consent or the connivance of the Romans?" The conduct of the Jews in this case seems to prove the former of these to have been the true state of the affair; and vindicates not only the substance of what Dr. Lardner has maintained, but the particular manner in which he ́expresses it. See note c on Mat. xxvii. 2, p. 375. that iThou couldest have no power at all against me, except it were given thee from above.] Some have thought that the word af, from above, refers to the situation of the temple, which stood much higher than the prætorium; and that it is as if Jesus had said, "I know that whatever thou dost against me is only in consequence of the sentence passed in yonder court held above; so that their guilt is greater than thine." But though this would very well account for the connection of the latter part of the verse, I cannot think it altogether just; for had providence permitted Pilate to seize Christ as one dangerous to Cæsar's dignity, he would have had as much power of putting him to death as he now had. It is therefore much more reasonable to suppose it refers to the permission of God's providence. No thought was more proper to the occasion; and I think the interpretation I have given to the latter clause in this view is natural, though not very common. But if any are not satisfied with it, they may consider whether des may not be connected with the beginning of the verse, so that it might be translated, Thou couldest have no power at ell against me, unless it were given thee from above for this purpose. (Compare note f on John vii. 21, sect. xcix. Vol. VI. p. 515. As |