About the third hour Pilate brings him out as their king. go, thou art not Ce 395 Jews cried out, saying, that they effectually might put a stop to his in- SECT. If thou let this man tention of discharging him, they eagerly cried clxxxviii sar's friend: whosoever out, saying, If thou let this man go off with his maketh himself a king, life, thou art not Cæsar's friend, though thou XIX.12. speaketh against Ce- bearest his commission, and representest his sar. 13 When Pilate therefore beard that saying, he brought Je the pavement, but in tha. person; for every one that makes himself a king John IVhen Pilate therefore heard that speech, he 13 was very much alarmed, as he well knew how sus forth, and sat down suspicious a prince Tiberius was, and how many in the judgment-seat, spies he kept on all his officers, that nothing in a place that is called might be done or permitted by them in any of the Hebrew, Gabba the provinces, which could at all interfere with his authority and, that he might not then be charged with any want of zeal for Cæsar's interest, he brought Jesus out of the palace again, and once more sate down on the tribunal, which was then erected (as was said before, p. 377.) without the palace, in a place called in Greek, Lithostraton, or the Pavement, on account of a beautiful piece of Mosaic work with which the floor was adorned: but in Hebrew it was called Gabbatha, or the High-place, because it stood on an eminence, so that the judge, being seated there on his tribupal, might be heard and seen by a considerable number of people'. 14 And it was the preparation of the passover, and about the sixth hour: and he saith unto the Jews, Behold your king! And it was then the preparation of the pass-14 over, or the sixth day of the week, and consequently the day which fell before the paschal sabbath, which was observed with some peculiar solemnity (see John xix. 31, sect. cxcii.); and the morning was so far advanced that it [was] drawing on apace towards the sixth hour, and was now about the third hour, or nine in the morning", which obliged them to dispatch, that they k As he well knew how suspicious a prince Tiberius was, &c.] Every body that knows the character of Tiberius, especially as illustrated by Suetonius in his excellent History, will see how naturally Pilate might be apprehensive on this head. In Hebrew, Gabbatha.] There are various etymologies of this word. I think the most probable is that which derives it from na, elevavit, and so it intimates its being raised on high. It was, perhaps, a kind of stage, or scaffold, in the midst of a spacious area belonging to the palace, in which the governor might place himself on pub VOL. VII. 3 D The 396 clxxxviii John But they cried out, Away with him, Crucify him. SECT. they might have execution done, as usual, before noon. And Pilate, finding he must, after all, yield to the people, and consent to the death XIX. 14. of Jesus, lest his former struggle should be misrepresented at Rome, was resolved to manage this incident so as to procure from the Jews a public acknowledgment of Cæsar's authority: and therefore, pointing to Jesus, as the now appeared in this mock pomp of royalty, he says to the Jews, who were present in vast numbers, Behold your king, if you think fit to own him, 15 as it is said many of you have done. But they again cried out with indignation and dis. out, Away with him, dain, Away with [him] away with [him]; we cify him. Pilate saith are so far from owning him, that we desire thee unto them, Shall I to crucify him. Pilate says to them, What, shall crucify, your king? The chief priests anI crucify your king? How strange, and how ex- swered, We have no travagant a demand is this! And the chief priests king but Cesar. answered, in the name of all the people, We have no king but the emperor Tiberius Caesar, whose royal authority we all of us acknowledge, and will always maintain. Mat. 15 But they cried away with him, cru MAT. XXVII. 24. And Pilate, seeing that it signified nothing any When Pilate saw that XXVII. longer to oppose the popular torrent, but that 24 The best commentators I know (and among the rest of late Dr. Guyse) think the whole difficulty of reconciling these words of John with Mark, who tells us (chap. xv. 25, sect. clxxxix.) that Christ was crucified at the third hour; and with Matthew and Luke, who exactly agree with him in fixing the time of that darkness which hap. pened while Christ hung upon the cross (compare Mat. xxvii. 45; Luke xxiii. 44; and Mark xv. 33, sect. cxci.); is easily solved by understanding it, according to the Roman account, of six in the morning. But as John was a Jew, aud elsewhere seems to use the Jewish account (John i. 39, iv. 6, 52), that very supposition is in general improbable. Or if, out of regard to the considerations which the learned, but here dubious and perplexed, Zeltnerus has urged (see Zellner. Hor. Pilat. p. 14, & seq.) we were to grant it in general a supposable case, very strong objections will lle against supposing it here. For though we should, with many critics, take it for granted that the passover here fell late in April (which was the latest it could fall), the sun would not rise at Jerusalem till near five o'clock, and one cannot suppose the sanhedrim assembled till about break of day. How then is it possible that their condemnation of Christ, his arraignment and examination, first before Pilate, then before Herod, together with Pilate's repeated examinations of him, and they he conferences with the Jews about him, as also the change of dress, scourging, crowning with thorns, &c. should be dispatched by sir? The very contents of the preceding sections seem to demonstrate the contrary.-On the other hand, it could not now be twelze at noon, since Mark assures us to the contrary, and his account is confirmed both by Matthew and Luke. (See the places just now quoted, and noted on Mark xv. 25, sect. clxxxix.)—I cannot therefore but conclude with Columelus (Observ. p. 77), Beza, and Erasmus, that instead of the sixth we should read the third hour, that is, nine in the morning. For this we have the authority of the Cambridge manuscript, and of Peter of Alexandria, who expressly asserts it was pila, the third, in the original copy, which he says continued till his time; and though, as Dr. Mill abundantly shews in his Annotation on this place, all the best manuscripts and ancient versions are on the other side, I am obliged here to follow the superior authority of common sense; however, in submission to the greatest number of copies, I have still retained the common reading in the version, and have only given what I apprehend to be the true reading in the paraphrase.— Same other unsausfactory hypotheses will be touched on in the note last referred to. See a large and accurate view of them in Wolf. Cur. Phil. Vol. I. page 969-976. He Pilate washing his hands, they wish his blood on themselves. thing, but that rather a tumult was made, 391 SECT. he could prevail no- they rather grew more tumultuous by the delay, was determined however to do all he could to clxxxviii he took water, and make his own conscience easy in complying with Mat. washed his hands be- this their unjust request; and therefore he took XXVII. fore the multitude, saying, I am innocent of water, and washed his hands in the presence of 24 the blood of this just the multitude", saying, I call heaven and earth to person: see ye to it. witness that I am innocent of the blood of this righteous [man]; look you [to] the consequences of shedding [it], and remember you are answer25 Then answered able for them, whatever they may prove. And 25 all the people, and all the people answered, saying, We will venture us, and on our chil- those consequences, may his blood, if innocent, be on us, and on our children! and may the curse of shedding it lie upon us throughout all generations"! said, His blood be on dren. LUKE XXIII. 24. And Pilate (willing to content the people] gave And when they had said this, Pilate, who now Luke was something easier in his own mind, and was XXIII. desirous to satisfy the people P, since he perceived He took water, and washed his hands, &c.] It is well known that the Jews in some cases were appointed to wash their hands as a solemn token that they were not themselves concerned in the murder committed by some unknown person (see Deut. xxi. 6-9): but, as this was also a rite that was frequently used by the Gentiles in token of innocence, it is more probable that Pilate, who was a Gentile, did it in conformity to them. See Grotius in loc, and Elsner Observ. Vol. I. p. 122, 123. o May his blood be on us, and on our children] As this terrible imprecation was dreadfully answered in the ruin so quickly brought on the Jewish nation, and the calamities which have since pursued that wretched people, in almost all ages and countries; so it was peculiarly illustrated in the severity with which Titus, merciful as he naturally was, treated the Jews whom he took during the siege of Jerusalem; of whom Josephus himself writes (Bell. Jud. lib. v. cap. 11 (al. vi. 12), § 1), that pasiyojleri aveçavçulo, having been scourged and tortured in a very terrible manner, they were crucified, in the view, and near the walls of this city; perhaps, among other places, on mount Calvary: and it is very probable this might be the fate of some of those very persons who now joined in this cry, as it undoubtedly was of many of their children. For Josephus, who was an eye-witness, expressly declares, “that the number of those thus crucified was so great, that there was not room for the crosses to stand by each other; and that at last they had not wood enough to make crosses of." A passage which, especially when compared with the verse before us, it impresses and astonishes me beyond any other which I recollect in the whole story. If this were not the very finger of God, pointing out their crime in crucifying his Son, it is hard to say what could deserve to be called so.-Elsner has abundantly shewn, that among the Greeks, the persons on whose testimony others were put to death, used, by a very solemn execration, to devote themselves to the Divine vengeance, if the person so condemned were not really guilty. Elsner. Observ. Vol. I. p. 123-125.)-We are told by Grotius (de Jure Bell. & Pac. lib. iii. cap. 4. § 9, No. 2) that Titus commanded the women and children of the Jews to be exposed in theatres, and there to be devoured by wild beasts: a fact which I should have thought it extremely proper to mention here, if any authority were introduced to support it. Put as I cannot meet with any such account in Josephus, I am ready to ascribe what Grotius says of it to a slip of memory in that great critic; especially considering how improbable it was that so humane a prince as Titus should be guilty of such almost unexampled cruelty. On the centrary, in the only passage I recollect, where Josephus speaks of exposing the Jewish captives to wild beasts, (Joseph. Bell. Jud. lib. vi. cap. 9. [al. vi. 16], § 2), it is expressly said that Titus sold all who were under seventeen years old. p Desirous to satisfy the people: To inavov wanaa.] As his former administration had given them a great deal of disgust, he might very probably think it absolutely necessary thus to appease them: yet they afterwards followed him with their accusations to his ruin; and thus, by the righteous judg 3D 2 ment 24 398 clxxxviii Reflections on the condemnation of Christ. should be as they re SECT. it could be done no other way, pronounced sen- gave sentence that tence, that what they demanded should be done, quired. [MARK XV. and that Jesus should be put to death. Luke XXIII. 15.—] 25 And he released to them [Barabbas,] that for sedition and murder was cast into prison, whom they had desired: [and when he had scourged Jesus,] he delivered him to their will [to be cruci 26. MARK XV. And, in pursuance of that sentence, he released 25 to them Barabbas, who (as was said before) was thrown into prison for sedition and murder; but whom, aggravated as his crimes were, they had importunately desired in preference to Christ: and having (as we related above, John xix. 1, p. 390) already scourged Jesus, he did not renew that torture; however, he delivered him fied.] [MAT. XXVII. to their will to be crucified, with such circum- JOHN XIX. 16.—] stances as they thought proper; and they soon shewed that their tender mercies were cruel. And when the Jewish mob had thus prevailed, after they had mocked and insulted him for a while, And after that they just as the Roman soldiers had before done in the took the [purple] robe prætorium, deriding his pretences to a kingdom, off from him, and put and abusing him like the vilest slave, they took his own raiment on the purple robe off from him, and having dressed him, and led him away to crucify him. him again in his own garments, they led him [MARK XV. 20.] away to be crucified, in the manner which we shall presently relate. Mat. XXVII. 313 MAT. XXVII. 31. had mocked him, they John IMPROVEMENT.* LET us now, by a lively act of faith, bring forth the blessed xix. 13. Jesus to our imagination, as Pilate brought him forth to the peo ple. Let us with affectionate sympathy survey the indignities Ver.1. which were offered him, when he gave his back to the smiters, and his checks to them that plucked off the hair; and hid not his face from shame and spitting; (Isa. 1. 6.) Behold the man, wearing his ment of God, he lost all the advantage Acts xxiv. 27. Having already scourged Jesus: payeλawong.] Many critics, and among the jest Elsner (Observ. Vol. 1. p. 125), have shewn that scourging used to precede crucifixion; but as John, who is most exact in his account of this part of the story, mentions his having been scourged before, and says nothing of the repetition of it (which, considering Pilate's conviction of his innocence, he would probably spare), I choose to interpret the word in this manner, which the original will very well bear. They took the purple robe off from him.] purple It is observable, as we have seen above, p. 390. that Matthew (chap. xxvii. 28) mentions a scarlet robe, xxxmm xhamida, and Mark (chap. xv. 17, as well as here) a purple garment, oppugar. I take not upon me to determine whether either of these words be used for the other, waving, as in some other cases, the most exact signification; or whether there were two gurments used, a purple vest, and over that a scarlet robe. However, it is probable, whatever they were, Pilate, or any of his chief officers, would not cover his bleeding body with any thing better than an old, and perhaps tattered habit, which answered their contemptuous purpose much better than the best which the governor's wardrobe could have afforded. 8 Leave Reflections on the condemnation of Christ. 399 clxxxviii. xxvii.29 purple robe and thorny crown, and bearing the reed which smote SECT. him in his right hand for a sceptre! Behold, not merely the man, but the Son of God, thus vilely degraded, thus infamously abused! Mat. Shall we, as it were, increase his sufferings, and, while we con- John demn the fury and cruelty of the Jews, shall we crucify him to xix. 5 ourselves afresh, and put him to an open shame? (Heb. vi. 6.) Or shall we overlook him with slight and contempt, and hide our faces from him, who for our sake thus exposed his own? (Isa. liii. 3.) Let the caution even of this heathen judge, who feared, when 7, 8 he heard he so much as pretended to be the Son of God, engage us to reverence him, especially considering in how powerful a manner he has since been declared to be so; (Rom. i. 4.) Let Mat. us in this sense have nothing to do with the blood of this just Per- xxvii. 10 son.-Let his example teach us patiently to submit to those sufferings which God shall appoint for us, remembering that no ene. mies, and no calamities we meet with, could have any power John against us, except it were given them from above. xix. 11 How wisely was it ordered by Divine Providence that Pilate should be obliged thus to acquit Christ, even while he condemned Mat. him; and to speak of him as a righteous person, in the same breath xxvii. with which he doomed him to the death of the most flagitious 24, 26 malefactor! And how lamentably does the power of worldly interest over conscience appear, when, after all the convictions of his own mind, as well as the admonitions of his wife, he yet gave him up to popular fury. O Pilate, how gloriously hadst thou fallen in the defence of the Son of God! and how justly did God afterwards leave thee to perish by the resentment of that people whom thou wast now so studious to obliges! Luke xxiii. 24, 25 Mat. Who can without trembling read that dreadful imprecation, May his blood be on us, and on our children! Words which, even to this day, have their remarkable and terrible accomplishment xxvii. 25 in that curse, which has pursued the Jews through seventeen hundred years. Lord, may it at length be averted, and even turned into a blessing! May they look on him whom they have pierced, and mourn, till all the obstinacy of their hearts be subdued: till they bow Leave thee to perish, &c.] Josephus Antiq. lib. xviii. cap. 4 [al. 5], § 1, 2) expressly assures us that Pilate, having slain a considerable number of seditious Samaritans, was deposed from his government by Vitellus, and sent to Tiberius at Rome, who died before he arrived there. And Eusebius tells us (Hist. Eccles. lib. ii. cap. 7), that quickly after having, as others been banished to Vienne in Gaul) he laid violent hands upon himself, falling on say, his own sword. Agrippa, who was an as one who had been a man of a most in famous character (Philo. Jud. in Leg. a They |