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accused before Pilate.

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tion with the elders and scribes, and the whole 6 ¶Now at that feast he released unto them council, and bound Jesus, and carried him away,|| one prisoner, whomsoever they desired. and delivered him to Pilate. 7 And there was one named Barabbas, which

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2 ↳ And Pilate asked him, Art thou the King||lay bound with them that had made insurrecof the Jews? And he answering, said unto him, Thou sayest it.

3 And the chief priests accused him of many things: but he answered nothing.

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tion with him, who had committed murder in the insurrection.

8 And the multitude, crying aloud, began to desire him to do as he had ever done unto

4 © And Pilate asked him again, saying, An-|| them. swerest thou nothing? behold how many things they witness against thee.

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9 But Pilate answered them, saying, Will ye that I release unto you the King of the Jews?

of their predecessors; it may be observed, that Wesley is the only modern translator who has es caped a blunder not more repugnant to the fact, as recorded in the verses immediately preceding, than contradictory to the import of the Greek expression here used. His version is, Answered nothing any more. The rest without exception say, Still answered nothing, or words to that purpose. Yet, in the translation commonly used in Queen Elizabeth's reign, the sense was truly exhibited, Answered no

Verse 1. And straightway in the morning-Succeeding the dismal night in which the Jewish rulers had been so busily engaged in the horrid transac- || tions related in the preceding chapter; the chief priests-As soon as it was day; held a consultation || with the elders and scribes-What method they || should take to execute the sentence they had passed against Jesus, and how they might contrive to put him to death in the most severe and contemptuous || manner. And because the sanhedrim, which, indeed, || more at all.” had the power of trying and condemning men for crimes which the Jewish law had made capital, yet had not the power of putting such sentences in execution without the approbation of the civil magis- || trate, or Roman governor; therefore they determined to bind Jesus and deliver him to Pilate, which they accordingly did, while it was yet early, John xviii. 28. They had indeed bound him when he was first apprehended, but, perhaps, he had been loosed while under examination, or else they now made his bonds stricter than before; the better, as they might think, to secure him from a rescue as he passed through the public streets in the day-time. See note on Matt. xxvii. 1, 2. The observation of Theophylact here is worthy of notice. "The Jews delivered up our Lord to the Romans, and they, for that sin, were themselves given up into the hands of the Romans!"

The

Verses 6-10. Now at that feast he released unto them one prisoner-The passover being celebrated by the Jews in memory of their deliverance from Egypt, it was agreeable to the nature of the feast to make this release at that time, and therefore customary. See Whitby, and note on Matt. xxvii. 15–18. There was one named Barabbas, bound with them that had made insurrection-A crime which the Roman governors, and Pilate in particular, were more especially concerned and careful to punish; who had committed murder in the insurrection-He seems to have been the head of the rebels. multitude, crying aloud, &c.-Greek, avabonoas ó oxλos пpšaro airεiodai, With great clamour, the multitude demanded of Pilate what he used to grant them. So Campbell. But Pilate answered, Will ye that I release unto you the King of the Jews?—It Pilate made this proposal with a view to preserve Verses 2-5. Pilate asked him, Art thou the king the life of Jesus, it is hard to say which he discovers of the Jews?—These verses are explained in the notes most, his want of justice, or of courage, or of cornon Matt. xxvii. 11-14. But Jesus yet answered no- mon sense. While in a most mean and cowardly thing-This is not an accurate translation of the manner he sacrifices justice to popular clamour, he original, (which is, 8ketɩ ödev añεkpin,) implying, as || enrages those whom he seeks to appease, by unseaDr. Campbell justly observes, "that he had answered sonably repeating that title, The King of the Jews, nothing to the former question, the reverse of which || which he could not but know was highly offensive is the fact, as appears, verse 2. All the Latin trans- to them. For he knew that the chief priests had lators say rightly, Nihil amplius respondit, he an- || delivered him-To be put to death, not from a reswered nothing more, or what is manifestly equiva- || gard to justice, but merely for envy at his popularlent. All the foreign translations give the same ity and goodness; and that these things, and no sense. Yet, to show how difficult it is to preserve crime of his, either real or suspected, had made them a uniform attention, and how liable at times even his enemies. Pilate ought, therefore, certainly rajudicious persons are to run blindfold into the errors ther to have lost his own life than to have delivered

A crown of thorns is

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10 (For he knew that the chief || people, released Barabbas unto them, A. M. 4037. priests had delivered him for envy.) and delivered Jesus, when he had

11 But the chief priests moved the people that he should rather release Barabbas unto them.

scourged him, to be crucified.

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16 ThAnd the soldiers led him away into the

12 And Pilate answered and said again unto || hall, called Pretorium; and they call together them, What will ye then that I shall do unto || the whole band; him whom ye call the King of the Jews? 13 And they cried out again, Crucify him. 14 Then Pilate said unto them, Why, what || evil hath he done? And they cried out the more exceedingly, Crucify him.

15 And so Pilate, willing to content the

f Matt. xxvii. 20; Acts iii. 14.————s Matt.

Jesus to their will. See note on Matthew xxvii. || 24, 25,

17 And they clothed him with purple, and platted a crown of thorns, and put it about his head,

18 And began to salute him, Hail, King of the Jews!

19 And they smote him on the head with a xxvii. 26; John xix. 1, 16.—h Matt. xxvii. 27.

sired; but delivered Jesus to their will, Luke xxiii. 25, namely, delivered him to be crucified, when he Verses 11-15. But the chief priests-Being very had scourged him! "Whipping, or scourging, was solicitous to carry the plan they had formed for his a punishment frequently used by the Jews and Rodestruction into execution; moved the people-To || mans. The Jews commonly inflicted it by a whip desire the release of Barabbas, though he was a of three cords, and limited the number of stripes to scandalous and outrageous criminal. Pilate said || thirty-nine, that they might not exceed the number again—Being willing, Luke says, to release Jesus; limited. Deut. xxv. 3. But the usual way of scourgWhat will ye then that I shall do unto him whom ing among the Romans was with such rods or wands ye call King of the Jews-It seems strange that as the lictors carried in a bundle before the magisPilate should so often repeat this title, King of the || trates; and they were exceeding cruel in this kind Jews; but perhaps he might do it partly to ridicule of punishment, tearing with their scourges even it, and bring contempt on the scheme of a Messiah; the veins and arteries, and laying the very bowels and partly to procure from the Jews, in their zeal of the malefactors bare; and as our Saviour was against Jesus, the strongest and most public profes- scourged at Pilate's order, it was done most probasions of their subjection to Cesar. And they cried || bly by his officers, after the Roman manner, and out again, Crucify him-By this cry, they declared was therefore no less severe than disgraceful." See the greatest degree of rage that can be imagined;|| Calmet, and note on Matt. xxvii. 26. for it was as if they had said, Let him whom you Verses 16-19. And the soldiers led him awaycall our king be treated like one of the vilest of The soldiers, knowing that it was a Roman custom your slaves, who has committed the most enormous to scourge prisoners just before they were put to crime. To have inflicted such a punishment as this death, interpreted Pilate's order on this head as a on any free Jew, would probably have been suffi- declaration that he was immediately to be crucified; cient to have thrown the whole city and nation into therefore they led him to the hall, called the an uproar; but now they were deaf to every thing Pretorium-As being the place where the pretor, but the clamour of passion, and in their madness did a Roman magistrate, used to keep his court, and not consider with how dangerous a precedent they || give judgment; but in common language, the term might furnish the Roman governor. And indeed it was applied to the palace in general. And they call turned dreadfully on themselves, when such vast|| together the whole band, &c.—Or cohort, to insult numbers of them were crucified for their opposition || and torment him, not being concerned to keep any to the Romans during the time of their last war. measures with a person whom they looked upon as See Doddridge, and note on Matt. xxvii. 25. Pilate entirely abandoned to their will. And they clothed said, Why, what evil hath he done?—What crime do || him with purple-As royal robes were usually puryou accuse him of? But instead of showing that he || ple and scarlet, Mark and John term this a purple had done any evil, or specifying any one crime of|| robe, Matthew a scarlet one. The Tyrian purple is which he had been guilty; they only cried out the || said not to have been very different from scarlet. more exceedingly, Crucify him-See note on Matt. They clothed Jesus in this gaudy dress that he xxvii. 23. Pilate, therefore, willing to content the|| might have something of a mock resemblance to a people-To whom, as appears from Josephus, he prince. And platted a crown of thorns, &c.—Still had given much cause of disgust before; being per- further to ridicule his pretensions to royalty, which haps afraid of an insurrection if he should continue they considered as an affront to their nation and to withstand them, though at the head of an armed || emperor; and began to salute him—In a ludicrous force sufficient to have quelled any mob, weakly || manner, as if he had been a new-created prince, and suffered himself to be borne down by their violence; this his coronation-day. And they smote him on the and released unto them him that for sedition and|| head-And so, as it were, nailed down the thorns murder had been cast into prison, whom they de-l on his forehead and temples, occasioning thereby

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Jesus is crucified and

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CHAPTER XV.

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reviled by the chief priests

the one on his right hand, and the A. M. 4037. other on his left.

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A. M. 4037. reed, and did spit upon him, and bowing their knees, worshipped him. 20 And when they had mocked him, they 28 And the scripture was fulfilled, which took off the purple from him, and put his own saith, " And he was numbered with the transclothes on him, and led him out to crucify him.gressors. 21 i And they compel one Simon a Cyrenian, who passed by, coming out of the country, the father of Alexander and Rufus, to bear his cross. 22 And they bring him unto the place Golgotha, which is, being interpreted, the place of a scull.

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29 ¶ And they that passed by railed on him, wagging their heads, and saying, Ah, thou that destroyest the temple, and buildest it in three days,

30 Save thyself, and come down from the cross. 31 Likewise also the chief priests mocking, said among themselves, with the scribes, He saved others; himself he cannot save.

32 Let Christ the King of Israel descend now from the cross, that we may see and believe. And they that were crucified with him, reviled

25 And "it was the third hour, and they him. crucified him.

26 And the superscription of his accusation was written over, THE KING OF THE JEWS.

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33 ¶ And "when the sixth hour was come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour.

34 And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a

27 And P with him they crucify two thieves; || loud voice, saying, * Eloi, Eloi, lama sabach

as it may be reasonably supposed, exquisite pain, as John, woel тpiтn, about the third hour; that Nonnus well as a great effusion of blood. And did spit upon And did spit upon || seems to have read so, his paraphrase running after him—Even in his very face; and bowing their knees, || this manner, the third hour was not yet past; that worshipped him—Did him reverence in a scoffing Theophylact contends it ought to be so read, and and insulting manner: all which indignities and cru- that because the three other evangelists unanimously elties this holy sufferer bore with the utmost meek- say that the darkness began at the sixth hour, which ness and composure, neither reviling nor threaten-yet began not, till after our Lord had hung upon the ing them; but silently committing himself to the cross some considerable time; till after the soldiers righteous invisible Judge, 1 Peter ii. 23. See note had divided his garments, the Jews had mocked on Matt. xxvii. 27-31, where these particular cir-him, and bid him come down from the cross, and cumstances of his humiliation are enlarged upon. Verses 20, 21. And when they had mocked him, &c. These verses are explained in the note on Matt. xxvii. 31, 32.

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the discourse had passed between the two thieves among themselves, and between the repenting thief and our Lord. And lastly, the author of the Constantinopolitan Chronicle saith expressly, that the Verses 22-28. They bring him unto the place Gol- exacter copies, and the manuscript of St. John, kept gotha-See these verses elucidated in the notes on till his time at Ephesus, read ŵpa woeɩ tpitn, about Matt. xxvii. 33-44. When they had crucified him, the third hour. See Jerome on Psa. lxxvii. And they parted his garments-Mark seems to intimate, the change from y, the third, to 5, the sixth, is so that they first nailed him to the cross, then parted easy, that this may very reasonably be owned in the his garments, and afterward reared up the cross. later copies of John's gospel; especially if we conThe English word toʻcrucify, denotes properly, to sider how punctual Mark is in the enumeration of put to death by nailing to the cross; but the Greek the hours, saying, it was the third hour, and they word ςαυροω, here used, means no more than to fasten || crucified him, or began to lead him away to be cruto the cross with nails. In strict propriety, we should || cified ; and, verse 33, when the sixth hour was come, not say, a man cried out after he was crucified, but after he was nailed to the cross. And it was the|| third hour—Or nine o'clock in the morning, when they thus brought him to mount Calvary. John says, it was about the sixth hour, even when he was condemned to be crucified. "But then, it must be observed, that the Greek manuscripts produced by Camerarius, Beza, and R. Stephanus, read in

from that time there was darkness over the whole land till the ninth hour; and, verse 34, at the ninth hour Jesus expired."-Whitby. And the scripture was fulfilled-Namely, Isa. liii. 12, And he was numbered with the transgressors―The prophet thus speaking with amazing plainness of the sufferings of the Messiah.

Verses 33-38. When the sixth hour was come

ST. MARK.

craves the body of Jesus. A. M. 4037. thani? which is, being interpreted, || Mary the mother of James the less A. M. 4037. My God, my God, why hast thou and of Joses, and Salome; forsaken me? 41 Who also, when he was in Galilee, ffollowed him, and ministered unto him; and many other women which came up with him unto Jerusalem.

43 Joseph of Arimathea, an honourable counsellor, which also 1 waited for the kingdom of 38 ¶ And the veil of the temple was rent God, came, and went in boldly unto Pilate, in twain, from the top to the bottom.

The resurrection of

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46 1 And he bought fine linen, and || a stone unto the door of the se- A. M. 4037. took him down, and wrapped him pulchre. in the linen, and laid him in a sepulchre which was hewn out of a rock, and rolled

47 And Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of Joses, beheld where he was laid.

i Matt. xxvii. 59, 60; Luke xxiii. 53; John xix. 40.

knowing that he was disposed to make such a grant, || ability to undertake such a thing. See note on Matt. or being so influenced that they did not oppose his || xxvii. 60. And Mary Magdalene, &c.—beheldmaking it. And he bought fine linen-Thus show-|| Greek, evεwpav, carefully observed where he was laid, ing in what great estimation he held Jesus; and took || having followed those who took down and carried him down-Mangled and macerated as his body || away the body. They were thus particular in observwas; and wrapped it in the linen-As a treasure of great worth; and laid it in a sepulchre-To perform this necessary service God raised up this man at a time when none of Christ's disciples had courage or

ing where the corpse was placed, because of the design they had formed of coming and embalming the body as soon as the sabbath should be over, there not being time to do it before it commenced.

CHAPTER XVI.

In this chapter, which coincides with Matt. xxviii., we have a short account of the resurrection and ascension of the Lord Jesus. (1,) The two Marys and Salome come early in the morning to the sepulchre, bringing sweet spices to embalm the body of Jesus, 1–4. (2,) They see an angel, who assures them of the resurrection of Christ, and sends them to acquaint his disciples with it, 5-8. (3,) He appears to Mary Magdalene, who immediately goes and informs the disciples of it, 9-11. (4,) He appears to the two disciples going to Emmaus, who give an account of it to their brethren, 12, 13. (5,) In the evening of the same day, he appears to the eleven, and, after upbraiding them with their unbelief, commissions them to preach the gospel to all mankind, promising to endue them with power to confirm their doctrine by miracles, 14–18. (6,) He ascends into heaven; and the apostles go forth and engage in their work, in which God owns them, and renders it successful, 19, 20,

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ND a when the sabbath was past, || shall roll us away the stone from A. M. 4037. Mary Magdalene, and Mary the the door of the sepulchre? mother of James, and Salome, had bought 4 (And when they looked, they saw that the sweet spices, that they might come and anoint stone was rolled away,) for it was very great. him. 5 d And entering into the sepulchre, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, clothed in a long white garment; and they were affrighted.

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2 © And very early in the morning, the first day of the week, they came unto the sepulchre at the rising of the sun:

3 And they said among themselves, Who

a Matthew xxviii. 1; Luke xxiv. 1; John xx. 1.
b Luke xxiii. 56.

NOTES ON CHAPTER XVI.

Verse 1. Mary Magdalene, &c., had bought sweet spices—These Galilean women, who had waited on Jesus in his last moments, and attended his body to the sepulchre, observing that his funeral rites were performed in haste, (the body being rolled in nothing but a mixture of myrrh and aloes, brought by Nicodemus, John xix. 39,) agreed among themselves to come, when the sabbath was passed, and embalm their dead Lord, by anointing and swathing him in a proper manner. Accordingly, as soon as they had seen him laid in the sepulchre, and the entrance into it blocked up by a great stone, they returned to the

city, and bought what other spices were necessary for that purpose. And very early in the morning they came unto the sepulchre-See note on Matt. xxviii. 1. At the rising of the sun-It appears, upon comparing the accounts given by the other evangelists, that they set out while it was yet dark, and came within sight of the sepulchre, for the first time, just as it grew light enough to discern that the stone was rolled away. But by the time Mary had called Peter and John, and they had viewed the sepulchre, the sun was rising.

Verses 3-6. And they said, Who shall roll us away the stone-This seems to have been the only diffi