153. The Sanhedrin’s judgment (Mat 27:1-2; Mar 15:1; Luk 22:66-71)
It had been a long night for Jesus - the Passover meal, the institution of the Lord’s Supper, the washing of the disciples’ feet, the lengthy teaching in the upper room, the walk to Gethsemane, the agonizing time in the garden, the arrest, the walk back to the city, and the questioning and rough handling at the high priest’s house. It was now daybreak, which meant that a legal sentence could be passed. Jesus therefore was made to stand before the Sanhedrin for a brief repetition of the investigation just concluded (Mat 27:1; Luk 22:66-71). The Jewish leaders could then make a formal charge against him to present to the Roman authorities. In doing so, they had to convince the Roman governor that the accused person deserved execution (Mat 27:2).
154. Death of Judas (Mat 27:3-10)
Judas knew he had done wrong in betraying Jesus. He showed no repentance or desire to correct this wrong, but before he committed suicide he made an effort to ease his guilty conscience by returning the money. The priests had not hesitated to use temple money in paying Judas to bring about Jesus’ death, but now they tried to appear righteous by refusing to put the money into the temple treasury (Mat 27:3-6).
In the meantime Judas went out into a field, tied a rope around his neck and hanged himself. It seems that in doing so he injured himself internally and his stomach burst. When the body was found in the field, the priests used Judas’ returned money to buy the field in his name. Originally it was known as Potter’s Field, but later it was called Field of Blood and was used as a cemetery for Gentiles (Mat 27:7-10; cf. Act 1:18-19).
155. Before Pilate and Herod (Mat 27:11-14; Mar 15:2-5; Luk 23:1-12; Joh 18:28-38)
Pilate, the governor of the area, usually lived in the provincial capital Caesarea, but he came to Jerusalem during Jewish festivals to help maintain order. His official residence and administration centre in Jerusalem was called the praetorium. The Jewish leaders, wanting to have Jesus dealt with and out of the way before the festival started, took him to Pilate early in the morning (Luk 23:1; Joh 18:28-29).
The Jews had charged Jesus with blasphemy for calling himself the Son of God, but when they took him to Pilate they twisted the charge. They emphasized not that he claimed to be God but that he claimed to be above Caesar. They suggested he was a political rebel trying to lead a messianic uprising that would overthrow Roman rule and set up an independent Jewish state (Luk 23:2). Pilate tried to dismiss the case, but the Jews would not drop their charges (Joh 18:30-32).
Jesus then gave Pilate the true picture. He explained that his kingdom was not concerned with political power, and had nothing to do with national uprisings. It was a spiritual kingdom and it was based on truth. Pilate did not grasp the full meaning of Jesus’ explanation, but he understood enough to be convinced that Jesus was not a political rebel. He suspected that the Jews had handed him over for judgment because they were jealous of his religious following (Mat 27:11-14; Mat 27:18; Luk 23:3-5; Joh 18:33-38).
When Pilate learnt that Jesus was from Galilee, which was not under his control, he tried to avoid the issue by sending Jesus to the Galilean governor Herod, who also was in Jerusalem for the festival (Luk 23:6-7). But Jesus refused to speak to Herod, and made no attempt to defend himself against the false accusations the Jewish leaders made against him. After mocking him cruelly, Herod sent him back to Pilate (Luk 23:8-12).
156. Jesus before the people (Mat 27:15-31; Mar 15:6-20; Luk 23:13-25; Joh 18:39-40; Joh 19:1-16)
Although assured that Jesus was innocent, Pilate felt it wise to give the Jews some satisfaction; for by this time a crowd had gathered and he did not want a riot to break out. He therefore offered to punish Jesus by flogging, and consider the matter finished (Luk 23:13-16).
But the people yelled for Jesus to be crucified. Pilate did not want the situation to get out of control, so made another offer. He agreed to accept the Jews’ accusation of Jesus’ guilt, but he offered to give Jesus the special pardon reserved for one criminal each Passover season (Mat 27:15-18).
By this time the priests scattered throughout the crowd had the people under their power. They quickly spread the word that the prisoner they wanted released was not Jesus, but Barabbas, a rebel who had once taken a leading part in a local anti-Rome uprising (see Mar 15:7; Luk 23:19). Pilate, unaware of the influence of the priests in the crowd and thinking that Jesus had widespread support, agreed to allow the crowd to choose between the two, no doubt thinking they would choose Jesus. As he waited for them to make their choice, his wife sent him a warning not to condemn Jesus (Mat 27:19-20).
If supporters of Jesus were in the crowd, they were a minority. People in general were more likely to support a nationalist like Barabbas. Finally, they succeeded in having Barabbas released and Jesus condemned to be crucified. They accepted responsibility for this decision and called down God’s judgment upon them and their children if they were wrong (a judgment that possibly fell on them with the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70). Jesus was then taken and flogged as the first step towards crucifixion (Mat 27:21-26; Luk 23:18-25; Joh 18:39-40; Joh 19:1).
While some soldiers were preparing for the execution, those in Pilate’s palace cruelly made fun of Jesus. They mocked him as ‘king’ by putting some old soldiers clothes on him for a royal robe and thorns on his head for a crown. They hit him over the head with a stick that was supposed to be his sceptre, and spat in his face and punched him as mock signs of homage (Mat 27:27-31; Joh 19:2-3).
Pilate showed this pitiful figure to the crowd, apparently hoping it might make them feel ashamed and change their minds; but it only increased their hatred (Joh 19:4-6). Pilate became more uneasy when he heard that Jesus claimed to be the Son of God. Maybe, thought Pilate, this man was one of the gods. He became even more anxious to set Jesus free when Jesus told him that God would hold him responsible for the way he used his authority. Pilate was guilty for condemning a man he knew was innocent, but Caiaphas and the other Jews who handed Jesus over to him were more guilty (Joh 19:7-11).
Again Pilate tried to release Jesus, but the Jews reminded him that he himself could be in danger if he released a person guilty of treason. This disturbed Pilate further, and after a final offer that the Jews rejected, he handed Jesus over to be crucified. The Jews’ declaration of loyalty to Caesar demonstrated their hypocrisy and confirmed their rejection of God (Joh 19:12-16).
157. Journey to Golgotha (Mat 27:32; Mar 15:21; Luk 23:26-31; Joh 19:17)
As the prisoners set out for the place of execution, Jesus was made to carry his cross (Joh 19:17). He must have been weak from the brutal flogging, and when it appeared he was about to collapse, a passer-by was forced to carry it for him. This man, Simon, was from northern Africa and had apparently come to Jerusalem for the Passover (Luk 23:26).
Among the crowd that followed Jesus were some women who wept and wailed at the dreadful sight. Jesus told them not to weep because of what they saw happening to him. One day they also would suffer. When the Romans later attacked Jerusalem, women now sad because they had no children would be better off than others, for they would not have to witness their children being slaughtered. If Rome crucified an innocent man such as Jesus, how brutal would they be in dealing with people guilty of open rebellion (Luk 23:27-31).
158. The crucifixion (Mat 27:33-44; Mar 15:22-32; Luk 23:32-43; Joh 19:18-24)
Golgotha, the place of Jesus’ crucifixion, was a hill beside a main road just outside Jerusalem. The procession arrived there about 9 a.m. (Mat 27:33; Mar 15:25). (It is difficult to calculate the exact times of all the incidents that took place on the day of Jesus’ crucifixion. People in those days did not carry clocks, and the times given in the Gospels are only approximate. In some cases the writers may have estimated their times at different stages of the same event. Also, they may have used different methods of reckoning. Matthew, Mark and Luke usually count the hours from 6 a.m. and 6 p.m., but John seems to reckon differently.)
Great though Jesus’ suffering was, his agony of spirit was greater. He was bearing the burden of human sin, and thereby was conquering Satan and releasing people from the power of sin and death. He was determined to face death at its worst, fully conscious of what he was going through. Therefore, he refused the offer of drugged wine intended to deaden the pain and dull the mind (Mat 27:34).
Meanwhile, the four soldiers who carried out the crucifixion threw dice to decide how they would divide Jesus’ personal possessions. Above his head they attached a sign announcing the charge for which he was condemned, so that those who passed by could read it. As he hung there, Jesus had insults thrown at him by the common people, by members of the Sanhedrin (who came to see their sentence carried out), and by the two criminals crucified with him. All mocked with the same theme - he claimed to save others but he could not save himself. This was true, though not in the sense the mockers intended; for only by willingly sacrificing himself could he save guilty sinners (Mat 27:35-44; Luk 23:32-39; Joh 19:18-24). One of the criminals, realizing this, repented and experienced the saving power of Jesus that very day (Luk 23:40-43).
159. The death (Mat 27:45-56; Mar 15:33-41; Luk 23:44-49; Joh 19:25-37)
Jesus’ mother, Mary, had followed him to the cross and stayed by him during his ordeal. Among those who comforted her were John and three women: Mary’s sister Salome, who was the wife of Zebedee and the mother of the apostles James and John; another Mary, who was the wife of Clopas and the mother of James and Joses; and another Mary, who came from the town of Magdala in Galilee and was known as Mary Magdalene. These women had at first stood away from the cross, but later came and stood nearby (Mat 27:55-56; Mar 15:40-41; Luk 23:49; Joh 19:25-27).
From the time the soldiers began the crucifixion to the time Jesus died was about six hours (cf Mar 15:25; Mar 15:33). During the last three hours (from noon to 3 p.m.) a strange darkness covered the land, as the wrath of God against sin fell upon Jesus. For this reason he was separated, for the only time, from the Father with whom he had enjoyed unbroken fellowship from all eternity. Sin separates from God, and in bearing the penalty of sin, Jesus experienced that desolation (Mat 27:45-49; Luk 23:44-45).
Nevertheless, at the very time he suffered such desolation, Jesus was in harmony with his Father’s will. He wanted his final words to his Father to be loud enough for all to hear, and therefore he asked for something to moisten his dry mouth. The words he spoke made known to all that he was placing his spirit in his Father’s hands. His final cry of triumph, ‘It is finished’, confirmed that even in his death he was still in control. No one took his life from him; he gave it up in a voluntary, unique act. He had completed the work that his Father sent him to do (Mat 27:50; Luk 23:46; Joh 19:28-30).
At the moment of Jesus’ death (about 3 p.m.) there was an earthquake in the Jerusalem area. In the temple the curtain that blocked entrance into the symbolic presence of God was torn in two. It was a striking demonstration that Jesus had brought the Jewish religious system to an end and opened the way for all into God’s presence. The earthquake also caused graves to break open, and certain believers of the old era were raised to life, indicating dramatically that Jesus’ death was the way to final triumph over death itself (Mat 27:51-53; cf. 1Co 15:20-26; Heb 2:14-15).
Another truth illustrated by the remarkable events connected with Jesus’ death was that he was the true Passover lamb. He died on the afternoon of Passover day, at the same time as the Jews back in Jerusalem were killing their lambs in preparation for the meal that night. And because he was the true Passover lamb, not a bone in his body was broken. Normally, the soldiers broke the victims’ legs to hasten their death, but they had no need to do this to Jesus, because he was already dead. Instead, one of the soldiers plunged his spear deep into Jesus’ body (Joh 19:31-37).
In contrast to the lack of feeling shown by most of the soldiers, the centurion in charge of the execution was filled with wonder at what he saw. He was convinced that Jesus was all he claimed to be (Mat 27:54; Luk 23:47).
Others also changed their attitudes to Jesus because of the events at Golgotha. Many who had come from Jerusalem as spectators returned in sorrow and fear, wondering what it all meant (Luk 23:48).
160. The burial (Mat 27:57-66; Mar 15:42-47; Luk 23:50-56; Joh 19:38-42)
Two members of the Sanhedrin did not agree with the decision to crucify Jesus. They were Nicodemus (cf. Joh 3:1-12; Joh 7:45-52) and Joseph, the latter being a man from the Judean town of Arimathea. Joseph, like many rich people, had built a fine tomb to be used one day for himself, but he sacrificed it so that Jesus could have an honourable burial. The two men took the body down from the cross late on the Friday afternoon (cf. Deu 21:22-23), and prepared it for burial by wrapping it in cloth with spices. They then laid it in Joseph’s tomb. The women who went to the tomb with Joseph and Nicodemus hurried home to prepare more spices and ointments before the Sabbath day of rest (Mar 15:42-47; Luk 23:50-56; Joh 19:38-42).
At the request of the Jewish leaders, Pilate set a guard of Roman soldiers at the tomb to ensure that no one could remove Jesus’ body. In view of Jesus’ predictions of resurrection, the Jews wanted to make sure that the tomb was closed securely and sealed against any interference (Mat 27:62-66).
Mat 27:1.But when it was morning. The high priest, with his council, after having examined him at an unseasonable hour of the night, finally resolve, at sunrise, to place him at the bar of the governor. By so doing, they observe the form of judicial proceedings, that they may not be suspected of undue haste, when they run to Pilate at an unusually early hour, as usually happens in cases of tumult. But it is probable, that when Christ had been led away from their council, they immediately held a consultation, and, without long delay, resolved what they would do; for we have been already told at what time Christ went out from them and met Peter, which was after the cock-crowing, and just as day was breaking. The Evangelists, therefore, do not mean that they removed from the place, (239) but only relate, that as soon as it was daylight, they condemned Christ to death, and did not lose a moment in earnestly putting into execution their wicked design. What Luke formerly stated, (Luk 22:26,) that they assembled in the morning, ought not to be explained as referring to the very beginning, but to the last act, which is immediately added: as if he had said, that as soon as it was day, our Lord having acknowledged that he was the Son of God, they pronounced their sentence of his death. Now if they had been permitted to decide in taking away life, they would all have been eager, in their fury, to murder him with their own hands; but as Pilate had cognizance of capital crimes, they are constrained to refer the matter to his jurisdiction; only they entangle him by their own previous decision. (240) For the stoning of Stephen (Act 7:59) took place in a seditious manner, as happens in cases of tumult; but it was proper that the Son of God should be solemnly condemned by an earthly judge, that he might efface our condemnation in heaven.
(239) “Du lieu ou ils avoyent esté assemblez la nuict;” — “from the place where they had been assembled during the night.”
(240) “C’est à dire, de l’avis qu’ils en avoyent desja donné en leur conseil;” — “that is to say, by the opinion which they had already given respecting him in their council.”
3. Then Judas, perceiving that he was condemned. By this adverb (τότε) then, Matthewdoes not fix the exact point of time; for we shall find him shortly afterwards adding, that Judas, when he saw that the priests disdainfully refused to take back the reward of his treason, threw it down in the temple. But from the house of Caiaphas they came straight to the Pretorium, and stood there until Christ was condemned. It can scarcely be supposed that they were found in the temple on that day; but as the Evangelist was speaking of the rage and madness of the council, he inserted also the death of Judas, by which their blind obstinacy, and the hardness of their hearts like iron, were more fully displayed.
He says that Judas repented; not that he reformed, but that the crime which he had committed gave him uneasiness; as God frequently opens the eyes of the reprobate, so as to begin to feel their miseries, and to be alarmed at them. For those who are sincerely grieved so as to reform, are said not only (μεταμελεῖν), (241) but, also (μετανοεῖν), (242) from which is derived also (μετάνοια), (243) which is a true conversion of the soul to God. So then, Judas conceived disgust and horror, not so as to turn to God, but rather that, being overwhelmed with despair, he might serve as an example of a man entirely shut out from the grace of God. Justly, indeed, does Paul say, that the sorrow which leads to repentance is salutary, (2. o 7:10;) but if a man stumble at the very threshold, he will derive no advantage from a confused and mistaken grief. What is more, this is a just punishment with which God at length visits the wicked, who have obstinately despised his judgment, that he gives them up to Satan to be tormented without the hope of consolation.
True repentance is displeasure at sin, arising out of fear and reverence for God, and producing, at the same time, a love and desire of righteousness. Wicked men are far from such a feeling; for they would desire to sin without intermission, and even, as far as lies in their power, they endeavor to deceive both God and their own conscience, (244) but notwithstanding their reluctance and opposition, they are tormented with blind horror by their conscience, so that, though they do not hate their sin, still they feel, with sorrow and distress, that it presses heavily and painfully upon them. This is the reason why their grief is useless; for they do not cheerfully turn to God, or even aim at doing better, but, being attached to their wicked desires, they pine away in torment, which they cannot escape. In this way, as I have just said, God punishes their obstinacy; for although his elect are drawn to him by severe chastisements, and as it were contrary to their will, yet he heals in due time the wounds which he has inflicted, so that they come cheerfully to him, by whose hand they acknowledge that they are struck, and by whose wrath they are alarmed. The former, therefore, while they have no hatred to sin, not only dread, but fly from the judgment of God, and thus, having received an incurable wound, they perish in the midst of their sorrows.
If Judas had listened to the warning of Christ, there would still have been place for repentance; but since he despised so gracious an offer of salvation, he is given up to the dominion of Satan, that he may throw him into despair. But if the Papists were right in what they teach in their schools about repentance, we could find no defect in that of Judas, to which their definition of repentance fully applies; for we perceive in it contrition of heart, and confession of the mouth, and satisfaction of deed, as they talk. Hence we infer, that they take nothing more than the bark; for they leave out what was the chief point, the conversion of the man to God, when the sinner, broken down by shame and fear, denies himself so as to render obedience to righteousness.
(241) The import of those Greek words is brought out more fully in our Author’s French version. “Car ceux qui sont vrayement desplaisans pour s’amender, non seulement cognoissent leurs fautes, mais aussi changent de courage, ce qui est bien ici exprimé;” — “for those who are truly dissatisfied with themselves so as to reform, not only know their faults, but also have the resolution to amend, which is well expressed here.” He then goes on to say that Matthew attributes to Judas “une repentance que les Grecs nomment μεταμέλεια, qui est forcee, et laisse l’homme tout abruti; non pas celle qu’ils nomment μετάνοια, qui est un vraye conversation de l’homme à Dieu;” — “a repentance which the Greeks call metameleia, (μεταμέλεια,) which is forced, and leaves the man altogether brutish; not that which they call metanoia, (μετάνοια,) which is a true conversion of the man to God.”
(242) The import of those Greek words is brought out more fully in our Author’s French version. “Car ceux qui sont vrayement desplaisans pour s’amender, non seulement cognoissent leurs fautes, mais aussi changent de courage, ce qui est bien ici exprimé;” — “for those who are truly dissatisfied with themselves so as to reform, not only know their faults, but also have the resolution to amend, which is well expressed here.” He then goes on to say that Matthew attributes to Judas “une repentance que les Grecs nomment μεταμέλεια, qui est forcee, et laisse l’homme tout abruti; non pas celle qu’ils nomment μετάνοια, qui est un vraye conversation de l’homme à Dieu;” — “a repentance which the Greeks call metameleia, (μεταμέλεια,) which is forced, and leaves the man altogether brutish; not that which they call metanoia, (μετάνοια,) which is a true conversion of the man to God.”
(243) The import of those Greek words is brought out more fully in our Author’s French version. “Car ceux qui sont vrayement desplaisans pour s’amender, non seulement cognoissent leurs fautes, mais aussi changent de courage, ce qui est bien ici exprimé;” — “for those who are truly dissatisfied with themselves so as to reform, not only know their faults, but also have the resolution to amend, which is well expressed here.” He then goes on to say that Matthew attributes to Judas “une repentance que les Grecs nomment μεταμέλεια, qui est forcee, et laisse l’homme tout abruti; non pas celle qu’ils nomment μετάνοια, qui est un vraye conversation de l’homme à Dieu;” — “a repentance which the Greeks call metameleia, (μεταμέλεια,) which is forced, and leaves the man altogether brutish; not that which they call metanoia, (μετάνοια,) which is a true conversion of the man to God.”
(244) “Et Dieu, et leur propre conscience.”
4. What is that to us? Here is described the stupidity and madness of the priests, since even after having been warned by the dreadful example of Judas, still they do not think about themselves. I do acknowledge that hypocrites, as they are accustomed to flatter themselves, had some plausible excuse at hand for distinguishing between their case and that of Judas; for they did not think that they were partakers of his crime, though they abused the treachery of Judas. But Judas not only confesses that he has sinned, but asserts the innocence of Christ; from which it follows, that they had meditated the death of a righteous man, and, therefore, that they were guilty of a detestable murder. Nor is there any room to doubt that God intended to sear their consciences with a hot iron, to discover the hidden corruption. Let us therefore learn, that when we see wicked persons, with whom we have any thing in common, filled with alarm, those are so many excitements to repentance, and that they who neglect such excitements aggravate their criminality. We ought also to believe, that the crime of one man can have no effect in acquitting all those who are in any way involved in it; and still more, that the leading perpetrators of a crime can gain no advantage by distinguishing between themselves and their agents, that they may not suffer the same punishment.
5. And he went away, and strangled himself. This is the price for which Satan sells the allurements by which he flatters wicked men for a time. He throws them into a state of fury, so that, voluntarily cutting themselves off from the hope of salvation, they find no consolation but in death. Though others would have permitted Judas to enjoy the thirty pieces of silver, by which he had betrayed Christ and his own salvation, he throws them down, and not only deprives himself of the use of them, but, along with the base reward of the death of Christ, he throws away also his own life. Thus, though God does not put forth his hand, wicked men are disappointed of their desires, so that, when they have obtained their wishes, they not only deprive themselves of the enjoyment of unsatisfying benefits, but even make cords for themselves. But though they are their own executioners by punishing themselves, they do not in any respect alleviate or diminish the severity of the wrath of God.
6. It is not lawful for us to throw it into the treasury. Hence it plainly appears that hypocrites, by attending to nothing more than the outward appearance, are guilty of gross trifling with God. Provided that they do not violate their Corban, (Mar 7:11,) they imagine that in other matters they are pure, and give themselves no concern about the infamous bargain, by which they, not less than Judas, had provoked against themselves the vengeance of God. But if it was unlawful to put into the sacred treasury the price of blood, why was it lawful for them to take the money out of it? for all their wealth was derived from the offerings of the temple, and from no other source did they take what they now scruple to mingle again with it as being polluted. Now, whence came the pollution but from themselves?
8. For a burying-place to strangers. The more that wicked men endeavor to conceal their enormities, the more does the Lord watch over them to bring those enormities to light. They hoped that, by an honorable disguise, they would bury their crime, were they to purchase a barren field for burying strangers. But the wonderful providence of God turns this arrangement to an opposite result, so that this field became a perpetual memorial of that treason, which had formerly been little known. For it was not themselves that gave this name to the place, but after the occurrence was generally known, the field was called, by common consent, The field of blood; as if God had commanded that their disgrace should be in every man’s mouth. It was a plausible design to provide a burying-place for strangers, if any of those who came up to Jerusalem from distant countries, for the purpose of sacrificing, should happen to die there. As some of them were of the Gentiles, I do not disapprove of the opinion of some ancient writers, that this symbol held out the hope of salvation to the Gentiles, because they were included in the price of the death of Christ; but as that opinion is more ingenious than solid, I leave it undetermined. The word corbana, (treasury,) is Chaldaic, and is derived from the Hebrew word (קרבן), (corban,) of which we have spoken elsewhere.
9. Then was fulfilled what was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet. How the name of Jeremiah crept in, I confess that I do not know nor do I give myself much trouble to inquire. The passage itself plainly shows that the name of Jeremiah has been put down by mistake, instead of Zechariah, (Zec 11:13;) for in Jeremiah we find nothing of this sort, nor any thing that even approaches to it. Now that other passage, if some degree of skill be not used in applying it, might seem to have been improperly distorted to a wrong meaning; but if we attend to the rule which the apostles followed in quoting Scripture, we shall easily perceive that what we find there is highly applicable to Christ. The Lord, after having complained that his labors were of no avail, so long as he discharged the office of a shepherd, says that he is compelled by the troublesome and unpleasant nature of the employment to relinquish it altogether, and, therefore, declares that he will break his crook, and will be a shepherd no longer. He afterwards adds, that when he asked his salary, they gave him thirty pieces of silver. The import of these words is, that he was treated quite contemptuously as if he had been some mean and ordinary laborer. For the ceremonies and vain pretenses, by which the Jews recompensed his acts of kindness, are compared by him to thirty pieces of silver, as if they had been the unworthy and despicable hire of a cowherd or a day-laborer; and, therefore, he bids them throw it before a potter in the temple; as if he had said: “As for this fine present which they make to me, which would not be less dishonorable in me to accept than it is contemptuous in them to offer it, let them rather spend it in purchasing tiles or bricks for repairing the chinks of the temple.” To make it still more evident that Christ is the God of armies, towards whom the people had been from the beginning malicious and ungrateful, when he
was manifested in the flesh, (1. i 3:16,)
it became necessary that what had formerly been spoken figuratively should now be literally and visibly accomplished in his person. So, then, when he was compelled by their malice to take leave of them, and to withdraw his labors from them as unworthy of such a privilege, they valued him at thirty pieces of silver. And this disdain of the Son of God was the crowning act of their extreme impiety.
The price of him that was valued. Matthew does not quote the words of Zechariah; for he merely alludes to the metaphor, under which the Lord then complains of the ingratitude of the people. But the meaning is the same, that while the Jews ought to have entirely devoted themselves, and all that they possessed, to the Lord, they contemptuously dismissed him with a mean hire; as if, by governing them for so many ages, he had deserved nothing more than any cowherd would have received for the labors of a single year. He complains, therefore, that though he is beyond all estimation, he was rated by them at so low a price.
Whom they of the children of Israel did value. This expression, which he uses towards the close, must be taken in a general sense. Judas had struck a bargain with the priests, who were the avowed representatives of the whole people; so that it was the Jews who set up Christ for sale, and he was sold, as it were, by the voice of the public crier. The price was such as was fit to be given to a potter.
10. As the Lord appointed me. By this clause Matthew confirms the statement, that this was not done without the providence of God; because, while they have a different object in view, they unconsciously fulfill an ancient prediction. For how could it have occurred to them to purchase a field from a potter, if the Lord had not turned their blameworthy conduct so as to carry into execution his own purpose?
Mat 27:11.Now Jesus stood before the governor. Though it was a shocking exhibition, and highly incompatible with the majesty of the Son of God, to be dragged before the judgment-seat of a profane man, to be tried on the charge of a capital offense, as a malefactor in chains; yet we ought to remember that; our salvation consists in the doctrine of the cross, which is
folly to the Greeks, and an offense to the Jews,
(1Co 1:23.)
For the Son of God chose to stand bound before an earthly judge, and there to receive sentence of death, (253) in order that we, delivered from condemnation, may not fear to approach freely to the heavenly throne of God. If, therefore, we consider what advantage we reap from Christ having been tried before Pilate, the disgrace of so unworthy a subjection will be immediately washed away. And certainly none are offended at the condemnation of Christ, (254) but those who are either proud hypocrites, or stupid and gross despisers of God, who are not ashamed of their own iniquity.
So then, the Son of God stood, as a criminal, before a mortal man, and there permitted himself to be accused and condemned, that we may stand boldly before God. His enemies, indeed, endeavored to fasten upon him everlasting infamy; but we ought rather to look at the end to which the providence of God directs us. For if we recollect how dreadful is the judgment-seat of God, and that we could never have been acquitted there, unless Christ had been pronounced to be guilty on earth, we shall never be ashamed of glorying in his chains. Again, whenever we hear that Christ stood before Pilate with a sad and dejected countenance, let us draw from it grounds of confidence, that, relying on him as our intercessor, we may come into the presence of God with joy and alacrity. To the same purpose is what immediately follows: he did not answer him a single word. Christ was silent, while the priests were pressing upon him on every hand; and it was, in order that he might open our mouth by his silence. For hence arises that distinguished privilege of which Paul speaks in such magnificent terms, (Rom 8:15,) that we can boldly cry, Abba, Father; to which I shall immediately refer again.
Art thou the King of the Jews? Although they attempted to overwhelm Christ by many and various accusations, still it is probable that they maliciously seized on the title of King, in order to excite greater odium against him on the part of Pilate. For this reason Luke expressly represents them as saying, we have found him subverting the nation, and forbidding to give tribute to caesar, saying that he is the Christ, A King Nothing could have been more odious than this crime to Pilate, whose greatest anxiety was to preserve the kingdom in a state of quietness. From the Evangelist John we learn that he was accused on various grounds; but it is evident from the whole of the narrative that this was the chief ground of accusation. In like manner, even at the present day, Satan labors to expose the Gospel to hatred or suspicion on this plea, as if Christ, by erecting his kingdom, were overturning all the governments of the world, and destroying the authority of kings and magistrates. Kings too are, for the most part, so fiercely haughty, that they reckon it impossible for Christ to reign without some diminution of their own power; and, therefore, they always listen favorably to such an accusation as that which was once brought unjustly against Christ.
On this account Pilate, laying aside all the other points, attends chiefly to the sedition; because, if he had ascertained that Christ had in any way disturbed the public peace, he would gladly have condemned him without delay. This is the reason why he asks him about the kingdom. According to the three Evangelists, the answer of Christ is ambiguous; but we learn from John (Joh 18:36) that Christ made an open acknowledgment of the fact which was alleged against him; but, at the same time, that he vindicated himself from all criminality by denying that he was an earthly king. But as he did not intend to take pains to vindicate himself, as is usually the case with criminals, the Evangelists put down a doubtful reply; as if they had said, that he did not deny that he was a king, but that he indirectly pointed out the calumny which his enemies unjustly brought against him.
(253) “Et là estre traitté comme un criminel digne de mort;” — “and there to be reated as a criminal worthy of death.”
(254) “De la condamnation à laquelle Christ s’est soumis;” — “at the condemnation to which Christ submitted.”
12He answered nothing. If it be asked why the Evangelists say that Christ was silent, while we have just now heard his answer from their mouth, the reason is, that he had a defense at hand, but voluntarily abstained from producing it. And, indeed, what he formerly replied about the kingdom did not arise from a desire to be acquitted, but was only intended to maintain that he was the Redeemer anciently promised,
before whom every knee ought to bow, (Isa 45:23.)
Pilate wondered at this patience; for Christ, by his silence, allowed his innocence to be suspected, when he might easily have refuted frivolous and unfounded calumnies. The integrity of Christ was such that the judge saw it plainly without any defense. But Pilate wished that Christ might not neglect his own cause, and might thus be acquitted without giving offense to many people. And up to this point, the integrity of Pilate is worthy of commendation, because, from a favorable regard to the innocence of Christ, he urges him to defend himself.
But that we may not, like Pilate, wonder at the silence of Christ, as if it had been unreasonable, we must attend to the purpose of God, who determined that his Son—whom he had appointed to be a sacrifice to atone for our sins—should be condemned as guilty in our room, though in himself he was pure. Christ therefore was at that time silent, that he may now be our advocate, and by his intercession may deliver us from condemnation. He was silent, that we may boast that by his grace we are righteous. And thus was fulfilled the prediction of Isaiah, (Isa 53:7,) that he was led as a sheep to the slaughter.
And yet he gave, at the same time, that good confession, which Paul mentions, (1Ti 6:12,) a confession not by words, but by deeds; not that by which he consulted his own advantage, but that by which he obtained deliverance for the whole human race.
Mat 27:15.Now the governor was wont at the festival Here is described to us, on the one hand, the insatiable cruelty of the priests, and, on the other, the furious obstinacy of the people; for both must have been seized with astonishing madness, when they were not satisfied with conspiring to put to death an innocent man, if they did not also, through hatred of him, release a robber. Thus wicked men after having once begun to fall, are driven headlong by Satan, so that they shrink from no crime, however detestable, but, blinded and stupefied, add sin to sin. There can be no doubt that Pilate, in order to prevail upon them through shame, selected a very wicked man, by contrast with whom Christ might be set free; and the very atrocity of the crime of which Barabbas was guilty ought justly to have made the resentment of the people to fall on him, that by comparison with him, at least, Christ might be released. But no disgrace makes either the priests, or the whole nation, afraid to ask that a seditious man and a murderer should be granted to them.
Meanwhile, we ought to consider the purpose of God, by which Christ was appointed to be crucified, as if he had been the basest of men. The Jews, indeed, rage against him with blinded fury; but as God had appointed him to be a sacrifice (κάθαρμα) to atone for the sins of the world, (259) he permitted him to be placed even below a robber and murderer. That the Son of God was reduced so low none can properly remember without the deepest horror, and displeasure with themselves, and detestation of their own crimes. But hence also arises no ordinary ground of confidence; for Christ was sunk into the depths of ignominy, that he might obtain for us, by his humiliation, an ascent to the heavenly glory: he was reckoned worse than a robber, that he might admit us to the society of the angels of God. If this advantage be justly estimated, it will be more than sufficient to remove the offense of the cross.
The custom of having one of the prisoners released by the governor on the festival, to gratify the people, was a foolish and improper practice, and, indeed, was an open abuse of the worship of God; for nothing could be more unreasonable than that festivals should be honored by allowing crimes to go unpunished. God has armed magistrates with the sword, that they may punish with severity those crimes which cannot be tolerated without public injury; and hence it is evident that lie does not wish to be worshipped by a violation of laws and punishments. But since nothing ought to be attempted but by the rule of his word, all that men gain by methods of worshipping God which have been rashly contrived by themselves is, that under the pretense of honoring, they often throw dishonor upon Him. We ought therefore to preserve such moderation, as not to offer to God any thing but what he requires; for he is so far from taking pleasure in profane gift that they provoke his anger the more.
(259) “D’autant que Dieu l’avoit ordonné pour estre celuy sur lequel seroyent mis tousles pechez du monde,, à fin que l’expiation et purgation en fust faite;” — “because God had appointed him to be the person on whom should be laid the sins of the world, in order that the expiation and cleansing of them might be accomplished.”
19. While he was sitting on the judgment-seat. Although the thoughts which had passed through the mind of Pilate’s wife during the day might be the cause of her dream, yet there can be no doubt that she suffered these torments, not in a natural way, (such as happens to us every day,) but by an extraordinary inspiration of God. It has been commonly supposed that the devil stirred up this woman, in order to retard the redemption of mankind; which is in the highest degree improbable, since it was he who excited and inflamed, to such a degree, the priests and scribes to put Christ to death. We ought to conclude, on the contrary, that God the Father took many methods of attesting the innocence of Christ, that it might evidently appear that he suffered death in the room of others, — that is, in our room. God intended that Pilate should so frequently acquit him with his own mouth before condemning him, that in his undeserved condemnation the true satisfaction for our sins might be the more brightly displayed. Matthew expressly mentions this, that none may wonder at the extreme solicitude of Pilate, when he debates with the people, in the midst of a tumult, for the purpose of saving the life of a man whom he despised. And, indeed, by the terrors which his wife, had suffered during the night, God compelled him to defend the innocence of his own Son; not to rescue him from death, but only to make it manifest, that in the room of others he endured that punishment which he had not deserved. As to dreams, which serve the purpose of visions, we have spoken elsewhere.
20. But the chief priests and elder’s persuaded the multitude. The Evangelist points out the chief instigators of the wicked proceedings; not that the foolish credulity of the people, who were influenced by others, admits of any excuse; but for the purpose of informing us that they were not, of their own accord, hostile to Christ, but that, having sold themselves to gratify the priests, they forget all justice and modesty, (260) as well as their own salvation. Hence we learn how pernicious is the influence of wicked men, who can easily turn in every direction, to all kind of wickedness, the giddy and changeful multitude. Yet we must attend to the design of the Evangelist, which was to show, that the death of Christ was so eagerly demanded by the voice of the people, not because he was universally hated, but because the greater part of them, ambitiously desirous to follow the inclination of their rulers, threw aside all regard to justice, and might be said to have sold and enslaved their tongue to the wicked conspiracy of a few.
(260) “Toute equité mosiste, et honnesteté :” — “all justice, modesty, and propriety.”
22. What then shall I do with Jesus? Perceiving that they are so blinded by madness, that they do not hesitate, to their own great dishonor, to rescue a robber from death, Pilate resorts to another expedient for touching them to the quick, and bringing them to a sound mind. He argues that the death of Christ would bring disgrace on themselves, because it had been commonly reported of Jesus, that he was the King and the Christ. As if he had said, “If you have no compassion for the man, pay some regard, at least, to your own honor; for it will be generally thought by foreigners, that he was put to death for a chastisement to you all.” (261) Yet even this did not abate the fierceness of their cruelty, or hinder them from proceeding to manifest a greater degree of opposition to the public interests than of private hostility to Christ. Thus, according to Mark, Pilate, in order to wound them still more deeply, says that even themselves call Jesus the King; meaning, that this title was constantly used, as if it had been his ordinary surname. Yet, throwing aside all shame, they obstinately insist on the murder of Christ, which brought along with it the disgrace of the whole nation. The Evangelist John (Joh 14:15) states a reply, which the other three Evangelists do not mention; namely, that they had no king but Caesar. Thus they choose rather to be deprived of the hope of the promised redemption, and to be devoted to perpetual slavery, than to receive the Redeemer, whom God had offered to them.
(261) “Pour vous chastier, et vous faire despit à tous;” — “to chastise you, and pour contempt on you all.”
Mat 27:24.But Pilate, perceiving that he gained nothing by it. As sailors, who have experienced a violent tempest, at last give way, and permit themselves to be carried out of the proper course; so Pilate, finding himself unable to restrain the commotion of the people, lays aside his authority as a judge, and yields to their furious outcry. And though he had long attempted to hold out, still the necessity does not excuse him; for he ought rather to have submitted to any amount of suffering than to have swerved from his duty. Nor is his guilt alleviated by the childish ceremony which he uses; for how could a few drops of water wash away the stain of a crime which no satisfaction of any kind could obliterate? His principal object in doing so was not to wash out his stains before God, but to exhibit to the people a Mark of abhorrence, to try if perhaps he might lead them to repent of their fury; as if he had employed such a preface as this, “Lo, you compel me to an unrighteous murder, to which I cannot come but with trembling and horror. What then shall become of you, and what dreadful vengeance of God awaits you, who are the chief actors in the deed?” But whatever might be the design of Pilate, God intended to testify, in this manner, the innocence of his Son, that it might be more manifest that in him our sins were condemned. The supreme and sole Judge of the world is placed at the bar of an earthly judge, is condemned to crucifixion as a malefactor, and — what is more — is placed between two robbers, as if he had been the prince of robbers. A spectacle so revolting might, at first sight, greatly disturb the senses of men, were it not met by this argument, that the punishment which had been due to us was laid on Christ, so that, our guilt having now been removed, we do not hesitate to come into the presence of the Heavenly Judge. Accordingly, the water, which was of no avail for washing away the filth of Pilate, ought to be efficacious, in the present day, for a different purpose, to cleanse our eyes from every obstruction, that, in the midst of condemnation, they may clearly perceive the righteousness of Christ.
25. His blood be on us. There can be no doubt that the Jews pronounced this curse on themselves without any concern, as if they had been fully convinced that they had a righteous cause before God; but their inconsiderate zeal carries them headlong, so that, while they commit an irreparable crime, they add to it a solemn imprecation, by which they cut themselves off from the hope of pardon. Hence we infer how carefully we ought to guard against headlong rashness in all our judgments. For when men refuse to make inquiry, and venture to decide in this or the other matter according to their own fancy, blind impulse must at length carry them to rage. And this is the righteous vengeance of God with which he visits the pride of those who do not deign to take the trouble of distinguishing between right and wrong. The Jews thought that, in slaying Christ, they were performing a service acceptable to God; but whence arose this wicked error, unless from wicked obstinacy, and from despising God himself? Justly, therefore, were they abandoned to this rashness of drawing upon themselves final ruin. But when the question relates to the worship of God and his holy mysteries, let us learn to open our eyes, and to inquire into the matter with reverence and sobriety, lest through hypocrisy and presumption we become stupefied and enraged.
Now as God would never have permitted this execrable word to proceed from the mouth of the people, if their impiety had not been already desperate, so afterwards he justly revenged it by dreadful and unusual methods; and yet by an incredible miracle he reserved for himself some remnant, that his covenant might not be abolished by the destruction of the whole nation. He had adopted for himself the seed of Abraham, that it might be
a chosen nation, a royal priesthood, his peculiar people and inheritance,
(1. e 2:9.)
The Jews now conspire, as with one voice, to renounce a favor so distinguished. Who would not say that the whole nation was utterly rooted out from the kingdom of God? But God, through their treachery, renders more illustrious the fidelity of his promise, and, to show that he did not in vain make a covenant with Abraham, he rescues from the general destruction those whom he has elected by free grace. Thus the truth of God always rises superior to all the obstacles raised by human unbelief.
26Then he released to them Barabbas. Our three Evangelists do not mention what is related by John, (Joh 15:13,) that Pilate ascended the judgment-seat to pronounce sentence from it; for they only state that the clamor of the people and the confused tumult prevailed on him basely to deliver up Christ to death. But both of these things must be observed, that a compliance was forced from him contrary to his will, and yet that he exercised the office of a judge in condemning him whom he pronounces to be innocent. For if the Son of God had not been free from all sin, we would have had no right to look for satisfaction from his death; and, on the other hand, if he had not become our surety, to endure the punishment which we had deserved, we would now have been involved in the condemnation of our sins. So then God determined that his Son should be condemned in a solemn manner, that he might acquit us for his sake.
But even the severity of the punishment serves to confirm our faith, not less than to impress our minds with dread of the wrath of God, and to humble us by a conviction of our miseries. For if we are desirous to profit aright by meditating on the death of Christ, we ought to begin with cherishing abhorrence of our sins, in proportion to the severity of the punishment which he endured. This will cause us not only to feel displeasure and shame of ourselves, but to be penetrated with deep grief, and therefore to seek the medicine with becoming ardor, and at the same time to experience confusion and trembling. For we must have hearts harder than stones, if we are not cut to the quick by the wounds of the Son of God, if we do not hate and detest our sins, for expiating which the Son of God endured so many torments. But as this is a display of the dreadful vengeance of God, so, on the other hand, it holds out to us the most abundant grounds of confidence; for we have no reason to fear that our sins, from which the Son of God acquits us by so valuable a ransom, will ever again be brought into judgment before God. For not only did he endure an ordinary kind of death, in order to obtain life for us, but along with the cross he took upon him our curse, that no uncleanness might any longer remain in us.
27. Then the soldiers of the governor. It is not without reason that these additional insults are related. We know that it was not some sort of ludicrous exhibition, when God exposed his only-begotten Son to every kind of reproaches. First, then, we ought to consider what we have deserved, and, next, the satisfaction offered by Christ ought to awaken us to confident hope. Our filthiness deserves that God should hold it in abhorrence, and that all the angels should spit upon us; but Christ, in order to present us pure and unspotted in presence of the Father, resolved to be spat upon, and to be dishonored by every kind of reproaches. For this reason, that disgrace which he once endured on earth obtains for us favor in heaven, and at the same time restores in us the image of God, which had been not only stained, but almost obliterated, by the pollutions of sin. Here, too, is brightly displayed the inconceivable mercy of God towards us, in bringing his only-begotten Son so low on our account. This was also a proof which Christ gave of his astonishing love towards us, that there was no ignominy to which he refused to submit for our salvation. but these matters call for secret meditation, rather than for the ornament of words.
We are also taught that the kingdom of Christ ought not to be estimated by the sense of the flesh, but by the judgment of faith and of the Spirit. For so long as our minds grovel in the world, we look: upon his kingdom not only as contemptible, but even as loaded with shame and disgrace; but as soon as our minds rise by faith to heaven, not only will the spiritual majesty of Christ be presented to us, so as to obliterate all the dishonor of the cross, but the spittings, scourgings, blows, and other indignities, will lead us to the contemplation of his glory; as Paul informs us, that
God hath given him a name, and the highest authority, that before him every knee might bow, because he willingly emptied himself (ἐκένωσε) even to the death of the cross,
(Phi 2:8.)
If, therefore, even in the present day, the world insolently mocks at Christ, let us learn to rise above these offenses by elevated faith; and let us not stop to inquire, what unworthy opposition is made to Christ by wicked men, but with what ornaments the Father hath clothed him, with what scepter and with what crown he hath adorned him, so as to raise him high, not only above men, but even above all the angels.
Mark uses the word purple instead of scarlet; but though these are different colors, we need not trouble ourselves much about that matter. That Christ was clothed with a costly garment is not probable; and hence we infer that it was not purple, but something that bore a resemblance to it, as a painter counterfeits truth by his likenesses.
32. They found a man, a Cyrenian. This circumstance points out the extreme cruelty both of the Jewish nation and of the soldiers. There is no reason to doubt that it was then the custom for malefactors to carry their own crosses to the place of punishment, but as the only persons who were crucified were robbers, who were men of great bodily strength, they were able to bear such a burden. It was otherwise with Christ, so that the very weakness of his body plainly showed that it was a lamb that was sacrificed. Perhaps, too, in consequence of having been mangled by scourging, and broken down by many acts of outrage, he bent under the weight of the cross. Now the Evangelists relate that the soldiers constrained a man who was a peasant, and of mean rank, to carry the cross; because that punishment was reckoned so detestable, that every person thought himself polluted, if he only happened to put his hand to it. (265) But God ennobles by his heralds the man who was taken from the lowest dregs of the people to perform a mean and infamous office; for it is not a superfluous matter, that the Evangelists not only mention his name, but inform us also about his country and his children. Nor can there be any doubt that God intended, by this preparation, to remind us that we are of no rank or estimation in ourselves, and that it is only from the cross of his Son that we derive eminence and renown.
(265) “S’il luy fust advenu d’y mettre la main.”
Mat 27:33.And they came to the place. Jesus was brought to the place where it was customary to execute criminals, that his death might be more ignominious. Now though this was done according to custom, still we ought to consider the loftier purpose of God; for he determined that his Son should be cast out of the city as unworthy of human intercourse, that he might admit us into his heavenly kingdom with the angels. For this reason the apostle, in the Epistle to the Hebrews, (Heb 13:12,) refers it to an ancient figure of the law. For as God commanded his people to burn without the camp the bodies of those animals, the blood of which was carried into the sanctuary to make atonement for sins, (Exo 29:14; Lev 16:27;) so he says that Christ went out of the gate of the city, that, by taking upon him the curse which pressed us down, he might be regarded as accursed, and might in this manner atone for our sins. (272) Now the greater the ignominy and disgrace which he endured before the world, so much the more acceptable and noble a spectacle did he exhibit in his death to God and to the angels. For the infamy of the place did not hinder him from erecting there a splendid trophy of his victory; nor did the offensive smell of the carcasses which lay there hinder the sweet savor of his sacrifice from diffusing itself throughout the whole world, and penetrating even to heaven.
(272) “Et effeçast nos peche, et en fist la satisfaction;” — “and might blot out our sins, and make satisfaction for them.”
34. And they gave him vinegar. Although the Evangelists are not so exact in placing each matter in its due order, as to enable us to fix the precise moment at which the events occurred; yet I look upon it as a probable conjecture that, before our Lord was elevated on the cross, there was offered to him in a cup, according to custom, wine mingled with myrrh, or some other mixture, which appears to have been compounded of gall and vinegar. It is sufficiently agreed, indeed, among nearly all interpreters, that this draught was different from that which is mentioned by John, (Joh 14:29,) and of which we shall speak very soon. I only add, that I consider the cup to have been offered to our Lord when he was about to be crucified; but that after the cross was lifted up, a sponge was then dipped and given to him. At what time he began to ask something to drink, I am not very anxious to inquire; but when we compare all the circumstances, it is not unreasonable to suppose that, after he had refused that bitter mixture, it was frequently in derision presented to his lips. For we shall find Matthew afterwards adding that the soldiers, while they were giving him to drink, upbraided him for not being able to rescue himself from death. Hence we infer that, while the remedy was offered, they ridiculed the weakness of Christ, because he had complained that he was forsaken by God, (Mat 27:49.)
As to the Evangelist John’s narrative, it is only necessary to understand that Christ requested that some ordinary beverage might be given him to assuage his thirst, but that vinegar, mingled with myrrh and gall, was attempted to be forced upon him for hastening his death. But he patiently bore his torments, so that the lingering pain did not lead him to desire that his death should be hastened; for even this was a part of his sacrifice and obedience, to endure to the very last the lingering exhaustion.
They are mistaken, in my opinion, who look upon the vinegar as one of the torments which were cruelly inflicted on the Son of God. There is greater probability in the conjecture of those who think that this kind of beverage had a tendency to promote the evacuation of blood, and that on this account it was usually given to malefactors, for the purpose of accelerating their death. Accordingly, Mark calls it wine mingled with myrrh. Now Christ, as I have just now hinted, was not led to refuse the wine or vinegar so much by a dislike of its bitterness, as by a desire to show that he advanced calmly to death, according to the command of the Father, and that he did not rush on heedlessly through want of patience for enduring pain. Nor is this inconsistent with what John says, that the Scripture was fulfilled, In my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink. For the two accounts perfectly agree with each other; that a remedy was given to him in order to put an end to the torments of a lingering death, and yet that Christ was in every respect treated with harshness, so that the very alleviation was a part, or rather was an augmentation, of his pain.
35. They parted his garments. It is certain that the soldiers did this also according to custom, in dividing among themselves the clothes of a man who had been condemned to die. One circumstance was perhaps peculiar, that they cast lots on a coat which was without seam, (Joh 19:23.) But though nothing happened to Christ in this respect but what was done to all who were condemned to die, still this narrative deserves the utmost attention. For the Evangelists exhibit to us the Son of God stripped of his garments, in order to inform us, that by this nakedness we have obtained those riches which make us honorable in the presence of God. God determined that his own Son should be stripped of his raiment, that we, clothed with his righteousness and with abundance of all good things, may appear with boldness in company with the angels, whereas formerly our loathsome and disgraceful aspect, in tattered garments, kept us back from approaching to heaven. Christ himself permitted his garments to be torn in pieces like a prey, that he might enrich us with the riches of his victory.
That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet. When Matthew says that thus was fulfilled the prediction of David,
they part my garments among them, and cast the lot upon my vesture,
(Psa 22:18,)
we must understand his meaning to be, that what David complained of, as having been done to himself metaphorically and figuratively, was literally, (as the common phrase is,) and in reality, exhibited in Christ. For by the word garments David means his wealth and honors; as if he had said that, during his life, and under his own eyes, he was prey to enemies, who had robbed his house, and were so far from sparing the rest of his property, that they even carried off his wife. This cruelty is represented even more strikingly by the metaphor, when he says that his garments were divided by lot. Now as he was a shadow and image of Christ, he predicted, by the spirit of prophecy, what Christ was to suffer. In his person, therefore, this is worthy of observation, that the soldiers plundered his raiment, because in this pillage we discern the signs and marks by which he was formerly pointed out. It serves also to remove the offense with which the sense of the flesh might otherwise have regarded his nakedness, since he suffered nothing which the Holy Spirit does not declare to belong truly and properly to the person of the Redeemer.
Mat 27:37.And placed over his head. What is briefly noticed by Matthew and Mark is more fully related by Luke, (Luk 23:38,) that the inscription was written in three languages. John also describes it more largely, (Joh 14:19.) Under this passage my readers will find what I pass over here for the sake of brevity. I shall only say, that it did not happen without the providence of God, that the death of Christ was made known in three languages. Though Pilate had no other design than to bring reproach and infamy on the Jewish nation, yet God had a higher end in view; for by this presage he caused it to be widely known that the death of his Son would be highly celebrated, so that all nations would everywhere acknowledge that he was the King promised to the Jews. This was not, indeed, the lawful preaching of the Gospel, for Pilate was unworthy to be employed by God as a witness for his Son; but what was afterwards to be accomplished by the true ministers was prefigured in Pilate. In short, we may look upon him to be a herald of Christ in the same sense that Caiaphas was a prophet, (Joh 11:51.)
38. Then were crucified with him two robbers. It was the finishing stroke of the lowest disgrace when Christ was executed between two robbers; for they assigned him the most prominent place, as if’ he had been the prince of robbers. If he had been crucified apart from the other malefactors, there might have appeared to be a distinction between his case and theirs; but now he is not only confounded with them, but raised aloft, as if he had been by far the most detestable of all. On this account Mark applies to him the prediction of Isaiah, (Isa 53:12) he was reckoned among transgressors; for the prophet expressly says concerning Christ, that he will deliver his people, not by pomp and splendor, but because he will endure the punishment clue to their sins. In order that he might free us from condemnation, this kind of expiation was necessary, that he might place himself in, our room. Here we perceive how dreadful is the weight of the wrath of God against sins, for appeasing which it became necessary that Christ, who is eternal justice, should be ranked with robbers. We see, also, the inestimable love of Christ towards us, who, in order that he might admit us to the society of the holy angels, permitted himself to be classed as one of the wicked.
Mat 27:39.And they that passed by. These circumstances carry great weight; for they place before us the extreme abasement of the Son of God, that we may see more clearly how much our salvation cost him, and that, reflecting that we justly deserved all the punishments which he endured, we may be more and more excited to repentance. For in this exhibition God hath plainly showed to us how wretched our condition would have been, if we had not a Redeemer. But all that Christ endured in himself ought to be applied for our consolation. This certainly was more cruel than all the other tortures, that they upbraided, and reviled, and tormented him as one that had been cast off and forsaken by God, (Isa 53:4.) And, therefore, David, as the representative of Christ, complains chiefly of this among the distresses which he suffered; (Psa 22:7.) And, indeed, there is nothing that inflicts a more painful wound on pious minds than when ungodly men, in order to shake their faith, upbraid them with being deprived of the assistance and favor of God. This is the harsh persecution with which, Paul tells us, Isaac was tormented by Ishmael, (Gal 4:29;) not that he attacked him with the sword, and with outward violence, but that, by turning the grace of God into ridicule, he endeavored to overthrow his faith. These temptations were endured, first by David, and afterwards by Christ him-self, that they might not at the present day strike us with excessive alarm, as if they had been unusual; for there never will be wanting wicked men who are disposed to insult our distresses. And whenever God does not assist us according to our wish, but conceals his aid for a little time, it is a frequent stratagem of Satan, to allege that our hope was to no purpose, as if his promise had failed.
40. Thou who destroyedst the temple. They charge Christ with teaching falsehood, because, now that it is called for, he does not actually display the power to which he laid claim. But if their unbridled propensity to cursing had not deprived them of sense and reason, they would shortly afterwards have perceived clearly the truth of his statement. Christ had said,
Destroy this temple, and after three days I will raise it up,
(Joh 2:19;)
but now they indulge in a premature triumph, and do not wait for the three days that would elapse from the commencement of its destruction. Such is the daring presumption of wicked men, when, under the pretense of the cross, they endeavor to cut them off from the hope of the future life. “Where,” say they, “is that immortal glory of which weak and credulous men are accustomed to boast? while the greater part of them are mean and despised, some are slenderly provided with food, others drag out a wretched life, amidst uninterrupted disease; others are driven about in flight, or in banishment; others pine away in prisons, and others are burnt and reduced to ashes?” Thus are they blinded by the present corruption of our outward man, so as to imagine that the hope of the future restoration of life is vain and foolish but our duty is to wait for the proper season of the promised building, and not to take it ill if we are now crucified with Christ, that we may afterwards be partakers of his resurrection, (Rom 6:5.)
If thou art the Son of God. Wicked men demand from Christ such a proof of His power that, by proving himself to be the Son of God, he may cease to be the Son of God. He had clothed himself with human flesh, and had descended into the world, on this condition, that, by the sacrifice of his death, he might reconcile men to God the Father. So then, in order to prove himself to be the Son of God, it was necessary that he should hang on the cross. And now those wicked men affirm that the Redeemer will not be recognized as the Son of God, unless he come clown from the cross, and thus disobey the command of his Father, and, leaving incomplete the expiation of sins, divest himself of the office which God had assigned to him. But let us learn from it to confirm our faith by considering that the Son of God determined to remain nailed to the cross for the sake of our salvation, until he had endured most cruel torments of the flesh, and dreadful anguish of soul, and even death itself. And lest we should come to tempt God in a manner similar to that in which those men tempted him, let us allow God to conceal his power, whenever it pleases Him to do so, that he may afterwards display it at his pleasure at the proper time and place. The same kind of depravity appears in the other objection which immediately follows: —
42. If he is the King, of Israel, let him now come down from the cross, and we shall believe him. For they ought not to embrace as King any one who did not answer to the description given by the prophets. But Isaiah (Isa 52:14) and Zechariah (Zec 13:7) expressly represent Christ as devoid of comeliness, afflicted, condemned, and accursed, half-dead, poor, and despised, before he ascends the royal throne. It is therefore foolish in the Jews to desire one of an opposite character, whom they may acknowledge as King; for, by so doing, they declare that they have no good-will to the King whom the Lord had promised to give. But let us, on the contrary, that our faith may firmly rely on Christ, seek a foundation in his cross; for in no other way could he be acknowledged to be the lawful King of Israel than by fulfilling what belonged to the Redeemer. And hence we conclude how dangerous it is to depart from the word of God by wandering after our speculations. For the Jews, in consequence of having imagined to themselves a King who had been suggested to them by their own senses, rejected Christ crucified, because they reckoned it absurd to believe in him; while we regard it as the best and highest reason for believing, that he voluntarily subjected himself on our account to the ignominy of the cross.
He saved others; himself he cannot save. It was an ingratitude which admits of no excuse, that, taking offense at the present humiliation of Christ, they utterly disregard all the miracles which he had formerly performed before their eyes. They acknowledge that he saved others. By what power, or by what means? Why do they not in this instance, at least, behold with reverence an evident work of God? But since they maliciously exclude, and—as far as lies in their power—endeavor to extinguish the light of God which shone in the miracles, they are unworthy of forming an accurate judgment of the weakness of the cross. Because Christ does not immediately deliver himself from death, they upbraid him with inability. And it is too customary with all wicked men to estimate the power of God by present appearances, so that whatever he does not accomplish they think that he cannot accomplish, and so they accuse him of weakness, whenever he does not comply with their wicked desire. But let us believe that Christ, though he might easily have done it, did not immediately deliver himself from death, but it was because he did not wish to deliver himself. And why did he for the time disregard his own safety, but because he cared more about the salvation of us all? We see then that the Jews, through their malice, employed, in defense of their unbelief, those things by which our faith is truly edified.
43. He trusted in God. This, as I said a little ago, is a very sharp arrow of temptation which Satan holds in his hand, when he pretends that God has forgotten us, because He does not relieve us speedily and at the very moment. For since God watches over the safety of his people, and not only grants them seasonable aid, but even anticipates their necessities, (as Scripture everywhere teaches us,) he appears not to love those whom he does not assist. Satan, therefore, attempts to drive us to despair by this logic, that it is in vain for us to feel assured o the love of God, when we do not clearly perceive his aid. And as he suggests to our minds this kind of imposition, so he employs his agents, who contend that God has sold and abandoned our salvation, because he delays to give his assistance. We ought, therefore, to reject as false this argument, that God does not love those whom he appears for a time to forsake; and, indeed, nothing is more unreasonable than to limit his love to any point of time. God has, indeed, promised that he will be our Deliverer; but if he sometimes wink at our calamities, we ought patiently to endure the delay. It is, therefore, contrary to the nature of faith, that the word now should be insisted on by those whom God is training by the cross and by adversity to obedience, and whom he entreats to pray and to call on his name; for these are rather the testimonies of his fatherly love, as the apostle tells us, (Heb 12:6.) But there was this peculiarity in, Christ, that, though he was the well-beloved Son, (Mat 3:17,) yet he was not delivered from death, until he had endured the punishment which we deserved; because that was the price by which our salvation was purchased. (273) Hence it follows again that the priests act maliciously, when they infer that he is not the Son of God, because he performs the office which was enjoined upon him by the Father.
(273) “Pource que c’estoit le prix de nostre salut et redemption;” — “because it was the price of our salvation and redemption.”
44. And the robbers also. Matthew and Mark, by synecdoche, attribute to the robbers what was done only by one of them, as is evident from Luke And this mode of expression ought not to be accounted harsh; for the two Evangelists had no other design than to show that Christ was attacked on every hand by the reproaches of all men, so that even the robbers, who were fast dying, did not spare him. In like manner David, deploring his calamities, exhibits their violence in a strong light by saying, that he is the reproach of all sorts of men, and despised by the people. Now although they leave out the memorable narrative which Luke relates as to the other robber, still there is no inconsistency in their statement, that Christ was despised by all, down to the very robbers; for they do not speak of particular individuals, but of the class itself. Let us now, therefore, come to what is stated by Luke
Mat 27:45.Now from the sixth hour. Although in the death of Christ the weakness of the flesh concealed for a short time the glory of the Godhead, and though the Son of God himself was disfigured by shame and contempt, and, as Paul says, was emptied, (Phi 2:7) yet the heavenly Father did not cease to distinguish him by some marks, and during his lowest humiliation prepared some indications of his future glory, in order to fortify the minds of the godly against the offense of the cross. Thus the majesty of Christ was attested by the obscuration of the sun, by the earthquake, by the splitting of the rocks, and the rending of the veil, as if heaven and earth were rendering the homage which they owed to their Creator.
But we inquire, in the first place, what was the design of the eclipse of the sun? For the fiction of the ancient poets in their tragedies, that the light of the sun is withdrawn from the earth whenever any shocking crime is perpetrated, was intended to express the alarming effects of the anger of God; and this invention unquestionably had its origin in the ordinary feelings of mankind. In accordance with this view, some commentators think that, at the death of Christ, God sent darkness as a Mark of detestation, as if God, by bringing darkness over the sun, hid his face from beholding the blackest of all crimes. Others say that, when the visible sun was extinguished, it pointed out the death of the Sun of righteousness. Others choose to refer it to the blinding of the nation, which followed shortly afterwards. For the Jews, by rejecting Christ, as soon as he was removed from among them, were deprived of the light of heavenly doctrine, and nothing was left to them but the darkness of despair.
I rather think that, as stupidity had shut the eyes of that people against the light, the darkness was intended to arouse them to consider the astonishing design of God in the death of Christ. For if they were not altogether hardened, an unusual change of the order of nature must have made a deep impression on their senses, so as to look forward to an approaching renewal of the world. Yet it was a terrific spectacle which was exhibited to them, that they might tremble at the judgment of God. And, indeed, it was an astonishing display of the wrath of God that he did not spare even his only begotten Son, and was not appeased in any other way than by that price of expiation.
As to the scribes and priests, and a great part of the nation, who paid no attention to the eclipse of the sun, but passed it by with closed eyes, their amazing madness ought to strike us with horror; (283) for they must have been more stupid than brute beasts, who when plainly warned of the severity of the judgment of heaven by such a miracle, did not cease to indulge in mockery. But this is the spirit of stupidity and of giddiness with which God intoxicates the reprobate, after having long contended with their malice. Meanwhile, let us learn that, when they were bewitched by the enchantments of Satan, the glory of God, however manifest, was afterwards hidden from them, or, at least, that their minds were darkened, so that, seeing they did not see, (Mat 13:14.) But as it was a general admonition, it ought also to be of advantage to us, by informing us that the sacrifice by which we are redeemed was of as much importance as if the sun had fallen from heaven, or if the whole fabric of the world had fallen to pieces; for this will excite in us deeper horror at our sins.
As to the opinion entertained by some who make this eclipse of the sun extend to every quarter of the world, I do not consider it to be probable. For though it was related by one or two authors, still the history of those times attracted so much attention, that it was impossible for so remarkable a miracle to be passed over in silence by many other authors, who have described minutely events which were not so worthy of being recorded. Besides, if the eclipse had been universal throughout the world, it would have been regarded as natural, and would more easily have escaped the notice of men. (284) But when the sun was shining elsewhere, it was a more striking miracle that Judea was covered with darkness.
(283) “Leur foreenerie noun, doit blen estonner, et nous faire dresser les cheveux en la teste;” — “their madness ought greatly to astonish us, and to make our hair stand on end.”
(284) “Plus aisément on l’eust laissé passer sans enquerir la signification;” —”it would more easily have been allowed to pass without inquiring into its meaning.”
46. And about the ninth hour Jesus cried. Though in the cry which Christ uttered a power more than human was manifested, yet it was unquestionably drawn from him by intensity of sorrow. And certainly this was his chief conflict, and harder than all the other tortures, that in his anguish he was so far from being soothed by the assistance or favor of his Father, that he felt himself to be in some measure estranged from him. For not only did he offer his body as the price of our reconciliation with God, but. in his soul also he endured the punishments due to us; and thus he became, as Isaiah speaks,a man of sorrows, (Isa 53:3.) Those interpreters are widely mistaken who, laying aside this part of redemption, attended solely to the outward punishment of the flesh; for in order that Christ might satisfy for us, (285) it was necessary that he should be placed as a guilty person at the judgment-seat of God. Now nothing is more dreadful than to feel that God, whose wrath is worse than all deaths, is the Judge. When this temptation was presented to Christ, as if, having God opposed to him, he were already devoted to destruction, he was seized with horror, which would have been sufficient to swallow up a hundred times all the men in the world; but by the amazing power of the Spirit he achieved the victory. Nor is it by hypocrisy, or by assuming a character, that he complains of having been forsaken by the Father. Some allege that he employed this language in compliance with the opinion of the people, but this is an absurd mode of evading the difficulty; for the inward sadness of his soul was so powerful and violent, that it forced him to break out into a cry. Nor did the redemption which he accomplished consist solely in what was exhibited to the eye, (as I stated a little ago,) but having undertaken to be our surety, he resolved actually to undergo in our room the judgment of God.
But it appear absurd to say that an expression of despair escaped Christ. The reply is easy. Though the perception of the flesh would have led him to dread destruction, still in his heart faith remained firm, by which he beheld the presence of God, of whose absence he complains. We have explained elsewhere how the Divine nature gave way to the weakness of the flesh, so far as was necessary for our salvation, that Christ might accomplish all that was required of the Redeemer. We have likewise pointed out the distinction between the sentiment of nature and the knowledge of faith; and, there ore, the perception of God’s estrangement from him, which Christ had, as suggested by natural feeling, did not hinder him from continuing to be assured by faith that God was reconciled to him. This is sufficiently evident from the two clauses of the complaint; for, before stating the temptation, he begins by saying that he betakes himself to God as his God, and thus by the shield of faith he courageously expels that appearance of forsaking which presented itself on the other side. In short, during this fearful torture his faith remained uninjured, so that, while he complained of being forsaken, he still relied on the aid of God as at hand.
That this expression eminently deserves our attention is evident from the circumstance, that the Holy Spirit, in order to engrave it more deeply on the memory of men, has chosen to relate it in the Syriac language; (286) for this has the same effect as if he made us hear Christ himself repeating the very words which then proceeded from his mouth. So much the more detestable is the indifference of those who lightly pass by, as a matter of jesting, the deep sadness and fearful trembling which Christ endured. No one who considers that Christ undertook the office of Mediator on the condition of suffering our condemnation, both in his body and in his soul, will think it strange that he maintained a struggle with the sorrows of death, as if an offended God had thrown him into a whirlpool of afflictions.
(285) “A fin que Christ fist la satisfaction et le payment pour nous;” — “in order that Christ might make satisfaction and payment for us.”
(286) “A voulu qu’il fust escrit et enregistré en langue Syrienne, de la quelle on usoit lors communément au pays;” — “determined that it should be written and recorded in the Syrian language, which was then commonly used in the country.”
47. He calleth Elijah. Those who consider this as spoken by the soldiers, ignorant and unskilled in the Syriac language, and unacquainted with the Jewish religion, and who imagine that the soldiers blundered through a resemblance of the words, are, in my opinion, mistaken. I do not think it at all probable that they erred through ignorance, but rather that they deliberately intended to mock Christ, and to turn his prayer into an occasion of slander. For Satan has no method more effectual for ruining the salvation of the godly, than by dissuading them from calling on God. For this reason, he employs his agents to drive off from us, as far as he can, the desire to pray. Thus he impelled the wicked enemies of Christ basely to turn his prayer into derision, intending by this stratagem to strip him of his chief armor. And certainly it is a very grievous temptation, when prayer appears to be so far from yielding any advantage to us, that God exposes his name to reproaches, instead of lending a gracious car to our prayers. This ironical language, therefore — or rather this barking of dogs — amounts to saying that Christ has no access to God, because, by imploring Elijah, he seeks relief in another quarter. Thus we see that he was tortured on every hand, in order that, overwhelmed with despair, he might abstain from calling on God, which was, to abandon salvation. But if the hired brawlers of Antichrist, as well as wicked men existing in the Church, are now found to pervert basely by their calumnies what has been properly said by us, let us not wonder that the same thing should happen to our Head. Yet though they may change God into Elijah, when they have ridiculed us to their heart’s content, God will at length listen to our groanings, and will show that he vindicates his glory, and punishes base falsehood.
48. And immediately one ran. As Christ had once refused to drink, it may be conjectured with probability, that it was repeatedly offered to him for the sake of annoyance; though it is also not improbable that the vinegar was held out to him in a cup before he was raised aloft, and that a sponge was afterwards applied to his mouth, while he was hanging on the cross.
Mat 27:50.Jesus having again cried with a loud voice. Luke, who makes no mention of the former complaint, repeats the words of this second cry, which Matthew and Mark leave out. He says that Jesus cried, Father, into thy hands I commit my spirit; by which he declared that, though he was fiercely attacked by violent temptations, still his faith was unshaken, and always kept its ground unvanquished. For there could not have been a more splendid triumph than when Christ boldly expresses his assurance that God is the faithful guardian of his soul, which all imagined to be lost. But instead of speaking to the deaf, he betook himself directly to God, and committed to his bosom the assurance of his confidence. He wished, indeed, that men should hear what he said; but though it might be of no avail to men, he was satisfied with having God alone as his witness. And certainly there is not a stronger or more decided testimony of faith than when a pious man—perceiving himself attacked on every hand:, so that he finds no consolation on the part of men—despises the madness of the whole world, discharges his sorrows and cares into the bosom of God, and rests in the hope of his promises.
Though this form of prayer appears to be borrowed from Psa 31:5, yet I have no doubt that he applied it to his immediate object, according to present circumstances; as if he had said, “I see, indeed, O Father, that by the universal voice I am destined to destruction, and that my soul is, so to speak, hurried to and fro; but though, according to the flesh, I perceive no assistance in thee, yet this will not hinder me from committing my spirit into thy hands, and calmly relying on the hidden safeguard of thy goodness.” Yet it ought to be observed, that David, in the passage which I have quoted, not only prayed that his soul, received by the hand of God, might continue to be safe and happy after death, but committed his life to the Lord, that, guarded by his protection, he might prosper both in life and in death. He saw himself continually besieged by many deaths; nothing, therefore, remained but to commit himself to the invincible protection of God. Having made God the guardian of his soul, he rejoices that it is safe from all danger; and, at the same time, prepares to meet death with confidence, whenever it shall please God, because the Lord guards the souls of his people even in death. No as the former was taken away from Christ, to commit his soul to be protected by the Father during the frail condition of the earthly life, he hastens cheerfully to death, and desires to be preserved beyond the world; for the chief reason why God receives our souls into his keeping is, that our faith may rise beyond this transitory life.
Let us now remember that it was not in reference to himself alone that Christ committed his soul to the Father, but that he included, as it were, in one bundle all the souls of those who believe in him, that they may be preserved along with his own; and not only so, but by this prayer he obtained authority to save all souls, so that not only does the heavenly Father, for his sake, deign to take them into his custody, but, giving up the authority into his hands, commits them to him to be protected. And therefore Stephen also, when dying, resigns his soul into his hands, saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit, (Act 7:59.) Every one who, when he comes to die, following this example, shall believe in Christ, will not breathe his soul at random into the air, but will resort to a faithful guardian, who keeps in safety whatever has been delivered to him by the Father.
The cry shows also the intensity of the feeling; for there can be no doubt that Christ, out of the sharpness of the temptations by which he was beset, not without a painful and strenuous effort, broke out into this cry. And yet he likewise intended, by this loud and piercing exclamation, to assure us that his soul would be safe and uninjured by death, in order that we, supported by the same confidence, may cheerfully depart from the frail hovel of our flesh.
51. And, lo, the veil of the temple was rent. When Luke blends the rending of the veil with the eclipse of the sun, he inverts the order; for the Evangelists, as we have frequently seen, are not careful to mark every hour with exactness. Nor was it proper that the veil should be rent, until the sacrifice of expiation had been completed; for then Christ, the true and everlasting Priest, having abolished the figures of the law, opened up for us by his blood the way to the heavenly sanctuary, that we may no longer stand at a distance within the porch, but may freely advance into the presence of God. For so long as the shadowy worship lasted, (287) a veil was hung up before the earthly sanctuary, in order to keep the people not only from entering but from seeing it, (Exo 26:33; 2. h 3:14.) Now Christ, by
blotting out the handwriting which was opposed to us,
(Col 2:14,)
removed every obstruction, that, relying on him as Mediator, we may all be a royal priesthood, (1. e 2:9.) Thus the rending of the veil was not only an abrogation of the ceremonies which existed under the law, but was, in some respects, an opening of heaven, that God may now invite the members of his Son to approach him with familiarity.
Meanwhile, the Jews were informed that the period of abolishing outward sacrifices had arrived, and that the ancient priesthood would be of no farther use; that though the building of the temple was left standing, it would not be necessary to worship God there after the ancient custom; but that since the substance and truth of the shadows had been fulfilled, the figures of the law were changed into spirit. For though Christ offered a visible sacrifice, yet, as the Apostle tells us (Heb 9:14) it must be viewed spiritually, that we may enjoy its value and its fruit. But it was of no advantage to those wretched men that the outward sanctuary was laid bare by the rending of the veil, because the inward veil of unbelief, which was in their hearts, (288) hindered them from beholding the saving light.
And the earth trembled, and the rocks were split. What Matthew adds about the earthquake and the splitting oft he rocks, I think it probable, took place at the same time. In this way not only did the earth bear the testimony to its Creator, but it was even called as a witness against the hard-heartedness of a perverse nation; for it showed how monstrous that obstinacy must have been on which neither the earthquake nor the splitting of the rocks made any impression.
(287) “Cependant que le service, qui avoit les ombres de la Loy, a duré;” — “so long as the service, which contained the shadows of the Law, lasted.”
(288) “Qui estoit en leurs cœurs.”
52And graves were opened. This was also a striking miracle, by which God declared that his Son entered into the prison of death, not to continue to be shut up there, but to bring out all who were held captive. For at the very time when the despicable weakness of the flesh was beheld in the person of Christ, the magnificent and divine energy of his death penetrated even to hell. This is the reason why, when he was about to be shut up in a sepulcher, other sepulchers were opened by him. Yet it is doubtful if this opening of the graves took place before his resurrection; for, in my opinion, the resurrection of the saints, which is mentioned immediately afterwards, was subsequent to the resurrection of Christ. There is no probability in the conjecture of some commentators that, after having received life and breath, they remained three days concealed in their graves. I think it more probable that, when Christ died, the graves were immediately opened: and that, when he rose, some of the godly, having received life, went out of their graves, and were seen in the city. For Christ is calledthe first-born from the dead, (Col 1:18,) and the first-fruits of those who rise, (1Co 15:20,) because by his death he commenced, and by his resurrection he completed, a new life; not that, when he died, the dead were immediately raised, but because his death was the source and commencement of life. This reason, therefore, is fully applicable, since the opening of the graves was the presage of a new life, that the fruit or result appeared three days afterwards, because Christ, in rising from the dead, brought others along with him out of their graves as his companions. Now by this sign it was made evident, that he neither died nor rose again in a private capacity, but in order to shed the odor of life on all believers.
But here a question arises. Why did God determine that only some should arise, since a participation in the resurrection of Christ belongs equally to all believers? I reply: As the time was not fully come when the whole body of the Church should be gathered to its Head, he exhibited in a few persons an instance of the new life which all ought to expect. For we know that Christ was received into heaven on the condition that the life of his members should still be hid, (Col 3:3,) until it should be manifested by his coming. But in order that the minds of believers might be more quickly raised to hope, it was advantageous that the resurrection, which was to be common to all of them, should be tasted by a few.
Another and more difficult question is, What became of those saints afterwards? For it would appear to be absurd to suppose that, after having been once admitted by Christ to the participation of a new life, they again returned to dust. But as this question cannot be easily or quickly answered, so it is not necessary to give ourselves much uneasiness about a matter which is not necessary to be known. That they continued long to converse with men is not probable; for it was only necessary that they should be seen for a short time, that in them, as in a mirror or resemblance, the power of Christ might plainly appear. As God intended, by their persons, to confirm the hope of the heavenly life among those who were then alive, there would be no absurdity in saying that, after having performed this office, they again rested in their graves. But it is more probable that the life which they received was not afterwards taken from them; for if it had been a mortal life, it would not have been a proof of a perfect resurrection. Now, though the whole world will rise again, and though Christ will raise up the wicked to judgment, as well as believers to salvation, yet as it was especially for the benefit of his Church that he rose again, so it was proper that he should bestow on none but saints the distinguished honor of rising along with him.
53. And went into the holy city. When Matthew bestows on Jerusalem the honorable designation of the holy city, he does not intend to applaud the character of its inhabitants, for we know that it was at that time full of all pollution and wickedness, so that it was rather a den of robbers, (Jer 7:11.) But as it had been chosen by God, its holiness, which was founded on God’s adoption, could not be effaced by any corruptions of men, till its rejection was openly declared. Or, to express it more briefly, on the part of man it was profane, and on the part of God it was holy, till the destruction or pollution of the temple, which happened not long after the crucifixion of Christ.
54. Now the centurion. As Luke mentions the lamentation of the people, the centurion and his soldiers were not the only persons who acknowledged Christ to be the Son of God; but the Evangelists mention this circumstance respecting him for the purpose of heightening their description: for it is wonderful that an irreligious man, who had not been instructed in the Law, and was ignorant of true religion, should form so correct a judgment from the signs which he beheld. This comparison tends powerfully to condemn the stupidity of the city; for it was an evidence of shocking madness, that when the fabric of the world shook and trembled, none of the Jews were affected by it except the despised rabble. And yet, amidst such gross blindness, God did not permit the testimonies which he gave respecting his Son to be buried in silence. Not only, therefore, did true religion open the eyes of devout worshippers of God to perceive that from heaven God was magnifying the glory of Christ, but natural understanding compelled foreigners, and even soldiers, to confess what they had not learned either from the law or from any instructor.
When Mark says that the centurion spoke thus, because Christ, when he had uttered a loud voice, expired, some commentators think that he intends to point out the unwonted strength which remained unimpaired till death; and certainly, as the body of Christ was almost exhausted of blood, it could not happen, in the ordinary course of things, that the sides and the lungs should retain sufficient rigor for uttering so loud a cry. Yet I rather think that the centurion intended to applaud the unshaken perseverance of Christ in calling on the name of God. Nor was it merely the cry of Christ that led the centurion to think so highly of him, but this confession was extorted from him by perceiving that his extraordinary strength harmonized with heavenly miracles.
The words, he feared God, (289) must not be so explained as if he had fully repented. (290) It was only a sudden and transitory impulse, as it frequently happens, that men who are thoughtless and devoted to the world are struck with the fear of God, when he makes an alarming display of his power; but as they have no living root, indifference quickly follows, and puts an end to that feeling. The centurion had not undergone such a change as to dedicate himself to God for the remainder of his life, but was only for a moment the herald of the divinity of Christ.
When Luke represents him as saying no more than certainly this was a righteous man, the meaning is the same as if he had plainly said that he was the Son of God, as it is expressed by the other two Evangelists. For it had been universally reported that Christ was put to death, because he declared himself to be the Son of God. Now when the centurion bestows on him the praise of righteousness, and pronounces him to be innocent, he likewise acknowledges him to be the Son of God; not that he understood distinctly how Christ was begotten by God the Father, but because he entertains no doubt that there is some divinity in him, and, convinced by proofs, holds it to be certain that Christ was not an ordinary man, but had been raised up by God.
As to the multitudes, by striving their breasts, they expressed the dread of punishment for a public crime, because they felt that public guilt had been contracted by an unjust and shocking murder. (291) But as they went no farther, their lamentation was of no avail, unless, perhaps, in some persons it was the commencement or preparation of true repentance. And since nothing more is described to us than the lamentation which God drew from them to the glory of his Son, let us learn by this example, that it is of little importance, or of no importance at all, if a man is struck with terror, when he sees before his eyes the power of God, until, after the astonishment has been abated, the fear of God remains calmly in his heart.
(289) “Quand il est dit qu’il craignit Dieu ;” — “when it is said that he feared God. ” Calvin does not quote in this instance the exact words of Scripture. Ofthe centurion and those who were with him, Matthew says, (ἐφοζήθησαν σφόδρα,) they were greatly terrified; and of the centurion Luke says, (ἐδόξασε τὸν Θεόν,) he glorified God. —Ed.
(290) “Il ne faut pas entendre qu’il ait esté entierement converti;” — “we must not understand them to mean that he was fully converted.”
(291) “Elles ont lamenté, craignans que malheur n’adveint sur tout le pays pour punition de ce qu’ils avoyent tous consenti à la condamnation et mort inique de Christ.” — “They lamented, fearing that something unhappy would befall their country, as a punishment for their having all consented to the condemnation and unjust death of Christ.”
55. And there were also many women there. I consider this to have been added in order to inform us that, while the disciples had fled and were scattered in every direction, still some of their company were retained by the Lord as witnesses. Now though the Apostle John did not depart from the cross, yet no mention is made of him; but praise is bestowed on the women alone, who accompanied Christ till death, because their extraordinary attachment to their Master was the more strikingly displayed, when the men fled trembling. For they must have been endued with extraordinary strength of attachment, since, though they could render him no service, they did not cease to treat him with reverence, even when exposed to the lowest disgrace. And yet we learn fromLuke that all the men had not fled; for he says that all his acquaintances stood at a distance. But not without reason do the Evangelists bestow the chief praise on the women, for they deserved the preference above the men. In my opinion, the implied contrast suggests a severe reproof of the apostles. I speak of the great body of them; for since only one remained, the three Evangelists, as I mentioned a little ago, take no notice of him. It was in the highest degree disgraceful to chosen witnesses to withdraw from that spectacle on which depended the salvation of the world. Accordingly, when they afterwards proclaimed the gospel, they must have borrowed from women the chief portion of the history. But if a remedy had not been miraculously prepared by Providence against a great evil, they would have deprived themselves, and us along with them, of the knowledge of redemption.
At first sight, we might think that the testimony of the women does not possess equal authority; but if we duly consider by what power of the Spirit they were supported against that temptation, we shall find that there is no reason why our faith should waver, since it rests on God, who is the real Author of their testimony. (292) Yet let us observe, that it proceeded from the inconceivable goodness of God, that even to us should come that gospel which speaks of the expiation by which God has been reconciled to us. For during the general desertion of those who ought to have run before others, God encouraged some, out of the midst of the flock, who, recovering from the alarm, should be witnesses to us of that history, without the belief of which we cannot be saved. Of the women themselves, we shall presently have another opportunity of saying something. At present, it may be sufficient to take a passing notice of one point, that their eagerness for instruction led them to withdraw from their country, and constantly to learn from the lips of Christ, and that they spared neither toil nor money, provided that they might enjoy his saving doctrine.
(292) “Qui est à la verité l’Autheur de ce tesmoignage des femmes;” — “who is in reality the Author of this testimony of the women.”
Mat 27:57.And when the evening was come. Let it be understood that Joseph did not come in the dusk of the evening, but before sunset, that he might perform this office of kindness to his Master, without violating the Sabbath; for the Sabbath commenced in the evening, and therefore it was necessary that Christ should be laid in the grave before night came on. Now from the time that Christ died until the Sabbath began to be observed, there were three free days. And though John does not mention Joseph only, but joins Nicodemus as his companion, (Joh 19:39;) yet as he alone undertook the business at first, and as Nicodemus did no more than follow and join him, the three: Evangelists satisfied themselves with relating in a brief narrative what was done by Joseph alone.
Now though this affection of Joseph deserved uncommon praise, still we ought first to consider the providence of God, in subduing a man of high and honorable rank among his countrymen, to wipe away the reproach of the cross by the honor of burial. And, indeed, as he exposed himself to the dislike and hatred of the whole nation, and to great dangers, there can be no doubt that this singular courage arose from a secret movement of the Spirit; for though he had formerly been one of Christ’s disciples, yet he had never ventured to make a frank and open profession of his faith. When the death of Christ now presents to him a spectacle full of despair, and fitted to break the strongest minds, how comes he suddenly to acquire such noble courage that, amidst the greatest terrors, he feels no dread, and hesitates not to advance farther than he had ever done, when all was in peace? Let us know then that, when the Son of God was buried by the hand of Joseph, it was the work of God.
To the same purpose must also be referred the circumstances which are here detailed. Joseph’s piety and integrity of life are commended, that in the servant of God we may learn to recognize the work of God. The Evangelists relate that he was rich, in order to inform us that his amazing magnanimity of mind enabled him to rise superior to the obstruction which would otherwise have compelled him to retire. For rich men, being naturally proud, find nothing more difficult than to expose themselves voluntarily to the contempt of the people. Now we know how mean and disgraceful an act it was to receive from the hand of the executioner the body of a crucified man. Besides, as men devoted to riches are wont to avoid everything fitted to excite prejudice, the more eminent he was for wealth, the more cautious and timid he would have been, unless a holy boldness (295) had been imparted to him from heaven. The dignity of his rank is likewise mentioned, that he was a counselor, or senator, that in this respect also the power of God may be displayed; for it was not one of the lowest of the people that was employed to bury the body of Christ in haste and in concealment, but from a high rank of honor he was raised up to discharge this office. For the less credible it was that such an office of kindness should be performed towards Christ, the more clearly did it appear that the whole of this transaction was regulated by the purpose and hand of God.
We are taught by this example, that the rich are so far from being excusable, when they deprive Christ of the honor due to him: that they must be held to be doubly criminal, for turning into obstructions those circumstances which ought to have been excitements to activity. It is too frequent and customary, I acknowledge, for those who think themselves superior to others, to withdraw from the yoke, and to become soft and effeminate through excessive timidity and solicitude about their affairs. But we ought to view it in a totally different light; for if riches and honors do not aid us in the worship of God, we utterly abuse them. The present occurrence shows how easy it is for God to correct wicked fears by hindering us from doing our duty; since formerly Joseph did not venture to make an open profession of being a disciple of Christ, when matters were doubtful, but now, when the rage of enemies is at its height, and when their cruelty abounds, he gathers courage, and does not hesitate to incur manifest danger. We see then how the Lord in a moment forms the hearts to new feelings, and raises up by a spirit of fortitude those who had previously fainted. But if, through a holy desire to honor Christ, Joseph assumed such courage, while Christ was hanging on the cross, woe to our slothfulness, (296) if, now that he has risen from the dead, an equal zeal, at least, to glorify him do not burn in our hearts.
(295) “Une saincte hardiesse.”
(296) “Mandite soit nostre lascheté;” — “accursed be our sloth.”
Mat 27:59.And having taken the body. The three Evangelists glance briefly at the burial; and therefore they say nothing about the aromatic ointments which John alone mentions, (Joh 19:39) only they relate that Joseph purchased a clean linen cloth; from which we infer, that Christ was honorably buried. And, indeed, there could be no doubt that a rich man, when he gave up his sepulcher to our Lord, made provision also, in other respects, for suitable magnificence and splendor. And this, too, was brought about by the secret providence of God, rather than by the premeditated design of men, that a new sepulcher, in which no man had ever yet been laid, was obtained by our Lord, who is the first-born from the dead, (Col 1:18,) and the first-fruits of them that rise, (1Co 15:20.) God intended, therefore, by this Mark to distinguish his Son from the remainder of the human race, and to point out by the sepulcher itself his newness of life.
61. And Mary Magdalene, and the other Mary, were there. Matthew and Mark relate only that the women looked at what was done, and marked the place where the body was laid. But Luke states, at the same time, their resolution, which was, that they returned to the city, and prepared spices and ointments, that two days afterwards they might render due honor to the burial. Hence we learn that their minds were filled with a better odor, which the Lord breathed into his death, that he might bring them to his grave, and exalt them higher.
Mat 27:62.And the next day. In this narrative Matthew did not so much intend to show with what determined rage the scribes and priests pursued Christ, as to exhibit to us, as in a mirror, the amazing providence of God in proving the resurrection of his Son. Cunning men, practiced at least in fraud and treachery, plot among themselves, and contrive a method by which they may extinguish the memory of a dead man; for they see that they have gained nothing, if they do not destroy the certainty of the resurrection. But while they are attempting to do this, they appear rather as if they had expressly intended to bring it forth to the light, that it might be known. The resurrection of Christ would undoubtedly have been less manifest, or, at least, they would have had more plausible grounds for denying it, if they had not taken pains to station witnesses at the sepulcher. We see then how the Lord not only disappointeth the crafty, (Job 5:12,) but employs even their own schemes as snares for holding them fast, that he may draw and compel them to render obedience to him. The enemies of Christ were indeed unworthy of having his resurrection made known to them; but it was proper that their insolence should be exposed, and every occasion of slander taken away from them, and that even their consciences should be convinced, so that they might not be held excusable for ignorance. Yet let us observe that God, as if he had hired them for the purpose, employed their services for rendering the glory of Christ more illustrious, because no plausible ground for lying, in order to deny it, was left to them when they found the grave empty; not that they desisted from their wicked rage, but with all persons of correct and sober judgment it was a sufficient testimony that Christ was risen, since his body, which had been placed in a grave, and protected by guards who surrounded it on all sides, was not to be found.
63. We remember that that impostor said. This thought was suggested to them by divine inspiration, not only that the Lord might execute upon them just vengeance for their wickedness, (as he always punishes bad consciences by secret torments,) but chiefly in order to restrain their unholy tongues. Yet we again perceive what insensibility seizes on wicked men, when they are bewitched by Satan. They go so far as to call him an impostor, whose divine power and glory were lately manifested by so many miracles. This certainly was not to defy the clouds, but to spit in the face of God, so to speak, by ridiculing the brightness of the sun. Such examples show us that we ought, with pious and modest thoughtfulness, to direct our attention early to the glory of God when it is presented to our view, that our hardness of heart may not lead us to brutal and dreadful blindness. Now though it may appear strange and absurd for wicked men to indulge in such wicked mockery over Christ when dead, that our minds may not be rendered uneasy by this licentiousness, we ought always to consider wisely the purpose to which the Lord turns it. Wicked men imagine that they will overwhelm the whole of the doctrine of Christ, together with his miracles, by that single blasphemy, which they haughtily vomit out; but God employs no other persons than themselves for vindicating his Son from all blame of imposture. Whenever these wicked men shall labor to overturn everything by their calumnies, and shall launch out into unmeasured slander, let us wait with composure and tranquillity of mind until God bring light out of darkness.
65. You have a guard. By these words, Pilate means that he grants their request by permitting them to post soldiers to keep watch. This, permission bound them more firmly, so that they could not escape by any evasion; for though they were not ashamed to break out against Christ after his resurrection, yet with Pilate’s signet they as truly shut their own mouths as they shut up the sepulcher.
Mat 27:1-2. When the morning was come, &c.- The preceding transactions of this malignant night being over, as soon as the day dawned, the priests and elders, having condemned Jesus, resolved to carry him, loaded with chains, before the governor, that hemightlikewisegivesentenceagainsthim:they could not otherwise accomplish their purpose, the power of life and death being now taken out of their hands. From the history of the Acts it appears, that the Roman governors of Judea resided commonlyat Caesarea, and that there was only an inferior officer at Jerusalem, with a single legion to keep the peace of the city. At the great festivals, however, they came up to suppress or prevent tumults, and to administer justice; for the governors ofprovincesfrequentlyvisitedtheprincipaltownsundertheirjurisdictiononthislatter account. See Joh 18:39 and Lardner's Credibility, part 1: b. 1. Pilate was, properly speaking, no more than procurator of Judea; but he was called governor, because this name was better known, and because Pilate discharged all the offices of a governor, namely, in taking cognizance of criminal causes, as his predecessors had done, and as was usual with the procurators in the smaller provinces of the empire, where there were no proconsuls. See Joseph. War, b. 2 and Tacitus, lib. 15. 100: 44. Our Saviour ate the paschal supper in the evening; then he went into the garden, where he was apprehended, and was in the high priest's palace the rest of the night. In the morning they hurry him away, bound with fetters to the common magist
Mat 27:3. Then Judas-repented himself, &c.- St. Matthew introduces this account of the fate of Judas, as we see, immediately after the Jews had delivered Jesus to Pilate; but after this the Jews must have been so intent on persuadingPilate to consent to his death, that there was hardly time for the Sanhedrim's adjourning to the temple where this occurrence happened, before they had prevailed with Pilate to condemn him; and as Judas must have often heard his Master say that he should be crucified, Pilate's order for his execution must have more sensibly affected him, than the Jews passing sentence on him; as they had not then the power of putting any one to death; and therefore this event, most probably, happened immediately after the condemnation of Jesus by Pilate. The word τοτε, then, with which the Evangelist begins this history, may be taken in some latitude, to introduce the mention of an occurrence which happened about that time, whether a little before or after, and need not be interpreted with so much rigour, as to determine it to an assertion of observing the exactest order in all circumstances. See Doddridge, Gerhard, &c. Dr. Macknight however is of a different opinion; "Because," says he, "Judas cast down this money in the temple, it is thought that the council adjourned thither, before they carried Jesus to the governor, and that Judas found them there; but they were too much in earnest to delay their revenge one moment; besides, they had now no time to spend in the temple: he might come to the priests immediately after they had condemned his Master, while they were yet in the high priest's palace; or he might accost them as they were passing along the street to the praetorium; or he might find them standing before the praetorium; into which they would not enter, lest they should be defiled: this latter seems to be the true supposition; for the historian insinuates, that Judas addressed the priests, after they had carried Jesus to the governor. When they refused the money, he left them, and went to hang himself; but taking the temple in his way, he threw down the whole sum in the treasury, or that part of the women's court where the chests were placed for receiving the offerings of the people who came to worship. This money mightbe gathered up by the Levite porters, who always waited at the gates of the temple, (1 Chronicles 26.) and might be carried by them to the priests, with an account how they got it."
Mat 27:5. And went and hanged himself- When Judas found that he could not prevent the horrid effects of his treachery, his conscience lashed him more furiously than before, suggesting thoughts which by turns made the deepest wounds in his soul. His Master's innocence and benevolence, the usefulness of his life, the favoursthat he had received from him, with many other considerations, crowded into his mind, and racked him to such a degree, that his torment became intolerable. Wherefore, unable to sustain the misery of those agonizing passions and reflections, he makes a full confession of his Master's innocence, returns the wages of iniquity, and goes and hangs himself. St. Peter seems to give a different account of the traitor's death:-Falling headlong, he burst asunder in the midst, and all his bowels gushed out, Act 1:18. And to reconcile the two passages, Tob 3:10 is commonly brought to prove that the word απηγξατο, in St. Matthew, may signify suffocation with grief, in consequence of which a man's bowels may gush out; and instances are cited from Virgil, Eclogue Mat 7:26.:
Invidia rumpantur ut ilia Codro. and from Josephus, Antiq. 15. 100: 13 where one Zenodorus is mentioned, who is supposed to have died in this manner. The Talmudists make such a suffocation the punishment usually inflicted by God upon such persons as bore false witness against their neighbour. But as the above-quoted instances may be otherwise understood, it is more natural to suppose that Judas hanged himself on some tree growing out of a precipice, and that the branch breaking, or the knot of the rope wherewith he hanged himself opening, he fell down headlong, and dashed himself to pieces, so that his bowels gushed out. St. Peter's phrase, ελακησε μεσος, he burst asunder, favours this conjecture; for ληκεω signifies properly lacero cum strepitu, to rend or tear with a noise or cracking, and so may imply that Judas burst asunder by falling from an height. See Le Clerc, Grotius, and Wetstein. Thus perished Judas Iscariot the traitor,-a miserable example of the fatal influence of covetousness and worldly passions, and a standing monument of the divine vengeance, fit to deter future generations from acting contraryto conscience through love of the world; for which this unhappy wretch betrayed his Master, Friend, and Saviour, and cast away his own soul!
Mat 27:6-8. The treasury, &c.- Κορβαναν : the place where the gifts set apart for the service of the temple, and for other pious uses, were deposited, 2Ki 12:10. Mar 12:41-42. Such an offering as this price of blood would have been as much an abomination to the Lord, as the hire of a whore, or the price of a dog, Deu 23:18. The chief priests therefore determined to buy the potter's field with it, for burying strangers in: that is to say, such persons, whether Jews or Gentiles, as, happening to die at Jerusalem, had no burying-place of their own. Because the deliberation of the priests concerning this matter, and their buying the potter's field, had an immediate relation to Judas's treachery, St. Matthew very properly takes notice of it here, though the purchase might not have been made for some days, perhaps weeks or months, after the unhappy death of Judas. Thirty pieces of silver may seem a very inconsiderable price for a field so near Jerusalem. But as Grotius well observes, the ground was probably much spoiled by digging it up for earth to make potter's vessels, so that it was now unfit for tillage or pasture, and consequently of small value. This field was called Aceldama, or the field of blood, because it was bought with the money which Judas received for betraying his Master's life. Divine Providence seems to have set this name upon the field, to perpetuate the memory of the transaction: in St. Peter's speech it is intimated that Judas made an acquisition of this field; not as an estate, but as an eternal monument of infamy and disgrace; for the people of those times might be supposed to say, as they passed by, "This field was purchased with the money for which Judas sold his Master." Some ancient authors have even supposed that this was the place where Judas hanged himself, and was buried. St. Jerome, who had been upon the spot, tells us, that they still shewed this field in his time; that it lay south of mount Sion, and that they buried there the meanest of their people. The historians mentioning the purchase of the potter's field with the money for which Judas betrayed his Master, being an appeal to a very public transaction, serves to put the truth of this part of the history beyond all manner of exception.
Mat 27:9-10. Then was fulfilled, &c.- I. Concerning this prophesy we must, first, remark, that Zachary, not Jeremy, is the prophet in whose writings this passage is found. Some learned men have supposed, that there might have been such a passage as this in some of Jeremiah's writings, which were extant in the apostles' times, but now are lost; and indeed St. Jerome expressly affirms, that these very words were read by him in an apocryphal book of the prophet Jeremy; and as we find in 2Ma 2:1-9 many words said to have been spoken by the prophet Jeremy, which are not in the book of his prophesy, why might not these words also have been spoken by him, and kept in memory, or in some writing, till the time of Zachary? of whom it is observable, that he loved to use the words of Jeremiah, as appears on comparing many passages; whence the Jews used to say, that the spirit of Jeremiah was in Zechariah; and so both made but one prophet: and Mr. Mede thinks it highly probable that Jeremiah wrote the 9th, 10th, and 11th chapters of Zechariah, in the last of which these words are found. Others assert, that, as the Jews place Jeremiah's prophesy first of the sixteen, the whole book of the prophets might be called by the single name of Jeremiah; so that by quoting Jeremiah, the book of the prophets, or the collection of prophesies in general, was quoted; just as by the Psalms they meant the hagiographa, or the moral books of Scripture in general, because the Psalms were placed at the head of this collection. See Luk 24:27. Though the present reading is certainly very ancient, it appears to me verydoubtful, whether any prophet's name was mentioned in the first copies, as the Syriac version, which is allowed to have been made in the most early times, reads only, which was spoken by the prophet; and St. Austin tells us, that in his time there were many Greek Copies, in which no particular name of any prophet was inserted. We may therefore well conclude, that the passage stood originally without any prophet's name, which was afterwards inserted from some marginal remark, and so has remained ever since Origen's time; a full proof, as it appears to me, not of what the enemies of Christianity would object, but entirely of the contrary; namely, that the writings of the New Testament, so far from being in any degree corrupted, have been preserved with such a scrupulous exactness, that the preservers of them have not presumed to alter a tittle even in points of the least consequence, and where they might have been justified; a reflection of great importance, and of much comfort to every true believer in these sacred books. II. Now, secondly, with respect to the prophesy itself, we refer to the notes on Zec 11:13. St. Matthew does not quote entirely either from the Hebrew or the LXX. but rather gives the sense than theexact words of the prophet; but by following the Syriac version, the passage may be translated thus, more agreeably to the original: "I have received of the children thirty pieces of silver,the price of him that was valued, to buy the potter's field, as the Lord commanded me." Dr. Doddridge observes, "as for the general propriety of applying these words on this occasion, it may well be vindicated; for the connection and sense of the prophesy seems to be this: in order to represent to Zechariah the contempt which Israel put upon their God, he had a vision to the following purpose: he thought God first appointed him to appear among them as a shepherd, making him, by that emblem, a representation of himself. After some time he directs him to go to the rulers of Israel, and ask them what they thought he deserved for his laboursin that office. They give him the price of a slave, thirty pieces of silver, and this in the house of the Lord, where the court sat. On this, God, as relentingthis indignity offered to him in the person of his prophet, orders him to throw it down with disdain before the first poor labourer he met,-who happened to be a potter at work by the temple gates,-as a fitter price for a little of his paltry ware, than a suitable acknowledgment of the favours they had received from God. Now surely if there was ever any circumstance in which the children of Israel behaved themselves so as to answer this visionary representation, it must be when they gave this very sum of thirty pieces of silver, as a price for the very life of that person whom God had appointed their great Shepherd: and, in order to point out the correspondence more sensibly, Providence so ordered it, that the person to whom this money went should be a potter, though the prophesy would have been answered, if he had been a fuller, or of any other profession." It may also be further observed, that God's ceasing to be the Shepherd of Israel, which was represented by the prophet's breaking his pastoral staves, was never fully answered, till their final rejection after the death of Christ, which may further lead us to refer the affront of their giving the pieces of silver to this event. See Zechariah 11. We shall make some further remarks on this subject, when we come to the first chapter of the Acts. Sir Norton Knatchbull reads the passage, and I took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of him that was prized of the children of Israel:-ver. 10. (and they gave them for the potter's field) as the Lord commanded me.
Mat 27:11. And Jesus stood, &c.- See Joh 18:29; Joh 18:40 and Luk 23:2 for a more full account of our Saviour's appearance before Pilate.
Mat 27:14. And he answered him to never a word, &c.- Jesus made no reply to the heavycharges laid against him; nay, he continued mute, notwithstanding the governor expressly required him to speak in his own defence. See Isa 53:7. A conduct so extraordinaryin such circumstances, astonished Pilate exceedingly; for he had good reason to be persuaded of Christ's innocence. Indeed his humble appearance was a sufficient refutation of the charge which the Jews brought against him; and his silence servedinsteadofthemostelaboratedefence;andpossibly Jesus might decline making any public defence, lest the common people, moved by what he must have said, should have asked his release, and prevented his death; in which respect, he has shewn his followers a noble example of courage and submission to the divine
Mat 27:15. Now at that feast, &c.- Pilate had already sent Jesus to Herod, having learned that he belonged to Galilee; and Herod had sent him back to him. Luk 23:6-11. At former passovers the governor had courted the favour of the people, by gratifying them with the pardon of any one prisoner whom they pleased. There was no law to oblige him to this; but as acts of grace are generally popular things, this seems to have been first freely used by the Romans, to please their tributaries, and now by custom was in a manner established.
Mat 27:16. A notable prisoner- A notorious criminal. Heylin. It seems he was the head of the rebels; (see Joh 18:40. Luk 23:19; Luk 23:25.) the ringleader of a sedition, in which murder had been committed.
Mat 27:18. (For he knew that for envy they had delivered him.) Pilate had probably heard of the stir made by the rulers on this occasion; and, as a prudent magistrate, could not but have inquired into the reason of it. The modesty with which Jesus appeared before him, must have given credit to the report that he had received; and theconfidence which Jesus placed in his innocence, by not replying to any charge that was brought against him, might have been sufficient to convince Pilate,that there was no fault in him. Nicodemus, or Joseph of Arimathea, might have been consulted by Pilate at the first appearance of the tumult; for Joseph of Arimathea most probably was personally acquainted with Pilate, as may be inferred from his going to him to beg the body of Jesus. We can have no doubt of their being acquainted, if Joseph was one of the council who assisted Pilate in managing the affairs of his province, and particularlyin judging causes. All governors of provinces had a council of this kind. Accordingly we find it mentioned, Act 25:12 by the name of Συμβουλιον . It is objected to Joseph's being a member of Pilate's council, that it was composed of Romans only; yet even on this supposition he might be a member of it, since he might have enjoyed the privileges of a Roman citizen, as well asSt. Paul. What other reason can be assigned for his being called Βουλητης, a counsellor, Luk 23:50 and an honourable counsellor? Mar 15:43 a name not commonly given to the members of the Sanhedrim, whose proper title was αρχοντες, rulers. Further, St. Luke tells us, Luk 23:51 that Joseph did not consent to the counsel (Βουλη ) and deed of them; that is to say, he did not agree to the advice which the governor's council gave, when they desired him to gratify the Jews. See Macknight, Grotius, and Lardner's Credibility, b. 1 Chronicles 2.
Mat 27:19. When he was set down, &c.- Or, While he was sitting on, &c. 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. This circumstance ascertains the time of the event, and affords a strong proof of the veracity of the sacred historian. Possibly the word σημερον, rendered this day,may imply, that she had dreamed these things that morning, since Pilate rose; and as the heathens imagined those dreams most significant which came about break of day, she might on that account lay the greater stress upon them. Jansenius thinks, and very probably, that she had now a representation or foresight of those calamities which afterwards befel Pilate and his family. Josephus assures us, that Pilate, having slain a considerable number of seditious Samaritans, was deposed from his government by Vitellius, and sent to Tiberius at Rome, who died before he arrived there. And Eusebius tells us, that quickly after having been banished to Vienne in Gaul, he laid violent hands upon himself, falling on his own sword. Agrippa, who was an eye-witness to many of his enormities, speaks of him in his oration to Caius Caesar, as one who had been a man of the most infamous character. The words δικαιω εκεινω, would be rendered more properly, that just or righteous one.
Mat 27:23. Why, what evil hath he done?- So bent were the chief-priests and elders to have Jesus put to death, that though the governor urged them again and again to desire his release, declaring his innocence, and offering there several times to dismiss him, they would not hear him; to such a pitch was their enmity carried against the Lord of life! They insisted upon his crucifixion, as being the most ignominious death; they insisted upon his being sentenced to this death by a Roman governor; and among the Romans it was inflicted only upon the vilest of slaves. To have inflicted such a punishment as this upon any free Jew, would probably have been sufficient to have thrown the whole city and nation into an uproar. But now they were deaf to every thing but the clamour of passion; and in their madness forgot with how dangerous a precedent they might furnish the Roman governor: and indeed it turned dreadfully on themselves, when such vast numbers of them were crucified for their opposition to the Romans during the time of their last war. See on Mat 27:25 and Inferences on ch. 24:
Mat 27:24. Pilate-took water, &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 a murder committed by some unknown person. See Deu 21:6-9. In allusion to which law the Psalmist says, I will wash mine hands in innocency, that is to say, in testimony of my innocence. But as this was also a rite which 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. He thought possibly, by this avowal of his resolution to have no hand in the death of Christ, to have terrified the populace; for one of his understanding and education could not but be sensible that all the water in the universe was not able to wash away the guilt of an unrighteous sentence. The following lines of Ovid may be justly applied to Pilate:
Ah! nimium faciles, qui tristia crimina caedis Fluminea tolli posse putetis aqua! Fast. l. ii. v. 45.
Ah! ye easily self-deceived, who fondly imagine that you can wash away the horrid guilt of murder with the water of the stream!
Mat 27:25. His blood be on us, &c.- 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, that μαστιγουμενοι ανεσταυρουντο, having been scourged, and tortured in a very terrible manner, they were crucified, in view and near the walls of this city, (perhaps, among other places, on mount Calvary; and it is probable that 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, must impress and astonish the attentive reader beyond any other in the whole history. 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 persons so condemned were not really guilty. See his Observat. vol. 1: p. 123. Joseph. War, lib. 5. 100: 11 and Doddridge. Bishop Fleetwood observes, that the modern Jews are as virulent against the name of Jesus, as their fathers were against his power; so that they suffer as their fathers did, and for a like reason.
Mat 27:26. And when he had scourged Jesus- The Romans usually scourged the criminals whom they condemned to be crucified: this was the reason why Pilate ordered our Lord to be scourged, before he delivered him to the soldiers to be crucified. St. Matthew and St. Mark insinuate, that the scourging was performed on the pavement; for they tell us that, after it was over, the soldiers took Jesus into the praetorium, and mocked him; we may therefore suppose that the priests and the multitude required the governor to scourge him openly in their sight, and that he, to pacifythem, consented, contrary to his inclination; which, as he believed Jesus to be innocent, must have led him to shew him all the favour in his power; and probably he thought that this previous punishment would have excited the pity of the Jews, and have prevented the crucifixion of Jesus. See Elsner and Wetstein.
Mat 27:28. And they-put on him a scarlet robe- St. Mark says, they cloathed him with purple; but the ancients gave the name of purple to all colours which had any mixture of red in them. This was probably some old purple robe which they put upon him in derision of his claim to the kingdom of Judea, purple being worn by kings and great personages. See Braunius, de Vestit. Sacerd. 50: 1. 100: 14.
Mat 27:29. And when they had platted a crown of thorns- Though it is unquestionable that they intended hereby to expose our Lord's pretended royalty to ridicule and contempt, as well as by the purple robe and mock sceptre; yet had that been all, a crown of thorns alone might have served as well. They meant, without all doubt, to add cruelty to their scorn, which especially appeared in their striking him on the head, to drive the horrid thorns into the tender parts of his temples, 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. Hasselquist, speaking of the naba, or nabka of the Arabians, says, "In all probability this is the tree which afforded the crown of thorns put on the head of Christ; it grows very common in the East, and the plant is extremely fit for the purpose, for it has many small and most sharp spines, which are well adapted to give great pain. The crown might be easily made of these soft, round, and pliant branches; and what in my opinion seems to be the greatest proof of it is, that the leaves much resemble those of ivy, as they are of a very deep green: perhaps the enemies of Christ would have a plant somewhat resembling that with which emperors and generals were used to be crowned, that there might be calumny even in the punishment." It has been observed, that the curse inflicted on our first parents included thorns as the product of the earth, and this curse was put an end to, by the thorns here used. See Solomon's Song, Son 2:2. The word καλαμος, does indeed sometimes signify a slender reed, (ch. Mat 11:7 Mat 12:20; 3 John, Mat 27:13.) but it also includes all kinds of canes, and it is most probable that this was a walking cane, which they put into his hand as a sceptre; for a blow with a slight reed would scarcely have been felt, or have deserved mention in a detail of such dreadful sufferings. See Hasselquist's Travels, p. 288 and Doddridge.
Mat 27:31. They took the robe off from, &c.- It is not said that they took the crown of thorns off his head, which served to gratify their passions both of malice and contempt: probably our Lord died wearing it, that the title which was written over him might be better understood. It was a Jewish custom in the time of Moses to execute delinquents without the camp; but after Jerusalem was built, they were executed without the city walls. Dr. Lardner has abundantly proved by many quotations, that it was customary not only for the Jews, but also for the Sicilians, Ephesians, and Romans, to execute theirmalefactors without the gates of the cities. See Heb 13:12-13 and Lardner's Credibility, part, 1: vol. 1.
Mat 27:32. And as they came out, &c.- We learn from the other Evangelists, that our blessed Lord had borne his cross agreeable to the custom in executions, at his first setting out. It was not indeed the whole cross which criminals carried, but only that transverse piece of wood to which the arms were fastened, and which was called antennae, or furca, going cross the stipes, or upright beam, which was fixed in the earth; the criminal, from carrying this, was called furcifer. Our blessed Lord, through the fatigue of the preceding night, spent wholly without sleep, the agony that he had undergone in the garden, his having been hurried from place to place, and obliged to stand the whole time of his trial, the want of food, and the loss of blood which he had sustained, was become so faint, that he sunk beneath the burden, and was not able to bear the weight of the cross. The soldiers therefore (for among the Romans the execution of criminals was performed by them) meeting with Simon of Cyrene, a town of Africa abounding with Jews, seized on him, probably bythe instigation of the Jews, and compelled himto carry the cross after Jesus. Simon's sons, Alexander and Rufus, were two noted men among the first Christians, at the time St. Mark wrote his Gospel. See Mar 15:21. The soldiers, however, did not remove the cross out of compassion to Christ; but from an apprehension of his dying by theexcessive fatigue, and thereby eluding the public punishment to which they were escorting him; or to prevent delay. See Lipsius de Cruce, and Bishop Pearson on the Creed, p. 203
Mat 27:33. A place called Golgotha- A Syriac word, which signifies a skull or head. In Latin it is called Calvary: the place was so named, either because malefactors used to be executed there, or because the charnel house, or common repository for bones and skulls, might have been there. See Mar 15:22.
Mat 27:34. They gave him vinegar to drink mingled with gall- It was usual to give criminals, before they suffered, a stupifying potion to render them insensible of the ignominy and pain of their punishment; but our blessed Lord, because he would bear his sufferings, howeversharp, not by intoxicating and stupifying himself, but through the strength of patience, fortitude, and faith, refused to drink of it. St. Mark says, they gave him to drink wine mingled with myrrh, Ch. Mat 15:23. But the two Evangelists speak of the same ingredients: for though St. Mark terms that wine, which St. Matthew calls vinegar; he may have really meant vinegar, which was a common drink among the ancients, (see Num 6:3.) and such as might very properly be called wine, in regard that it was usually made of wine, or of the juice of grapes; besides, it is well known that the ancients gave the general name of wine to all fermented liquors: it is evident therefore that to reconcile the Evangelists here, we have no occasion for the reading of Beza's copy, which has οινον instead of οξος. Οξος might be rendered sour wine, as indeed the word vinegar properly imports; and this mixed with water was the common drink of the Roman soldiers, and consequently was in a vessel at hand. As to the other ingredient of this potion, let it be observed, that the word χολη in the LXX, is often used as the translation of the Hebrew word ראשׁ rosh; which properly was the name of a poisonous herb common in those countries, and remarkable for its bitterness; hence an infusion of it is called υδωρ πικρον, bitter water, Jer 23:15 and υδωρ χολης, the water of bitterness, Jer 8:14; Jer 9:15. Probably it was a weak infusion of this herb in vinegar and water, which our Lord's friends offered him, (as we have observed was usual on such occasions) to make him insensible, and to shorten his life. It is called indeed by St. Mark εσμυρνισμενον οινον, myrrhed vinegar, perhaps because it had myrrh mixed with it, there being nothing more common than for a medicine compounded of many ingredients, to take its name from some one of them which is prevalent in the composition. That myrrh was proper in a potion of this kind has been shewn by Vossius; who proves from Dioscorides, lib. 2. 100. 70 that frankincense, macerated in liquors, makes those who drink them mad; and that if the quantity taken be large, it sometimes produces death. Hence, when Ptolemy Philopater designed to engage his elephants, "He gave them wine mingled with frankincense, to enrage them." The Evangelists may be reconciled more directly still, by supposing that χολη signifies any bitter drug whatsoever; for it is applied to wormwood, Pro 5:4 and by parity of reason may denote myrrh, which has its name from a Hebrew word signifying bitterness. Casaubon has given a third solution of this difficulty; he thinks that our Lord's friends put a cup of myrrhed wine into the hands of one of the soldiers to give it to Jesus; but that he, out of contempt, added gall to it. See the note on Psa 69:21. Lipsius de Milit. Rom. and Wetstein.
Mat 27:35. And they crucified him, and parted his garments, &c.- This was the custom of the Romans; the soldiers performing the office of executioners, divided among them the spoils of the criminals. There was only Christ'stunick which they did not divide, but cast lots to see whose it should be. See Joh 19:23-24. They also used to appoint a guard, to watch by the crucified persons, that nobody might come and take them away, Mat 27:36. Respecting the inscription Mat 27:37 which was also a Roman custom, we shall speak, when we come to Joh 19:19., &c.
Mat 27:38. Then were there two thieves crucified with him- They placed Jesus in the middle, by way of mock honour, because he had called himself a king, and was now crowned with thorns; or, if the priests had any hand in this, they might design hereby to impress the spectators with the thought of his being an impostor, and to make them look upon him as the chief malefactor: by thieves may be meant here persons concerned in an insurrection, perhaps confederates with Barabbas: for the Greek word signifies those who take up arms, without commission or authority of a superior; and such, by the Roman laws, were subject to crucifixion. See Mar 15:28 and on Mat 27:44.
Mat 27:39-40. And they that passed by reviled- The common people whom the priests had incensed against our Lord by the malicious lies which they spread concerning him, and which they pretended to found on the evidence of the witnesses seeing him hang as a malefactor on the cross, and reading the superscription placed over his head, expressed their indignation against him by railing on him,-blaspheming-in the original. See Psa 22:7. They thought their sarcasm, thou that destroyest the temple, &c. the more biting, as this was one of the charges brought against him by the false witnesses, Ch. Mat 26:61 and the latter part of the verse contains the charge on which they had condemned him as being guilty of blasphemy.
Mat 27:41-43. Likewise also the chief priests, mocking, &c.- The rulers having, as theyimagined, wholly overturned our Lord's pretensions as Messiah, ridiculed him on that head, and with a meanness of soul which will for ever render them infamous, mocked him even in the agonies of death. They scoffed at the miracles of healing, by which he demonstratedhimself the Messiah; and promised faith, on condition that he would prove his pretensions by coming down from the cross. In the mean time nothing could be more false and hypocritical; for they continued in their unbelief, notwithstanding Jesus raised himself from the dead, which was a much greater miracle than his coming down from the cross would have been; a miracle also that was attested by witnesses, whose veracity they could not call in question; for it was told them by the soldiers, whom they had themselves placed at the sepulchre to watch his body. It is plain, therefore, that the priests said they would believe if Jesus came down, not because their incorrigible stubbornness would have yielded to any proof, however convincing, but to insult Christ; fancying it impossible for him now to escape out of their hands. It is difficult to tell what it was that the rulers alluded to in the 43rd verse: He trusted in God;-let him deliver him now, if he will have him;- ει θελει αυτον, if he delight in him, &c. Perhaps those who now spake, were the persons who attended Judas and the armed band when they apprehended Jesus. Luk 22:52. On that occasion they had heard him order Peter to put up his sword, telling him that he could pray to his Father, and he would give him more than twelve legions of angels. In derision of this expression of his reliance on God, whom he called his Father, they say to him, now that he was hanging on the cross, "He trusted in God that he would deliver him, and claimed a peculiar relation to him as his Son. If God really delights in him as his Son, let him shew it now, by delivering him from thisignominious punishment." But whatever the particular was to which they now alluded, certain it is that the rulers, by speaking as above, fulfilled a remarkable prophesy concerning the Messiah's sufferings, Psa 22:8 where it is foretold, that the Messiah's enemies would utter these words in derision of his pretensions. Many of the Jewish writers themselves acknowledge that these words belonged to the Messiah; and it certainly merits a serious reflection, that at the very time when these priests and elders intended to explode our Lord's pretensions to the Messiahship, they should make use of what their own writers acknowledged to be a characteristic of the true Messiah. See Macknight and Doddridge.
Mat 27:44. The thieves also-cast the same in his teeth- Reproached him in like manner. St. Luke says, that one only of the thieves reproached him. See Luk 23:39-40. Some commentators endeavour to remove this difficulty, by supposing that both the thieves might revile Jesus at first; but this solution is not very probable. The phrase is a Hebraism, it being very common in that language to express a single thing in the plural number, especially when it is not the speaker's or writer's intention to be more particular. Thus, Jdg 12:7 then died Jephtha the Gileadite, and was buried in the cities of Gilead; that is to say, in one of the cities of Gilead, as it is well supplied by our translators. So likewise the writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews, speaking of the worthies of the Old Testament, says, they stopped the mouths of lions, they were sawn asunder; whereas the former sentence is applicable only to Daniel, and the latter to Isaiah. So that by the word thieves, both here and in St. Mark, we are to understand only one of the thieves.
Mat 27:45. Now from the sixth hour, &c.- During the last three hours that our Lord hung on the cross, a darkness covered the face of the earth, to the great terror and amazement of the people present at his execution. This extraordinary alteration in the face of nature was peculiarly proper, while the Sun of Righteousness was in some sense withdrawing his beams from the land of Israel, and from the world; not only because it was a miraculous testimony borne by God himself to his innocence, but also because it was a fit emblem of his departure and its effects, at least till his light shone out anew with additional splendour, in the ministry of his Apostles. The Jews had been accustomed to the figurative language of the eclipse of the luminaries, as significative of some extraordinary revolution or calamity, and could hardly avoid recollecting the words of Amo 8:9-10 on this occasion. The heathens likewise had been taught to look on these circumstances as indications of the perpetration of some heinous and enormous crime; and how enormous was that now committed by the Jews! The darkness which now covered Judea, together with the neighbouring countries, beginning about noon, and continuing till Jesus expired, was not an ordinary eclipse of the sun, for that can never happen, except when the moon is about the change; whereas now it was full moon; not to mention that total darknesses, occasioned by eclipses of the sun, never continue above twelve or fifteen minutes. Wherefore it must have been produced by the divine power, in a manner that we are not able to explain. Accordingly, Luke, after relating that there was a darkness over all the earth, adds, and the sun was darkened, Luk 23:44-45. Farther, the Christian writers, in their most ancient apologies tothe heathens, affirm, that as it was full moon at the passover, when Christ was crucified, no such eclipse could happen by the course of nature. They observe also, that it was taken notice of as a prodigy by the heathens themselves. To this purpose we have still remaining the words of Phlegon the astronomer, and freed-man of Adrian, cited by Origen from his book, at the time when it was in the hands of the public;-that heathen author, in treating of the 4th year of the 202nd Olympiad, which was the 19th of Tiberius, and supposed to be the year in which our Lord was crucified, tells us, "That the greatest eclipse of the sun that ever was known, happened then; for the day was so turned into night, that the stars in the heavens were seen." See Orig. contr. Cels. p. 83. If Phlegon, as Christians generally suppose, is speaking of the darkness which accompanied our Lord's crucifixion, it was not circumscribed within the land of Judea, but must have been universal. This many learned men have believed, particularlyHuet, Grotius, Gusset, Reland, and Alphen. Another ancient writer asserts, "that walking in Heliopolis, a town of Egypt, with a studious friend, he observed this wonderful darkness, and said, that it certainly portended something extraordinary: that either the God of nature was suffering, or nature itself was about to be dissolved." Josephus, it is true, takes no notice of this wonderful phoenomenon; but the reason may be, that he was unwilling to mention any circumstance favourable to Christianity, of which he was no friend; and the Jews would, no doubt, disguise this event as much as they could, and perhaps might persuade him and others who heard the report of it at some distance of time or place, that it was only a dark cloud, or a thick mist, which the followers of Jesus had exaggerated, because it happened when their Master died. Such representations are exceedingly natural to hearts corrupted by infidelity. See Macknight, Doddridge, and Calmet's Dissertation on the subject.
Mat 27:46. Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, &c.- A little before he expired, Jesus repeated the first verse of the 22nd Psalm, pronouncing it in the Syriac dialect, which was the common language of the country; and speaking with a loud voice, that all who stood around might hear him distinctly, and know that he was the person spoken of by David. Some would translate the words, My God, my God, to what a degree, or to what a length of time, hast thou forsaken me? Lama in the Hebrew has this signification. Accordingly St. Mark, in the parallel passage, has rendered it by εις τι . But, however translated, our Lord's words must be viewed in the same light with his prayer in the garden. For, as that prayer expressed only the feelings and inclinations of his human nature, sorely pressed down with the weight of his sufferings; so his words on the cross proceeded from the greatness of his sufferings then, and expressed the feelings of his human nature; viz. an exceeding grief at God's forsaking him, and a complaint that it was so. But as his prayer in the garden was properly tempered by the addition of the clause, yet not as I will, but as thou wilt; so his complaint on the cross may have been tempered in the same manner; perhaps byhis repeating the following third verse of the Psalm, though the Evangelists have not mentioned it particularly: for that, in the inward disposition of his mind, Jesus was perfectly resigned, even while he hung on the cross, is evident beyond all doubt, from his recommending his spirit to God in the article of death; which he could not have done, had he been discontented with the divine appointments. The sufferings which made our Lord cry out, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? were not merely those which appeared to the spectators, viz. the pains of death which he underwent. Many of his followers have suffered sharper and more lingering bodily tortures, ending in death, without thinking themselves on that account forsaken of God; on the contrary, they both felt and expressed raptures of joy under the bitterest torments. Why then should Jesus have complained and been so dejected under inferior sufferings, as we must acknowledge them to be, if there was nothing here but the pains of crucifixion? Isthere any other circumstance in this history which leads us to think him defective in courage or patience? In piety and resignation came he behind his own Apostles? Were his views of Deity and religion more confined than theirs? Had he greater sensibility of pain than they, without a proper balance arising from the superiorityof his understanding? In short, was he worse qualifiedfor martyrdom than they? The truth is, his words on the cross cannot be accounted for, but on the supposition that he suffered in his mind pains inexpressible, inflicted on him by an immediate interposition of the power of God, the nature and intenseness of which cannot in the language of men be more justly, or more emphatically expressed, than by the metaphor of God's forsaking him. Some think that Jesus on this occasion repeated the whole 22nd Psalm; and certainly, as it is composed in the form of a prayer, it must be acknowledged, that no address could be more suitable to the circumstances wherein our Lord then was, or better adapted to impress the minds of the beholders with becoming sentiments. Nevertheless, the things mentioned by the Evangelists as next happening, were of such a kind, that they must have followed immediately upon the repetition of the first three or four verses of the Psalm. It is probable, therefore, that he stopped there. Perhaps it was not his intention to go farther; for it was the custom of the Jews, when they quoted large portions of Scripture, to mention only the firstverses or words of the passage. Such of his hearers as knew these to be the first verses of the 22nd Psalm, would easily understand that Jesus meant to apply the whole Psalm to himself. And as it contains the most remarkable particulars of our Lord's passion, being a sort of summary of all the prophesies relative to that subject, by citing it on the cross, and applying it to himself, Jesus signified, that he was now accomplishing the things therein predicted concerning the Messiah. Farther, as the Psalm is composed in the form of a prayer, by citing it at this time, Jesus also claimed of his Father the performance of all the promises that he had made, whether to him, or to his faithful people, the chiefof which are recorded in the latter part of the Psalm.
Mat 27:47. This man calleth for Elias- Though Jesus spoke in the vulgar dialect, some of the people present did not understand him; for they fancied that he called upon the prophet Elijah to help him. Hence some have conjectured, that they were Roman soldiers who thus misunderstood Christ's words. The conjecture, however, cannot be admitted, unless these soldiers were proselytes, and had learned the language and religion of the Jews more perfectly than it is reasonable to suppose. We may therefore believe, that it was our Lord's own countrymen who gave their opinion concerning the meaning of his words; and though they misunderstood him, it may have arisen, neither from their ignorance of the language in which he spoke, nor from their hearinghim indistinctly, for he spake with a loud voice; but from their not considering that he was repeating the words of the 22nd Psalm. Others have supposed that this was the mistake of some Hellenist Jews, who did not understand the Syro-Chaldaic language. See Craddock's Harmony, part 2: p. 256 and Grotius.
Mat 27:48. One of them-took a sponge, &c.- We have before observed, that vinegar, or a small sharp wine and water,-a mixture which was called posca,-was the common drink of the Roman soldiers. Possibly, therefore, this vinegar was set here for their use, or for that of the crucified persons, whose torture would naturally make them thirsty. See Joh 19:28-29 where we are told that they put the sponge upon hyssop, that is to say, a stalk of hyssop, called by the other Evangelists καλαμος, which signifies not only a reed or cane, but the stalk of any plant: for that this hyssop was a shrub, appears from 1Ki 4:33 where it is reckoned among the trees. They did this office to Jesus, not so much perhaps from pity, as to preserve him alive, in hopes of seeing the miracle of Elijah's descent from heaven.See the next verse.
Mat 27:50. Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost- St. John tells us, that when our Lord had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished. "The predictions of the prophets are all fulfilled, and the redemption of the world is finished, to accomplish which I came into the world." And the other Evangelists inform us, that in speaking these words, our Lord cried with a loud voice; probably to shew that his strength was not exhausted, but that he was about to give up his life of his own accord. The Evangelists use different words in expressing our Lord's death, which our translators, notwithstanding, render in the same manner,-He yielded or gave up the ghost; St. Mark and St. Luke say, εξεπνευσε, He expired; St. John, παρεδωκε το πνευμα, He yielded up his spirit; but St. Matthew's language is most singular, αφηκε το πνευμα, He dismissed his spirit; as the same word αφιημι is used, Ch. Mat 13:36. Mar 4:36; Mar 11:6 and elsewhere. Now this expression seems admirably to suit our Lord's words, Joh 10:18. No man taketh my life from me, but I lay it down of myself, &c. shewing (as did also the strong cry, which so much impressed the centurion) that he died by the voluntary act of his own mind, and in a way peculiar to himself, by which he alone of all men that ever existed could have continued alive, even in the greatest tortures as long as he pleased, or have retired from the body whenever he thought fit. Which view of the case, by the way, suggests an illustration of the love of Christ manifested in his death, beyond what is commonly observed; inasmuch as he did not use this power to quit his body as soon as ever it was fastened to the cross, leaving only an insensible corpse to the cruelty of his murderers; but continued his abode in it with a steady resolution as long as it was proper, and then retired from it with a majestyand dignity never known, or to be known in any other death; dying, if we may so express it, like the Prince of Life! See Heb 5:7. Doddridge, and Gerhard.
Mat 27:51. The veil of the temple was rent, &c.- While Jesus breathed his last, the veil of the temple was miraculously rent from top to bottom; most probably in the presence of the priest who burned the incense in the holy place at the evening sacrifice; for the ninth hour, at which Jesus expired, was the hour of offering that sacrifice. The sudden rending of that veil was a supernatural sign of the destruction of the temple being at hand, and of the dissolution of the Jewish oeconomy. The earth also trembled, and the rocks rent, in token of the Almighty's displeasure against the Jewish nation, on account of the horrid impiety whereof they were now guilty. Mr. Fleming tells us, that a deist, lately travelling through Palestine, was converted by viewing one of these rocks, which still remains torn asunder, not in the weakest place, but across the veins; a plain proof that it was done in a supernatural manner. Mr. Sandys, in his travels, p. 264 has given a natural description and delineation of this fissure; and Mr. Maundrell tells us, that it was about a span wide at the upper part, and two spans deep, after which it closes, but opens again below, and runs down to an unknown depth in the earth. He adds, that every man's sense and reason must convince him, that this is a natural and genuine breach. See Fleming's Christology, vol. 2: p. 97 and Maundrell's Journey from Aleppo, p. 73.
Mat 27:52-53. And the graves were opened, &c.- The ancient sepulchres were hewn out of rocks, which being rent by the earthquake, discovered the cells wherein the bodies of the dead were deposited; but though these sepulchres were opened by the earthquake at our Lord's death, yet the dead in them did not come to life till his resurrection: for Jesus himself was the first-born from the dead. Col 1:18 and the first-fruits of them that slept, 1Co 15:20. It seems probable that those saints were not some of the most eminent ones mentioned in the Old Testament, but disciples who had died lately; for when they went into the city, they were known by the persons who saw them, which could not well have happened, had they not been their cotemporaries; and as the rending of the veil of the temple intimated that the entrance into the holy place, the type of heaven, was now laid open to all nations, so the resurrection of a number of saints from the dead, demonstrated that the power of death and the grave was broken, the sting was taken from death, and the victory wrested from the grave. In short, our Lord's conquests over the enemies of mankind were shewn to be complete, and an earnest was given of a general resurrection from the dead. There is an ancient Greek manuscript, which reads in Mat 27:53 after their resurrection; and this reading is followed by the Arabic and Ethiopic versions. Perhaps it may be as natural to read the passage with Grotius, when he yielded up the ghost, the graves were opened; and after his resurrection, many bodies of saints arose, and came out of their graves.
Mat 27:54. Truly this was the Son of God- Or the Messiah. It is probable that this centurion was a proselyte to the Jewish religion, and acquainted with their opinions. Others however think, that it should be rendered, This was a Son of God; for as the centurion was a Roman, say they, among whom it was not uncommon to stile a person of remarkable abilities and merit a son of some deity, the centurion, in consequence of this custom, seeing the circumstances which attended this event, was convinced, that though Christ was executed as an impostor, yet he could not be less than the son of a god. The former however seems the most probable opinion, as it is most likely that these words of the centurion refer to those of the chief priests and scribes, Mat 27:43. He said, I am the Son of God, See Ch. Mat 26:63-64. Elsner, in a note on this place, has shewn, that some of the heathens had a notion among them, that prodigies, especially storms and earthquakes, sometimes attended the death of extraordinary persons peculiarly dear to the gods. Bishop Sherlock has made a fine useof the passage before us in the following words: "Go to your natural religion, (says he) lay before her Mahomet and his disciples arrayed in armour and in blood, riding in triumph over the spoils of thousands and tens of thousands who fell by his victorious sword. Shew her the cities which he set in flames, thecountries which he ravaged and destroyed, and the miserable distress of all the inhabitants of the earth. When she has viewed him in this scene, carry her to his retirements; shew her the prophet's chamber, his concubines and wives: let her see his adultery, and hear him allege revelation and a divine commission to justify his lust and his oppression. When she is tired with this prospect, then shew her the blessed Jesus, humble and meek, doing good to all the sons of men, patiently instructing both the ignorant and the perverse: let her see him in his most retired privacies; let her follow him to the mount, and hear his devotions and supplications to God: carry her to his table, to view his poor fare, and hear his heavenly discourse;let her see him injured, but not provoked; let her attend him to the tribunal, and consider the patience with which he endured the scoffs and reproaches of his enemies; lead her to his cross, and let her view him in the agony of death, and hear his last prayer for his persecutors, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do."
"When natural religion has viewed both, ask which is the prophet of God?-but we have already had her answer; when she saw part of this scene through the eyes of the centurion who attended at the cross by him,-she spoke and said, truly this was the Son of God."
Mat 27:56. And the mother of Zebedee's children- Though the construction of the original be dubious, yet I think it very rational, says Dr. Doddridge, to conclude, that the mother of the sons of Zebedee, or of James the greater and John, was a different person from the mother of James the less and Joses; both as the sons of Zebedee, though such distinguished friends of Christ, are never called his brethren, as James and Joses are, (See Ch. Mat 13:55 and Mar 6:3.) and as some Scriptures plainly intimate, that no more than two of the Apostles were the sons of Zebedee. See Ch. Mat 10:2 Mat 26:37 and Mar 3:17. The frequent mention which is made in the Evangelists of the generous and courageous zeal of some pious women in the service ofChrist,andespeciallyofthefaithfulandregular constancy with which they attended him in those last scenes of his sufferings, might very possibly be intended to obviate that haughty and senseless contempt which the pride of men, often irritated by those vexations to which their own irregular passions have exposed them, has in all ages affected to throw on that sex; which probably in the sight of God constitute the better half of mankind, and to whose care and tenderness the wisest and best of men generallyowe and ascribe much of the dailycomfort and enjoyment of their lives. See Mar 15:40.
Mat 27:57. A rich man of Arimathea- A city of the Jews, anciently called Ramoth, which lay in the tribe of Ephraim, and was the city of the prophet Samuel. St. Mar 15:43 describes Joseph under these two characters; first, that he was an honourable counsellor; secondly, that he waited for the kingdom of God. And St. Luk 23:51 adds, that he had not consented to the condemnation of Jesus with the rest of the Sanhedrim. See Joh 19:38 and the note on Mat 27:1 of this chapter. Some critics would render the last clause, who himself also made disciples to Jesus; that is to say, after his ascension. The word εμαθητευσε has that sense in the 19th verse of the next.
Mat 27:58. He went to Pilate and begged the body of Jesus- St. Mark says, Mar 15:43 that he went in boldly, and craved the body. And it was certainly a courageous act for that rich and noble senator thus publicly to own his friendship for Jesus in the midst of his greatest infamy; and a person of such sagacity could not but know, that if a resurrection should happen, nothing would have been more natural than that he should be brought into question as a confederate in the pretended fraud of conveying him away. But the regard he had for his Master overcame all other considerations; he therefore requested leave to take down his body, because, if no friend had obtained it, it would have been ignominiously cast out with those of the common malefactors. See a more distinct account of this event in Joh 19:38; Joh 19:42.
Mat 27:60. In his own new tomb- See Joh 19:41. The sepulchre in which they laid our Lord, being but lately made, was unfinished, and had not yet a lock on its door; therefore they fastened the door by rolling a great stone to it. The word roll implies, that the stone was both ponderous and large, too large to be carried, and therefore it was rolled upon the ground; according to Beza's copy, it was so weighty, that twenty men could not roll it; which was the reason why the women asked that question recorded by another Evangelist,-Who shall roll away the stone for us? Which implied, that they were both too few and too weak to do it for themselves. This sepulchre it seems, differed from that of Lazarus, in being partly above ground; whereas the other, being wholly under ground, had a stone laid on the mouth of it, covering the entry of the stairs by which they went down to it. See Beza and Macknight.
Mat 27:62-64. Now the next day, that followed the day of the preparation, &c.- That is, after the sun was set. They took this measure, therefore, not on the morrow, in our sense of the word, but in the evening after sun-setting, when the Jewish sabbath was begun, and when they understood the body was buried: to have delayed it till sun-rising would have been preposterous, as the disciples might have stolen away the body during the preceding night. Besides, there is no inconsistency between this account of the time when the watch was placed, and the subsequent articles of the history, which proceed on the supposition that the women present at our Lord's funeral were ignorant that any watch was placed at his grave; for they departed so early, that they had time to buy spices and ointment in the city before the preparation of the sabbath was ended; whereas the watch was not placed till the sabbath began. The day of preparation was the day before the sabbath, (see Mar 15:42.) whereon they were to prepare for the celebration of it. The next day then was the sabbath, according to the Jewish style; but the Evangelist here expresses it by the circumlocution, the day which followed the day, because the Jewish sabbath was then abolished, and a new order succeeded. The Christian sabbath is the octave of that week. See Heylin.
When the scribes and Pharisees demanded a sign from Jesus, he referred them to that of the prophet Jonah, see Ch. Mat 12:39-40 where he foretold his own resurrection from the dead the third day. Also at the first passover, when the Jews required a miracle of him, in confirmation of his mission, he replied, "Destroy this temple, and I will raise it up in three days." See also what he said further to the Pharisees, Joh 10:17-18. Now if the persons to whom these two last declarations were made happened to hear the promise of the miracle of the prophet Jonah, they might, by connecting the three, understand, that Jesus meant to signify to them his resurrection from the dead on the third day, and might tell Pilate they remembered that he had said, while yet alive, after three days I will rise again. Perhaps also, on some occasions not mentioned by the Evangelists, our Lord might have made a public declaration of his resurrection in the very terms here set down; or we may suppose that Judas informed the council of his prediction; in short, whatever way they came to the knowledge of it, certain it is, that the chief priests and Pharisees were well acquainted with our Lord's predictions concerning his resurrection. It seems they were often repeated, and so public, that they were universally known; and one cannot help remarking upon this circumstance, that if our Lord's resurrection had been a cheat, imposed upon mankind by his disciples, it was the most simple thing imaginable for him to speak of it beforehand, because the only effect of such a prediction was to put all his enemies on their guard. Accordingly, the precaution and care which we find the rulers used in guarding the sepulchre, rendered it next to impossible for the disciples to be guilty of any deceit in this matter; and so by the Providence of God, what they meant for the entire subversion of the Christian cause, turned out the strongest confirmation of it. Mr. West, in his excellent observations on the history of the resurrection, has the following very useful remarks concerning the evidence of our Saviour rising on the third day: "That he did not rise before the third day, says this author, p. 222 is evident from what St. Matthew here relates of the watch or guard set at the door of the sepulchre. Now I observe from these words, 1. That the watch or guard was set at the sepulchre the very next day after the death and burial of Christ. 2. It is most probable this was done on what we call the evening of that day, because it was a high day-not only a sabbath, but the passover; and it can hardly be imagined that the chief priests, and especially the Pharisees, who pretended to greater strictness and purity than any other sect of the Jews, should, before the religious duties of the daywere over, defile themselves by going to Pilate; for that they were very scrupulous upon that point, appears from what St. John says, Joh 18:28 of their not entering into the hall of judgment or praetorium, where Pilate's tribunal was the day before, lest they should be defiled, and so kept from eating the passover. And if it should be said, that, the paschal lamb being always eaten in the night, all their sacrifices upon that account were over, and they at liberty to go to Pilate in the morning, or at what other time they pleased; I answer, that allowing the objection, it is still farther to be considered, that this was the sabbath-day; and can it be supposed that the Pharisees, who censured Jesus for healing, and his disciples for plucking and eating the ears of corn on the sabbath-day, would profane that day, and defile themselves, not only by going to Pilate, but with the soldiers, to the sepulchre of Christ, and setting a seal upon the door of the sepulchre, before the religious duties of that solemn day were past? Especially, as they were under no necessityof doing it before the evening, though it was highly expedient for them not to delay it beyond that time. Jesus had said, while he was yet alive, that he should rise again from the dead on the third day; which prophesy would have been equally falsified by his rising on the first or the second as on the fourth. If his body therefore was not in the sepulchre at the close of the second day, the chief priests and Pharisees would gain their point, and might have asserted boldly that he was an impostor; from whence it will follow, that it was time enough for them to visit the sepulchre at the close of the second day. On the other hand, as he had declared he should rise on the third day, it was necessary for them (if they apprehended what they gave out,-that his disciples would come and steal him away) to guard against such an attempt on that day, and for that day only. And as the third day began from the evening or shutting in of the second, according to the way of computing used among the Jews, it was as necessary for them not to delay visiting the sepulchre, and setting their guard, till after the beginning of that third day; for if they had come to the sepulchre, though never so short a time after the third day was begun, and had found the body missing, they could not from thence have proved him an impostor. And accordingly Matthew tells us, they went thither on the second day, which was the sabbath; and though the going to Pilate, and with the Roman soldiers to the sepulchre, and sealing up the stone, was undoubtedly a profanation of the sabbath in the eyes of the ceremonious Pharisees, yet might they excuse themselves to their consciences, or
(what seems to have been of greater consequence in their opinions) to the world, by pleading the necessity of doingit that day: and surely nothing could have carried them out on such a business, on such a day, but the urgent necessity of doing it then or not at all. And, as I have shewn above, that this urgent necessity could not take place till the close of the second day, and just, though but one moment, before the beginning of the third, it will follow, from what has been said, that in the estimation of the high priests and Pharisees, the day on which they set their guard was the second day, and the next day consequently was the third, to the end of which they requested Pilate to command that the sepulchre might be made sure. Here then we have a proof, furnished by the murderers and blasphemers of Christ themselves, that he was not risen before the third day; for it is to be taken for granted, that before they sealed up the sepulchre, and set the guard, they had inspected it, and seen that the body was still there. Hence also we are enabled to answer the cavils that have been raised upon these expressions, three days and three nights, and after three days; for it is plain that the chief priests and Pharisees, by their going to the sepulchre on the sabbath-day, understood that day to be the second; and it is plain, by their setting the guard from that time, and the reason given to Pilate for their so doing, viz. lest the disciples should come in the night, and steal him away, that they construed that day, which was just then beginning, to be the day limited by Christ for his rising from the dead; that is the third day. For had they taken these words of our Saviour, The Son of man shall be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth, in their strict literal sense, they needed not have been in such haste to set their guard; since, according to that interpretation, there were yet two days and two nights to come; neither for the same reason had they any occasion to apprehend ill consequences from the disciples coming that night, and stealing away the body of their Master; so that unless it be supposed that the chief priests and Pharisees, the most learned sect among the Jews, did not understand the meaning of a phrase in their own language; or that they were so impious or impolitic as to profane the sabbath, and defile themselves without any occasion; and so senseless and impertinent, as to ask a guard of Pilate for watching the sepulchre that night and day, to prevent the disciples stealing away the body of Christ the night or the day following; unless, I say, these strange suppositions be admitted, we may fairly conclude, that in the language and to the understanding of the Jews, three days and three nights, and after three days, were equivalent to three days, or in three days. That he rose on the third day, the testimony of the angels, and his own appearances to the women, to Simon, and to the two disciples on the way to Emmaus, which all happened on that day, are clear and sufficient proofs."
Mat 27:65. Pilate said unto them, ye have a watch- See Mat 27:54. Pilate, thinking their request reasonable, allowed them to take as many soldiers as they pleased out of the cohort, which at the feast came from the castle Antonia, and kept guard in the porticoes of the temple; for, that they were not Jewish but Roman soldiers, whom the priests employed to watch the sepulchre, is evident from their asking them of the governor. Besides, when the soldiers returned with the news of Christ's resurrection, the priests desired them to report, that the disciples had stolen him away while they slept; and, to encourage them to tell the falsehood boldly, promised that if their neglect of duty came to the governor's ear, proper means should be used to pacify him, and to keep them safe; a promise which there was no need of making to their own servants. See Josephus's Antiq. L. 20: 100: 4.
Mat 27:66. So they went, &c.- The priests going along with the guards granted them by the governor, placed them in their post, and sealed the stone that was rolled to the door of the sepulchre, to hinder the guards from combining with the disciples in carrying on any fraud whatever. We find a precaution of the like kind made use of by Darius, Dan 6:17 in the case of Daniel shut up in the lion's den. Thus while the priests cautiously proposed to prevent our Lord's resurrection from being palmed upon the world, resolving, no doubt, to shew his body publicly after the third day, to prove him an impostor; they put the truth of his resurrection beyond all question, by furnishing a number of unexceptionable witnesses to it, whose testimony they themselves could not refuse.
Inferences.-The sentence of death is past, and who now with dry eyes can behold the sad pomp of the Saviour's bloody execution. All the streets are full of gazing spectators waiting for the ruthful sight; at last, O Saviour, I behold thee coming out of Pilate's gate, bearing that which shall soon bear thee; but alas! worn out with sorrows, and unequal to the burden, the blessed Jesus soon sinks beneath its insupportable weight. It is not out of any compassion to thy misery, or care of thine ease, blessed Sufferer, that Simon of Cyrene is forced to sustain thy cross: it was out of thine enemies' eagerness for thy dispatch; thy feeble paces were too slow for their purpose; their thirst after thy blood made them impatient of delay.
Hadst thou done this out of choice, which thou didst out of constraint, how should I have envied thee, O Simon, as too happy in the honour to be the first man who bore that cross of thy Saviour-an honour, wherein multitudes of blessed martyrs, since that time, have been ambitious to succeed thee! Thus to bear thy cross for thee, O Saviour, was more methinks than to bear a crown from thee. Could I be worthy to be thus graced by thee, I should pity all other glories.
Jerusalem could not want malefactors, though Barabbas was dismissed: that all this execution might seem to be done out of zeal for justice, two capital offenders shall accompany thee, O Saviour, both to thy death, and in it. Long ago was this unbecoming society foretold by the evangelical seer. He was taken from prison and from judgment; he was cut off out of the land of the living; he made his grave with the wicked. It had been disparagement enough to thee, adorable Jesus, to be sorted with the best of men. But to be matched with the refuse of mankind, whom justice would not suffer to live, is such an indignity as confounds my thoughts! Surely there is no angel in heaven, but would have rejoiced to attend thee; and what could the earth afford worthy of thy train? No, ye fond judges, ye are deceived. This is the way to grace your dying malefactors. This is not the way to disgrace him, whose guiltlessness and perfection triumph over your injustice. His presence was able to make your thieves happy: their presence could no more blemish him than your own. Thus guarded, thus attended, thus accompanied, is the blessed Sufferer led to that loathsome and infamous hill, which now his last blood shall make sacred. There, while he is addressing himself for his last act, he is presented with that bitter and farewell potion, wherewith dying malefactors were accustomed to have their senses stupified, that they might not feel the torments of their execution. It was but the common mercy to alleviate the death of offenders, since the intent of their last doom is not so much shame, as dissolution. That draught, O Saviour, was not more welcome to the guilty, than hateful to thee. In the vigour of all thine inward and outward senses thou wouldst encounter the most violent assaults of death, and scornedst to abate the least touch of thy quickest apprehension! Thou dost but taste of this cup; it is a far bitterer than this that thou art about to drink up to the dregs. Thou refusedst that which was offered thee by men; but that which was mixed by thine eternal Father, though mere wormwood and gall, thou didst drink up to the last drop; and therein, O blessed Jesus! lies all our health and salvation. I know not whether I do more suffer in thy pain, or joy in the issue of thy sufferings.
Now, even now, O Saviour, art thou entering into those dreadful lists, and now art thou grappling with thy last enemy, as if thou hadst not suffered till now. Now thy bloody passion begins. A cruel exspoliation is the preface to this violence; again do these merciless soldiers lay their rude hands upon thee, and strip thee naked; again are those bleeding marks of the scourges laid open to all eyes; again must thy sacred body undergo the shame of an abhorred nakedness: Lo! Thou that cloathest man with raiment, and all nature with its covering, standest exposed to the scorn of all beholders! As the first Adam entered into his paradise, so dost thou the second Adam into thine,-naked: and as the first Adam was cloathed in innocence, when he had no other covering, so wert thou the second too: and more than so, thy nakedness, O Saviour, cloathes our souls, not with innocence only, but with beauty: hadst not thou been naked, we had been cloathed with confusion. O happy nakedness! whereby we are covered with shame: O happy shame! whereby we are invested with glory.
Shame is succeeded by pain; methinks I see and feel, how, having fastened thee transverse to the body of that fatal tree, laid upon the ground, they racked and strained the tender and sacred limbs of my Redeemer, to fit the extent of their four appointed measures, and having tortured out his arms beyond their natural reach, how they fastened him with cords, till those strong iron nails which were driven up to the head through the palms of his blessed hands, had not more firmly than painfully fixed him to the cross! The fatal tree is raised up, and with a vehement concussion settled in the mortice!-woe is me, how are the joints and sinews of this patient sufferer torn by this severe distension! how does his own weight torment him, while his whole body rests upon this forced and dolorous hold! how did the rough iron pierce his soul, while, passing through those tender and sensible parts, it carried his flesh before it, and rivetted it to that shameful tree!
There now, Almighty Sufferer, there now thou hangest between heaven and earth, naked, bleeding, forlorn, despicable, a spectacle of miseries, the scorn of men. Is this the head that was decked by thine eternal Father with a crown of pure gold, of immortal and incomprehensible Majesty, which is now bleeding with a diadem of thorns? Is this the eye that saw the heavens opened, and the Holy Ghost descending upon that head, which now begins to be overclouded with death? Are these the ears that heard the voice of thy Father owning thee out of heaven, which now glow with reproaches, and bleed with thorns? Are these the lips, that spake as never man spake,-full of grace and power, which are now swollen with blows, and discoloured with blueness and blood? Is this the face that should be fairer than the sons of men, which the angels of heaven so desired to see, and can never be satisfied with seeing-which is thus defiled with the foul mixtures of sweat and blood and spittings? Are these the hands, that stretched out the heavens as a curtain; that by their touch healed the lame, the deaf, the blind; which are now bleeding with the nails? Are these the feet, which walked lately upon the liquid pavement of the sea, before whose footstool all the nations of the earth are commanded to worship, which are now so painfully fixed to the cross? O cruel and unthankful men, that offered such treatment to the Lord of life! O infinitely merciful Saviour, who wouldst suffer all this for unthankful men; where shall we find words sufficiently strong to express our boundless obligations!
Now, O ye cruel priests and elders of the Jews, you have full leisure to feed your eyes with the sight that you have so much longed for! there is the blood which ye purchased; and is not your malice yet satiated? Is not all this enough, without your taints and scoffs at so exquisite a misery? The people, the passengers, are taught to insult, where they should pity; every man has a scorn ready to cast at a dying innocent: a generous nature is more wounded by the tongue than with the hand. Thine ear, O Saviour, was more painfully pierced than thy brows, or hands or feet. It could not but go deep into thy soul, to hear these bitter reproaches from those whom thou camest to save.
But alas! how trifling were these in comparison of the inward torments which thy soul felt, in the sense and apprehension of thy Father's wrath for the sins of the whole world, which now lay heavier upon thee for satisfaction. This, O this it was that pressed thy soul, as it were to the nethermost hell. While thine eternal Father looked lovingly upon thee, what didst thou, what needest thou care for the frowns of men or of devils? But once he turned his face from thee, or bent his brows upon thee, this was worse than death. It is no wonder now if darkness was upon the face of the whole earth, when thy Father's face was eclipsed from thee by the interposition of our sins; how should there be light in the world without, when the God of the world, the Father of lights, complains of the want of light within! that word of thine, O Saviour, was enough to bring down the sun out of heaven, and dissolve the whole frame of nature, when thou criedst, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me!
O what pangs were those, blessed Lord, which drew this doleful complaint from thee! thou well knewest that nothing could be more cordial to thine enemies, than to hear this mournful language from thee! they could see but the outside of thy sufferings. Never could they have conceived so deep an anguish of thy soul, if thy own lips had not expressed it. Yet as not regarding their triumph, thou thus pouredst out thy sorrow; and when so much is uttered, who can conceive what is felt! This was the very acme of that bitter passion, which thou wouldst undergo for us; when the Lord laid on thee the iniquities of us all. O Saviour, hadst thou not thus suffered, we must have borne the heavy weight for ever. Thy sufferings are our salvation; thy dissolution is our safety.
But the severity of this torment was not long to be borne; and now the measure of thy sufferings, as well as the prophesies concerning thee, being fulfilled; all types and ceremonies, all satisfactions, both happily effected and proclaimed; nothing now remains but a voluntary, sweet, and heavenly resignation of thy blessed soul into the hands of thine eternal Father; and a bowing of thy head for the change of a better crown, and an instant entrance into rest, triumph, and glory.
And now, O blessed Jesus, how easily have carnal eyes all this while mistaken the passages and intentions of this thy last and most glorious work! Our weakness could hitherto see nothing here but pain and ignominy; now my better enlightened eyes see in the elevation of thine both honour and happiness. Lo, thou that art the mediator between God and man, the reconciler of heaven and earth, art lifted up betwixt earth and heaven, that thou mightst accord both. Thou that art the great captain of our salvation, the conqueror of all the adverse powers of death and hell, art exalted upon this triumphal chariot of the cross, that thou mightst trample upon death, and drag all those infernal principalities manacled after thee. Those arms which thine enemies meant violently to extend, are stretched forth for the embracing of all mankind. Even while thou sufferedst, thou reignedst. O the impotent madness of vain men! they think to disgrace thee with bitter scoffs, with poor wretched indignities; when in the mean time, the heavens declare thy righteousness, O Lord, and the earth shews forth thy power! the sun withholds his light, as not enduring to see the suffering of his Creator. The earth trembles under a sense of the wrong done to her Maker. The rocks rend; the veil of the temple tears from the top to the bottom; in short, the frame of the whole world acknowledges the dominion of that Son of God, whom man despised. Thou therefore, O my soul, unite in acknowledgment, not only of his dominion, but of his love; and living in constant adoration of his tender mercies, who did die for thee on the cross, intreat him in the last hour to sustain thee, and to enable thee to say, with his fortitude and faith, Father, into thine hands I commend my spirit.
REFLECTIONS.-1st, Though the Sanhedrim had condemned the innocent Jesus as worthy of death, they had not in their hands the power of capital punishments, and therefore must have him sentenced by the Roman governor before they could proceed to execution, the sceptre being now departed from Judah, and the country become a Roman province. Hereupon we are told,
1. On a second council held in the morning, in order effectually to get their bloody purposes executed of putting him to death, they determined to accuse him before Pilate, at that time the Roman president, as an infamous malefactor and incendiary; and accordingly, binding him as a criminal, they led him ignominiously through the streets, from the house of Caiaphas to the governor's palace, and delivered him up, that sentence might be pronounced upon him, and that he might die the death of the cross; thus undesignedly fulfilling the predictions of Jesus, Chap. Mat 20:19.
2. Remorse had by this time seized on the conscience of Judas. When he saw that Jesus was condemned and ready to be executed, filled with horror, and agitated with self-indignation, anguish and despair, he ran to the temple, and there in one of the chambers to which the council seems to have been adjourned, he brought the hated price of his wickedness, the thirty pieces of silver, and publicly acknowledging the atrocious crime that he had committed in betraying innocent blood, would have returned their wages of unrighteousness. But they, instead of being struck with conviction, treated his confession with contempt. He had answered their ends; and as to the means employed, or the guilt that he had incurred, they cared not about it; as if it was nothing to them that they had bribed him to commit the villainy, and were that moment persecuting to death the innocent person whom he had betrayed. Made desperate by such neglect, and the unavailableness of this attempt to stop the prosecution of Jesus, his life became a burden, and the devil urged him to put an end to it. Casting down the abhorred silver in the temple before them, and flying to some solitude, he immediately hung himself, by self-murder finishing the measure of his iniquities. Note; (1.) The time will come when the sweetest sins will be turned into the poison of asps. (2.) There is no repentance without restitution, as far as possible, of ill-gotten gain. (3.) When wicked men can bring the professors of religion to join them, indifferent to the remorse which they afterwards behold in them, they only mock at the calamity, and at sin the cause of it. (4.) The love of money has been the fatal snare to many a soul: for this they have plunged themselves into the gulph of perdition. (5.) Despair is among the greatest crimes, and often ends in self-murder, a remedy still worse than the disease: for the deepest guilt there is mercy to be hoped, while life continues; but, when men fly from God to the devil for ease by suicide, they are undone for ever.
3. The money being left, they consulted how to dispose of it. Pretending conscience, they would not put it into the temple treasury, though probably it was taken thence, because it was the price of blood; and therefore, with the shew of great piety and humanity, laid it out to purchase a small piece of ground which had been dug up by a potter and was of little value, in which to bury strangers or proselytes: whereby they perpetuated their own infamy; the people, who knew what money made the purchase, calling it justly Aceldama, or the field of blood. And herein they exactly fulfilled what the prophet had foretold, Zec 11:12-13. The words are said to be in Jeremy, though only found in Zechariah: concerning which there are many ways suggested to solve the difficulty. The most probable seems to be, either that, in the division of the sacred books, the last volume began with Jeremiah, and therefore, though containing all the later prophets, bore his name; or that Jeremiah had so prophesied first, but had not committed it to writing, and Zechariah confirmed and wrote it in his prophesy. The words, as they stand in the prophet, are, They weighed for my price thirty pieces of silver. And the Lord said unto 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. Thus did they who rejected the Messiah fulfil many of the great prophesies concerning him. Note; (1.) Many who are bitter persecutors of God's people, still study to maintain the character of piety and humanity among men. (2.) Christ's blood has provided a resting-place for poor sinners after death; and though he was treated with such contempt, and his price so low, we see in his humiliation peculiar glory; and the deeper his abasement was, it renders him in the eyes of all that believe more precious.
2nd, Behold the Son of God a prisoner at a human bar; and he, to whom every knee must bow, and whom we all must meet as our eternal Judge, now appears as a criminal before Pilate: having condescended to bear our sins, he submits to suffer in our stead as a transgressor. We have,
1. The charge laid against him. Knowing the jealousy of the Roman government, the chief priests, his accusers, had suggested that, in assuming the character of the Messiah, he meant to raise an insurrection, and make himself a king. Pilate therefore interrogated him on this head, whether he presumed to arrogate the title of King of the Jews? and Jesus acknowledged the charge; though he assumed no such temporal dominion as they suggested; his kingdom was not of this world: (see Joh 18:36.) The chief priests and elders were hereupon very loud and clamorous in their accusations, as if he was a perverter of the people, a sower of sedition, forbidding to give tribute to Caesar, and affecting the sovereignty of the country. To all which Jesus, with astonishing patience, made no reply. What they said was indeed notoriously false, as themselves knew: but he wanted not to defend himself; his hour was come, and he stood prepared to answer the demands of divine justice, and to bear our sins in his own body on the tree. Therefore, when Pilate urged him to reply to the charges, and clear himself of these accusations, he observed a profound silence, to the great astonishment of the governor, who could not account for so unusual a behaviour in a person whose life was at stake, and depended on that moment. Note; (1.) It has been usual with the enemies of the servants of Jesus to dress them up so as to render them suspected by the civil government, and to insinuate ill designs against the state, in order the more easily to oppress them. (2.) Silence is often the best answer to the accusations of malice; and when we know our defence is sure to be overruled, it is fruitless to contend.
2. Pilate, convinced of the innocence of Jesus, and well knowing the motive of the virulence shewn against him by the chief priests, who were stung with envy at the excellence of his character, and the high reputation he held with many, which eclipsed their own, wished for a pretext to release him. And hereunto he was yet more induced by a message from his wife, who just at that time, while the trial was going on, sent to entreat him to do nothing against that just man before him: for she had that morning been terrified by a very uncommon dream concerning him, which bore strong marks of a divine original; and therefore conjured him to discharge the prisoner, lest he should bring down the wrath of God upon himself and family by condemning the innocent. Therefore, as it was an established custom at that feast to gratify the people with the release of any prisoner whom they chose, Pilate thought he could not fail of succeeding by proposing to the people their choice, whether of Barabbas or Jesus. The infamous character of Barabbas, who for sedition and murder, and other villanies, was held in the greatest detestation, left him no room to doubt that the people would prefer Jesus, whom they had so lately ushered with hosannahs into the city, and whose excellencies all must have seen. Note; (1.) God has access to the spirit, and can speak to our souls when our senses are locked up in deep repose. (2.) Sinners have sometimes solemn warnings; but they are too apt to slight the heavenly admonition. (3.) The nearer and dearer any person is to us, the more are we obliged to watch over him for good.
3. The multitude, instigated by the craft of their wily priests, who represented Jesus in every black and diabolical colour, and engaged them to prefer Barabbas before him, demanded the murderer, to the astonishment of Pilate, and rejected the Lord of life and glory: and, not content with this, when the governor, willing to release Jesus, inquired of them what they wished he should do with him whom many regarded as the Christ, or Messiah; they with one consent cried out, Let him be crucified, a death the most painful, ignominious, and accursed. Shocked at such a demand, Pilate remonstrates with them on the injustice and cruelty of such an action, Why, what evil hath he done? On the severest scrutiny his judge could see no fault in him, his adversaries prove none, nor did even the traitor suggest the shadow of a crime-A glorious testimony of the avowed innocence of Jesus. But this tumultuous assembly, notwithstanding, wrought up to a pitch of fury by their malignant priests and rulers, with louder cries demanded his crucifixion, determined to extort the governor's consent, and bear down reason and justice with rage and clamour. Note; (1.) How little dependance is to be placed on popular applause. They who one day cried, Hosannah to the Son of David, now cry, Crucify him, crucify him. (2.) The unspotted innocency of the Lamb of God evidently shews, that he bore not his own sins, but the sins of others: he voluntarily submitted to die as a criminal, that he, though just, might suffer the punishment due to the unjust, and thereby bring us unto God.
4. Pilate, unable to prevail with them, and not having resolution to deny their request, so importunately and clamorously urged, for fear of an uproar; yet conscious of the innocence of Jesus, and shocked at the thought of murdering a just man, bethought himself of a miserable expedient to pacify his conscience without disobliging the people: and therefore, though yielding to their importunity, he protests against the fact; and, taking water before them all, he washed his hands, that by this significative action he might appear clear from all the guilt which should ensue, declaring himself innocent of this righteous blood; and therefore, since they compelled him to condemn the innocent, he lays it wholly upon them to answer for the crime before God and the world.-An absurd procedure indeed in a judge, whom nothing should awe from the administration of impartial justice.
5. They hesitate not to subject themselves to all the consequences which might ensue: and, since Pilate seemed scrupulous, they are very ready to quiet his conscience by solemnly transferring all the guilt upon their own, madly imprecating on themselves, and their latest posterity, the vengeance, if any were due, His blood be on us, and on our children. So daring do presumptuous sinners grow: so little are they apprehensive of the consequences of their impiety. But these murderers soon found the vengeance which they had imprecated terribly lighting on their devoted heads in the utter destruction of themselves and families; such multitudes being crucified by Titus during the siege, that the crosses stood so thick around the walls, that there was no more room for them; five hundred in a day thus miserably expiring. And to this hour the effects of that imprecation are visible upon this miserable people; and will be, till, returning to the Lord whom they once rejected, the wrath shall be removed, and their iniquity be forgiven.
3rdly, The matter being thus determined:
1. Pilate having released Barabbas, that most infamous criminal, delivered Jesus over to their will, having first scourged him severely, in hopes of moving their compassion, Joh 19:1.; but finding it all ineffectual, and that they were bent on his destruction, he appoints his immediate execution on the cross, as they insisted. And herein we may observe, (1.) The fulfilment of the Scriptures, Psa 129:3. Isa 50:6; Isa 53:5 where these stripes had been foretold. (2.) In the release of Barabbas we have an emblem of our own deliverance through Jesus Christ. As guilty perhaps have we been as this notorious prisoner: we have robbed God of his glory, and often laboured to murder our own and others' souls. For which we must all have perished without hope, had not our divine substitute yielded up himself that we might go free, and that the chief of sinners might find in him plenteous redemption. (3.) Bloody as the stripes of Jesus appear, we need bless God for them, since by these stripes we are healed.
2. Being delivered into the hands of the inhuman soldiers, they dragged him into the common hall, and, to make themselves merry in his miseries, and in the view of the character that he assumed as a king, they stripped off his clothes, arrayed him in a scarlet robe in mockery, and, platting a crown of thorns, in derision placed it on his head, giving him a reed, or hollow cane, for a sceptre; and, gathering the whole band around him, they, with insulting homage, bowed the knee, and addressed him with the deriding title of king of the Jews; while some spat in his face in contempt of his majesty, and others snatched the cane out of his hand and smote him on the head that the thorns might wound the deeper his sacred temples. While we reflect on their wickedness with horror, indignation, and astonishment, let some measure thereof be transferred to ourselves. They were the instruments, but all mankind, and we in particular, have been the cause of all his torment. And when we see the innocent Lamb of God submitting to these indignities, and look on that face, marred more than any man's, defiled with spitting, black with buffetings, and dyed with blood streaming from his temples, what emotions of love and gratitude should glow in our bosom towards him who endured such things for us, that we might not be the mockery of devils, the scorn of angels, and abhorred of God?
3. Glutted with cruelty, and satiated with such inhuman mirth, they stripped off his robes of mock majesty, and put on him again his own seamless garment, the perquisite of those who should be more immediately employed in his execution. Then, binding his cross upon him, Joh 19:17 they led him, as a lamb to the slaughter, a spectacle through the city, to suffer without the gate. But, it seems, wearied out with his sufferings, his strength failed him, and they were obliged to release him of his load, lest they should be disappointed of their cruelty in nailing him alive to the tree. Seizing on one who was passing by, known probably to have been a disciple of Jesus, and therefore treated with such indignity, they compel him to bear the cross after Christ to the place of execution. Note; Every true believer must expect his cross, and be content to go to Jesus without the camp, bearing his reproach.
4thly, We have an account of the crucifixion of Jesus.
1. The place where he suffered was called Golgotha, signifying the place of a skull; either from the form of the hill, or because the malefactors executed there were buried on the spot. Where death therefore erected his trophies, there Christ, who tasted death for every man, erected his cross, that he might in triumph look down upon his vanquished foe, as it was said, O death, I will be thy destruction.
2. Before they nailed him to the tree they offered him a bitter cup of vinegar mingled with gall. (See the Annotations.) He tasted it, but refused to drink. He wanted not to prolong his life, nor would do ought to discompose his mind, prepared to feel every misery before him, and desiring not to be excused the sensation of any one painful pang that he must endure. The gall of that cup our sins supplied; had he not atoned for them, we must eternally have drank to the dregs the cup of bitterness and trembling.
3. They crucified him; which was done by stretching the arms on the wood as it lay upon the ground, and nailing them; then they fattened the feet to a piece of wood fixed to the body of the cross, and lifting it up, stuck it fast in a hole prepared to receive it, the shock of which frequently dislocated the bones of the criminal; and there hanging upon the nails, in convulsions and torments inexpressible, he expired. Thus did the Son of God humble himself to death, even the death of the cross. Whilst angels with wonder and amaze behold him, what sentiments of transcendent admiration and love should glow in our bosoms, when we see him dying on the accursed tree, for us men and for our salvation?
4. The executioners divided his garments as their fee; and while they sat down and watched him, that no rescue might be attempted should the people now relent, they cast lots for his outer garment, which was without seam, and must have been spoiled if cut to pieces; thus in the most exact manner fulfilling the prophetic word, Psa 12:8; They parted my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture.
5. On the cross a tablet was hung, importing the crime for which he suffered, as was usual on these occasions. But this bespoke his honour rather than reproach: This is Jesus the king of the Jews. Such indeed he really was; and whatever intention they had who wrote it, God designed even here that a testimony should be borne to his Messiah.
6. Two thieves were crucified with him, and he placed in the midst, as if to stamp the most indelible infamy upon him, as the vilest of all malefactors. Thus was he numbered with transgressors, and with the wicked in his death. Though he had done no violence, yet, bearing the sins of the world, divine justice treated him as a criminal, and he died under the curse of our iniquities.
7. On the cross he endured the greatest contradiction of sinners against himself:
[1.] From the common people, and passengers who went by as he hung on the tree. Unmoved at his sufferings, unaffected with the astonishing patience wherewith he bore them, they vented their blasphemies against him, wagging their heads, as insulting over his miseries, (Psa 22:7.) and triumphing in his torments; upbraiding him with his pretended ability of destroying the temple, and raising it in three days; and bidding him now put forth some of that power of which he boasted, in coming down from the cross to which he was nailed, and thus at least prove the truth of the high pretensions that he made, as being the Son of God. Note; (1.) When a man is run down, and cast out for his religion, under the name of enthusiasm, by the great and the rulers, almost every one is ready to join in the cry. (2.) If Christ was thus reviled and ridiculed, let us not think it strange, if the mouth of the ungodly be opened upon us in bitter words.
[2.] From the chief priests, scribes, and elders. They came to feast their eyes with this sight of misery, and, instead of being at their devotions in the temple, (Lev 23:7.) meanly mixed with the rabble around the cross, to gratify their malice, and spit their venom; mocking at him; and saying, He saved others, himself he cannot save. His present state, they suggest, evidently proved the delusion of the miracles to which he pretended, and the impossibility of his being the Saviour of the world; whereas in fact the very reason why he would not save himself, was, because it would not then be possible for him to save others, since on his sufferings their salvation depended. As he assumed the honour of Israel's King, they upbraid him with his arrogance, and bid him exert his authority, and loose himself from the cross; then, they profess, they will believe in him; though after what he had done, this was a mere subterfuge for their infidelity. Had he complied with their proposals, they would instantly have found new objections, and would suppose that some trick had been played; that he had never been nailed to the tree; as they afterwards evaded the evidence of his resurrection, by the absurd pretence that his disciples stole away the body by night. Because Jesus had professed such unshaken confidence in God, and claimed so near a relation to the Most High, they now bid him put it to the proof; intimating, that God's not delivering him in his distress, shewed him a deceiver; and while they thus vilified him in the eyes of the people, they hurled a fiery arrow against the faith of the Redeemer, to terrify his innocent soul, as if there was no hope for him in his God. (Psa 22:8.) Unmoved, the Saviour heard in silence their blasphemies, and persisted patiently in accomplishing his own glorious work. Note; Many pretend want of evidence as a reason for their unbelief; but were Christ to indulge them with the grant of what themselves propose, they would be as far from faith in him as ever. The fault is in the heart: they who believe not Moses and the prophets, will be proof against every other method of conviction.
[3.] From the thieves who were crucified with him. See the Annotations.
8. A dreadful darkness now came on over all the land. The sun miraculously withdrew his light, as if terrified at beholding his Maker's agony, and terrifying his abhorrence of such transcendently atrocious wickedness; affording an emblem of that judicial blindness to which this devoted people were now abandoned. It might be intended also to represent the dreadful conflict with the rulers of the darkness of this world, which Jesus maintained on the cross, when, by dying, he destroyed him that had the power of death, that is, the devil. And this eclipse of the great luminary of heaven was also but a faint image of the darker eclipse in the Redeemer's soul, when every cheering beam of consolation was withdrawn, the light of his Father's countenance withheld, and a sense of this dereliction, arising from the wrath of an offended God, completed the measure of his suffering. Three such hours had never passed since darkness was upon the face of the deep.
9. After a long and silent conflict, about the ninth hour, his agony being now at the summit, with a loud but lamentable voice Jesus cried, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?-Strange accents from him whom God had repeatedly owned for his beloved Son, and in whom he had testified himself so well pleased! We never hear one complaint from these sacred lips of all his inhuman treatment or bodily torment. What he then felt was infinitely more insupportable, and extorted this exceeding bitter cry. Not that the hypostatic union was dissolved, or that there was any real abatement of the Father's love towards him; never did he as Mediator appear more amiable than now, when, through the Eternal Spirit, he offered himself without spot unto God. But since he took upon himself the sins of the world, he was given for a while into the enemy's hands, and all the powers of hell were let loose upon him; every divine support was withdrawn, and the terrors of wrath due from an offended God seized on his soul, and sunk him in the lowest deeps. Despair excepted, I question much, whether the spirits of the damned have felt the wrath of God in this its utmost depth of bitterness: yet, though forsaken, firm and unshaken Jesus hangs fast on God, and in this deepest dereliction still can say, My God.
Lastly, The by-standers, either wilfully or ignorantly mistaking his words, said he called for Elias, as if he wanted his help, and that it was too late for him to cry now. And hereupon one ran and filled a spunge with vinegar, and with a cane lifted it to his lips, which might be a suggestion of compassion, since his pains must have created intolerable thirst; though usually it is supposed to have been done to mock and teaze him, and add to his anguish: while the rest deriding said, Let be, let him alone; let us see whether Elias will come to save him, since he is to be the forerunner of the Messiah; but no such help, they presumed, would be afforded him, alike abandoned by heaven and earth.
5thly, The conflict is now over, the victory complete, sin atoned for, Satan's head bruised, justice satisfied, death vanquished, hell shut up, the kingdom of heaven opened for all believers, and all this by the death of Jesus here recorded; concerning which we are told,
1. The manner in which he expired. Having finished the work the Father had given him to do, he cried, not as a dying man exhausted and spent, but with a loud voice, the shout of victory over all his conquered foes, and thus in his full strength yielded up the ghost; freely resigned his soul into his Father's hands, and his body to death, the threatened wages of sin, which he had consented to bear. Thus fell the spiritual Samson, spoiling principalities and powers, and triumphing over them on his cross. Thus died the great Redeemer, just at the time when the evening sacrifice of the lamb was slain, the figure of him who in the evening of the world appeared, to take away sin by the sacrifice of himself.
2. The miracles which attended his death.
[1.] Behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain, which separated the holy of holies from the outer tabernacle, where the table of incense stood, and the golden candlestick; and this at the very time probably when the priests were there ministering, and burning the sacred incense before it. Whereby was signified, (1.) The abolition of the Mosaical services, the darkness of that dispensation being now removed, and its mysteries unveiled; so that with open face we now behold the glory of the Lord. (2.) The demolition of the partition-wall between Jews and Gentiles, who are alike called into the fellowship of the Gospel, and partakers of the same privileges. (3.) The free access which every sinner has to God; so that he may now come boldly to a throne of grace: and every faithful soul, when death shall rend the veil of flesh, shall be admitted to a throne of glory, by that new and living way which Jesus hath consecrated for us through the veil, that is to say, his flesh, Heb 4:16; Heb 10:19-20.
[2.] The earth did quake, and the rocks were rent by it; marks of God's wrath against these murderers, and of that fury which he would pour out upon them, when their rocky hearts should be broken in pieces. Hereby also was signified the destruction of Satan's kingdom, and the wondrous changes now about to be wrought in the world, when the most stout-hearted sinners should tremble before the Lord, and feel their souls rent with deepest conviction when led to look up to a crucified Jesus.
[3.] The graves were opened, immediately by the earthquake, and many bodies of the saints which slept, arose, and came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many,-a glorious proof of Christ's victory over death and the grave, and an assurance to all his saints of a joyful resurrection.
Who these saints were, whether the patriarchs, or such as had seen Christ in the flesh; to whom they appeared; what they said or did; these and the like inquiries, being matters of mere curiosity, the Holy Ghost has not thought fit to reveal to us. All that is needful for us to know, is told us, and therein we should thankfully acquiesce, not coveting to be wise above what is written.
3. The effect which the death of Christ and the subsequent miracles had on the centurion and soldiers who kept guard at the place of execution. Though heathens and strangers to the true God, and probably the very persons who had treated Jesus with such indignity, had dragged him to that place, and nailed him to the tree; these strange sights, the darkness, earthquake, and expiring cry of the Redeemer filled them with consternation. Their stout hearts trembled for fear lest they should be swallowed up in righteous vengeance; and these amazing effects of divine power and interposition extorted from them that noble testimony to the Saviour's divine mission and character, Truly this was the Son of God.
4. To the honour of the female sex, mention is made of several women, and three of their names are recorded, who, though the disciples in general had forsaken their Master, and fled, continued their attendance in his last moments; and, having followed Jesus out of Galilee, and ministered to him of their substance, now stood afar off, perhaps not daring to approach nearer; and with broken hearts and floods of tears beheld and lamented their dying Lord, unable to minister to him either help or comfort. Note; (1.) The longer and the farther we have followed Christ, the more should it engage us to cleave to him, even to the end. (2.) They who love the Lord Jesus in their hearts, will be happy to employ their substance in his service.
6thly, It was foretold, that the Messiah should make his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; and we see it fulfilled in the honourable interment given him by Joseph of Arimathea, after he had died as a malefactor, and suffered in our stead the wages of sin. Several circumstances concerning his burial are taken notice of by the Evangelist.
1. The time,-the evening of the day on which he suffered, which was Friday, some time before the Jewish Sabbath commenced.
2. The person who charged himself with the care of the burial,-Joseph of Arimathea, a man of wealth and distinction, one of the sanhedrim, and a secret disciple of Jesus, though through fear he had not publicly avowed it; but now, when Christ seemed deserted of all, he dared step forth, boldly went in to Pilate, and begged the corpse, that he might inter it with due respect; which was granted immediately, and an order sent to deliver the body to him. Note; (1.) There are more secret disciples than we are often aware of. (2.) The possession of worldly wealth and honour is usually a grievous check to the faithful and open profession of Jesus and his cause. (3.) In times of trial, when the boldest are ready to shrink, we sometimes see those who were scarcely numbered among the disciples before, come forth with unexpected courage and fidelity, and make a noble confession before many witnesses.
3. The manner of it. He took down the body from the cross, and wrapped it in clean linen, according to the custom of the Jews; and he himself attended, and performed these last kind offices to his dear Master.
4. The place where Joseph laid the corpse,-In his own new tomb, hewn out in a rock, and closed with a great stone at the mouth; which when Joseph had done, he departed in silent sorrow to bewail his loss. So divine Providence ordered the circumstances, that none having lain there before, there could be no doubt, when Christ arose, concerning the person: and the solid rock out of which the sepulchre was hewn, prevented the possibility of suspicion of any secret access to the body, except by the entrance, and that was sufficiently guarded. Note; (1.) He who when alive had not a house to cover his head, when dead, wanted a grave: so destitute was the Lord of glory: who then after him dares complain? (2.) Since Jesus has lain in the grave, he has perfumed the noisome abode; and in this bed of dust, as the phoenix in her fabled nest, the faithful now lie down, only to rise in brighter array, and take their flight to mansions of eternal glory.
5. The care which Christ's enemies took to have the sepulchre secured. The chief-priests and Pharisees, who were such scrupulous observers of the Sabbath, had not patience to wait till it was over, but assembled, and went in a body to Pilate, to petition him for a guard, in order to secure the body against the following day; because, they suggest, Jesus, that deceiver, (so do they call him who is the truth itself) had said, while he was yet alive, (so that they admit he was now certainly dead,) After three days I will rise again. We find not indeed that he had ever expressly said so to them; and if they founded their suggestion upon what they had heard, (Joh 2:19.) then their own bare-faced wickedness was yet more evident; since on this very passage, which they applied to the temple, they formed a great part of their accusation against him. Pretending therefore to fear, lest his disciples should come by night and steal him away, and say he is risen, they desire to be furnished with a band of soldiers, to prevent all such attempts; lest, if such a trick should be played, the consequences of this last error, in not properly guarding the sepulchre, should be worse than the first, in suffering him to preach and live so long; for should this be once believed, the character of Jesus would then be established, and his doctrines spread with greater rapidity than ever. Pilate readily gratified them in granting their request, though no doubt he regarded their fears as absurd and ridiculous, and presumed that they had little now to apprehend from a dead man. They had a body of soldiers in the tower of Antonia for the service of the temple, and he permits them to detach what number they pleased to guard the sepulchre, and to use every other method to make the place as sure as they could. Nor did they fail to take every step to prevent the possibility of an imposture; setting a guard of soldiers, in whom they could confide, to watch the body that night, and sealing the stone with the public seal, either of Pilate or the sanhedrim, that none might presume to enter, till the next day they should return themselves, and, producing the dead corpse, undeceive the people, and detect the impostor. Thus by the gracious Providence of God was every circumstance so ordered, respecting the resurrection of Jesus, that our faith in that grand event might have the most unshaken grounds of evidence indisputable, and be more strongly confirmed by all the methods that his enemies took to guard the body from the possibility of being clandestinely removed. Indeed it can scarcely be supposed, that his disciples, who all so basely forsook him and fled when he was alive, would ever return to steal him away when he was dead: and they could have no end to answer by it; for to endeavour, by saying he was risen, to impose on the people, would be inconceivable madness and folly in them; since they must thereby expose themselves to every suffering for their testimony, and be of all men the most miserable in this world; conscious of dying with a lie in their right hand, and having no hope in the next. But had they desired or designed to execute such a scheme, they must have been now effectually prevented. In the face of a body of armed soldiers, placed as centinels on the sepulchre, and whose lives depended upon their watchfulness,-to suppose that they would ever have attempted to break the public seal, roll back a ponderous stone, descend into the tomb, and carry off the body by stealth, is an absurdity too glaring to be conceived. So far as human, as diabolical power could go, Christ's enemies went; but counsel and might are alike vain against the Lord. They who oppose his kingdom will find their attempts not only baffled but turned to their own confusion; their guilt but the more aggravated, and their eternal ruin more dreadful.
