John xix. 5. 6. Then came Jesus forth, wearing the crown of thorns, Jerusalem. and the purple robe. And Pilate saith unto them, Behold the man! When the Chief Priests therefore and officers saw him, 7. The Jews answered him, We have a law, and by our 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. When Pilate therefore heard that saying, he was the more afraid; And went again into the judgment-hall, and saith unto Jesus, Whence art thou? But Jesus gave him no answer ". Then saith Pilate unto him, Speakest thou not unto me? knowest thou not that I have power to crucify thee, and have power to release thee? Jesus answered, Thou couldest have no power at all against me, except it were given thee from above: therefore he that delivered me unto thee hath the greater sin. And from thenceforth Pilate sought to release him: but the Jews cried out, saying, If thou let this man go, thou art not Cesar's friend: whosoever maketh himself a king, speaketh against Cesar. When Pilate therefore heard that saying, he brought Jesus forth, and sat down in the judgment seat in a place that is called the Pavement, but in the Hebrew, Gabbatha. And it was the preparation of the passover, and about the sixth hour and he saith unto the Jews, Behold your King! But they cried out, Away with him, away with him, crucify him. Pilate saith unto them, Shall I crucify your King? The Chief Priests answered, We have no king but Cesar. Then delivered he him therefore unto them to be crucified. MATT. XXVii. part of ver. 26, 27. 26 Then released he Barabbas unto them: and when he had Scourged Jesus, he delivered him 27 and gathered unto him the whole band. MARK XV. part of ver. 15, 16. ver. 17, 18. and part of ver. 19. 15-released Barabbas unto them-delivered Jesus-to be crucified. 17 And they clothed him with purple, and platted a crown of thorns, and put it about his head; 21 Our Lord would not reveal his dignity to Pilate, because he would not have believed him, and because as a judge Pilate was only concerned with his innocence: neither had the time come, for an appeal to the Gentiles. 18 And began to salute him, Hail, King of the Jews! JOHN xix. ver. 2. and part of ver. 3. 2 And the soldiers platted a crown of thorns, and put it on his head, and they put on him a purple robe, 3. And said, Hail, King of the Jews! Jerusalem. Jo. xix. 16. Mtxxvii.31. SECTION XVI. Christ is led away from the Judgment-Hall of Pilate to MATT. XXVii. 31, 32. MARK XV. 20, 21. LUKE Xxiii. And they took Jesus, and led him away. And after that they had mocked him, Mark xv.20. they took off the purple from him, and put his own clothes on him, and led him out to crucify him. Joh. xix. 17. Ln. xxiii.26. And he bearing his cross went forth into a place called the place of a skull, which is called in the Hebrew Golgotha. And as they led him away, Mtxxvii.32. as they came out, they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name: Lu.xxiii.26. they laid hold upon one Simon, a Cyrenian", Mar. xv.21. who passed by, coming out of the country, the father of Mtxxvii.32. him they compelled to bear his cross. Lu.xxiii.26. and on him they laid the cross, that he might bear it after 27. 28. And there followed him a great company of people, and of women, which also bewailed and lamented him: But Jesus turning unto them said, Daughters of Jeru 22 By comparing these two passages we obtain one of those innumerable minor, yet important proofs of the authenticity of the Scriptures, which demonstrate the impossibility of their being forgeries. St. Luke, who wrote for the Gentiles of Asia, merely mentions the name and country of Simon, who was probably known to the early Christians by character. St. Mark, however, who addressed himself at the dictation of St. Peter (by whose name therefore this Gospel might more properly be called) to the converts at Rome, adds, that Simon was the father of Alexander and Rufus, the latter of whom being a well known member of the Roman Church, inquiries might be made by the people, of Rufus himself, respecting the circumstances of the crucifixion, which he in all probability would have received from his father. Rufus is saluted by St. Paul in his Epistle to the Romans (ch. xvi. 13.) which was written many years after the Gospel of St Mark. Lu.xxiii.29. 30. 31. 32. salem, weep not for me, but weep for yourselves, and for Jerusalem. your children. For, behold, the days are coming, in the which they shall say, Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bare, and the paps which never gave suck. Then shall they begin to say to the mountains, Fall on us; and to the hills, Cover us. For if they do these things in a green tree, what shall be done in the dry? And there were also two other malefactors led with him to be put to death. MATT. XXVii. part of ver. 31, 32. 31-they took the robe off from him, and put his own raiment on him, and led him away to crucify him. 32 And MARK XV. part of ver. 20, 21. 20 And when they had mocked him 21 And they compel one Simon, a Cyrenian-to bear his cross SECTION XVII. Mtxxvii.33. Christ arrives at Mount Calvary, and is crucified. MATT. xxvii. 33, 34. 37. LUKE Xxiii. 33. 38. MARK XV. 22, 23. 26. 28. JOHN xix. 18-22. And when they were come to a place called Golgotha, 34. They gave him vinegar to drink mingled with gall: and Mark xv.23. And they gave him to drink wine mingled with myrrh: but he received it not 23. 23 The Jews always gave wine with incense in it, to stupify and intoxicate the criminal. The custom originated in the precept Prov. xxxi. 6. “ Give strong drink unto him that is ready to perish," i. e. " to him who is condemned to death." It would appear from the preceding narrative, that three potions were certainly offered to our Lord, two when he arrived at Golgotha, Matt. xxvii. 34. and Mark xv. 23. and the third after he had been for some time on the cross. The first draught, vinegar mingled with gall, was most probably offered to him in malice, and derision of his sufferings; our Lord refusing to drink of it, the intoxicating draught which was usual on such occasions, was then presented; but he declined tasting of either, and drank only of the third, the vinegar, or posca, the common drink of the Roman soldiers; and which was placed in a vessel near the cross, for their accommodation. He was faint and exhausted in body, and though his powers of mind were the same, he required that his humanity should receive the refreshment proffered to him by the bystander. Although, as we have seen, there appears no difficulty or discrepancy in the accounts of St. Matthew and St. Mark, Michaelis does not hesitate to assert, that there exists a manifest contradiction. He has consequently endeavoured by conjecture to reconcile the supposed difference, and has had the singular misfortune to be refuted by himself, by his editor Bishop Lu.xxiii.33. And when they were come to the place which is called Jerusalem. Calvary, there they crucified him, and the malefactors, one on the right hand, and the other on the left. Marsh, who has substituted an equally untenable conjecture, In this criticism, Michaelis may be considered as having re- Bishop Marsh has remarked, that the proposed Chaldee reading of Michaelis cannot possibly have given rise to the expression in St. Mark's text: neither is the construction of n correct. Having pointed out the weakness of the other parts of Michaelis's criticism, the learned Bishop has proposed a similar elucidation upon the same principle of conjecture. He supposes that the which חמרא and that חמרא חליט במורא original Chaldee text was means wine, was confused with xyon, vinegar; and likewise , myrrh, with 77, gall. In refutation of these hypotheses Archbishop Lawrence observes-this strange confusion of words, whether attributable to a transcriber or translator, is greater than seems likely to have happened. Aware of the objection, Bishop Marsh, afterwards proposes another illustration, and presumes that the Chaldec text ran thus a 'da an, which may be rendered vinum conditum myrrhâ. Yet he adds, that ason, when a participle, has the signification of turbidum fieri, as well as that of vinum, when a substantive: and as pa, when a substantive, means acetum, as well as conditum, when a participle, upon this construction the words may be translated acetum turbatum felle, still supposing, as in the preceding instance, * to be mistaken for 77. With respect however to this suggestion (says Archbishop Lawrence) may it not be fairly questioned whether a in ancient Chaldee really signifies vinegar. No such meaning is affixed to it in Buxtorf's Lexicon Chaldaic et Syriac, nor in the Syrochald. Diction. annexed to the Antwerp Bible. In the elder Buxtorf's Lexicon Chaldaic Talmudic et Rabbinic: this sense is indeed given to it; nevertheless, not as the ancient Chaldee sense, but as one of a more recent John xix.18. and Jesus in the midst. Mark xv.28. John xix.19. And the Scripture was fulfilled, which saith, And he was numbered with the transgressors. And Pilate wrote a title ", date, as one to be found only in the Rabboth and the Jerusalem The Jerusalem Talmud is said by Buxtorf to have been com- Schoetgen also, among the apparent contradictions of the New Testament, enumerates this between St. Matthew and St. Mark, with respect to the potion offered to our Lord upon the cross. St. Matthew, he observes, tells us they gave him vinegar, mingled with gall, õžos μerà xoλñs μeμyμévov, Matt. xxvii. 34. St. Mark, that they gave him toμvpvioμévov olvov. Mark xv. 24. Schoetgen would reconcile the two passages by saying, ut myrrha una cum felle dicatur admixta potu, atque vinum fuisse acidum, quod indistincte vinum, et acetum appellari solet. He then goes on to shew that the sour wine was indiscriminately named wine or vinegar; and the wine offered to our Lord might in like manner be called either wine or vinegar. I cannot but conclude, after an attentive perusal of these and some other criticisms, that the simplest mode of interpreting the passages in question is the best, as being equally consistent and satisfactory. The first potion was probably given to our Lord in derision, the second, the stupifying draught usually administered to criminals, and the third called for from the sufferings of the moment. The hyssop mentioned by St. John in the next verse, may perhaps be considered as possibly to allude to one of the types, which were permitted to point out Christ as the typical paschal lamb. The Jews always commenced this feast by the eating of bitter herbs dipped in vinegar, which was considered as emblematical of purity, see Ps. li. 7. It must be observed, that in Matt. xxvii. 34. instead of ōžos, many MSS. read oivov. The posca, or common drink of the Roman soldiers, was known by each name: they both convey the same sense (a). (a) See Archbishop Lawrence's Sermon on excess in Philological Speculation, p. 39, notes. Marsh's Michaelis, vol. iii. p. 158, and part ii. p. 127-8. Schoetgen Hora Hebraicæ, vol. i. p. 236. Adam Clarke's Commentary. Horne's Critical Introduction, second edition, vol. iii. p. 115. The Christian world is deeply indebted to the accurate and learned Dr. Townson, for his ingenious criticism on the title placed by Pilate on the cross. The apparent discrepancy between the accounts of this title given by the Evangelists, had been urged as an objection against the inspiration and veracity of the sacred writers. The superscription on the cross was written in Hebrew, and Greek, and Latin; and as the Evangelists all mention the title differently, Dr. Townson conjectured that it was possible it might have slightly varied in each lan Jerusalem. |