I 2 THE CHA P. XIX. HEN Pilate therefore took Jefus and scourged him (a). And the foldiers platted a crown of thorns, and put it on his head, and they put on him a 3 purple robe, And faid, Hail king of the Jews: and 4 they fmote him with their hands. Pilate therefore went forth again, and faith unto them, Behold, I bring him forth to you, that ye may know that I find no 5 fault in him. Then came Jefus forth, wearing the crown of thorns, and the purple robe. And Pilate 6 faith unto them, Behold the man (b). When the chief priests therefore and officers faw him, they cried out, faying, Crucify him, crucify him. Pilate faith unto them, Take ye him, and crucify him: for I find no fault in him. The Jews anfwered him, We have a law, and by our law he ought to die, because he made himself the Son of God (c). 7 9 8 When Pilate therefore heard that faying, he was the more afraid (d); And went again into the judg iment-hall, and faith unto Jefus, whence art thou? 10 But Jefus gave him no anfwer. Then faith Pilate unto him, Speakeft thou not unto me? knowest thou not, that I have power to crucify thee, and have 11 power to releafe thee? Jefus anfwered, Thou couldeft have no power at all against me, except it were (a) Hoping that the Jews might be fatisfied with this punish ment, and require no more. (b) Look at this man; furely he is not a man to give uneafinefs to the Roman Emperor: for my part I entirely acquit him of any ill defign against the flate.. (c) The Jews,, not being able to gain over Pilate by the charge of fedition, fet up their own law against him. (d) When Chrift was accufed of fetting himself up for a king Pilate defpifed the improbable charge; but when he heard that this fame perfon had declared himself to be no less than the Son of God, he was feized with a fudden dread, left he fhould add impiety to injuftice by condemning him to death. given thee from above (e): therefore he that deliver12 ed me unto thee hath the greater fin. And from thenceforth Pilate fought to release him but the Jews cried out, faying, If thou let this man go, thou art not Cefar's friend: whofoever maketh himself a king, fpeaketh against Cefar (ƒ). 13 When Pilate therefore heard that faying, he brought Jefus forth, and fat down in the judgmentfeat, in a place that is called the pavement, but in 14 the Hebrew, Gabbatha (g). And it was the preparation of the paffover (b), and about the fixth hour: and 15 he faith unto the Jews, Behold your king (i)! But they cried out, Away with him, away with him, crucify him. Pilate faith unto them, Shall I crucify your king? The chief priests answered, We have no king 16 but Cefar. Then delivered he him therefore unto them to be crucified. And they took Jefus and led 17 him away. And he bearing his crofs (k), went forth into a place called the place of a fcull, which is called 18 in the Hebrew, Golgotha: Where they crucified him, and two other with him, on either fide one, and Jefus in the midft. 19 And Pilate wrote a title, and put it on the crofs. And the writing was, JESUS OF NAZARETH 20 THE KING OF THE JEWS. This title then read many of the Jews: for the place where Jefus (e) Boaft not of your power; all power is from God. But you are in this business but the inftrument of the Jews, who have put you upon it. They are therefore more guilty than you. (f) Take care how you will anfwer for your conduct to the Em-peror, if you perfift in acquitting this man. (g) Gabbatha means an eminence, or raised place. (h) The day before the fabbath, in the paffover week. See Mark XV. 25. (i) This is a further attempt to fave him, of the fame import as verfe 5. (k) Jefus carried his cross at first, but not being able to bear the weight of it, Simon was compelled to affift him. See Matt. XXVII. 32. ed was 1 was crucified was nigh to the city: and it was written 21 in Hebrew, and Greek, and Latin. Then faid the chief priests of the Jews to Pilate, Write not, The king of the Jews; but that he fald, I am king of the 22 Jews. Pilate anfwered, What I have written, I have 23 written (). Then the foldiers, when they had crucified Jefus, took his garments (and made four parts, to every foldier a part) and alfo his coat: now the 'coat was without feam, woven from the top throughout (m). 24 They faid therefore among themfelves, Let us not rend it, but caft lots for it, whofe it fhall be that the fcripture might be fulfilled (n), which faith, They parted my raiment among them, and for my vesture they did caft lots. These things therefore the foldiers 25 did. Now there ftood by the cross of Jefus, his mother, and his mother's fifter, Mary the wife of Clco26 phas (0), and Mary Magdalene. When Jefus therefore faw his mother, and the difciple standing by whom he loved (p), he faith unto his mother, Woman (q), 27 behold thy fon. Then faith he to the difciple, Behold thy mother. And from that hour that difciple took her unto his own home. -28 After this Jefus knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the fcripture might be fulfilled, 29 faith, I thirft (r). Now there was fet a veffel full of vinegar and they filled a fpunge with vinegar, and (1) I have complied thus far with your defires againft my own judgment; but let me hear no more about the matter. (m) The coat was worn next the body; the rest of his clothes are called here by the general name of garments; the fame that in other places is called a cloak. Matt. v. 41. (n) Pfalm xxii. 18. was thus literally fulfilled. (0) Cleophas, like wife called Alpheus, was the father of St. James the lefs, Matt. x. 3. and of St. Matthew, Mark ii. 14. (p) The beloved difciple was St. John, the writer of this Gofpel. (9) Woman was not a term of difrefpect in thofe times. See Chap. ii. 4. Note. (r) Pfalm lxix. 21. put put it upon hyffop (s), and put it to his mouth. 30 When Jefus therefore had received the vinegar, he faid, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave 31 up the ghoft. The Jews therefore, because it was the preparation, that the bodies fhould not remain upon the crofs on the fabbath-day, (for that fabbathday was an high-day) (t), befought Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken 32 away. Then came the foldiers, and brake the legs of the first, and of the other which was crucified with 33 him. But when they came to Jefus, and faw that 34 he was dead already, they brake not his legs. But one of the foldiers with a fpear pierced his fide, and 35 forthwith came thereout blood and water (u). And he that faw it, bare record, and his record is true: and he knoweth that he faith true, that ye might believe. For these things were done, that the fcripture 36 fhould be fulfilled (w), A bone of him fhall not be 37 broken. And again another fcripture faith, They fhall look on him whom they pierced. 38 And after this, Jofeph of Arimathea (being a difciple of Jefus, but fecretly for fear of the Jews) befought Pilate that he might take away the body of Jefus (x) and Pilate gave gave him leave: He came 39 therefore and took the body of Jefus. And there came alfo Nicodemus (which at the firft came to Jefus by night) and brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, 40 about an hundred pound weight. Then took they the body of Jefus, and wound it in linen clothes, with 1) Upon a reed, with a bunch of hyffop at top. (t) An high day, because in the paffover week. (u) The fpear having pierced the watery liquor that furrounds the heart. Thus the new covenant was ratified like the old, both with water and blood. Heb. ix. 19. (w) This fhews Jefus to have been the true paschal lamb, of which not a bone was to be broken. Num. ix. 12. See Matt. xxi. 4. (x) Criminals executed for treason, were not allowed the rites of burial. the the fpices, as the manner of the Jews is to bury (7). 41 Now in the place where he was crucified, there was a garden, and in the garden a new fepulchre, wherein 42 was never man yet laid (x). There laid they Jefus therefore (aa), because of the Jews preparation-day, for the fepulchre was nigh at hand. I 1 THE HE first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early, when it was yet dark, unto the fepulchre (a), and feeth the stone taken away from the fe2 pulchre. Then the runneth, and cometh to Simon Peter, and to the other difciple whom Jefus loved, and faith unto them, They have taken away the Lord out of the fepulchre, and we know not where they 3 have laid him. Peter therefore went forth, and that 4 other difciple, and came to the fepulchre. So they ran both together and the other difciple did out-run 5 Peter, and came first to the fepulchre. And he ftooping down, and looking in, faw the linen clothes lying; 6 yet went he not in. Then cometh Simon Peter following him, and went into the fepulchre, and feeth the linen clothes lie; And the napkin that was about his head, not lying with the linen clothes, but wrapped 8 together in a place by itself (b). Then went in alfo that other difciple which came first to the fepulchre, 7 (y) This is the ceremony our Lord alludes to, Matt. xxvi. 12. (z) Thus was fulfilled the prophecy of Ifaiah in both its parts. He fuffered with malefactors, and was buried after the manner of the great and wealthy. Ifaiah liii. 9. See note on Matt. xxi. 4. (aa) That the body might not remain unburied at funfet: See Mark xv. 43. more efpecially when fo high a feftival was coming on. (a) The women came to the fepulchre about funrise, but set out much earlier. Matt. xxviii. 1. (6) Folded up in an orderly manner; a circumftance not likely to have happened, had the body been ftolen away, as the foldiers were bribed to report. Matt. xxviii. 13. |