Mat 26:57-68 | PNT | STEP | Led [him] away to Caiaphas, the high priest . He was first examined by Annas, the former high priest, the father-in-law of Caiaphas, probably while the Sanhedrin was assembling in the darkness of the night ( ). For the trial of Christ, compare . The scribes and the elders were assembled . Mark says the "chief priests" ( ) also. It was a gathering of the Sanhedrin. Those who were favorable to Jesus, like Joseph and Nicodemus, were probably not called.

Matthew 26:57-68

Led [him] away to Caiaphas, the high priest. He was first examined by Annas, the former high priest, the father-in-law of Caiaphas, probably while the Sanhedrin was assembling in the darkness of the night (Joh 18:13). For the trial of Christ, compare Mr 14:53-64 Lu 22:54-71 Joh 18:13-18.

The scribes and the elders were assembled. Mark says the "chief priests" (Mr 14:53) also. It was a gathering of the Sanhedrin. Those who were favorable to Jesus, like Joseph and Nicodemus, were probably not called. Peter followed him . . . to the high priest's palace. The enclosed area, open to the sky, around which the palace was constructed, was called the court. The building extended all around this. All the council. The Sanhedrin.

Sought false witness. No one could be condemned legally without at least two witnesses who agreed (De 17:6 19:15). "One witness", it was said, "was no witness". As there was no true testimony to a charge that could be punished with death, they sought false witness. But found none. That is, witnesses who would testify to a capital offense and agree in their testimony.

At the last came two. These two gave a perverted version of what Christ had said concerning his death and the resurrection of his own body under the figure of a temple. See Joh 2:19. But even their testimony disagreed (Mr 14:59). Answerest thou nothing? Under the false charges Jesus maintained an impressive silence. "As a sheep before the shearers is dumb, so he opened not his mouth" (Isa 53:7). I adjure thee, etc. This was the formula for an oath. The High Priest, contrary to the principle of law which forbids that a prisoner shall be compelled to criminate himself, called on Jesus to be a witness against himself. To answer yes, or no, to such a question, was to answer under oath. Thou hast said. That is, thou hast said the truth in thy question. The Lord only breaks the silence to affirm his divinity under oath. It insured his death at their hands, for he was immediately condemned for the declaration. "At the very crisis of his history, when denial would have saved his life, he asserts his claim to the Divine Sonship and to a Godlike power. Then the high priest rent his clothes. A sign of mourning or indignation (Ac 14:14). It was a form that was always used then about to pronounce a judgment.

He hath spoken blasphemy. He did, if not Divine; he did not, if Divine. Either he spoke the truth, or the wicked Caiaphas spoke the truth and Jesus was false. If he spoke falsehood, the purest lips that ever formed human words spoke falsehood on the eve of death, when he knew that the falsehood would send him to death. Such an affirmation, from such a prisoner, at such an hour, can only be reconciled with a consciousness of divinity. He is guilty of death. This is the formal decision of the Sanhedrin to condemn the Lord to death for blasphemy. This was the second trial, the first examination being informal before Annas, and is mentioned only by John (Joh 18:13,24). There was a third, named only by Luke, at the dawn of day, because a decision by the Sanhedrin in the night was illegal (Lu 22:66). This meeting only confirmed the decision reached in the night before three o'clock. It is also referred to in Mt 27:1. Then did they spit in his face. The maltreatment recorded occurred between this meeting and the one called to meet at daybreak. Spitting was considered among the Jews an expression of the greatest contempt (De 25:9 Nu 12:14). Even to spit before another was regarded as an offense, and treated as such by heathen also.

Buffeted him. Struck him with their fists. Prophesy to us, . . . Who is he that smote thee? We learn from Mark that his face was covered, as a mark that he was a condemned man (Mr 14:65). The age was a cruel one, and Jewish bigots could not be too rough to the condemned prisoner.