Mat 26:66, 27:2 | Barnes | STEP | Verse 66. What think ye ? What is your opinion ? What sentence do you pronounce? As president of the sanhedrim he demanded their judgment. He is guilty of death . This was the form which was used when criminal was condemned to die. The meaning is, he is found guilty of a crime to which the law annexes death. This sentence was used before the Jews became subject to the Romans, when they had the power of inflicting death. After they were subject to the Romans, though the power of inflicting capital punishment was taken away, yet they retained the form, when they expressed their opinion of the guilt of an offender. The law under which they condemned him was that recorded in , which sentenced him that was guilty of blasphemy to death by stoning . The chief priests, however, were unwilling to excite a popular tumult by stoning him, and they therefore consulted to deliver him to the Romans to be crucified, under the authority of the Roman name , and thus to prevent say excitement among the people. (h) "death"

Matthew 26:66

Verse 66. What think ye? What is your opinion? What sentence do you pronounce? As president of the sanhedrim he demanded their judgment.

He is guilty of death. This was the form which was used when criminal was condemned to die. The meaning is, he is found guilty of a crime to which the law annexes death. This sentence was used before the Jews became subject to the Romans, when they had the power of inflicting death. After they were subject to the Romans, though the power of inflicting capital punishment was taken away, yet they retained the form, when they expressed their opinion of the guilt of an offender. The law under which they condemned him was that recorded in Lev 24:10-16, which sentenced him that was guilty of blasphemy to death by stoning. The chief priests, however, were unwilling to excite a popular tumult by stoning him, and they therefore consulted to deliver him to the Romans to be crucified, under the authority of the Roman name, and thus to prevent say excitement among the people.

(h) "death" Lev 24:16, Jn 19:7

Matthew 27:2

Verse 2. And when they had bound him. He was bound when they took him in the garden, Jn 18:12. Probably when he was tried before the sanhedrim, in the palace of Caiaphas, he had been loosed from his bonds--being there surrounded by multitudes, and supposed to be safe. As they were about to lead him to another part of the city now, they again bound him. The binding consisted, probably, in nothing more than tying his hands.

Pontius Pilate the governor. The governor, appointed by the Romans, over Judea. The governor commonly resided at Caesarea; but he came up to Jerusalem usually at the great feasts, when most of the Jews were assembled, to administer justice, and to suppress tumults, if any should arise. The title which Pilate received was that of governor, or procurator. The duties of the office were chiefly to collect the revenues due to the Roman emperor, and, in certain cases, to administer justice. Pilate was appointed governor of Judea by Tiberius, then emperor of Rome. John says Jn 18:28 that they led Jesus from Caiaphas to the hall of judgment--that is, to the part of the praetorium, or governor's palace, where justice was administered. The Jews did not, however, enter in themselves, lest they should be defiled, but that they might eat the passover. In Nu 19:22, it is said, that whosoever touched an unclean thing should be unclean, For this reason they would not enter into the house of a heathen, lest they should contract some defilement that would render them unfit to keep the passover.

(n) "him to" Mt 20:19