Mat 27:17-25, Luk 23:16-23 | Barnes | STEP | Verse 17. Whom will ye that I release , etc. Pilate was satisfied of the innocence of Jesus, he was therefore desirous of releasing him. He expected to release one to the people. He knew that Jesus, though condemned by the chief priests, was yet popular among the people . He therefore attempted in this manner to rescue him from the hands of the priests, and expected that the people would prefer him to an odious and infamous robber and murderer. Had the people been left to themselves, it would probably have been done. Jesus which is called Christ . That is, Jesus who claims to be the Messiah. Pilate probably did not believe it, or care much for it. He used the name which Jesus had acquired among the people. Perhaps, also, he thought that they would be more likely to ask him to be released, if he was presented to them as the Messiah. Mark adds, that he asked them whether they would that he should release "the King of the Jews?" It is probable that he asked the question in both ways. Perhaps it was several times repeated; and Matthew has recorded one way in which it was asked, and Mark another. He asked them whether they would demand him who was called the Christ --expecting that they would be moved by the claims of the Messiah, claims which, when he entered Jerusalem in triumph, and in the temple, they had acknowledged. He asked them whether they would have the King of the Jews --probably to ridicule the priests who had delivered him on that charge. He did it to show the people how absurd the accusation was. There he stood, apparently a poor, inoffensive, unarmed, and despised man. Herod set him at naught, and scourged him, and sent him back. The charge, therefore, of the priests, that he was a king opposed to the Roman emperor, was supremely ridiculous; and Pilate expecting the people would see it so, hoped also that they would ask him to be released.

Matthew 27:17-25

Verse 17. Whom will ye that I release, etc. Pilate was satisfied of the innocence of Jesus, Lk 23:13-16 he was therefore desirous of releasing him. He expected to release one to the people. He knew that Jesus, though condemned by the chief priests, was yet popular among the people. He therefore attempted in this manner to rescue him from the hands of the priests, and expected that the people would prefer him to an odious and infamous robber and murderer. Had the people been left to themselves, it would probably have been done.

Jesus which is called Christ. That is, Jesus who claims to be the Messiah. Pilate probably did not believe it, or care much for it. He used the name which Jesus had acquired among the people. Perhaps, also, he thought that they would be more likely to ask him to be released, if he was presented to them as the Messiah. Mark Mk 15:9 adds, that he asked them whether they would that he should release "the King of the Jews?" It is probable that he asked the question in both ways. Perhaps it was several times repeated; and Matthew has recorded one way in which it was asked, and Mark another. He asked them whether they would demand him who was called the Christ--expecting that they would be moved by the claims of the Messiah, claims which, when he entered Jerusalem in triumph, and in the temple, they had acknowledged. He asked them whether they would have the King of the Jews--probably to ridicule the priests who had delivered him on that charge. He did it to show the people how absurd the accusation was. There he stood, apparently a poor, inoffensive, unarmed, and despised man. Herod set him at naught, and scourged him, and sent him back. The charge, therefore, of the priests, that he was a king opposed to the Roman emperor, was supremely ridiculous; and Pilate expecting the people would see it so, hoped also that they would ask him to be released. Verse 18. For he knew that for envy, etc. This was envy at his popularity. He drew away the people from them. This Pilate understood probably from his knowledge of the pride and ambition of the rulers, and from the fact that no danger could arise from a person that appeared like Jesus. If Pilate knew this, he was bound to release him himself. As a governor and judge, he was bound to protect the innocent, and should, in spite of all the opposition of the Jews, at once have set him at liberty. But the Scriptures could not then have been fulfilled. It was necessary, in order that an atonement should be made, that Jesus should be condemned to die. At the same time, it shows the wisdom of the overruling providence of God, that he was condemned by a man who was satisfied of his innocence, and who proclaimed before his accusers his full belief that there was no fault in him.

(t) "envy" Prov 27:4, Eccl 4:4 Verse 19. Have thou nothing to do, etc. That is, do not condemn him. Perhaps she was afraid that the vengeance of heaven would follow her husband and family, if he condemned the innocent.

That just man. The word just here has the sense of innocent; or not guilty. She might have been satisfied of his innocence from other sources, as well as from the dream. It is possible that the woman might have been a worshipper of the true God, and that she might therefore have desired that the Messiah should be released.

I have suffered many things, etc. Dreams were occasionally considered as indications of the Divine will; and, among the Romans and Greeks, as well as the Jews, great reliance was placed on them. Her mind-- probably agitated with the subject; satisfied of the innocence of Jesus; and knowing that the Jews would make every effort to secure his condemnation--was also excited during her sleep, perhaps with a frightful prospect of the judgments that would descend on the family of Pilate if Jesus was condemned. She therefore sent to him to secure if possible his release.

(u) "that just man" Isa 53:11, Zech 9:9, Lk 23:47, 1Pet 2:22, 1Jn 2:1 Verse 20. Persuaded the multitude. The release of a prisoner was to be to the people, not to the rulers. The rulers therefore, in order to secure the condemnation of Jesus, urged on the people to demand Barabbas. The people were greatly under the influence of the priests. Galileans among the citizens of Jerusalem were held in contempt. The priests turned the pretensions of Jesus into ridicule. Hence in a popular tumult, among a flexible and changing multitude, they easily excited them, who but a little before had cried hosanna, to cry crucify him.

(v) "Barabbas" Acts 3:14 Verse 21. Whether of the twain? Which of the two, Jesus or Barabbas? Verse 22. Mt 27:15 Verse 23. And the governor said, Why? Luke informs us that Pilate put this question to them three times, so anxious was he to release him. He affirmed that he had found no cause of death in him. He said, therefore, that he would chastise him, and let him go. He expected probably, by causing him to be publicly whipped, to excite their compassion, to satisfy them, and thus to evade the demands of the priests, and to set him at liberty with the consent of the people. So weak and irresolute was this Roman governor! Satisfied of his innocence, he should at once have preferred justice to popularity, and acted as became a magistrate in acquitting the innocent.

Let him be crucified. Mt 27:39. Luke says they were instant with loud voices demanding this. They urged it. They demanded it with a popular clamour.

(w) "Let him be crucified" Mt 21:38,39 Verse 24. He took water, etc. The Jews were accustomed to wash their hands when they wished to show that they were innocent of a crime committed by others. See De 21:6, Ps 26:6. They often used signs to represent their meaning. Pilate, in doing this, meant to denote that they were guilty of his death, but that he was innocent. But the mere washing of his hands did not free him from guilt, he was bound as a magistrate to free an innocent man; and whatever might be the clamour of the Jews, he was guilty at the bar of God for suffering the holy Saviour to be led to execution, to gratify the malice of enraged priests, and the clamours of a tumultuous populace.

See ye to it. That is, take it upon yourselves. Ye are responsible for it, if ye put him to death.

(x) "his hands" De 21:6 Verse 25. His blood be on us, etc. That is, let the guilt of putting him to death, if there be any, be on us and our children. We will be answerable for it, and will consent to bear the punishment for it. It is remarked by writers, that among the Athenians, if any one accused another of a capital crime, he devoted himself and children to the same punishment, if the accused was afterwards found innocent. So in all countries the conduct of the parent involves also the children in the consequences of his conduct, The Jews had no right to call down this vengeance on their children, but in the righteous judgment of God it has come upon them. In less than forty years their city and temple were overthrown and destroyed. More than a million of people perished in the siege. Thousands died by famine; thousands by disease; thousands by the sword; and their blood ran down the streets like water, so that, Josephus says, it extinguished things that were burning in the city, Thousands were crucified-- suffering the same punishment that they had inflicted on the Messiah. So great was the number of those who were crucified, that, Josephus says, they were obliged to cease from it, "room being wanting for the crosses, and crosses for the men." To this day, also, the curse has remained. They have been a nation scattered and peeled; persecuted almost everywhere, and a hissing and a by-word among men. No single nation probably has suffered so much; and yet they have been preserved. All classes of men; all the governments of the earth, have conspired to overwhelm them with calamity, and yet they still live as monuments of the justice of God, and as proofs, going down from age to age, that the Christian religion is true-- standing demonstrations of the crime of their fathers in putting the Messiah to death, and in calling down vengeance on their heads.

Luke 23:16-23

Verse 16. I will therefore chastise him. The word chastise here means to scourge or to whip. This was usually done before capital punishment, to increase the sufferings of the man condemned. It is not easy to see the reason why, if Pilate supposed Jesus to be innocent, he should propose publicly to scourge him. It was as really unjust to do that as it was to crucify him. But probably he expected by this to conciliate the minds of his accusers; to show them that he was willing to gratify them if it could be done with propriety; and perhaps he expected that by seeing him whipped and disgraced, and condemned to ridicule, to contempt, and to suffering, they would be satisfied. It is farther remarked that among the Romans it was competent for a magistrate to inflict a slight punishment on a man when a charge of gross offence was not fully made out, or where there was not sufficient testimony to substantiate the precise charge alleged. All this shows,

1st. the palpable injustice of our Lord's condemnation;

2nd. the persevering malice and obstinacy of the Jews; and,

3rd. the want of firmness in Pilate. He should have released him at once; but the love of popularity led him to the murder of the Son of God. Man should do his duty in all situations; and he that, like Pilate, seeks only for public favour and popularity, will assuredly be led into crime.

(s) "chastise" Is 53:5 Verse 17. Mt 27:15 Verses 18-23. Mt 27:20, also Mt 27:21-23 Verse 19.

(t) "for murder" Acts 3:14 Verses 23-25. Mt 27:26

(u) "were instant" Ps 22:12, Lk 23:5