Mat 27:42-44 | Barnes | STEP | Verses 42,43. He saved others . It does not seem probable that they meant to admit that he had actually saved others, but only that he pretended to save them from death by miracles, or that he claimed to be the Messiah and thus affirmed that he could save them. This is therefore, cutting irony. If he be the King of Israel etc. It may seem strange to some that Jesus did not vindicate by a great miracle his claims to be the Messiah, and come down from the cross. But the time had come for him to make atonement. He had given full and sufficient proof that he was the Christ. The people would have been as little satisfied that he was, if he had come down from the cross. They said this for the purpose of insult; and Jesus chose rather to suffer though his character was assailed, than to work a new miracle for their gratification. He had foretold his death, and the time had come; and now, amidst revilings, and jibes, and curses, and the severe sarcasms of an angry and apparently triumphant priesthood, he chose to die for the sins of the world. To this they added insult to God, profanely calling upon him to interpose by miracle, and save him, if he was his friend. And all this, when their prophets had foretold this very scene, and when they were fulfilling the predictions of their own Scriptures. So wonderful is the way by which God causes his word to be fulfilled. (k) "let him" (l) "he said I"

Matthew 27:42-44

Verses 42,43. He saved others. It does not seem probable that they meant to admit that he had actually saved others, but only that he pretended to save them from death by miracles, or that he claimed to be the Messiah and thus affirmed that he could save them. This is therefore, cutting irony.

If he be the King of Israel etc. It may seem strange to some that Jesus did not vindicate by a great miracle his claims to be the Messiah, and come down from the cross. But the time had come for him to make atonement. He had given full and sufficient proof that he was the Christ. The people would have been as little satisfied that he was, if he had come down from the cross. They said this for the purpose of insult; and Jesus chose rather to suffer though his character was assailed, than to work a new miracle for their gratification. He had foretold his death, and the time had come; and now, amidst revilings, and jibes, and curses, and the severe sarcasms of an angry and apparently triumphant priesthood, he chose to die for the sins of the world. To this they added insult to God, profanely calling upon him to interpose by miracle, and save him, if he was his friend. And all this, when their prophets had foretold this very scene, and when they were fulfilling the predictions of their own Scriptures. So wonderful is the way by which God causes his word to be fulfilled.

(k) "let him" Ps 3:2, 22:8, 42:10, 71:11 (l) "he said I" Jn 5:17,18, 10:30,36 Verse 43. Mt 27:42

(k) "let him" Ps 3:2, 22:8, 42:10, 71:11 (l) "he said I" Jn 5:17,18, 10:30,36 Verse 44. The thieves also. The robbers, or highwaymen. Luke says Lk 23:39 that one of them aid it, and that the other reproved him and was penitent. The account in Luke may, however, easily be reconciled with that in Matthew, by supposing that, at first, both of them reviled the Saviour, and that it is of this fact that Matthew speaks. Afterwards one of them relented, and became penitent-- perhaps from witnessing the patient sufferings of Christ. It is of this particularly that Luke speaks. Or it may be, that what is true of one of the malefactors, is by Matthew attributed to both. The evangelists, when for the sake of brevity they avoid particularizing, often attribute to many what is said or done by single persons, meaning no more than that it was done by some one or more of them, without specifying the one. Compare Mk 7:17, with Mt 15:15; Mk 5:31, with Lk 8:45; Lk 9:13, with Jn 6:8,9.

Cast the same in his teeth. This is a most unhappy translation. It means in the original, simply, they upbraided him, or reproached him in the same manner.