13 When Pilate therefore heard that saying, he | 13 himself a king speaketh against Cæsar. When brought Jesus forth, and sat down in the judgment seat in a place that is called the Pavement, but in the Hebrew, Gabbatha.

14 And it was the preparation of the passover, and abont the sixth hour: and he saith unto the Jews, Behold your King!

Pilate therefore heard these words, he brought Jesus out, and sat down on the judgment seat at a place called The Pavement, but in Hebrew, Gabba14 tha. Now it was the Preparation of the passover: it was about the sixth hour. And he saith unto the

a Matt. 27: 62.1 Or, opposeth Cæsar.

The word translated preparation, being virtually a proper name for Friday, as the day of preparation for the Sabbath; and as this was the Friday of the passover week, it was the preparation day belonging to the passover, regarded as a weekly festival. (See Robinson, "Greek Harmony of the Gospels," p. 219 sq.; McClellan, "The Four Gospels," p. 485, and context; Wieseler, "A Chronological Synopsis of the Four Gospels," p. 325 sq. of Bohn's transl.) And about the sixth

it did not take him long to decide upon his over. course. By no means over-anxious to please the Jews, he was exceedingly desirous of standing well with the Emperor, and reluctant to do anything that would look like indifference to his supremacy. At last, the enemies of Christ have carried their point-but only by arousing the selfish fear of the procurator, through a false charge that might be repeated where it would work his recall to Rome in disgrace. 13-16. CONDEMNATION OF JESUS BY hour. Since, according to the best manuPILATE.

script authority (N A B D L MUXAп) the 13. When Pilate therefore heard that original Greek text had the verb was (v) insaying. Or, according to the earliest manu- stead of the conjunction and (8), the Revised scripts and the best editors, these words: Version, it was about the sixth hour, must be "Every word was for Pilate an arrow."- accepted as correct, though it mars the Hengstenberg. He brought Jesus forth-smoothness of the verse in English. But, that is, out of the prætorium-and sat down in (rather, on) the judgment seat, in a place called the Pavement, but in Hebrew, Gabbatha. It was customary (see Josephus "De Bell. Jud.," 2, 9, 3; 2, 14, 8,) to pronounce formal judgment in the open air. Hence the action of Pilate, when he had made up his mind what to do. The particular spot outside the prætorium, where the governor's seat, or tribunal, was placed, was somewhat elevated, and on that account bore the Aramaic name, Gabbatha; it was also paved with stones, and for that reason bore the Greek name, Lithostroton, a pavement. The mention of these names is in harmony with the general minuteness and evident accuracy of the narrative, proving that it must have been written by an eye-witness of the events recorded. But so long as the question, Where was the prætorium of Pilate? in Herod's palace, or in the castle of Antonia? remains unanswered, we cannot point to any spot in modern Jerusalem and say: Here was the tribunal of Pilate when he delivered Jesus to be crucified.

14. And it was the preparation of the passover. The Revised Version is preferable: Now it was the preparation of the pass

how can John's notation of time be reconciled
with the statement of Mark (15:25), that the
crucifixion took place at the third hour?
Alford says, that "there is an insuperable
difficulty in the text as it now stands." And
if we assume that both the Evangelists used
the same starting point in reckoning the hours
of the day, the difference between their
records is very marked, and seems at first an
obvious contradiction. It was the third hour
when they crucified him; it was about the
sixth hour when Pilate delivered him up to
be crucified. It was nine o'clock in the
morning when they nailed him to the cross;
it was about twelve o'clock when he was
handed over to the soldiers to be led to Cal-
vary. Is there, as thus stated, a more glaring
contradiction in the records of any event?
Much depends upon the habits of the people
in referring to time. After a cautious state-
ment of the case, Andrews, in his "Life of
our Lord," p. 533, says: "We conclude,
then, that the sixth hour of John was the
twelfth hour with us, or midday. But it is to
be noted that he says, 'about the sixth hour,'
(ws exтn), which implies that he gives no exact
note of the time. It is rendered by Norton:
'it was toward noon,' and this very well ex-

presses the meaning. Mark's words, 'it was the third hour, and they crucified him,' need not be taken as a specific designation of the hour when he was nailed to the cross, but as marking the time when, the sentence having been pronounced, he was given up to the soldiers, and the preparatory steps to the crucifixion began. Our exact divisions of time were wholly unknown to the ancients."

Still another explanation of the difference between John and Mark, has been defended by such scholars as Wieseler, Tholuck, McClellan, and Westcott. It is, that the Romans reckoned their civil day from midnight to midnight, and that John, writing for Christians in Asia Minor, followed that usage. A careful study of the other passages in which John mentions the hour of the day when any event took place (viz., 1: 39; 4: 6,52), is favorable to the view that he counted the hours from midnight to midnight. "It must, however, be admitted," says Westcott, "that this mode of reckoning hours was unusual in ancient times. The Romans (Mart. IV. 8) and Greeks, no less than the Jews, reckoned their hours from sunrise. But the Romans reckoned their civil days from midnight (Aul. Gell. III. 2; comp. Matt. 27: 19, this day') and not from sunrise, or from sunset (as the Jews.) And there are also traces of reckoning the hours from midnight in Asia Minor. Polycarp is said (Mart. Pol. c. 21) to have been martyred

Dr. Robinson (with Alford, and others) supposes a corruption of the text. "The third hour of Mark, as the hour of crucifixion, is sustained by the whole course of the transaction and circumstances; as also by the fact stated by Matthew, Mark, and Luke, that the darkness commenced at the sixth hour, after Jesus had already for some time hung upon the cross. . . . The reading sixth in John is, therefore, probably an early error of transcription for third (F for T.) Indeed, this last rendering is found in Codex Beza and Codex Regius 62, as well as in several other authorities; so that its external weight is marked by Griesbach as nearly or quite at Smyrna 'at the eighth hour.' This, from equal to that of the common reading; while the circumstances, must have been at 8 A. M. the internal evidence in its favor is certainly Pionius again is said to have been martyred far greater." It may certainly be conceded (at Smyrna, also) 'at the tenth hour,' which that, if the numerals were denoted by letters, can hardly have been 4 P. M., since such exhia gamma may easily have been mistaken for bitions usually took place before. These two a digamma, and thus the word sixth may passages furnish a sufficient presumption that have been substituted for the word third. St. John, in using what is the modern reckonBut against this explanation it may be re-ing, followed a practice of the province in marked: (1) That no critical editors have which he was living, and for which he was ventured to substitute third for sixth in this writing."- Westcott. passage; (2) that the external testimony for third is greatly inferior to that for sixth-it being only five uncials of second rate importance, four cursives of no special value, and a reported statement of Eusebius, that third is the reading of the "accurate copies," and of the Evangelists' autograph, preserved in Ephesus (!), against more than fourteen uncials (including * A B), all cursives except four, and all the early versions; and (3) that transcribers, noting the discrepancy between this statement and that of Mark, would have been more likely to seek harmony by changing sixth to third than to introduce discord by changing third to sixth.1

But, was there time between the sending of Jesus to Pilate and the hour of 6 or 6.30 A. M. for all the events related by the Evangelists? The terminus a quo may, perhaps, be put as early as 3.30 A. M. For we are told by John that is was "morning" (pwia, 18: 28; see also Matt. 27: 1; Mark 15: 1). The Jews were naturally anxious to secure the death of Jesus at the earliest moment possible, for it was a feast day, and they wished to take part in the religious services of the day. We may, therefore, presume that the Sanhedrin met at the earliest practicable hour. But the word used in the passages cited, is applied specifically to 'the fourth watch of the night, that is, to the

I have been permitted to avail myself often, as the reader must have observed.

[Instead of EKT "sixth," we find rpirn "third, in

a Gen. 49: 10.

16 Then delivered he him therefore unto them to be | 16 Cæsar. Then therefore he delivered him unto them crucified. And they took Jesus, and led him away. to be crucified.

17 And he bearing his cross went forth into a place called the place of a skull, which is called in the Hebrew Golgotha:

17

They took Jesus therefore: and he went out, bearing the cross for himself, unto the place called The place of a skull, which is called in Hebrew

a Matt. 27: 26, 31: Mark 15: 15; Luke 23: 24.... Matt. 27: 31, 33; Mark 15; 21, 22; Luke 23: 26, 33....c Num. 15: 36; Heb. 13: 12.

that he typically abjured the responsibility for the act, while the Jews took Christ's blood upon themselves. (Matt. 27: 24, 25.) In all these scenes there is but one perfect man concerned

Away with him! Away with him! crucify him! Away with him, is but a single word in the original, so that the cry was brief, intense, showing that the sarcasm of Pilate had struck deep; the whole crowd felt it.-namely, the prisoner, mocked, scourged, Hence, he repeats it; for if he must yield, he and delivered up to be crucified. In all this will not conceal his contempt for the Jews raging sea of human passions, there is but one who had compelled him to do so. Shall I pure and steadfast soul. The holy sufferer crucify your king? Here, again, the sting does not change, or fail in the dread emerof the original is not fully preserved in trans-gency. And only because HE is there, do we lating. For by the order of words in the feel any interest in the Jewish priests and Greek sentence, your king, is thrust forward Roman governor. But for his sake every as the emphatic part: "Your king, shall I movement of theirs, on this tragic morn, has crucify?""For it is only on the ground that been studied by millions, and will continue to he claims to be your king, that I consent to be studied until the end of time. crucify him." It was for the chief priests to answer this; perhaps the people did not join in their words: We have no king but Cæsar: words well fitted to accomplish their immediate purpose, but singularly alien to the ordinary Jewish temper and hope. "They, who gloried in the Theocracy, and hoped for a temporal Messianic reign, which | should free them from Roman bondage; they who boasted that they were never in bondage to any man' (8: 33); they, who were 'chief priests' of the Jews, confess that Cæsar is their only king!" One cannot help being thankful that it was not the whole multitude that made this profession, but only the chief priests. And it may be well to bear in mind, that the family of the high priest, and, doubtless, many of the chief priests, were of the Sadducæan party.

16. Then delivered he him therefore unto them to be crucified. With what words, the Evangelist does not say; but, the end contemplated was crucifixion, and the persons to whom Jesus was delivered were the chief priests, under whose direction Roman soldiers were to perform the dreadful act. Westcott remarks, positively, that "Pilate pronounced no sentence himself. He simply let the chief priests have their way (comp. Matt. 27: 26; Mark 15: 15; Luke 23: 25). He had conceded a little against justice in false policy (ver. 1), and he was driven to concede all against his will. From St. Matthew it appears

16-22. THE CRUCIFIXION OF JESUS. 16. The last part of this verse should be connected with what follows, beginning a new paragraph. And they took Jesus: better, they took Jesus, therefore. The word translated took, is the same as that translated "received," in 1: 11: "He came unto his own, and his own received him not." In itself it does not point to any particular way of taking or receiving. Here it means that the chief priests received Jesus from Pilate's charge into their own charge; so that the soldiers who guarded him and might crucify him were under their command. The words, and led him away, are now supposed to be an interpolation.

17. And he bearing his cross, etc. The Revised Version is an improvement: And he went out-that is, from the place where he was in the city-bearing the cross for himself, unto the place called, The place of a skull, which is called in Hebrew, Golgotha. Though Jesus, as was customary, bore his cross at first, and perhaps, the larger part of the way, the first three Evangelists (Matt. 27: 32; Mark 15: 21; Luke 23: 26), relate that those who led him out of the city compelled a man of Cyrene, Simon by name, who was coming out of the country, to bear the cross of Jesus after him, doubtless because the latter had become so weak and faint, through agony of soul and pain of body, that he was no longer able to sustain the burden.

The author of "Ben Hur," thus describes

the scene: "He was nearly dead.

Every was the multitude that went out to witness few steps he staggered, as if he would fall. the spectacle? how many were the women A stained gown, badly torn, hung from his who bewailed and lamented him (Luke 23: 27)? shoulders over a seamless under-tunic. His how much time was consumed on the way? bare feet left red splotches upon the stones. An are questions that cannot be answered. But inscription on a board, was tied to his neck. A Luke informs us that two malefactors were crown of thorns had been crushed hard down led with him to be put to death. These crimiupon his head, making cruel wounds, from nals may, perhaps, have been tried and conwhich streams of blood, now dry and black- demned after the more difficult case of Jesus ened, had run over his face and neck. The had been settled; if so, we can understand long hair, tangled in the thorns, was clotted why, on the hypothesis that we have supposed thick. The skin, where it could be seen, was to be correct as to the sixth hour (ver. 14), So

ghastly white. His hands were tied before long a time elapsed between the condemnahim. Back somewhere in the city, he had tion of Christ and his crucifixion. The solfallen exhausted, under the transverse of his diers, with their victims, did not start for the cross, which, as a condemned person, custom place of crucifixion, until everything was required him to bear to the place of execu- completed by way of preparation. And that tion; now, a country man carried the burden place, Golgotha, was outside the city walls, in his stead. Four soldiers went with him as though the site of it is not certainly known. a guard against the mob, who sometimes, Its name is thought to have been suggested nevertheless, broke through, and struck him by its resemblance, in contour, to a human with sticks, and spit upon him. Yet, no sound skull. But, Capt. C. R. Conder, says: "It escaped him, neither remonstrance nor groan." may reasonably, however, be supposed that A sad and slow procession! How long Golgotha ('the skull') was the ordinary place it was in forming, after Pilate delivered of execution for criminals, which is menChrist to the chief priests? how numerous tioned in the Mishna, under the name Beth