Commentaires bibliques

Matthew 27:26. τότε ἀπέλυσεν: Pilate, lacking the passion for justice, judges not according to the merits but according to policy. When he discovered that Jesus was not a popular favourite, in fact had no friends, he had no more interest in Him, but acted as the people wished, loosing Barabbas and delivering Jesus to be crucified, after having first subjected Him to scourging (φραγελλώσας = flagello, a Latinism probably borrowed from Mk.). Such was the barbarous practice of the Romans. It is alluded to by Josephus (B. J., Matthew 27:11; Matthew 27:1) in these terms: μαστιγούμενοι δὴ καὶ προβασανιζόμενοι τοῦ θανάτου πᾶσαν αἰκίαν ἀνεσταυροῦντο τοῦ τείχους ἀντικρύ. Brandt thinks that the alleged custom of releasing a prisoner had no existence, and that the story in the Gospels arose out of an occurrence at a later time, the release of a prisoner the son of a Rabbi concerned in a tumult. The Christians said: they release the son of the Scribe and they crucified our Jesus, and at last the incident was read back into the story of the Passion (E. G., pp. 94–105).

Matthew 27:27-31. Jesus the sport of the soldiery (Mark 15:16-20).

Matthew 27:27. τότε: when Jesus had been sentenced to crucifixion.—οἱ στρατιῶται τ. ἡ., the soldiers of the governor, i.e., his bodyguard.—παραλαβόντες, etc.: they conducted Jesus from the scene of judgment (without) to the πραιτώριον, i.e., the official residence of the procurator, either Herod’s palace, or more probably a palace connected with the fort Antonia, with barracks attached. The word has various meanings: a general’s tent, a governor’s residence, the barracks of the Praetorian guard, the Praetorian guard itself.—συνήγαγον, etc.: gathered about Him (for sport) the whole σπεῖραν, at most a cohort of 600, more probably a maniple of 200. (“σπεῖρα, anything twisted round like a ball of thread, is a translation of ‘manipulus’; a wisp of hay.” Carr in Cam. N. T., ad loc.) A large number to assemble for such a purpose, but Roman soldiers at passover time would always be on the alert for serious work or sport, and here was no ordinary chance of both, a man sentenced to be crucified who passed for King of the Jews. What more natural than to make sport of Him, and through Him to show their contempt for the Jewish people? (Holtzmann, H.C.).

Matthew 27:28. ἐκδύσαντες (or ἐνδ.) α.: taking off (or putting on) His clothes. If we adopt the former reading, the implied situation will be this: Jesus first stripped for scourging, then reclothed; then stripped again at the commencement of the mocking process. If the latter, this: Jesus after scourging led naked to the praetorium, there clothed, all but His upper garment, instead of which they put on χλαμύδα κ. (Meyer).—χλαμ. κοκκίνην, a scarlet cloak, probably a soldier’s sagum. Carr renders a soldier’s scarf, and suggests that it may have been a worn-out scarf of Pilate’s (Herod’s, Elsner). The ridicule would be more lifelike if it was really a fine article that might be, or had been, worn by a potentate.—πλέξαντες στ. ἐξ ἀ., weaving out of thorns a crown; not, say Meyer and Weiss, hard and sharp, so as to cause great pain, but young, flexible, easily plaited, the aim being to ridicule not to inflict torture. Possibly, but the soldiers would not make a point of avoiding giving pain. They would take what came first to band.—κάλαμον, a reed; apparently under the gov. of ἐπέθηκαν, but really the object of ἔθηκαν, understood.—γονυπετήσαντες: after the investiture comes the homage, by lowly gesture and worshipful salutation: χαῖρε βασιλεῦ τ. Ἰ. Hail, King of the Jews. A mockery of the nation in intention quite as much as of the particular victim. Loesner (Observ. ad N. T.) adduces from Philo. (in Flaccum, 6) a historic parallel, in which the youth of Alexandria treat similarly a half-witted person, Karabas, the real design being to insult Herod Agrippa. Schanz and Holtzmann also refer to this incident.

Matthew 27:30. t this point rough sport turns into brutal treatment, as the moment for execution of the sentence approaches.—ἐμπτύσαντες: spitting, substituted for kissing, the final act of homage, followed by striking with the mock sceptre (ἔτυπτον ε. τ. κ.).

Matthew 27:31. ἐξέδυσαν, etc.: they took off the mock royal robe, and put on again His own garments (τὰ ἱμάτια, the upper garments, but why the plural?). No mention of the crown; left on according to some of the ancients, Origen, e.g.: “semel imposita et nunquam detracta”; and, according to the same Father, consumed by the head of Jesus (“consumpta a capite Jesu”). Taken off doubtless along with the rest, for there must be no mockery of Jesus or Jews before the public. Such proceedings only for the barracks (Holtz., H.C.).

Matthew 27:32-38. Crucifixion (Mark 15:21-27; Luke 23:26; Luke 23:35-38).—This part of the story begins with the closing words of Matthew 27:31 : “they led Him away to be crucified”.

Matthew 27:32. ἐξερχόμενοι: going out (of the city) according to later Roman custom, and in harmony also with Jewish usage (Numbers 15:35, 1 Kings 21:23, Acts 7:58).—ἄνθρ. Κυρ.: a man of Cyrene, in Libya, presumably recognisable as a stranger, with whom liberties might be taken.—ἠγγάρευσαν, compelled; a military requisition. cf. at chap. Matthew 5:41.—ἵνα ἄρῃ τ. σ. Jesus, carrying His cross according to the custom, has broken down under His burden; Gethsemane, betrayal, the ordeal of the past sleepless night, scourging, have made the flesh weak. No compassion for Him in finding a substitute; the cross must be carried, and the soldiers will not.—σταυρὸν: see on Matthew 27:35.—Γολγοθᾶ: Weiss remarks on the double λεγόμενον—before the name, and in the following interpretation—and thinks it a sign that Mt. is copying from Mk. One wonders indeed why Mt., writing for Jews, should explain the word at all.—κρανίου τόπος, place of a skull (“Calvariae locus,” Vulg[150], whence “Calvary” in Lk., A. V[151]), of skulls rather, say many interpreters; a place of execution, skulls lying all about (Jerome started this view). Recent interpreters (including Schanz) more naturally take the word as pointing to the shape of the hill. The locality is quite uncertain.

[150] Vulgate (Jerome’s revision of old Latin version).

[151] Authorised Version.

Matthew 27:34. οἶνον μετὰ χολῆς μ., wine mingled with gall. Mk. has ἐσμυρνισμένον οἶν., wine drugged with myrrh, a drink given by a merciful custom before execution to deaden the sense of pain. The wine would be the sour wine or posca used by Roman soldiers. In Mk. Jesus declines the drink, apparently without tasting, desiring to suffer with clear mind. In Mt. He tastes (γευσάμενος) and then declines, apparently because unpalatable, suggesting a different motive in the offerers, not mercy but cruelty; maltreatment in the very drink offered. To this view of the proceeding is ascribed the μετὰ χολῆς of Mt.’s text, not without the joint influence of Psalm 69:22 (Meyer and Weiss). Harmonists strive to reconcile the two accounts by taking χολή as signifying in Hellenistic usage any bitter liquid (quamvis amaritiem, Elsner), and therefore among other things myrrh. Proverbs 5:4, Lament. Matthew 3:15 (Sept[152]), in which χολή stands for wormwood, לַעֲנָה, are eited in proof of this. Against the idea that Mt’s text has been altered from Mk.’s under the influence of Psalm 69:22, is the retention of οἶνος (ὄξος in Ps. and in T. R.) and the absence of any reference to the passage in the usual style—“that it might be fulfilled,” etc.

[152] Septuagint.

Matthew 27:35. σταυρώσαντες (from σταυρόω, to drive stakes; in later Greek, and in N. T., to impale on a stake, σταυρός). All the evangelists touch lightly the fact of crucifixion, hurrying over the painful subject as quickly as possible; Mt., most of all, disposing of it in a participial clause. Many questions on which there has been much discussion suggest themselves, e.g., as to the structure and form of the cross: did it consist of an upright beam (palus, stipes) and a cross beam (patibulum, antenna), or of the former only, the hands being nailed to the beam above the head? (so Fulda, Das Kreuz und die Kreuzigung, 1878). Was Christ’s cross a crux commissa (T) or a crux immissa (†)? Or is this distinction a purely imaginary one, as Fulda (p. 126) maintains against Justus Lipsius, till Fulda the great authority on the subject of crucifixion? The work of the more recent writer should certainly be consulted before coming to a final decision on the form of the cross or the method of crucifixion. Another question is, what did Jesus carry to the place of execution: the upright post or the cross beam? (the latter according to Marquhardt, Röm. Alter. vii. 1, 1). And how was His body fixed to the cross: were the feet, e.g., nailed as well as the hands, or only tied to the beam with a rope or with wands or left free? The passages cited from ancient authors bearing on the subject, Artemidorus, Plautus, Seneca, are diversely interpreted, and the practice does not seem to have been invariable. Crucifixion was at best a rude mode of executing justice, and, especially in time of war, seems to have been performed by soldiers in diverse fashions, according to their whim (ἄλλον ἄλλῳ σχήματι πρὸς χλεύην, Joseph., Matthew 27:11; Matthew 27:1; plates showing various forms in Fulda). Still there would be a normal mode, and in the case of Jesus, when only one or two were put to death, it would probably be followed. His cross has generally been supposed to have been a crux immissa, with the accusation on the point of the upright post above the cross beam, with a peg whereon to sit. Whether His feet were pierced with nails cannot be certainly determined. Paulus took the negative side in the interest of the hypothesis that Jesus did not really die on the cross; Meyer strongly maintains the contrary, vide ad loc. The fragment of the Gospel of Peter speaks of nails in the hands only: “then they drew the nails from the hands of the Lord”. Fulda takes the same view, representing the hands as nailed, the feet as tied to the beam.—τὰ ἱμάτια: the probability is that Jesus had been stript absolutely naked (γυμνοὶ σταυροῦνται, Artemid., Oneirocritica, ii. 58). On the dividing of the garments vide John 19:23 f. The prophetic reference ἵνα πληρωθῇ in T. R. has little authority, and seems inserted from John 19:24, by a scribe who thought it what the first evangelist should say. This is a second instance where a chance of prophetic citation is not taken advantage of.