聖書注解書

Ch. Matthew 26:1-5. Wednesday, Nisan 12. The Approach of the Passover. Jesus again Foretells His Death. The Sanhedrin meet

Mark 14:1-2; Luke 22:1-2.

Cp. John 11:55-57, where we read that “the chief priests and Pharisees had given a commandment, that, if any man knew where he were, he should shew it, that they might take him.”

That Jesus should be able for so many days to “speak openly in the Temple” and shew Himself to the people without fear of capture is a proof of the deep hold He had taken on the enthusiasm and affection of His fellow-countrymen. The words of St John (quoted above) imply a combination of the priestly and aristocratic party—the Sadducees—with the democratic Pharisees, against the despised Galilæan, and yet it requires treachery of the deepest dye and a deed of darkness to secure Him.

2. the passover] (1) The word is interesting in its (a) Hebrew, (b) Greek, and (c) English form. (a) The Hebrew pesach is from a root meaning “to leap over,” and, figuratively, to “save,” “shew mercy.” (b) The Greek pascha represents the Aramaic or later Hebrew form of the same word, but the affinity in sound and letters to the Greek word paschein, “to suffer,” led to a connection in thought between the Passover and the Passion of our Lord: indeed, some of the early Christian writers state the connection as if it were the true etymology. (c) Tyndale has the merit of introducing into English the word “passover,” which keeps up the play on the words in the original Hebrew (Exodus 12:11; Exodus 12:13). Before Tyndale the word “phase” (for pascha) was transferred from the Vulgate, with an explanation: “For it is phase, that is, the passyng of the Lord” (Wyclif).

the feast of the passover commemorated the deliverance of Israel from the Egyptian bondage. The ordinances of the first Passover are narrated Exodus 12:1-14, but some of those were modified in later times. It was no longer necessary to choose the lamb on the 10th of Nisan. The blood was sprinkled on the altar, not on the door-post, those who partook of the paschal meal no longer “stood with loins girded, with shoes on their feet, with staff in hand,” but reclined on couches, as at an ordinary meal; it was no longer unlawful to leave the house before morning (Exodus 12:22). The regular celebration of the Passover was part of the religious revival after the return from Captivity. During the kingly period only three celebrations of the Passover are recorded; in the reigns of Solomon, of Hezekiah and of Josiah. For the relation of the Last Supper to the Passover and for further notes on the paschal observance, see below.

The date of this Passover was probably April 3 (old style), a. d. 33 (Mr J. W. Bosanquet in Trans. Soc. Bib. Arch. vol. iv. 2). See note, ch. Matthew 2:1.

is betrayed] either (1) the present for the future, denoting greater certainty or (2) the full relative present “is now being betrayed;” the treacherous scheme of Judas is already afoot.

3. the chief priests, and the scribes, and the elders] i. e. the Sanhedrim or Synedrion (Greek), or Sanhedrin (the later Hebrew form of the word), the supreme council, legislative and administrative, of the Jewish people.

A. The history of the Sanhedrin. Many learned Rabbis endeavoured to trace the origin of the Sanhedrin to the council of 70 elders whom Moses, by the advice of Jethro, appointed to assist him. But it is improbable that this council existed before the Macedonian conquest. (1) The name is Greek, not Hebrew. (2) It finds its equivalent among the political institutions of Macedonia. Finally, (3) no allusion to the Sanhedrin is to be found in the Historical Books or in the Prophets.

B. Constitution. The President or Nasi (prince) was generally, but not always, the high priest; next in authority was the vice-president or Ab Beth Dîn (father of the house of judgment); the third in rank was the Chacham (sage or interpreter). The members were 71 in number, and consisted (1) of the chief priests or heads of the priestly “courses” (see Luke 1:5); (2) the scribes or lawyers; (3) the elders of the people or heads of families, who were the representatives of the laity.

C. Authority and functions. The Sanhedrin formed the highest court of the Jewish commonwealth. It originally possessed the power of life and death, but this power no longer belonged to it; John 18:31, “It is not lawful for us to put any man to death,” a statement which agrees with a tradition in the Talmud, “forty years before the temple was destroyed judgment in capital causes was taken away from Israel.”

All questions of the Jewish law, and such as concerned the ecclesiastical polity, religious life of the nation and discipline of the priests fell under the jurisdiction of the Sanhedrin.

D. Place of meeting. In the present instance the Sanhedrin met at the high priest’s house; from ch. Matthew 27:6 we may conjecture that the Temple was sometimes the place of meeting, but their usual house of assembly at this particular epoch was called the “Halls of Purchase,” on the east of the Temple Mount (Dr Ginsburg in Kitto’s Encyc. Bib. Lit. and Lightfoot’s Hor. Hebr.).

Caiaphas] Joseph Caiaphas, the son-in-law of Annas, was appointed high priest by the Procurator Valerius Gratus a. d. 26, and was deposed a. d. 38. The high priesthood had long ceased to be held for life and to descend from father to son; appointments were made at the caprice of the Roman government. Annas who had been high priest was still regarded as such by popular opinion, which did not recognise his deposition. St Luke says, “Annas and Caiaphas being the high priests.”

4. consulted that they might take Jesus by subtilty] It was no longer possible (1) to entrap Him by argument (Matthew 22:46); (2) to discredit Him with the Roman government (Matthew 22:22); or (3) to take Him by force.

5. on the feast day] Better, during the feast, including the Passover and the seven days of unleavened bread.

lest there be an uproar among the people] The great danger at the time of the Passover, when the people, numbering hundreds of thousands, filled the city and encamped in tents outside the walls like a vast army. At a Passover, less than 30 years before, the people, partly to avenge the death of two Rabbis, rose against Archelaus, and were cruelly repressed with a slaughter of 3000 men (Joseph. Ant. xvii. 9. 3); see also xvii. 10. 2, where a similar rising against Sabinus, during the feast of Pentecost, is described.

6. Simon the leper] i. e. he had been a leper. St John, in the parallel passage, says “they made him a supper, and Martha served; but Lazarus was one of them that sat at the table with him.” Nothing further is known of Simon. He was evidently a disciple of Jesus and probably a near friend of Lazarus and his sisters.

6–13. The Feast in the house of Simon the Leper

Mark 14:3-9; John 12:1-8St John’s narrative places this incident on the evening of the Sabbath—the last Sabbath spent by Jesus on earth—before the triumphal entry. St Matthew has here disregarded the strictly chronological order.

Compare a similar act of devotion on the part of a “woman that was a sinner” (Luke 7:36-39).

7. a woman having an alabaster box of very precious ointment] “Then took Mary a pound of ointment, very costly” (John). “Ointment of spikenard, very precious” (Mark). The “alabaster box” was “a flask of fragrant oil;” the special kind of ointment named by the Evangelists—nard or spikenard—was extracted from the blossoms of the Indian and Arabian nard-grass (Becker’s Gallus).

These alabastra or unguent-flasks were usually made of the Oriental or onyx alabaster, with long narrow necks, which let the oil escape drop by drop, and could easily be broken (Mark 14:3). But the shape and material varied. Herodotus (iii. 20) mentions an “alabastron of fragrant oil”—the precise expression in the text—sent among other royal gifts of gold and purple by Cambyses to the king of Æthiopia.

The costliness of Mary’s offering may be judged from this. The other Evangelists name three hundred pence or denarii as the price; (St Mark says, “more than three hundred pence”). Now a denarius was a day’s wages for a labourer (see ch. Matthew 20:2); equivalent, therefore, to two shillings at least of English money; hence, relatively to English ideas, Mary’s offering would amount to £30. It was probably the whole of her wealth.

8. when his disciples saw it, they had indignation] “There were some that had indignation” (Mark); “Then said one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot” (John).