Matthew 26
AEKMatthew 26:7-32
6 The Lord was twice anointed during the last week of His life, first, six days before the Passover, and on this occasion. One woman anointed His feet, this woman poured the attar on His head. This occurred in connection with presentation to Jerusalem as the King. When a king was crowned in Israel he was anointed with attar. He came, but no one thought of anointing Him. His very disciples resented it. They grudged the price of the attar for the anointing of Messiah! So He applies it to His burial. Yet this unnamed and unknown woman gives Him the honor He deserves!
14-16 Compare Mark 14:10-11; Luke 22:3-6; Zechariah 11:12-13.
14 What a contrast! The woman “ wastes” in value much more than what Judas receives for his Lord. This shows their relative estimates of His preciousness. Nothing is wasted which is for His honor. Philanthropy finds its highest expression in the worship of the Man Christ Jesus.
17-19 Compare Mark 14:12-16; Luke 22:7-13. See Exodus 12:6-18.
17 “ The first [day] of the unleavened [bread]” is explained in Mark as the day on which the passover must be sacrificed (Mark 14:12). Hence it is not the first day of the festival of Unleavened Bread spoken of in the law (Leviticus 23:6; Numbers 28:17), for that did not come until the day after the Passover proper. It seems that the question was asked at the beginning of the fourteenth of Nisan, just after sundown. As they had little to do in its preparation, but partook of it as guests of an unknown host, there was little time needed to prepare. So that same evening they celebrated it the last time before He Himself became the Passover on the same calendar day. The Jewish days began in the evening and ended the next evening (See Genesis 1:5).
The passover lamb must be slain on the fourteenth of Nisan “ between the evenings” (Leviticus 23:5, see verse 32). Hence the Lord fulfilled the law in a double sense. He observed the Passover and was slain as the Passover, all within the limits allowed by the law of Moses. The very wording of the precept was modified to suit the great Antitype.
20-25 Compare Mark 14:17-21; Luke 22:14; Luke 22:21-23; John 13:18-30. 23 See Psalms 41:9. 24 See Psa.22; Isa.53; Daniel 9:26.
24 The case of Judas has an important bearing on the ultimate destiny of the human race and all creation. If it were well for Judas if he had not been born, then there can be no justification of all mankind (Romans 5:18) or reconciliation of all creation (Colossians 1:20). If he is ultimately justified and reconciled it is well that he has been born. The solution of this difficulty will help us to see the bias which pervades our translations. They deliberately recast the sentence and give it a meaning quite foreign to the text. The Lord speaks of Himself as “ Him” , and of Judas as “ that man” . It were ideal for the Lord if Judas were not born. The Lord’s impending suffering is in view, not the punishment of Judas, whose ultimate destiny is not under consideration.
26-29 Compare Mark 14:22-25; Luke 22:19-20; 1 Corinthians 11:23-26.
26 The account given here is for the Circumcision. It is seen as a part of the Passover festival and concerns the new covenant for Israel and the pardon of sins. Were it not that it was given to Paul by a special revelation (1 Corinthians 11:25), after he had been separated to his special ministry (Acts 13:2) among the nations, and with the particular provision that it should continue until the Lord’s coming, we would be tempted to class it with the observances intended only for the Circumcision.
27 In Greek, the present tense of the substantive often indicates a figure of speech. If the Lord were speaking literally of His actual body and blood, He would have omitted the word is. It is a metaphor, in which one thing is not merely stated to be like another, but to be another. It is freely used in interpreting parables, as, “ the field is the world” (Matthew 13:38). Usually it is not used in stating matters of fact. It may be correctly rendered, means, or represents, in practically every place where it occurs. This distinction cannot be carried over into English, for we always express the verb.
28 See Exodus 24:8; Leviticus 17:11; Jeremiah 31:31-34. 29 Compare Luke 22:15-18. 30-32 Compare Mark 14:26-28; Luke 22:39; John 16:32. 31 See Zechariah 13:7; Isaiah 53:4-11. 32 See Matthew 28:7-16.
Matthew 26:33-54
33-35 Compare Mark 14:29-31; Luke 22:31-34; John 13:36-38.
33 The Lord had said distinctly that all of them should be snared. Peter’s fall began by refusing to believe that the Lord’s all meant all. Of course, it could not include him! By exalting himself above the rest he invited the fate of all who walk in pride, who must be abased. The same spirit is rampant today. We hear the loudest protestations of loyalty and devotion to Christ, which, if carried out, would transform the whole world in one generation. There is no doubt that it is honest. Peter fully intended to stand by his Lord to the very death. But he did not know himself or the impotence of the human will. It is the creature and the sport of circumstance. No man can use the emphatic I, as Peter did, and not fall.
36-38 Compare Mark 14:32-34; Luke 22:39-40 John 18:1-2.
36 How different it was with our Lord! He was about to brave the most awful battle with the hosts of darkness and their human minions, yet not a boast proceeds from His lips. He shrank from it. He implored to be spared. It was not His will. Hitherto His will and the Father’s had been in perfect accord. He acquiesced in it even though it meant failure and defeat. He delighted in it though it brought Him opposition and hate.
Yet with all His unparalleled loyalty and devotion, the terrors of the curse, the abandonment by God, were beyond the concurrence of His will. But there is a deeper and more powerful force than this. The heart can subdue the will. Christ had not come to do His own will. So He prayed the prayer that befits us far more than Him, “ Not as I will, but as Thou!” No man can use the emphatic “ I” , without the negative, and carry out his vaunting. It is the symbol of defeat, “not I” the banner of victory, though it should lead through the deepest depths to God. Gethsemane should prepare our hearts for the deep unfoldings of the cross. It transforms it from a mere manifestation of human and satanic hate into a deliberate and foreordained act of God.
Our Lord did not beg the chief priests for mercy, or Pilate for clemency. He recognized the fact that God alone could deliver Him from their power, and, since this was not His will, He makes not the slightest effort to appease them. Without in the least minimizing the guilt of man or the sin of Satan, we may look beneath all their hateful deeds and see God using them as His puppets in the preparation of the great Sacrifice which had been promised from the beginning. Though apparently and consciously doing their utmost to oppose the will of God, they were carrying it into effect with the same precision as their Victim Who had renounced His own will in favor of His Father’s. The cross of Christ is the touchstone of humanity. Not only is the cowardice of Pilate and the perfidy of the priests exposed to the gaze of all, but His own little band all find their true value in its vicinity.
What should we not expect from His own apostles who have been with Him and have seen His mighty power and have felt the attraction of His love? Judas, who was entrusted with the funds, turns traitor.
Boastful Peter forswears his Lord. And all the rest, who but a short time since were loud in their protestations of loyalty, desert Him at the first approach of danger.
30-41 Compare Mark 14:35-38; Luke 22:41-46. See Hebrews 5:7; John 6:38; Philippians 2:8. 42-46 Compare Mark 14:39-42. 45-46 Compare Luke 22:45-46. 47-50 Compare Mark 14:43-46; Luke 22:47-48; John 18:2-9.
47 Judas, one of the twelve. It is necessary that snares should be coming (Matthew 18:7). The Lord deliberately chose one of His apostles for the essential duty of betraying Him. He knew from the beginning that Judas was a traitor.
50 See Psalms 41:9; Psalms 55:12-14. 51-52 Compare Mark 14:47; Luke 22:49-51; John 18:10-11.
51 It is most difficult to receive evil from the hand of God. The disciples evidently could not understand how this could be of God. Their highest thought was to escape evil through divine protection. But our Lord assures them that, however easy it might be to enlist the legions of heaven, it is not His present plan to escape the clutches of His enemies. Evil must needs be, and God controls it so as to accomplish His beneficent purpose.
53 See 2 Kings 6:17
Matthew 26:55-27
55-56 Compare Mark 14:48-52; Luke 22:52-53.
55 In the daylight they were afraid. They wanted the mantle of darkness to hide their evil deeds. Nothing could have been simpler than to have the temple guards arrest Him in the sanctuary. Why all this show of force to take an unarmed Man Who never did anything but good? It is often difficult to account for the foolishness of human wisdom and action. Yet here we have the key. The Scriptures of the prophets must be fulfilled. And they are given for the revelation of God. Every human action will one day be accounted for and justified by putting it in its right relation to God.
62 Can there be any greater contrast than comes before us in this scene before the chief priest? Christ, the Chief Priest after the new order of Melchisedec, sworn in by God Himself, holy, harmless, undefiled, and higher than the heavens, is about to offer Himself for the sins of the world. Yet He stood alone, forsaken even by His own, charged with blasphemy and liable to death. Caiaphas was appointed for political reasons by the Roman power. He was crafty, deceitful, blasphemous, unfit to officiate at God’s altar. Yet such a man dares to condemn the Son of God!
Quite shamelessly he seeks for testimony against Him, and accepts what everyone knew was false. No one had heard Him say that He would destroy the temple of God. He said that they would do it. And now their very accusation is itself the crime with which they charge Him! They tried to fasten on Him the destruction of the empty house on mount Moriah. They actually accomplish the destruction of the true Temple, His body.
57-60 Compare Mark 14:53-64; Luke 22:54-71; John 18:12-24. 61 See John 2:18-22.
62 As the Sacrifice, the Lord was a sign to the priests, for He acted as the animal they were accustomed to lead to the altar (Isaiah 53:7): He is hard pressed, and He is humiliated, Yet He is not opening His mouth: He is fetched as a flockling to the slaughter, And as a ewe before its shearers is mute, So He is not opening His mouth.
63 See Leviticus 5:164 See Matthew 24:30; Psalms 1:1 - Psalms 10:1; Daniel 7:13; Acts 7:55-56; Revelation 1:7 64 When the chief priest invoked the presence of God, Christ was not slow in testifying to the truth. So that all the actual testimony against Him was the great truth to which the priests themselves and all their service in the sanctuary and the temple testified. But we must not forget the divine side. The Scriptures must be fulfilled. God’s purpose must be served. The business of the priesthood is to slay the sacrifice.
All the victims hitherto had been vain repetitions that could only cover sin. They could not take it away. Shall not the priests, therefore, slay the great Antitype, the Lamb Whose blood will yet change all sin into righteousness, all enmity into reconciliation? In the wisdom of God their hatred and malice are simply a knife to slay the true Sacrifice. Can we not see that, in a very real sense, they were carrying out the will of God? And if this is true of the sin of sins, is it not quite possible that God will justify all sins in the same way?
65 See Leviticus 21:10. 66 See Leviticus 24:16; John 19:7. 67-68 Compare Mark 14:65; Luke 22:63-65. See Isaiah 50:6; Isaiah 53:3.
69 Poor Peter! Where is his bravado now? He was quite ready to defend his Lord against the world-but not against a serving maid. His very vehemence betrays him. Now was his opportunity of witnessing for his Lord, and of standing by Him in His trial. He should have shouted “ Yes!” and moved forward to take his place beside his Master.
But no. He refuses to acknowledge Him. He slinks back to the portal to escape further questioning. But another maid awaits him there, so he adds an oath to his denial, and by his Galllean brogue betrays himself again. And then his exasperation is so great that he actually damns and swears that He is not at all acquainted with the Lord. The cock crows.
Its simple sound is the voice of God to Peter. He becomes acquainted with himself, and is sadly disillusioned. Instead of the brave, trusty, faithful disciple and apostle he thought he was, he finds himself to be a cringing, craven coward. He laments bitterly.
69-74 Compare Mark 14:66-71; Luke 22:54-60 John 18:15-27. 75 Compare Mark 14:72; Luke 22:61-62. See 34. 1-2 Compare Mark 15:1; Luke 23:1; John 18:28-32. See Psalms 2:2.
3-8 The chief priests, by buying the freehold, which had previously been acquired by Judas, but not paid for (Acts 1:16-19), join the betrayer of our Lord in an unlawful act which manifests their lack of faith in God. True believers, who were looking for the kingdom and the consequent redistribution of the land, would not waste money on a freehold which would be worthless in that day. Instead, they sold their freeholds (Acts 4:34), and gave the money to the apostles. The account in Acts views this transaction from the standpoint of Judas, and tells why he was rejected from being an apostle. He made arrangements not only to betray His Lord (Who, he supposed, would use His power to circumvent His enemies), but he arranged to use the “ wages of unrighteousness” for buying a freehold, contrary to the law. The chief priests and elders, instead of repudiating this illegal act, confirm it by hypocritically refusing to put the money in the temple offerings, and by using it to complete the purchase which Judas had begun.
The death of Judas is likewise passed over briefly in Matthew, but elaborated in Acts. He hanged himself, but the rope broke and he fell so hard that his bowels spilled out. Thus worked the woe pronounced upon him by the Lord.
5-8 See Acts 1:18-19. 9 See Zechariah 11:12-13. 11 Compare Mark 15:2-5; Luke 23:2-12; John 18:33-38. See 1 Timothy 6:13.
11 The priests should have been models of justice and truth, for they had the form of truth in the law. The governor had no divine light to guide his steps. Yet Pilate is far more just than the priests. He knew very well that they would not demand the death of a Jew who conspired against his government. They would aid him. His suspicions of their motive were confirmed by the Lord’s silence. No ordinary man would stand and hear such charges against him without a reply. At no time did the chief priests deceive Pilate. He thought the easiest way out would be to put it to the people, who, he supposed, would release the prophet. He was so sure of their verdict that he was caught in his own device.
15-18 Compare Mark 15:6-10; Luke 23:13-17 John 18:38-39.
17 Bar-Abbas is another contrast with Christ. A murderer, a leader in sedition, he was just what the chief priests represented the Lord to be. His name is very striking. In Aramaic it means “ son of the father” . Christ was the Son of the Father, God. Bar-Abbas was the son of another father, the Slanderer.
19 Of all the actors in this tragedy, only one really pleads the cause of Christ, and this one is the most unlikely that could be. It seems almost incredible, when His own nation is against Him, His own disciples afraid to speak a word in His favor, that an alien woman steps in to plead the cause of a just man she may never have heard of before. True, it was the direct effect of divine intervention. But every other act and attitude in this scene can, in its last analysis, be traced to God’s foreordination. It must remain a marvelous intimation off God’s ways that she alone should voice a solemn protest against the travesty of justice in which Pilate was weak enough to become involved.
20-23 Compare Mark 15:11-14; Luke 23:18-23; John 18:40. See Acts 3:14.
20 The chief priests were aware that they had failed to convince the governor by fair argument, so now they propose to foil his plan of freeing the Lord by persuading the people. It is not necessary to have facts or truth to move the mob. It is the most unjust and unreasonable appeal possible. Had the priests not interfered they undoubtedly would have shouted for His release, as Pilate anticipated.
23 Now that the priests have caught him in his own device, he tries to persuade the mob. Evil or no evil, they want His blood.
24 See Deuteronomy 21:6-7.
24 Pilate had the power to release Him, but expedience and selfishness are always more potent in human governments than justice.
25-38 Compare Mark 15:24-28; Luke 23:32-43; John 19:18-24. 25 See Deuteronomy 19:10; Acts 5:28.
25 The Jews today have good cause to shudder when they read these lines. There is a reason for their terrible history from that day to this.
26 Compare Mark 15:15; Luke 23:24-25; John 19:1. 27-31 Compare Mark 15:16-20; John 19:2-16.