John 19

1 scourged. See note on Matt. xxvii. 26. 3 Hail, King of the Jews! They thus insult the Jews while they deride Jesus.

smute Him with their hands. See note on xviii. 22. 5 Behold the man. That is, Look at him! Is he not a fit object for pity rather than punishment?

6. Take ye him and crucify him. The language of irony. Pilate knew that they dared not do this.

7 he made himself the Son of God. See Matt. xxvi. 63-66, and notes. In reply to Pilate’s taunt, they now for the first time bring before him the charge of blasphemy.

8 he was the more afraid, etc. The accusers seem to have nearly defeated their object, by giving Pilate’s fears a new direction, leading him to renew his private interrogations. His superstitious fears are excited by the message he had received from his wife (Matt. xxvii. 19); as well as by the mysterious word of Jesus.

9. Whence art thou? “What is thy real origin?” referring to the accusation which he had just heard. But He whose reply had been unheeded before (xviii. 38) now gives no answer. He has already met the charge against Him, and has explained the one fact which seemed to give it any plausibility. Now, His silence is itself a reply.

10. I have power to crucify thee, etc. Thus Pilate condemns himself (see on xviii. 38).

11 therefore, etc. Pilate boasts of his power of life and death. Jesus makes him feel how small this is; for he is but an instrument, first of God who gave him this power, and holds him accountable for the “sin” of abusing it; and then of the high priest and his abettors, who, with better knowledge and greater strength of purpose, are making him the tool of their malicious designs, and therefore have “greater sin.”

he that delivered me unto thee hath the greater sin. Unprovoked, yet unabashed, in the calmness of conscious rectitude and dignity, our Lord pronounces His sentence on the character and conduct of His accusers and His judge. Well might Pilate feel anxious “to release Him”!

12 from thenceforth. Rather, as R.V., “upon this”: in consequence of our Lord’s reply.

thou art not Cæsar’s friend. The Jews meant Pilate to understand that, if he released Jesus, they would report him to the emperor, a severe and jealous prince (Tac. Ann. iii. 38). Such a charge (læsa majestas) involved the penalty of death. To clear himself, and at the same time to retaliate upon the Jews, Pilate takes his seat upon the place of judgement (13), and pronounces sentence upon Jesus as King of the Jews. Having thus yielded to the importunity and threats of the Jews, his only object is to make the deed as much theirs as possible.

13. Gabbatha. See note on xviii. 29.

14 the preparation, etc. Supposing the Paschal feast to have been already past, this phrase must be explained as denoting the sixth day of the week, “the preparation day” before the seventh or sabbath (see Mark xv. 42), which occurred during the Passover festival of eight days, i.e., “the Friday in the Passover week.” Such a sabbath was a “high day” (31): see notes on xiii. 1; xviii. 28.

about the sixth hour. That is, presuming John to have employed a different reckoning from that of the other evangelists (see i. 39; iv. 6, 52), about sunrise. This would agree with Mark xv. 25, where see note. The circumstance that it was the day of “preparation,” and that the day was rapidly advancing, accounts for the extreme impatience of the accusers. They had done their utmost to finish the matter before the sabbath; having summoned their own council before daybreak, and having come early to the governor. But his unexpected delays had occupied much of the morning; and he was still shrinking from the last decisive step, and appealing to the people. Hurried on by their excitement, they make an admission which nothing else had been able to wring from them; renouncing entirely not only Jesus as their King but all national independence; and openly declaring, “We have no king but Cæsar.” Pilate takes them at their word, and keeps them rigidly to it; probably being determined to humble them for the constraint they had put upon him: see vers. 21, 22, and notes.

15. We have no king but Cæsar. Thus renouncing in their enmity to Jesus their own national hope, and accepting the tyranny which in heart they all detested.

16 unto them. To the soldiers, who would work their will (Luke xxiii. 25).

16,17. On these verses, see notes on Matt. xxvii. 32, 33.

19. And Pilate wrote a title. In this or some similar manner the crime for which a man suffered was commonly published. The evangelists probably give the sense rather than the very words of the title. The “Hebrew” (i.e., Aramaic) would be understood by the Jews of Palestine; and this may have contained the contemptuous phrase, “the Nazarene.” “Latin” was added, as the official language of the empire; and “Greek,” as prevailing in the province. “These three languages gathered up the results of the religious, social, and intellectual, preparation for Christ, and in each witness was given to His office” (Westcott).

The four versions of the inscription are as follows:

Matthew THIS IS JESUS .. Mark .. .. .. .. Luke .. THIS IS .. .. John .. JESUS OF NAZARETH THE KING OF THE JEW.

21. Write not, The King of the Jews, etc. The inscription suggested the idea that the King of the Jews might be crucified by a Roman officer. This galled the Jews; but it gratified Pilate’s revenge, and proclaimed the humiliation of the people and the supremacy of Cæsar. But neither the priests nor Pilate thought how true was the title, in which God was pleased to proclaim to the whole world the Messiahship of Jesus and the fulfilment of prophecy.

23 took His garments. Four of the soldiers present acted as executioners, and took their usual perquisite. But they found that the large “coat” (now called abba), resembling a Roman toga, was not made of different pieces, as was often the case, but was woven throughout without seam. It was too valuable for one share, and would be spoilt by being divided; they therefore cast lots for it, and so unconsciously fulfilled the prophetic Psalm: see notes on Psa. xxii., which is here quoted from the Septuagint.

25. Cleophas. Rather, “Clopas”; who is

probably the person elsewhere called Alpheus; see Matt. xxvii. 56; Mark xv. 40; and note on Matt. x. 3. “Clopas” and “Alpheus” are different Greek forms of the same Hebrew name. The Cleopas named in Luke xxiv. 18 was probably another person. It must be understood that our Lord’s “mother’s sister” is not the same as “Mary the wife of Clopas,” but Salome, the wife of Zebedee, and mother of John and James, who was certainly present (Mark xv. 40). Four women are therefore here mentioned; two by name.

26. Woman, behold thy son. See note on ii. 4. The relationship in the flesh between the Lord and His mother being about to close, He commends her to her nephew (son of Salome: see on ver. 25), who should care for and protect her, like a son. Thus, even amid His sufferings for man’s redemption, He showed His human sympathy and filial love.

28 after this. For the intervening events, see Matt. xxvii. 45, 46. Some suppose that John, on receiving charge of the mother of Jesus (26), at once removed her from the dreadful scene, and afterwards returned to the cross (35). She is not mentioned among the women who were present at the close (Matt. xxvii. 56; Mark xv. 40).

that the Scripture might be fulfilled. See Psa. lxix. 21.

30 vinegar. Our Lord had previously refused the wine mingled with gall and myrrh (Matt. xxvii. 34; Mark xv. 23) given to the crucified to deaden their sufferings. This vinegar was the posca, or common drink of the Roman soldiers; a cheap acid wine mingled with water. In Matthew and Mark the sponge is said to be put upon a reed; in John, upon byssop (see note on 1 Kings iv. 33). Moffatt, following Beza and other eminent scholars, reads, “on a spear.” The Greek words are very similar.

It is finished. The Greek word here used is rendered “accomplished” in ver. 28; and the two verses are intimately connected.

gave up the ghost (His spirit). The word used by the evangelist imports a voluntary surrender; made with a loud cry (Matt. xxvii. 50), and with the words, “Father, into Thy hands I commend my spirit” (Luke xxiii. 46).

31. The Jews, etc. These men, though very unscrupulous about the violation of the moral law (see Matt. xxvii. 6, and note), are yet very careful of the ceremonial law. They therefore apply to Pilate to hasten the lingering death of the crucified (who might otherwise possibly survive more than thirty-six hours), and to have the bodies removed: see note on Matt. xxvii. 58.

for that sabbath day was a high [day]. See note on xiii. 1; xix. 14.

34 one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side. The soldiers were surprised to find Jesus already dead; and, to make sure of the fact, one of them with a spear pierced His heart, or at least the membrane inclosing it. This alone would have caused instant death, had He been still living; but the blood and water which flowed from the wound showed that He was really dead. On this proof of our Lord’s actual death the evangelist strongly insists; first solemnly asserting that he saw it all (35), and then showing that it was a fulfilment both of type (36) and of prophecy (37). He thus takes away all excuse for doubting either that Jesus was really man, or that He actually died.

The subject of the immediate cause of the Saviour’s death is very fully discussed by Dr.

Stroud, The Physical Cause of the Death of Christ, 1871, with Preface by Sir J. Y. Simpson. He thinks that our Lord died of a broken heart, produced by intense agony of mind.

35 record. Or, “witness,” as R.V.

that ye might believe. See var. read. “That ye also may believe,” R.V., i.e., ye who have not seen, as well as I, an actual eye-witness.

36. A bone of Him. Rather, “A bone of it”: i.e., of the Paschal lamb (see Exod. xii. 46, and note), which was a type of “Christ our Passover”: see i. 29, and note; and 1 Cor. v. 7.

37. They shall look on Him whom they pierced. The marginal reading of the Hebrew, and the context of Zech. xii. 10, show that John’s quotation is more accurate than the present text in the Old Testament. From the scope and connexion of the original prophecy (see note on Zech. xii. 1), it is evident that “they” who “shall look on Him” are the truly penitent of all nations and all ages, who become the true Israel. The prediction is to receive a further fulfilment: see Rev. i. 7. Westcott remarks on the quotation of the two prophecies side by side, “It was wonderful that the legs of Christ were not broken: it was further wonderful, when He had escaped this indignity, that His side was pierced. The first fact pointed the student of Scripture to the fulfilment in Jesus of the symbolism of the Law: the second to the fulfilment in Him of the promises as to the representative of Jehovah.”

38. And after this Joseph of Arimathæa, etc. See notes on Matt. xxvii. 57-61.

39. Nicodemus. John alone had mentioned Nicodemus’s first visit to our Lord (iii. 1), and his timid remark in His favour (vii. 51), and now he adds his bolder avowal of reverence for the Divine Teacher, by this costly deed of honour. The courage of Nicodemus seemed to increase with the peril of the occasion.

myrrh and aloes. See note on Gen. xxxvii. 25. “Aloes” and “cassia” are aromatic woods found in the East. They were probably pulverised, and strewed in the “cloths” in which the body was wrapped. The proceeding was hurried, on account of the near approach of the sabbath.

41 a new sepulchre. Obviating all possible suspicion as to the identity of the body.

42. There laid they Jesus therefore. As the sepulchre was near, they were able to deposit the body there before the sabbath commenced. The Greek order of the words, reproduced in R.V., is very impressive: “There then because of the Jews’ Preparation (for the tomb was nigh at hand), they laid Jesus.”