Matthew 27

Matthew 27:1

Mark 14:43; Luke 22:47; John 18:2.

Matthew 27:4

The heroic behaviour of the blessed Jesus, in the whole period of his sufferings, will be observed by every attentive eye, and felt by every pious heart: although the sacred historians, according to their usual but wonderful simplicity, make no encomiums upon it. With what composure does he go forth to meet the traitor! With what calmness receive that malignant kiss! With what dignity does he deliver himself into the hands of his enemies! Yet plainly showing his superiority over them, and even then leading as it were captivity captive!

Matthew 27:5

And one of them striking the servant of the high priest - Probably the person that seized Jesus first; Cut off his ear - Aiming, it seems, to cleave his head, but that by a secret providence interposing, he declined the blow. Mark 14:47; Luke 22:49; John 18:10.

Matthew 27:6

All they that take the sword - Without God’s giving it them: without sufficient authority.

Matthew 27:7

He will presently give me more than twelve legions of angels - The least of whom, it is probable, could overturn the earth and destroy all the inhabitants of it.

Matthew 27:9

Mark 14:48; Luke 22:52

Matthew 27:11

They led him away to Caiaphas - From the house of Annas, the father - in - law of Caiaphas, to whom they had carried him first. Mark 14:53; Luke 22:54; John 18:12.

Matthew 27:12

But Peter followed him afar off - Variously agitated by conflicting passions; love constrained him to follow his Master; fear made him follow afar off. And going in, sat with the servants - Unfit companions as the event showed.

Matthew 27:14

Yet found they none - On whose evidence they could condemn him to die. At last came two false witnesses - Such they were, although part of what they said was true; because our Lord did not speak some of those words at all; nor any of them in this sense.

Matthew 27:18

Hereafter shall ye see the Son of man - He speaks in the third person, modestly, and yet plainly; Sitting on the right hand of power - That is, the right hand of God: And coming upon the clouds of heaven - As he is represented by Daniel, Daniel 7:13,14. Our Lord looked very unlike that person now! But nothing could be more awful, more majestic and becoming, than such an admonition in such circumstances!

Matthew 27:19

Then the high priest rent his clothes - Though the high priest was forbidden to rend his clothes (that is, his upper garment) in some cases where others were allowed to do it, Leviticus 21:10; yet in case of blasphemy or any public calamity, it was thought allowable. Caiaphas hereby expressed, in the most artful manner, his horror at hearing such grievous blasphemy.

Matthew 27:21

Then - After he had declared he was the Son of God, the sanhedrim doubtless ordered him to be carried out, while they were consulting what to do. And then it was that the soldiers who kept him began these insults upon him.

Matthew 27:26

He denied with an oath - To which possibly he was not unaccustomed, before our Lord called him.

Matthew 27:27

Surely thou art also one of them, for thy speech discovereth thee - Malchus might have brought a stronger proof than this. But such is the overruling providence of God, that the world, in the height of their zeal, commonly catch hold of the very weakest of all arguments against the children of God.

Matthew 27:28

Then began he to curse and to swear - Having now quite lost the reins, the government of himself.

Matthew 27:31

In the morning - As the sanhedrim used to meet in one of the courts of the temple, which was never opened in the night, they were forced to stay till the morning before they could proceed regularly, in the resolution they had taken to put him to death. Mark 15:1; Luke 22:66; 23:1; John 18:28.

Matthew 27:32

Having bound him - They had bound him when he was first apprehended. But they did it now afresh, to secure him from any danger of an escape, as he passed through the streets of Jerusalem.

Matthew 27:33

Then Judas seeing that he was condemned - Which probably he thought Christ would have prevented by a miracle.

Matthew 27:34

They said, what is that to us? - How easily could they digest innocent blood! And yet they had a conscience! It is not lawful (say they) to put it into the treasury - But very lawful to slay the innocent!

Matthew 27:35

In that part of the temple where the sanhedrim met.

Matthew 27:37

They bought with them the potter’s field - Well known, it seems, by that name. This was a small price for a field so near Jerusalem. But the earth had probably been digged for potters’ vessels, so that it was now neither fit for tillage nor pasture, and consequently of small value. Foreigners - Heathens especially, of whom there were then great numbers in Jerusalem.

Matthew 27:39

Then was fulfilled - What was figuratively represented of old, was now really accomplished. What was spoken by the prophet - The word Jeremy, which was added to the text in latter copies, and thence received into many translations, is evidently a mistake: for he who spoke what St. Matthew here cites (or rather paraphrases) was not Jeremy, but Zechariah. Zechariah 11:12.

Matthew 27:40

As the Lord commanded me - To write, to record.

Matthew 27:41

Art thou the king of the Jews? - Jesus before Caiaphas avows himself to be the Christ, before Pilate to be a king; clearly showing thereby, that his answering no more, was not owing to any fear.

Matthew 27:45

At every feast - Every year, at the feast of the passover. Mark 15:6; Luke 23:17; John 18:39.

Matthew 27:48

He knew that for envy they had delivered him - As well as from malice and revenge; they envied him, because the people magnified him.

Matthew 27:52

They all say, Let him be crucified - The punishment which Barabbas had deserved: and this probably made them think of it. But in their malice they forgot with how dangerous a precedent they furnished the Roman governor. And indeed within the compass of a few years it turned dreadfully upon themselves.

Matthew 27:54

Then Pilate took water and washed his hands - This was a custom frequently used among the heathens as well as among the Jews, in token of innocency.

Matthew 27:55

His blood be on us and on our children - As this imprecation was dread. fully answered in the ruin so quickly brought on the Jewish nation, and the calamities which have ever since pursued that wretched people, so it was peculiarly fulfilled by Titus the Roman general, on the Jews whom he took during the siege of Jerusalem. So many, after having been scourged in a terrible manner, were crucified all round the city, that in a while there was not room near the wall for the crosses to stand by each other. Probably this befell some of those who now joined in this cry, as it certainly did many of their children: the very finger of God thus pointing out their crime in crucifying his Son.

Matthew 27:56

He delivered him to be crucified - The person crucified was nailed to the cross as it lay on the ground, through each hand extended to the utmost stretch, and through both the feet together. Then the cross was raised up, and the foot of it thrust with a violent shock into a hole in the ground prepared for it. This shock disjointed the body, whose whole weight hung upon the nails, till the persons expired through mere dint of pain. This kind of death was used only by the Romans, and by them inflicted only on slaves and the vilest criminals.

Matthew 27:57

The whole troop - or cohort. This was a body of foot commanded by the governor, which was appointed to prevent disorders and tumults, especially on solemn occasions. Mark 15:16 John 19:2.

Matthew 27:58

They put on him a scarlet robe - Such as kings and generals wore; probably an old tattered one.

Matthew 27:62

Him they compelled to bear his cross - He bore it himself, till he sunk under it, John 19:17.

Matthew 27:63

A place called Golgotha, that is, the place of a skull - Golgotha in Syriac signifies a skull or head: it was probably called so from this time; being an eminence upon Mount Calvary, not far from the king’s gardens. Mark 15:22; Luke 23:33; John 19:17

Matthew 27:64

They gave him vinegar mingled with gall - Out of derision: which, however nauseous, he received and tasted of. St. Mark mentions also a different mixture which was given him, Wine mingled with myrrh: such as it was customary to give to dying criminals, to make them less sensible of their sufferings: but this our Lord refused to taste, determining to bear the full force of his pains.

Matthew 27:65

They parted his garments - This was the custom of the Romans. The soldiers performed the office of executioners, and divided among them the spoils of the criminals. My vesture - That is, my inner garment. Psalms 22:18.