Matthew 27, Part One

The third trial of Jesus (vs. 1-2)—Matthew has a very brief reference to this trial before the Sanhedrin. Luke is the only writer than mentions it with much detail (Luke 22:66-23:1). The Jews had found plenty of reasons to kill Jesus, but they needed one for the Romans. They take Him to Pilate for the first of two times.

Judas commits suicide (vs. 3-10)—Remorse overcame him when he (apparently) realized what the chief priests and elders had in mind for Jesus. The KJV and ASV say that Judas “repented himself,” but that’s a little misleading. There are two words in the Greek which are translated by a form of “repent” in the KJV, but one of them actually means “regret” or “remorse,” and that’s the way the NKJV and most modern translations have it. So he didn’t “repent” in the sense Peter meant in Acts 2:38. He brought the thirty pieces of silver back to the chief priests and elders (v.3), but they didn’t want it; they had what they were after—Jesus. Judas threw the money down, and “went and hanged himself” (v. 5). This is one of two problems in this section, but they are easily explained. Luke, in Acts 1:18, says of Judas, “Now this man purchased a field with the wages of iniquity; and falling headlong, he burst open in the middle and all his entrails gushed out.” Judas hanged himself, but the rope broke, either immediately or after his insides had corroded somewhat, and he hit the ground and made a mess. Matthew 27:9 says this is the fulfillment of a prophecy in Jeremiah, but the actual location of the prophecy is Zechariah. Two explanations have been given for this: a copier’s error because, in the Greek, there are only two letters difference between “Zechariah” and “Jeremiah,” so he could have gotten confused, or the second explanation is probably the best. The Jews divided the Old Testament into “the Law,” “the Psalms,” and “the Prophets.” Jeremiah stood at the head of the latter category so Matthew attributes the prophecy to that section of the Old Testament. The chief priests, because of what Judas did, bought a field with the thirty pieces of silver “to bury strangers in” (v. 7). There is no indication that this is where Judas was buried.

Jesus before Pilate (vs. 11-25)—This is actually the second time Jesus appeared before the Roman governor. The first time, Pilate sent Him to Herod Agrippa because Jesus was from Galilee and that was Herod’s jurisdiction—though Pilate was the ultimate authority in Palestine. Luke is the only author that records the trial before Herod, and I’ll look at that when we get there. But, in this second trial before Pilate (Herod obviously sends Jesus back), the governor, after trying to release Christ, finally is persuaded to crucify Him. Pilate even asked Jesus, “Are You the King of the Jews?", to which Jesus replied, "It is as you say," or “yes.” This is what the Jews were actually hoping that Pilate would condemn Jesus for; the Romans would not put Him to death for blasphemy, but if there was a “king” rivaling Caesar, then yes, that could be a capital crime. But it didn’t seem to bother Pilate; I’ve always thought the governor probably figured Jesus was a harmless nut. But Pilate was in somewhat of a bind here. The Jewish mob before him wanted Jesus’ head. His wife sent him a message saying, “Have nothing to do with that just Man, for I have suffered many things today in a dream because of Him" (v. 19).  Which would he rather face--the mob or his wife?  But then, he had to worry about the Romans, too. If he executed an innocent man, that was definitely contrary to Roman law, and that could get him in trouble with his overseers. But if he didn’t execute Jesus, it looked like he was going to have a riot on his hands, and that could get him in trouble with the Roman authorities, too—“can’t you control the territory? If you can’t, we’ll get somebody who can.” I’m not defending Pilate here, but he was in a bit of a pickle. At the end of this article, I’m going to post a brief history of Pilate from Smith’s Bible Dictionary. He wasn’t a good man, but he was in probably the most difficult province to control in the Roman empire.

Bottom line here is that “When Pilate saw that he could not prevail at all, but rather that a tumult was rising, he took water and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, ‘I am innocent of the blood of this just Person. You see to it.’ And all the people answered and said, ‘His blood be on us and on our children’" (vs. 24-25). It’s not uncommon in modern times for the Jews to be exonerated from the crucifixion of Jesus, but they accepted the blame at the time, and the rest of the New Testament also fixes the guilt upon them. They couldn’t have done it without the Romans; but the Romans wouldn’t have done it if the Jews hadn’t insisted.



Brief history of Pontius Pilate: “Pontius Pilate was the sixth Roman procurator of Judea, and under him our Lord worked, suffered and died, as we learn not only from Scripture, but from Tacitus (Ann. xv. 44). Pilate was appointed A.D. 25-6, in the twelfth year of Tiberius. His arbitrary administration nearly drove the Jews to insurrection on two or three occasions. One of his first acts was to remove the headquarters of the army from Cæsarea to Jerusalem. The soldiers of course took with them their standards, bearing the image of the emperor, into the holy city. No previous governor had ventured on such an outrage. The people poured down in crowds to Cæsarea, where the procurator was then residing, and besought him to remove the images. After five days of discussion he gave the signal to some concealed soldiers to surround the petitioners and put them to death unless they ceased to trouble him; but this only strengthened their determination, and they declared themselves ready rather to submit to death than forego their resistance to an idolatrous innovation. Pilate then yielded, and the standards were by his orders brought down to Cæsarea. His slaughter of certain Galileans (Luke13:1) led to some remarks from our Lord on the connection between sin and calamity. It must have occurred at some feast at Jerusalem, in the outer court of the temple. It was the custom for the procurators to reside at Jerusalem during the great feasts, to preserve order, and accordingly, at the time of our Lord's last Passover, Pilate was occupying his official residence in Herod's palace. The history of his condemnation of our Lord is familiar to all. We learn from Josephus that Pilate's anxiety to avoid giving offence to Cæsar did not save him from political disaster. The Samaritans were unquiet and rebellious. Pilate led his troops against them, and defeated them enough. The Samaritans complained to Vitellius, then president of Syria, and he sent Pilate to Rome to answer their accusations before the emperor. When he reached it he found Tiberius dead and Caius (Caligula) on the throne A.D. 36. Eusebius adds that soon afterward "wearied with misfortunes," he killed himself. As to the scene of his death there are various traditions. One is that he was banished to Vienna Allobrogum (Vienne on the Rhone), where a singular monument—a pyramid on a quadrangular base, 52 feet high—is called Pontius Pilate"s tomb, Another is that he sought to hide his sorrows on the mountain by the lake of Lucerne, now called Mount Pilatus; and there, after spending years in its recesses, in remorse and despair rather than penitence, plunged into the dismal lake which occupies its summit.”