Matthew 27:19 Kommentar

When the morning was come,.... Or, as soon as it was day, as Luke says, Luk 22:66. The sanhedrim had been up all night, which, after eating the passover, they had spent in apprehending, trying, and examining Jesus, and the witnesses against him; and had come to an unanimous vote, that he was guilty of death; upon which they either put Jesus out of the room for a while, or went into another themselves, to consult what further steps should be taken: or if they went home to their own houses, they very quickly got together again, and met in the temple, where they seem to be, Mat 27:5, unless the story of Judas is, by anticipation, inserted here; and in their council chamber, where they led Jesus, and examined him again concerning his being the Son of God; see Luk 22:66, all which shows how intent they were upon this business, and with what eagerness and diligence they pursued it; their feet ran to evil, and they made haste to shed blood. This was the time of their morning prayers, of their saying their phylacteries, and reciting the "shema", "hear, O Israel! the Lord our God is one Lord", according to their canon, which is this (e): "from what time do they read the "shema" in the morning? from such time that a man can distinguish between blue and white: says R. Eliezer, between blue and green; and he finishes it before the sun shines out. R. Joshua says, before three hours had elapsed:'' but religion, rites, ceremonies, and canons, must all give way to the accomplishment of what their hearts were so much set upon: all the chief priests and elders of the people. The Syriac and Persic versions leave out the word "all", but it is retained in the Vulgate Latin, Arabic, and Ethiopic versions, and in Munster's Hebrew Gospel, and that very rightly. The Scribes and elders met at Caiaphas's house before, Mat 26:57, but it being in the night, they might not be all together; Annas particularly seems to have been absent, Joh 18:24, but now they all assemble together, as in a case of necessity they were obliged to do: their rule was this (f); "the sanhedrim, consisting of seventy and one (as this was), are obliged to sit all of them as one, (or all, and everyone of them,) in their place in the temple; but at what time there is a necessity of their being gathered together, , "they are all of them assembled"; but, at other times, he who has any business may go, and do his pleasure, and return: yet so it is, that there may not be less than twenty three sitting continually all the time of their sitting; (their usual time of sitting was from the morning daily sacrifice, to the evening daily sacrifice (g);) one that is under a necessity of going out; this looks upon his companions that remain, and if twenty three remain, he may go out; but if not, he may not, until the other returns.'' This being now a case of necessity, and great importance, they are all summoned and gathered together, unless we except Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus; who yet might be there, though they did not consent to their counsel and deed, as is certain of the former, Luk 23:51, these took counsel against Jesus; God's holy child Jesus, his anointed, the Messiah; and which was taking counsel against the Lord himself; and so the prophecy in Psa 2:2, had its accomplishment: what they consulted about was to put him to death; it was not what punishment to inflict upon him, whether scourging or death; that was before determined; they had already condemned him to death: but now they enter into close consultation what death to put him to, and in what manner; whether privately, he being now in their hands; or whether by the means of zealots, or by the Roman magistrate; or whether it should be by stoning, which must have been the case, if they put him to death according to their law; and by their authority; or whether by crucifixion, which they chose as the most ignominious and painful; and therefore determined to deliver him up to the Roman governor, and use their interest with him to put him to death, according to the Roman law. (e) Misn. Beracot, c. 1. sect. 2. (f) Maimon. Hilch. Sanhedrin, c. 3. sect. 2. (g) lb. c. 3. sect. 1. Bernidbar Rabba, sect. 1. fol. 177. 3.

But the chief priests and elders persuaded the multitude,.... Among whom the choice lay who should be released. This they did not by haranguing them, or making a public oration to them; but by sending their servants, or proper persons among them, telling them that Jesus had been examined before the sanhedrim that morning, and was found to be a blasphemer; and that the whole court had unanimously condemned him to death, and therefore it became them to act according to their decree: and besides, should this man be set free, they might suggest to them, since he has given out that he is the king Messiah, the Romans hearing of it, will be jealous of such a person, and come and take away both our place and nation, or deprive us of the privileges we have remaining: with such sort of arguments as these, it may be supposed they worked upon the common people. The Persic version reads, "commanded", instead of "persuaded", that they should ask Barabbas to be released to them, and destroy Jesus; for nothing short of that would satisfy them: they thirsted after his blood, and were bent upon his death: to release Barabbas, if Jesus was not destroyed, would not answer their end: they desired Barabbas's liberty for no other reason, but for the sake of the destruction of Jesus.

Jesus was delivered up out of jealousy, and plainly out of jealousy. Even Pilate could not ignore it. Furthermore, the Evangelist did not overlook the matter of divine providence regarding the praise of God, who desired to convert Pilate's wife in a dream. The woman took it upon herself to prevent her husband from passing sentence against Jesus. But Matthew did not explain the dream. All he said was that she had "suffered many things in a dream" because of Jesus. Therefore she "suffered in a dream" and did not suffer beyond that, so we may say that Pilate's wife was fortunate. She "suffered many things in a dream" because of Jesus and she received "in a dream" what she would suffer. Hence you may say it is better for someone to receive bad things in a dream than to receive them in life. Who indeed would not choose to receive bad things "in a dream" [rather than receive them] in life [unless one deserved such things, and it were better to receive bitter things in life than to receive minor troubles in a dream]? He finds comfort indeed and peaceful repose "in the bosom of Abraham" who receives bad things in his life (and not those bad things which he receives in his dreams), and because of them he will also be consoled. As to whether he will also have the beginning of conversion to God for having "suffered many things in a dream" because of Jesus, God only knows.

"And when he was set down on the judgment seat, his wife sent unto him, saying, have thou nothing to do with this just man, for I have suffered many things this day in a dream because of Him." See what a thing takes place again, sufficient to recall them all. For together with the proof from the things done, the dream too was no small thing. And wherefore doth he not see it himself? Either because she was more worthy, or because he, if he had seen it, would not have been equally believed; or would not so much as have told it. Therefore it was ordered that the wife should see it, so that it might be manifest to all. And she doth not merely see it, but also suffers many things, that from his feeling towards his wife, the man may be made more reluctant to the murder. And the time too contributed not a little, for on the very night she saw it. But it was not safe, it may be said, for him to let Him go, because they said He made Himself a king. He ought then to have sought for proofs, and a conviction, and for all the things that are infallible signs of an usurpation, as, for instance, whether He levied forces, whether He collected money, whether he forged arms, whether He attempted any other such thing. But he is led away at random, therefore neither doth Christ acquit him of the blame, in saying, "He that betrayeth me unto thee hath greater sin." So that it was from weakness that he yielded and scourged Him, and delivered Him up. He then was unmanly and weak; but the chief priests wicked and criminal. For since he had found out a device, namely, the law of the feast requiring him to release a condemned person, what do they contrive in opposition to that? "They persuaded the multitude," it is said, "that they should ask Barabbas."

Thus then the judge is terrified through his wife, and that he might not consent in the judgment to the accusation of the Jews, himself endured judgment in the affliction of his wife; the judge is judged, and tortured before he tortures.

(Verse 19 onwards) Now while he was sitting on the judgment seat, his wife sent to him, saying, 'Have nothing to do with that righteous Man, for I have suffered many things today in a dream because of Him.' But the chief priests and elders persuaded the multitudes that they should ask for Barabbas and destroy Jesus. The governor answered and said to them, 'Which of the two do you want me to release to you?' They said, 'Barabbas!' Note that God often reveals dreams to the Gentiles; and that the testimony of the people is that Pilate and his wife confess the righteous Lord.

Observe also that visions are often vouchsafed by God to the Gentiles, and that the confession of Pilate and his wife that the Lord was innocent is a testimony of the Gentile people.

It is to be noted, that the bench (tribunal) is the seat of the judge, the throne (solium) of the king, the chair (cathedra) of the master. In visions and dreams the wife of a Gentile understood what the Jews when awake would neither believe nor understand. Or otherwise; The devil now at last understanding that he should lose his trophies through Christ, as he had at the first brought in death by a woman, so by a woman he would deliver Christ out of the hands of His enemies, lest through His death he should lose the sovereignty of death.

When he was seated upon the judgement seat, his wife sent unto him, saying, Have thou nothing to do with that righteous man: for I have suffered many things this day in a dream because of Him. O, how miraculous! While being judged by Pilate, Christ caused his wife to suffer a fright. It was not Pilate who saw the dream, but his wife; either because he was unworthy, or because the people would not have believed that he had seen such a dream and would think that he said this only with a view towards granting a pardon. And perhaps he would have kept silent if he had seen the dream, as he was the judge. The dream was a work of providence, not occurring so that Christ would be released, but so that the woman would be saved.

"And as he was sitting in the place of judgment, his wife sent to him." Above the evangelist set forth one reason why Pilate strove to release him; here he sets forth another reason, namely, the warning of his wife. And first, the warning is set forth; secondly, the cause of the warning, at "for I have suffered many things this day in a dream because of him." As a certain Gloss says, the tribunal is the seat of judges. Proverbs 20:8: "the king that sitteth on the throne of judgment scattereth away all evil with his look." Properly, the chair belongs to teachers; above at 23:2: "the scribes and the Pharisees have sitten on the chair of Moses." And it is called "tribunal" from the tribunes, because tribunes were first elected by the Romans to render judgments. And he says "in the place of judgment": and this is a Greek manner of speaking. For sometimes "pro" is taken for "before"; just as, "the army is before the camp," i.e., in front of the camp. Sometimes for "in"; hence "in the place of judgment," i.e., at the tribunal. His wife sent to him saying. This woman was a Gentile, and she signifies the Church of the Gentiles, which received Christ, as in 1 Corinthians 1. "Have thou nothing to do with that just man," i.e., it does not pertain to you to judge him; rather, he himself ought to be your judge; Acts 10:42: "who was appointed judge of the living and of the dead." "For I have suffered many things this day in a dream because of him." Here the cause is set forth. And the manner of speaking is this: for when someone is withdrawn from the senses, certain things appear according to the imagination, and it is customary for a vision to be referred to what appears, since there is an alienation from the senses: but this happens sometimes in waking and sometimes in sleep. When in waking, it is called a vision; hence Numbers 12:6 says: "if there be among you a prophet of the Lord, I will appear to him in a vision, or I will speak to him by a dream." But here "prophet" is used for both. It should be noted that the cause of this is sometimes an intrinsic bodily one, as when blood is superabundant, there is an appearance of red things, and so with other things. Sometimes from an external cause, as from cold someone dreams he is in snow. But sometimes it happens from a spiritual cause, and this either from God through a good angel; and concerning this Job 33:15 says: "by a dream in a vision by night he openeth the ears of men." And these are true and have truth; yet one should not trust in them too much; Sirach 34:7: "give not thy heart to them, for dreams have led many astray." Sometimes they are caused by demons, who can impress upon the imagination, because it is a bodily power: hence divinations and things of this sort are forbidden in the law; Deuteronomy 18:10: "neither let there be found among you any one that observeth dreams, or auguries etc." Concerning this vision we can say that it was made by God through good angels; or by the devil, because it was aimed at impeding the passion: because in the passion there was the sin of killing. And in this way it was done through good angels; but from the passion follows its fruit, and therefore the devil, now perceiving him to be God and fearing to lose his power through the passion, just as he had put it in the mind of Judas to betray him, so now also wished to impede it, not because he wished to impede the sin, but rather the fruit of the passion.