27:31 Then Judas, which had betrayed him, when he saw that he
was condemned, repented himself, and brought again the
thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders,
(1) An example of the horrible judgment of God upon those who
sell Christ as opposed to those who buy Christ.
27:5 And he cast down the pieces of silver in the temple, and
a departed, and went and hanged himself.
(a) Out of the sight of men.
27:6 And the chief priests took the silver pieces, and said, It
is not lawful for to put them into the b treasury,
because it is the price c of blood.
(b) The treasury of the temple.
(c) Of life and death.
27:7 And they took counsel, and bought with them the potter's
field, to bury d strangers in.
(d) Strangers and guests, whom the Jews could not endure to
be joined with even after they were dead.
27:9 Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by e Jeremy the
prophet, saying, f And they took the thirty pieces of
silver, the price of him that was valued, whom they of the
children of Israel did value;
(e) As this prophecy is found in (Zec 11:12) it cannot
be denied that Jeremy's name slipped into the text
either through the fault of the Scribe, or by someone
else's ignorance: it may also be that it came out of
the margin by means of the abbreviation on one of the
letters, the one being "yod" and the other being
"zayin", which are very similar: But in the Syrian text
the Prophet's name is not written down at all.
(f) The evangelist does not follow the prophet's words, but
instead he follows the prophet's meaning, which he
shows to have been fulfilled.
27:112 And Jesus stood before the governor: and the governor
asked him, saying, Art thou the King of the Jews? And
Jesus said unto him, Thou sayest.
(2) Christ holds his peace when he is accused in order that we
may not be accused: acknowledging our guiltiness, and at
the same time his own innocence.
27:153 Now at [that] feast the governor was wont to release
unto the people a prisoner, whom they would.
(3) Christ is first acquitted by the same judge who condemns
him, that we might see how the just dies for the unjust.
27:244 When Pilate saw that he could prevail nothing, but
[that] rather a tumult was made, he took water, and g
washed [his] hands before the multitude, saying, I am
innocent of the h blood of this just person: see ye [to
it].
(4) Christ being acquitted by the testimony of the judge
himself is nonetheless condemned by him, in order to acquit
us before God.
(g) It was a custom in ancient times that when any man was
murdered, or there were other slaughters, to wash their
hands in water to declare themselves guiltless.
(h) Of the murder; a Hebrew idiom.
27:25 Then answered all the people, and said, i His blood [be]
on us, and on our children.
(i) If there is any offence committed in slaying him, let
us and our posterity suffer for it.
27:285 And they stripped him, and k put on him a l
scarlet robe.
(5) Christ endures that reproach which was due to our sins;
meanwhile, in spite of this, by the secret providence of
God he is entitled king by those who did him that
reproach.
(k) They threw a cloak about him and wrapped it around him,
for it did not have any sleeves.
(l) John and Mark also mention a purple robe, which is
also a very pleasant red. But these profane and
impudently disrespectful soldiers clad Jesus in this
array to make an additional mockery of him, this one
who was indeed a true King.
27:32 And as they came out, they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by
name: him they m compelled to bear his cross.
(m) They compelled Simon to bear his burdensome cross, by
which it appears that Jesus was so poorly handled
before that he fainted along the way, and was not able
to bear his cross the whole distance: for John writes
that he did bear the cross, that is, at the beginning.
27:336 And when they were come unto a place called Golgotha,
that is to say, a place of a skull,
(6) He is led out of the city so that we might be brought into
the heavenly kingdom.
27:347 They gave him vinegar to drink mingled with gall: and
when he had tasted [thereof], he would not drink.
(7) Christ found no comfort anywhere, that in him we might be
filled with comfort.
27:358 And they crucified him, and parted his garments,
casting lots: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken
by the prophet, They parted my garments among them, and
upon my vesture did they cast lots.
(8) He is made a curse, so that in him we may be blessed: his
garments are taken from him so that we might be enriched by
his nakedness.
27:379 And set up over his head his accusation written, THIS
IS JESUS THE KING OF THE JEWS.
(9) He is pronounced the true Messiah, even by those who reject
him.
27:3810 Then were there two thieves crucified with him, one
on the right hand, and another on the left.
(10) Christ then began to judge the world, when after his
judgment he hung between two thieves.
27:3911 And they that passed by reviled him, wagging their
heads,
(11) To make full satisfaction for us, Christ suffered and
overcame not only the torments of the body, but also the
most horrible torments of the mind.
27:44 The n thieves also, which were crucified with him, cast
the same in his teeth.
(n) This is spoken using the figure of speech called
synecdoche, for only one of the thieves reviled him.
27:4512 Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all
the land unto the ninth hour.
(12) Heaven itself is darkened for very horror, and Jesus cries
out from the depth of hell, and all during this time he is
being mocked.
27:46 And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice,
saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God,
my God, why hast thou o forsaken me?
(o) That is, in this misery: And this crying out is a natural
part of his humanity, which, even though it was void of
sin, still felt the wrath of God, the wrath which is due
to our sins.
27:47 Some of them that stood there, when they heard [that],
said, This [man] calleth for p Elias.
(p) They allude to Elias' name, not because they did not
understand what he said, but because of a profane
impudence and disrespect, and he repeated those words
so that this repetition of the name might be
understood.
27:5013 Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice,
yielded up the ghost.
(13) Christ, after he had overcome other enemies, at length
provokes and attacks death itself.
27:5114 And, behold, the q veil of the temple was rent in
twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake,
and the rocks rent;
(14) Christ, when he is dead, shows himself to be God Almighty,
and even his enemies confess the same.
(q) Which separated the holiest of all.
27:52 And the r graves were opened; and many bodies of the
saints which slept arose,
(r) That is to say, the stones broke apart, and the graves
opened themselves to show by this act that death was
overcome: and the resurrection of the dead followed
the resurrection of Christ, as the next verse
indicates (Mt 27:53).
27:5715 When the even was come, there came a rich man of
Arimathaea, named Joseph, who also himself was Jesus'
disciple:
(15) Christ is buried, not privately or by stealth, but with
the governor's consent, by a famous man, in a place not
far distant, in a new tomb, so that his death cannot be
doubted.
27:6216 Now the next day, that followed the day of the
preparation, the chief priests and Pharisees came together
unto Pilate,
(16) The keeping of the tomb is committed to Christ's own
murderers, so that there might be no doubt of his
resurrection.
27:65 Pilate said unto them, Ye have a f watch: go your way,
make [it] as sure as ye can.
(f) The soldiers of the garrison who were appointed to
guard the temple.
