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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "//www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="//www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /><meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width; initial-scale=1.0;"/><title>Luke 23 Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers</title><link rel="canonical" href="https://biblehub.com/commentaries/expositors/luke/23.htm" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="/5001com.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="../spec.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 4800px), only screen and (max-device-width: 4800px)" href="/4801.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 1550px), only screen and (max-device-width: 1550px)" href="/1551.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 1250px), only screen and (max-device-width: 1250px)" href="/1251.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 1050px), only screen and (max-device-width: 1050px)" href="/1051.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 900px), only screen and (max-device-width: 900px)" href="/901.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 800px), only screen and (max-device-width: 800px)" href="/801.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 575px), only screen and (max-device-width: 575px)" href="/501.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-height: 450px), only screen and (max-device-height: 450px)" href="/h451.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="/print.css" type="text/css" media="Print" /><script type="application/javascript" src="https://scripts.webcontentassessor.com/scripts/8a2459b64f9cac8122fc7f2eac4409c8555fac9383016db59c4c26e3d5b8b157"></script><script src='https://qd.admetricspro.com/js/biblehub/biblehub-layout-loader-revcatch.js'></script><script id='HyDgbd_1s' src='https://prebidads.revcatch.com/ads.js' type='text/javascript' async></script><script>(function(w,d,b,s,i){var cts=d.createElement(s);cts.async=true;cts.id='catchscript'; 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And Jesus said to him, You say.">Matthew 27:11-14</a>; <a href="/context/mark/15-2.htm" title="And Pilate asked him, Are you the King of the Jews? And he answering said to them, You say it.">Mark 15:2-5</a>.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/luke/23-2.htm">Luke 23:2</a></div><div class="verse">And they began to accuse him, saying, We found this <i>fellow</i> perverting the nation, and forbidding to give tribute to Caesar, saying that he himself is Christ a King.</div>(2) <span class= "bld">Perverting the nation, and forbidding to give tribute . . .</span>—St. Luke’s report of the accusation is more definite than that in the other Gospels. The question asked in <a href="/context/luke/20-20.htm" title="And they watched him, and sent forth spies, which should feign themselves just men, that they might take hold of his words, that so they might deliver him to the power and authority of the governor.">Luke 20:20-26</a>, was obviously intended to lead up to this; and though then baffled by our Lord’s answer, the priests now brought, backed by false witnesses, the charge for which they had hoped to find evidence in His own words. It seems probable that these facts came to the writer’s knowledge in the same way as those that immediately follow. (See Note on <a href="/luke/23-6.htm" title="When Pilate heard of Galilee, he asked whether the man were a Galilaean.">Luke 23:6</a>.) It may be noted that the charge in the Greek is slightly enlarged. The question had referred, as reported by St. Matthew and St. Mark, to one form of tribute—the <span class= "ital">census,</span> or poll-tax. The charge speaks of “taxes” in the plural, and uses the most general words. In <a href="/luke/20-22.htm" title="Is it lawful for us to give tribute to Caesar, or no?">Luke 20:22</a> the same word is used as in this verse, but in the singular. St. Paul, in a passage which may well have been based upon St. Luke’s report of our Lord’s words, uses the same term as St. Luke (<a href="/context/romans/13-6.htm" title="For for this cause pay you tribute also: for they are God's ministers, attending continually on this very thing.">Romans 13:6-7</a>), first generically in the plural, and then in the singular as contrasted with customs duties.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/luke/23-3.htm">Luke 23:3</a></div><div class="verse">And Pilate asked him, saying, Art thou the King of the Jews? And he answered him and said, Thou sayest <i>it</i>.</div>(3) <span class= "bld">Thou sayest it.</span>—Here, as in <a href="/luke/22-70.htm" title="Then said they all, Are you then the Son of God? And he said to them, You say that I am.">Luke 22:70</a> and <a href="/matthew/26-64.htm" title="Jesus said to him, You have said: nevertheless I say to you, Hereafter shall you see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven.">Matthew 26:64</a>, the formula is one of confession. The fuller narrative of St. John should be compared throughout.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/luke/23-4.htm">Luke 23:4</a></div><div class="verse">Then said Pilate to the chief priests and <i>to</i> the people, I find no fault in this man.</div>(4) <span class= "bld">I find no fault in this man.</span>—The Greek term for “fault” is somewhat more technical than the. English, and is almost equivalent to what we call the “count” of an indictment. It may be noted that, as far as the New Testament is concerned, it is peculiar to St. Luke, in this chapter and in <a href="/luke/20-40.htm" title="And after that they dared not ask him any question at all.">Luke 20:40</a>.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/luke/23-5.htm">Luke 23:5</a></div><div class="verse">And they were the more fierce, saying, He stirreth up the people, teaching throughout all Jewry, beginning from Galilee to this place.</div>(5) <span class= "bld">Teaching throughout all Jewry.</span>—This is one of the few passages in which the old English equivalent for Judæa retains its place in the Authorised version (<a href="/daniel/5-13.htm" title="Then was Daniel brought in before the king. And the king spoke and said to Daniel, Are you that Daniel, which are of the children of the captivity of Judah, whom the king my father brought out of Jewry?">Daniel 5:13</a>); in the Prayer Book version of the Psalms, from the Great Bible (see <span class= "ital">Introduction</span>)<span class= "ital">,</span> we find it in <a href="/psalms/76-1.htm" title="In Judah is God known: his name is great in Israel.">Psalm 76:1</a>. Traces of the general use of the word remain in Shakespeare’s way of speaking of “Herod of Jewry,” and in the Old Jewry as the name of the Jews’ quarter in ancient London. The charge of “beginning from Galilee” probably rested upon the crowds that had followed Him on His last journey to Jerusalem.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/luke/23-6.htm">Luke 23:6</a></div><div class="verse">When Pilate heard of Galilee, he asked whether the man were a Galilaean.</div>(6) <span class= "bld">When Pilate heard of Galilee.</span>—The incident that follows is peculiar to St. Luke, and may have been obtained by him from Manaen or other persons connected with the Herodian household with whom he appears to have come in contact. (See <span class= "ital">Introduction.</span>) It is obvious that Pilate catches at the word in the hope of shifting on another the responsibility of con demning One whom he believed to be innocent and had learnt to respect, while yet he had not the courage to acquit Him.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/luke/23-7.htm">Luke 23:7</a></div><div class="verse">And as soon as he knew that he belonged unto Herod's jurisdiction, he sent him to Herod, who himself also was at Jerusalem at that time.</div>(7) <span class= "bld">Unto Herod’s jurisdiction.</span>—The word is the same as that commonly translated “authority,” but the English exactly expresses its meaning here.<p><span class= "bld">Who himself also was at Jerusalem.</span>—It was, of course, no strange thing that the Tetrarch of Galilee, professing Judaism, should come up to keep the Passover in the Holy City. And it is clear that he kept a kind of court there, had his so-called Herodian Rabbis with him (see Notes on <a href="/mark/3-6.htm" title="And the Pharisees went forth, and straightway took counsel with the Herodians against him, how they might destroy him.">Mark 3:6</a>; <a href="/mark/12-13.htm" title="And they send to him certain of the Pharisees and of the Herodians, to catch him in his words.">Mark 12:13</a>), and was attended by his troops (<a href="/luke/23-11.htm" title="And Herod with his men of war set him at nothing, and mocked him, and arrayed him in a gorgeous robe, and sent him again to Pilate.">Luke 23:11</a>). Up to this time he had remained in sullen seclusion, and no visits of courtesy had been exchanged between him and Pilate.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/luke/23-8.htm">Luke 23:8</a></div><div class="verse">And when Herod saw Jesus, he was exceeding glad: for he was desirous to see him of a long <i>season</i>, because he had heard many things of him; and he hoped to have seen some miracle done by him.</div>(8) <span class= "bld">He was desirous to see him of a long</span> season.—The vague feeling of wonder had begun soon after the death of the Baptist. (See Notes on <a href="/matthew/14-2.htm" title="And said to his servants, This is John the Baptist; he is risen from the dead; and therefore mighty works do show forth themselves in him.">Matthew 14:2</a>; <a href="/mark/6-14.htm" title="And king Herod heard of him; (for his name was spread abroad:) and he said, That John the Baptist was risen from the dead, and therefore mighty works do show forth themselves in him.">Mark 6:14</a>.) It had its beginning in hearing of wonders; it ended in a desire to see one. It was mingled, possibly, with a feeling of bitter enmity which no miracle could remove. (See Note on <a href="/luke/13-31.htm" title="The same day there came certain of the Pharisees, saying to him, Get you out, and depart hence: for Herod will kill you.">Luke 13:31</a>.)<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/luke/23-9.htm">Luke 23:9</a></div><div class="verse">Then he questioned with him in many words; but he answered him nothing.</div>(9) <span class= "bld">He answered him nothing.</span>—We can hardly help asking ourselves what were likely to have been among Herod’s questions. Did the Prisoner who stood before him really claim to be a King? Did He proclaim Himself as the Christ? Was He John the Baptist, risen from the dead? If not, who and what were his earthly parents? The unbroken silence of the Accused must have been strangely impressive at the time, and is singularly suggestive when we remember how He had answered Caiaphas when He had been adjured in the name of the living God. He had spoken to Pilate in the tones of a sad gentleness (<a href="/context/john/19-33.htm" title="But when they came to Jesus, and saw that he was dead already, they broke not his legs:">John 19:33-37</a>). To Herod alone, the incestuous adulterer, the murderer of the Forerunner, He does not vouchsafe, from first to last, to utter a single syllable.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/luke/23-10.htm">Luke 23:10</a></div><div class="verse">And the chief priests and scribes stood and vehemently accused him.</div>(10) <span class= "bld">The chief priests and scribes.</span>—The accusers seem to have accompanied the Accused. There was nothing strange in the presence of the Sadducean members of the higher priestly order, always courting the favour of the powerful, at the court of the Tetrarch. Among the scribes may have been some of the Herodian section (see Notes on <a href="/matthew/22-16.htm" title="And they sent out to him their disciples with the Herodians, saying, Master, we know that you are true, and teach the way of God in truth, neither care you for any man: for you regard not the person of men.">Matthew 22:16</a>), who were likely to gain a hearing there, and had probably come up with their prince from Galilee.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/luke/23-11.htm">Luke 23:11</a></div><div class="verse">And Herod with his men of war set him at nought, and mocked <i>him</i>, and arrayed him in a gorgeous robe, and sent him again to Pilate.</div>(11) <span class= "bld">Herod with his men of war.</span>—Better, perhaps, <span class= "ital">troops,</span> or <span class= "ital">soldiers.</span> The word is the same as that translated “armies” in <a href="/matthew/22-7.htm" title="But when the king heard thereof, he was wroth: and he sent forth his armies, and destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city.">Matthew 22:7</a>, <a href="/acts/23-27.htm" title="This man was taken of the Jews, and should have been killed of them: then came I with an army, and rescued him, having understood that he was a Roman.">Acts 23:27</a>; “soldiers” in <a href="/acts/23-10.htm" title="And when there arose a great dissension, the chief captain, fearing lest Paul should have been pulled in pieces of them, commanded the soldiers to go down, and to take him by force from among them, and to bring him into the castle.">Acts 23:10</a>.<p><span class= "bld">Arrayed him in a gorgeous robe.</span>—Literally, <span class= "ital">bright.</span> The word is used of the angel’s garment, in <a href="/acts/10-30.htm" title="And Cornelius said, Four days ago I was fasting until this hour; and at the ninth hour I prayed in my house, and, behold, a man stood before me in bright clothing,">Acts 10:30</a>; of fine linen, in <a href="/revelation/15-6.htm" title="And the seven angels came out of the temple, having the seven plagues, clothed in pure and white linen, and having their breasts girded with golden girdles.">Revelation 15:6</a>; <a href="/revelation/18-4.htm" title="And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that you be not partakers of her sins, and that you receive not of her plagues.">Revelation 18:4</a>; of crystal, in <a href="/revelation/22-1.htm" title="And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb.">Revelation 22:1</a>; of a star, in <a href="/revelation/22-16.htm" title="I Jesus have sent my angel to testify to you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star.">Revelation 22:16</a>. It may have been such as Josephus describes Herod Agrippa as wearing, in the incident which he records (<span class= "ital">Ant.</span> xix. 8, § 4) in common with <a href="/acts/12-21.htm" title="And on a set day Herod, arrayed in royal apparel, sat on his throne, and made an oration to them.">Acts 12:21</a>—a robe of white tissue of some kind richly embroidered with silver. We may, perhaps, venture to trace in the outrage, a vindictive retaliation for the words which the Prophet had once spoken of those who were “gorgeously apparelled.” (See Notes on <a href="/matthew/11-8.htm" title="But what went you out for to see? A man clothed in soft raiment? behold, they that wear soft clothing are in kings' houses.">Matthew 11:8</a>; <a href="/luke/7-25.htm" title="But what went you out for to see? A man clothed in soft raiment? Behold, they which are gorgeously appareled, and live delicately, are in kings' courts.">Luke 7:25</a>.)<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/luke/23-12.htm">Luke 23:12</a></div><div class="verse">And the same day Pilate and Herod were made friends together: for before they were at enmity between themselves.</div>(12) <span class= "bld">Before they were at enmity between themselves.</span>—The special cause of enmity is not known. Possibly the massacre of the Galileans, mentioned in <a href="/luke/13-1.htm" title="There were present at that season some that told him of the Galilaeans, whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices.">Luke 13:1</a>, may have had somewhat to do with it. The union of the two in their enmity against Jesus, though not mentioned in the Gospels, is referred to in the first recorded hymn of the Church of Christ (<a href="/acts/4-27.htm" title="For of a truth against your holy child Jesus, whom you have anointed, both Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together,">Acts 4:27</a>). Herod, however, it will be noted, passes no formal sentence. He is satisfied with Pilate’s mark of respect for his jurisdiction.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/luke/23-13.htm">Luke 23:13</a></div><div class="verse">And Pilate, when he had called together the chief priests and the rulers and the people,</div>(13-23) <span class= "bld">And Pilate, when he had called together</span> . . .-See Notes on <a href="/context/matthew/27-15.htm" title="Now at that feast the governor was wont to release to the people a prisoner, whom they would.">Matthew 27:15-23</a>; <a href="/context/mark/15-6.htm" title="Now at that feast he released to them one prisoner, whomsoever they desired.">Mark 15:6-14</a>. The first summons to the members of the Council, and the reference to Herod’s examination of the Prisoner are, as the sequel of the previous incident, peculiar to St. Luke.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/luke/23-15.htm">Luke 23:15</a></div><div class="verse">No, nor yet Herod: for I sent you to him; and, lo, nothing worthy of death is done unto him.</div>(15) <span class= "bld">I sent you to him.</span>—The better MSS. give, “he sent him back to us.”<p><span class= "bld">Nothing worthy of death is done unto him.</span>—Better, <span class= "ital">is done by Him.</span> The translators appear to have mistaken the construction, and to have taken the words as meaning “nothing worthy of death has been done to—<span class= "ital">i.e.,</span> against—Herod.” The error is common to all the English versions.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/luke/23-16.htm">Luke 23:16</a></div><div class="verse">I will therefore chastise him, and release <i>him</i>.</div>(16) <span class= "bld">I will therefore chastise him.</span>—The primary meaning of the word was to correct as children are corrected, thence to use the rod, as in <a href="/proverbs/19-18.htm" title="Chasten your son while there is hope, and let not your soul spare for his crying.">Proverbs 19:18</a>; <a href="/proverbs/29-17.htm" title="Correct your son, and he shall give you rest; yes, he shall give delight to your soul.">Proverbs 29:17</a>. As used here it implied the Roman punishment of scourging. Pilate was here, as throughout, halting between two opinions, convinced of the innocence of the Accused, yet afraid to oppose the people. Would it not be enough, he thought, that they should see Him treated as guilty of a minor offence? Would they not accept His release as part of the ceremonial of the day?<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/luke/23-17.htm">Luke 23:17</a></div><div class="verse">(For of necessity he must release one unto them at the feast.)</div>(17) <span class= "bld">For of necessity he must release one unto them.</span>—Literally, <span class= "ital">he had a necessity.</span> The better MSS. are singularly divided as to this verse. Most omit it altogether. One, followed by some of the versions, has it after <a href="/luke/23-19.htm" title="(Who for a certain sedition made in the city, and for murder, was cast into prison.)">Luke 23:19</a>. It would seem probable from these facts that the narrative was originally written without it, that it was then felt that the release of Barabbas required an explanation, and that a note was first added in the margin, either by a transcriber or by the writer himself in a duplicate copy, and then found its way into the text. The precise form of the phrase, to “have a necessity,” is not found in the other Gospels, but is common to St. Luke (<a href="/luke/11-18.htm" title="If Satan also be divided against himself, how shall his kingdom stand? because you say that I cast out devils through Beelzebub.">Luke 11:18</a> and here), and St. Paul (<a href="/1_corinthians/7-37.htm" title="Nevertheless he that stands steadfast in his heart, having no necessity, but has power over his own will, and has so decreed in his heart that he will keep his virgin, does well.">1Corinthians 7:37</a>). It is found also in <a href="/hebrews/7-27.htm" title="Who needs not daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifice, first for his own sins, and then for the people's: for this he did once, when he offered up himself.">Hebrews 7:27</a>; Jude <a href="/luke/23-3.htm" title="And Pilate asked him, saying, Are you the King of the Jews? And he answered him and said, You say it.">Luke 23:3</a>. On the practice thus described, see Note on <a href="/matthew/27-15.htm" title="Now at that feast the governor was wont to release to the people a prisoner, whom they would.">Matthew 27:15</a>.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/luke/23-19.htm">Luke 23:19</a></div><div class="verse">(Who for a certain sedition made in the city, and for murder, was cast into prison.)</div>(19) <span class= "bld">Who for a certain sedition.</span>—St. Luke’s and St. Mark’s accounts agree more closely than the others. St. John alone speaks of Barabbas as a “robber;” St. Matthew merely calls him a “notable prisoner.”<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/luke/23-23.htm">Luke 23:23</a></div><div class="verse">And they were instant with loud voices, requiring that he might be crucified. And the voices of them and of the chief priests prevailed.</div>(23) <span class= "bld">They were instant.</span>—Literally, <span class= "ital">they pressed upon Him.</span> As the adjective is almost passing into the list of obsolescent words, it may be well to remind the reader that it has the force of “urgent.” So we have “instant in prayer” (<a href="/romans/12-12.htm" title="Rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing instant in prayer;">Romans 12:12</a>), “be instant in season, out of season” (<a href="/2_timothy/4-2.htm" title="Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long-suffering and doctrine.">2Timothy 4:2</a>).<p><span class= "bld">And of the chief priests.</span>—The words are omitted in many of the best MSS.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/luke/23-24.htm">Luke 23:24</a></div><div class="verse">And Pilate gave sentence that it should be as they required.</div>(24-28) <span class= "bld">And Pilate gave sentence.</span>—See Notes on <a href="/context/matthew/27-24.htm" title="When Pilate saw that he could prevail nothing, but that rather a tumult was made, he took water, and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, I am innocent of the blood of this just person: see you to it.">Matthew 27:24-30</a>; <a href="/context/mark/15-15.htm" title="And so Pilate, willing to content the people, released Barabbas to them, and delivered Jesus, when he had scourged him, to be crucified.">Mark 15:15-19</a>. St. Luke’s account is here the briefest of the four, St. John’s by far the fullest. Here we read nothing of the outrages of Pilate’s troops, the purple robe, and the crown of thorns. The omissions are significant, in conjunction with that which is peculiar to him, as pointing to the sources of his information. Those who were present at Herod’s court were not likely to know fully what was passing in the Prætorium.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/luke/23-25.htm">Luke 23:25</a></div><div class="verse">And he released unto them him that for sedition and murder was cast into prison, whom they had desired; but he delivered Jesus to their will.</div>(25) <span class= "bld">Whom they had desired.</span>—Better, <span class= "ital">whom they were asking for.</span> The tense is imperfect, not pluperfect, and implies that the cries were still continuing.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/luke/23-27.htm">Luke 23:27</a></div><div class="verse">And there followed him a great company of people, and of women, which also bewailed and lamented him.</div>(27) <span class= "bld">A great company of people, and of women.</span>—Here, again, we come across a characteristic incident peculiar to St. Luke, and obviously derived from the devout women to whom we have traced so many facts which he alone records. (See <span class= "ital">Introduction.</span>)<span class= "ital"> “</span>Daughters of Jerusalem” were there, as our Lord’s words show—perhaps one of the sisterhoods which were formed in that city for mitigating the sufferings of condemned criminals by narcotic drinks (Deutsch. <span class= "ital">Remains,</span> p. 38)—and among these may have been Mary and Martha, but <a href="/luke/23-49.htm" title="And all his acquaintance, and the women that followed him from Galilee, stood afar off, beholding these things.">Luke 23:49</a> implies the presence of women from Galilee also. The wailing was loud and bitter, for they, we may believe, had cherished, even more fondly than the disciples, the thought that “the kingdom of God should immediately appear” (<a href="/luke/19-11.htm" title="And as they heard these things, he added and spoke a parable, because he was near to Jerusalem, and because they thought that the kingdom of God should immediately appear.">Luke 19:11</a>).<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/luke/23-28.htm">Luke 23:28</a></div><div class="verse">But Jesus turning unto them said, Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for me, but weep for yourselves, and for your children.</div>(28) <span class= "bld">Daughters of Jerusalem.</span>—It is characteristic of the tenderness of our Lord’s sympathy that these were the first words recorded as coming from His lips after He left the presence of Pilate. The mocking, the scourging, the spitting, had all been borne in silence. Now He speaks, and His thoughts are of the far-off sufferings of others, rather than of those that were then falling upon Himself.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/luke/23-29.htm">Luke 23:29</a></div><div class="verse">For, behold, the days are coming, in the which they shall say, Blessed <i>are</i> the barren, and the wombs that never bare, and the paps which never gave suck.</div>(29) <span class= "bld">Blessed are the barren.</span>—We must enter into all the passionate desire of Israelite women for offspring, as we see it, <span class= "ital">e.g.,</span> in Rachel (<a href="/genesis/30-1.htm" title="And when Rachel saw that she bore Jacob no children, Rachel envied her sister; and said to Jacob, Give me children, or else I die.">Genesis 30:1</a>) and in Hannah (<a href="/context/1_samuel/1-10.htm" title="And she was in bitterness of soul, and prayed to the LORD, and wept sore.">1Samuel 1:10-11</a>), in order to estimate the strangeness of such a beatitude. With some of those who heard it, its force may have been emphasised by its contrast between it and the blessing which had been once uttered by a woman who may, perhaps, have been one of them (<a href="/luke/11-27.htm" title="And it came to pass, as he spoke these things, a certain woman of the company lifted up her voice, and said to him, Blessed is the womb that bore you, and the breasts which you have sucked.">Luke 11:27</a>).<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/luke/23-30.htm">Luke 23:30</a></div><div class="verse">Then shall they begin to say to the mountains, Fall on us; and to the hills, Cover us.</div>(30) <span class= "bld">Then shall they begin to say to the mountains.</span>—The imagery was natural in a limestone country such as Judæa, subject to earthquakes. Commonly, such catastrophes were dreaded, and men prayed against them. The time was coming when the dens and caves which usually offered a place of refuge from invading armies (<a href="/isaiah/2-19.htm" title="And they shall go into the holes of the rocks, and into the caves of the earth, for fear of the LORD, and for the glory of his majesty, when he rises to shake terribly the earth.">Isaiah 2:19</a>) would prove insufficient, and men would cry, as they had done of old (comp. <a href="/hosea/10-8.htm" title="The high places also of Aven, the sin of Israel, shall be destroyed: the thorn and the thistle shall come up on their altars; and they shall say to the mountains, Cover us; and to the hills, Fall on us.">Hosea 10:8</a>, from which the words are quoted), to the mountains to fall on them.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/luke/23-31.htm">Luke 23:31</a></div><div class="verse">For if they do these things in a green tree, what shall be done in the dry?</div>(31) <span class= "bld">If they do these things in a green tree.</span>—The word for “tree” primarily meant “wood” or “timber,” the tree cut down. In later Greek, however, as, <span class= "ital">e.g.,</span> in <a href="/revelation/2-7.htm" title="He that has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit said to the churches; To him that overcomes will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the middle of the paradise of God.">Revelation 2:7</a>; <a href="/revelation/22-2.htm" title="In the middle of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bore twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.">Revelation 22:2</a>; <a href="/revelation/22-14.htm" title="Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.">Revelation 22:14</a>; <a href="/revelation/22-19.htm" title="And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.">Revelation 22:19</a>, it was used for “tree.” The “green tree” is, therefore, that which is yet living, capable of bearing fruit; the “dry,” that which is barren, fruitless, withered, fit only for the axe (<a href="/matthew/3-10.htm" title="And now also the ax is laid to the root of the trees: therefore every tree which brings not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.">Matthew 3:10</a>; <a href="/luke/13-7.htm" title="Then said he to the dresser of his vineyard, Behold, these three years I come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and find none: cut it down; why encumbers it the ground?">Luke 13:7</a>). The words have so much the character of a proverb that the verb may almost be treated as practically impersonal. So far as any persons are implied, we must think of our Lord as speaking of the representatives of Roman power. If Pilate could thus sentence to death One in whom he acknowledged that he could find no fault, what might be expected from his successors when they had to deal with a people rebellious and in arms? In <a href="/1_peter/4-17.htm" title="For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?">1Peter 4:17</a> we have the same thought in a more general and less figurative form.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/luke/23-33.htm">Luke 23:33</a></div><div class="verse">And when they were come to the place, which is called Calvary, there they crucified him, and the malefactors, one on the right hand, and the other on the left.</div>(33) <span class= "bld">The place, which is called Calvary.</span>—On the place and name, see Note on <a href="/matthew/27-33.htm" title="And when they were come to a place called Golgotha, that is to say, a place of a skull,">Matthew 27:33</a>. As a matter of translation, it would clearly have been better either to give the Greek form (<span class= "ital">Cranion</span>)<span class= "ital">,</span> or its meaning (= “skull”) in English. The Vulgate, however, had given <span class= "ital">Calvarium,</span> and that word had taken so strong a hold on men’s minds, that it was apparently thought better, as in all the English versions, to retain it here. It is not without interest to note that the name which more than any other is associated with Protestant hymns and meditations on the atonement, should come to us from the Vulgate of the Latin Church.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/luke/23-34.htm">Luke 23:34</a></div><div class="verse">Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do. And they parted his raiment, and cast lots.</div>(34) <span class= "bld">Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.</span>—Again, the silence is broken, not by the cry of anguish or sigh of passionate complaint, but by words of tenderest pity and intercession. It is well, however, that we should remember who were the primary direct objects of that prayer. Not Pilate, for he knew that he had condemned the innocent; not the chief priests and scribes, for their sin, too, was against light and knowledge. Those for whom our Lord then prayed were clearly the soldiers who nailed Him to the cross, to whom the work was but that which they were, as they deemed, bound to do as part of their duty. It is, however, legitimate to think of His intercession as including, in its ultimate extension, all who in any measure sin against God as not knowing what they do, who speak or act against the Son of Man without being guilty of the sin against the Holy Ghost. (See Note on <a href="/acts/3-17.htm" title="And now, brothers, I know that through ignorance you did it, as did also your rulers.">Acts 3:17</a>.)<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/luke/23-35.htm">Luke 23:35</a></div><div class="verse">And the people stood beholding. And the rulers also with them derided <i>him</i>, saying, He saved others; let him save himself, if he be Christ, the chosen of God.</div>(35) <span class= "bld">And the rulers also with them derided him.</span>—St. Luke uses the generic term for the members of the Sanhedrin, whom St. Matthew particularises as “chief priests, scribes, and elders.” The verb is the same as in 16:14, and implies the curled lip and distended nostril of scorn.<p><span class= "bld">He saved others.</span>—The words were, like those of Caiaphas (<a href="/john/11-50.htm" title="Nor consider that it is expedient for us, that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation perish not.">John 11:50</a>), an unconscious prophecy, in part also an admission of the work that He had done, as in the case of Lazarus, in rescuing others from the power of death.<p><span class= "bld">If he be Christ, the chosen of God.</span>—It may be noted that this is the only passage in the New Testament in which the adjective “chosen,” or “elect,” is directly applied to Christ. The participle of the verb, is, however, found in the better MSS. of <a href="/luke/9-35.htm" title="And there came a voice out of the cloud, saying, This is my beloved Son: hear him.">Luke 9:35</a>, and the adjective is used of Him as the “stone, elect and precious,” in <a href="/1_peter/2-6.htm" title="Why also it is contained in the scripture, Behold, I lay in Sion a chief corner stone, elect, precious: and he that believes on him shall not be confounded.">1Peter 2:6</a>.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/luke/23-36.htm">Luke 23:36</a></div><div class="verse">And the soldiers also mocked him, coming to him, and offering him vinegar,</div>(36) <span class= "bld">Offering him vinegar.</span>—Not even the prayer for their forgiveness had touched the hearts of the soldiers. But still, they knew not what they did, and did but follow, after their nature, in the path in which others led the way. Possibly too, rude as their natures were, there was a touch of rough kindliness mingling in their mockery, as shown in the offer of the vinegar, or sour wine, which they had brought for their own use (see Note on <a href="/matthew/27-48.htm" title="And straightway one of them ran, and took a sponge, and filled it with vinegar, and put it on a reed, and gave him to drink.">Matthew 27:48</a>)—unless, indeed, we suppose the refinement of cruelty which held it before the eyes of the Sufferer, but did not, as afterwards, convey it to His lips.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/luke/23-38.htm">Luke 23:38</a></div><div class="verse">And a superscription also was written over him in letters of Greek, and Latin, and Hebrew, THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS.</div>(38) <span class= "bld">And a superscription.</span>—See Note on <a href="/matthew/27-38.htm" title="Then were there two thieves crucified with him, one on the right hand, and another on the left.">Matthew 27:38</a>.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/luke/23-39.htm">Luke 23:39</a></div><div class="verse">And one of the malefactors which were hanged railed on him, saying, If thou be Christ, save thyself and us.</div>(39) <span class= "bld">And one of the malefactors.</span>—The incident that follows is singularly characteristic of St. Luke. If we ask how he came to know what the other Gospels pass over, we may, I think, find his probable informants once more in the devout women who followed Jesus to the place of Crucifixion, and who stood near enough to the cross to hear what was then spoken. The word for “hanged” is used by St. Luke (<a href="/acts/5-30.htm" title="The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom you slew and hanged on a tree.">Acts 5:30</a>; <a href="/acts/10-39.htm" title="And we are witnesses of all things which he did both in the land of the Jews, and in Jerusalem; whom they slew and hanged on a tree:">Acts 10:39</a>) and St. Paul (<a href="/galatians/3-13.htm" title="Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangs on a tree:">Galatians 3:13</a>) as applied to crucifixion.<p><span class= "bld">Railed on him.</span>—Literally, <span class= "ital">was blaspheming,</span> but in the sense in which that word signifies the “reviling” of which man, and not God, may be the object. He, too, catches up the taunt of the rulers and the soldiers.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/luke/23-40.htm">Luke 23:40</a></div><div class="verse">But the other answering rebuked him, saying, Dost not thou fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation?</div>(40) <span class= "bld">But the other answering rebuked him.</span>—On the legends connected with the penitent thief, see Notes on <a href="/matthew/27-44.htm" title="The thieves also, which were crucified with him, cast the same in his teeth.">Matthew 27:44</a>. Dysmas, or Titus, as they name him, had once before looked on the face of the Christ. He had been one of a band of robbers that attacked the holy travellers in their flight from Bethlehem, and had then pleaded for their lives. The Virgin Mother had blessed him. The child Christ had foretold his suffering and his repentance. Now, as he gazed on the face of the divine Sufferer, he recognised the features of the infant Jesus (<span class= "ital">Gosp. of Infancy,</span> viii. 1-8; <span class= "ital">Gosp. of Nicodemus,</span> i. 10). Confining ourselves to what St. Luke records, we may think of him as impressed by the holiness and patience of Him he looked on. What such a One claimed to be, that He must have a right to claim, and so the very words uttered in mockery, “Christ, the King of Israel,” became an element in his conversion. This, of course, implies that he cherished Messianic hopes of some kind, if only of the vague nature then common among his people. Yet deeper in the ground-work of his character there must have been the fear of God, the reverence and awe rising out of a sense of sin, the absence of which he noted in his companion. He accepted his punishment as just, and in so doing made it reformatory and not simply penal.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/luke/23-41.htm">Luke 23:41</a></div><div class="verse">And we indeed justly; for we receive the due reward of our deeds: but this man hath done nothing amiss.</div>(41) <span class= "bld">This man hath done nothing amiss.</span>—The confident assertion may have rested on previous knowledge of our Lord’s life and character, or on some report that had reached him on his way to Golgotha, or on Pilate’s confession that he found no fault in Him.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/luke/23-42.htm">Luke 23:42</a></div><div class="verse">And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom.</div>(42) <span class= "bld">Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom.</span>—More accurately, <span class= "ital">in Thy kingdom.</span> There is something singularly touching in the trust implied in the form of the appeal. He asks for no special boon, no place on the right hand or on the left; no room in the King’s palace. He is content not to be forgotten, certain that if the King remember him at all, it will be with thoughts of tenderness and pity.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/luke/23-43.htm">Luke 23:43</a></div><div class="verse">And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with me in paradise.</div>(43) <span class= "bld">To day shalt thou be with me in paradise.</span>—We have first to consider the word, then the thought expressed by it. The former first appears as a Persian word applied to land enclosed as a park or garden for a king or satrap. As such it meets us often in Xenophon’s <span class= "ital">Anabasis</span> (i. 2, § 7; 4, § 9, <span class= "ital">et al.</span>)<span class= "ital">.</span> Finding it so used, the LXX. translators used it in <a href="/songs/4-13.htm" title="Your plants are an orchard of pomegranates, with pleasant fruits; camphire, with spikenard,">Song of Solomon 4:13</a>; <a href="/ecclesiastes/2-5.htm" title="I made me gardens and orchards, and I planted trees in them of all kind of fruits:">Ecclesiastes 2:5</a>; <a href="/nehemiah/2-8.htm" title="And a letter to Asaph the keeper of the king's forest, that he may give me timber to make beams for the gates of the palace which appertained to the house, and for the wall of the city, and for the house that I shall enter into. And the king granted me, according to the good hand of my God on me.">Nehemiah 2:8</a>, and, above all, in <a href="/genesis/2-15.htm" title="And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.">Genesis 2:15</a>, taking what we treat as a proper name as a description, and giving “the Paradise of Delight” for “the Garden of Eden.” In the figurative language in which the current Jewish belief clothed its thoughts of the unseen world, the Garden of Eden took its place side by side with “Abraham’s bosom,” as a synonym for the eternal blessedness of the righteous, presenting a vivid contrast to the foul horrors of Gehenna. It is remarkable, however, that this is the one occasion on which the word appears as part of our Lord’s teaching. In the mystical language of the Apocalypse, “the tree of life which is in the midst of the paradise of God,” is one of the promises to “him that overcometh” (<a href="/revelation/2-7.htm" title="He that has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit said to the churches; To him that overcomes will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the middle of the paradise of God.">Revelation 2:7</a>). St. Paul speaks of himself as having been caught up in ecstasy and vision into “paradise” (<a href="/2_corinthians/12-4.htm" title="How that he was caught up into paradise, and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter.">2Corinthians 12:4</a>). In this instance we may trace in our Lord’s use of the word a subtle tenderness of sympathy. What He said in answer to the penitent’s prayer was, in part, a contrast to it, in part, its most complete fulfilment. Not in the far-off “Coming,” but that very day; not “remembered “only, but in closest companionship; not in the tumult and battle which his thoughts had connected with the Kingdom, but in the fair garden, with its green lawns and still waters, its trees of Knowledge and of Life. No picture could meet the cravings of the tortured robber more completely than that; none, probably, could be more different from his expectations. Yet the “paradise” of Eastern lands was essentially the kingly garden, that of which the palace was the centre. The promise implied that the penitent should enter at once into the highest joy of the Kingdom. Are we right in thinking that there was no fulfilment of the words till death had released the spirit from its thraldom? May there not even then have been an ineffable joy, such as made the flames of the fiery furnace to be as a “moist whistling wind” (Song of Three Childr. <a href="/luke/23-27.htm" title="And there followed him a great company of people, and of women, which also bewailed and lamented him.">Luke 23:27</a>, in the <span class= "ital">Apocrypha</span>)<span class= "ital">,</span> such as martyrs have in a thousand cases known, acting almost as a physical anæsthetic acts? The penitent thief is naturally prominent in the Apocryphal legends of our Lord’s descent into Hades, seen by His side as He enters Paradise (<span class= "ital">Gosp. of Nicodemus,</span> ii. 10).<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/luke/23-44.htm">Luke 23:44</a></div><div class="verse">And it was about the sixth hour, and there was a darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour.</div>(44-46) <span class= "bld">And it was about the sixth hour.</span>—See Notes on <a href="/context/matthew/27-45.htm" title="Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land to the ninth hour.">Matthew 27:45-50</a>; <a href="/context/mark/15-33.htm" title="And when the sixth hour was come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour.">Mark 15:33-37</a>. We can only conjecturally account for the omission of the “ELI, ELI, LAMA SABACHTHANI,” so prominent in the other two reports; but it is at least conceivable, assuming the same sources of information as before, that the women who stood by the cross may have shrunk from repeating words so terrible, and have loved to dwell rather on those which seemed to them to speak, not of abandonment, but of an absolute and unshaken trust. It is remarkable that this, like the cry of apparent despair, is a quotation from the Psalms (<a href="/psalms/31-6.htm" title="I have hated them that regard lying vanities: but I trust in the LORD.">Psalm 31:6</a>).<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/luke/23-46.htm">Luke 23:46</a></div><div class="verse">And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, he said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit: and having said thus, he gave up the ghost.</div>(46) <span class= "bld">And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, he said. . . .—</span>Better. <span class= "ital">And Jesus cried with a loud voice, and said</span> . . . The English text emphasises too strongly the distinctness of the act, possibly with the implied suggestion that the cry might have consisted of the words which St. Luke does not report. On the other hand, the other Gospels make the “great cry” immediately precede death.<p><span class= "bld">He gave up the ghost.</span>—Better, <span class= "ital">He expired,</span> or <span class= "ital">breathed out His spirit,</span> the verb containing the root from which the Greek for “spirit” is derived. The Greek of St. John, which appears in English as though it were the same as St. Luke’s, corresponds more closely to the final utterance, “He delivered up His spirit.”<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/luke/23-47.htm">Luke 23:47</a></div><div class="verse">Now when the centurion saw what was done, he glorified God, saying, Certainly this was a righteous man.</div>(47-49) <span class= "bld">Now when the centurion saw what was done . . .</span>—See Notes on <a href="/context/matthew/27-54.htm" title="Now when the centurion, and they that were with him, watching Jesus, saw the earthquake, and those things that were done, they feared greatly, saying, Truly this was the Son of God.">Matthew 27:54-55</a>; <a href="/context/mark/15-40.htm" title="There were also women looking on afar off: among whom was Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James the less and of Joses, and Salome;">Mark 15:40-41</a>. The phrase “glorified God” is, as has been noticed already (<a href="/luke/5-25.htm" title="And immediately he rose up before them, and took up that where on he lay, and departed to his own house, glorifying God.">Luke 5:25</a>), specially characteristic of St. Luke. The substitution of “this was a righteous man,” for “this was the Son of God,” may, perhaps, have originated in a wish to express the exact measure, and not more, of the sense in which the centurion had used the seemingly higher words.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/luke/23-48.htm">Luke 23:48</a></div><div class="verse">And all the people that came together to that sight, beholding the things which were done, smote their breasts, and returned.</div>(48) <span class= "bld">To that sight.</span>—The word is used by St. Luke-only in the New Testament, and exactly expresses the purpose of those who had come as to gaze on a “spectacle.” These had probably taken little or no part in the insults and taunts of the priests, and now they went away awed, partly by the darkness, partly by the solemn majesty of that awful death.<p><span class= "bld">Smote their breasts, and returned.</span>—Better, <span class= "ital">returned, smiting their breasts.</span> Both the verb and participle imply continuous action.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/luke/23-49.htm">Luke 23:49</a></div><div class="verse">And all his acquaintance, and the women that followed him from Galilee, stood afar off, beholding these things.</div>(49) <span class= "bld">All his acquaintance.</span>—This is the only passage in which the word is used. St. Luke apparently employs it as intermediate between the spectators and the avowed disciples. Such may have been Simon, or Lazarus, of Bethany, or the rulers who believed yet did hot confess, or the owners of the ass and of the colt, or the proprietor of the house in which the Passover had been eaten.<p><span class= "bld">The women that had followed him from Galilee.</span>—St. Luke does not name them as St. Matthew and St. Mark do, probably because in <a href="/context/luke/8-2.htm" title="And certain women, which had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities, Mary called Magdalene, out of whom went seven devils,">Luke 8:2-3</a>, he had already given the names of the most prominent among them.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/luke/23-50.htm">Luke 23:50</a></div><div class="verse">And, behold, <i>there was</i> a man named Joseph, a counseller; <i>and he was</i> a good man, and a just:</div>(50-56) <span class= "bld">Behold, there was a man named Joseph.</span>—See Notes on <a href="/context/matthew/27-57.htm" title="When the even was come, there came a rich man of Arimathaea, named Joseph, who also himself was Jesus' disciple:">Matthew 27:57-61</a>; <a href="/context/mark/15-42.htm" title="And now when the even was come, because it was the preparation, that is, the day before the sabbath,">Mark 15:42-47</a>. St. Luke agrees with St. Mark in calling him a “counsellor,” but the epithets, “good man and just,” are peculiar to him. The adjective for good is not often applied to persons in the New Testament. In <a href="/acts/11-24.htm" title="For he was a good man, and full of the Holy Ghost and of faith: and much people was added to the Lord.">Acts 11:24</a> it is used of Barnabas; in <a href="/romans/5-7.htm" title="For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die.">Romans 5:7</a> it represents a higher excellence than that of the man who is simply just.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/luke/23-51.htm">Luke 23:51</a></div><div class="verse">(The same had not consented to the counsel and deed of them;) <i>he was</i> of Arimathaea, a city of the Jews: who also himself waited for the kingdom of God.</div>(51) <span class= "bld">The counsel and deed of them.</span>—The first word includes all the earlier stages of the action of the Sanhedrin, from the counsel given by Caiaphas (<a href="/john/11-49.htm" title="And one of them, named Caiaphas, being the high priest that same year, said to them, You know nothing at all,">John 11:49</a>) to the final condemnation; the second, the unofficial acts, such as the compact with Judas, and the delivery to Pilate.<p><span class= "bld">Who also himself waited for the</span> <span class= "bld">kingdom of God.</span>—The description agrees in form with St. Mark, but not with St. Matthew or St. John. Nicodemus, who acted with him, is mentioned in the fourth Gospel only.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/luke/23-53.htm">Luke 23:53</a></div><div class="verse">And he took it down, and wrapped it in linen, and laid it in a sepulchre that was hewn in stone, wherein never man before was laid.</div>(53) <span class= "bld">A sepulchre that was hewn in stone.</span>—The descriptive word differs from that used by St. Matthew and St. Mark, as being slightly more technical, and implying a higher degree of finish.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/luke/23-54.htm">Luke 23:54</a></div><div class="verse">And that day was the preparation, and the sabbath drew on.</div>(54) <span class= "bld">That day was the preparation.</span>—See Note on <a href="/matthew/27-52.htm" title="And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose,">Matthew 27:52</a>.<p><span class= "bld">The sabbath drew on.</span>—Literally, <span class= "ital">the Sabbath was dawning.</span> It is a question whether the word is used here of the actual beginning of the Sabbath—which was, of course, at sunset after the Crucifixion—or, as St. Matthew appears to use it (28:1), for the actual dawn. The later Rabbis appear to have spoken of the day “dawning” in the sense of its beginning at sunset, and so far support the former interpretation. It was possible, however, under the emergencies of the case, that the entombment began before the sunset, and may have been finished during the night, or that, in common speech and usage, the Sabbath, though theoretically beginning on Friday evening at sunset, was not practically recognised till Saturday at sunrise.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/luke/23-55.htm">Luke 23:55</a></div><div class="verse">And the women also, which came with him from Galilee, followed after, and beheld the sepulchre, and how his body was laid.</div>(55) <span class= "bld">And the women also.</span>—Here again we come upon traces of St. Luke’s informants. The other Gospels speak of one or two by name. He knows that others belonging to the company of women who came with Jesus from Galilee (note the recurrence of the same description as in <a href="/luke/23-49.htm" title="And all his acquaintance, and the women that followed him from Galilee, stood afar off, beholding these things.">Luke 23:49</a>) had taken part in the work. They had stood within view of the cross. They saw the body taken down. They followed (it was not far) to the garden owned by Nicodemus.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/luke/23-56.htm">Luke 23:56</a></div><div class="verse">And they returned, and prepared spices and ointments; and rested the sabbath day according to the commandment.</div>(56) <span class= "bld">They returned, and prepared spices and ointments.</span>—This seems at first inconsistent with their “buying” spices after the Sabbath was over (<a href="/luke/24-1.htm" title="Now on the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they came to the sepulcher, bringing the spices which they had prepared, and certain others with them.">Luke 24:1</a>). Possibly, we have two groups of women—the two Maries and “Joanna and the others” (<a href="/luke/24-10.htm" title="It was Mary Magdalene and Joanna, and Mary the mother of James, and other women that were with them, which told these things to the apostles.">Luke 24:10</a>)—taking part in the same work; possibly, what they did on the Friday afternoon or evening was not enough, and it was necessary to buy more spices as soon as shops were open on Saturday evening.<p><span class= "bld">Rested the sabbath day.</span>—It is noticeable that this is the only record in the Gospels of that memorable Sabbath. Can we picture to ourselves how it was spent by those who had taken part in the great drama of the previous day;—Caiaphas and the priests officiating in the Temple services of that day, after their hurried Passover, just in time to fulfil the bare letter of the law, on the previous afternoon; the crowds that had mocked and scoffed on Golgotha crowding the courts of the Temple, or attending in the synagogues of Hebrew or Hellenistic Jews; scribes and Pharisees preaching sermons on the history and meaning of the Passover, and connecting it with the hope of a fresh deliverance for Israel? And the disciples, where were they? scattered each to his own lodging, or meeting in the guest-chamber where they had eaten their Paschal supper, or, as that was apparently a new room to them (<a href="/context/luke/22-8.htm" title="And he sent Peter and John, saying, Go and prepare us the passover, that we may eat.">Luke 22:8-9</a>), in some other inn or lodging in the city, or its suburbs? On that Sabbath, John and Peter must have met, and the penitent must have found in his friend’s love the pledge and earnest of his Lord’s forgiveness; and the Twelve and the Seventy must, in groups of twos or threes, have mourned over the failure of their hopes; and the women have comforted themselves with the thought that they could at least show their reverence for the Lord they loved as they had never shown it before; and Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathæa have rested with satisfaction in the thought that they could honour a dead prophet without the danger that had attached to honouring a living one, or have reproached themselves for the cowardice which had kept them from any open confession till it was too late, and mourned over the irrevocable past. The records are silent, but the imagination which turns the dead chronicles of history into a living drama has here, within due limits, legitimate scope for action. May we go a step yet further, and think of what was then being accomplished behind the veil, of the descent into Hades and the triumph over Death, the soul of the robber in the rest of Paradise, and the good news proclaimed to “the spirits in prison” (<a href="/1_peter/3-19.htm" title="By which also he went and preached to the spirits in prison;">1Peter 3:19</a>)? If we dare not fill up the gap with the legends of the Apocryphal Gospel that bears the name of Nicodemus, we may, at least, venture to dwell reverently on the hints that Scripture actually gives.<p><span class= "bld"><div id="botbox"><div class="padbot"><div align="center">Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers<br /><br />Text Courtesy of <a href="//biblesupport.com" target="_top">BibleSupport.com</a>. 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