Scripture Used to Create the Splice “Jesus Before Pilate, the Second Time”
Matthew 27:15-31 (Greek Text Analysis starting with Matthew 27:15)
Mark 15:6-20 (Greek Text Analysis starting with Mark 15:6)
Luke 23:13-25 (Greek Text Analysis starting with Luke 23:13)
John 18:38 – 19:16 (Greek Text Analysis starting with John 18:38)
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Psalm 17:5
My steps have held fast to Your paths. My feet have not slipped.
THE SPLICE
1 Pilate went out to the Jews, summoned the chief priests and the rulers and the people, and said to them, “You brought this Man to me as one who 2 incites the people to rebellion, and behold, having examined Him before you, I have found no guilt in this man regarding the charges which you make against Him. 3 No, nor has Herod, for he sent Him back to us; and behold nothing deserving death has been done by Him. Therefore I will punish Him and release Him.” Now at the 4 feast the governor, Pilate, was 5 accustomed/obliged to release for the people any one prisoner whom they wanted. The crowd went up and began asking Pilate to do as he had been accustomed to do for them. So when the people gathered together, Pilate answered and said to them, “You have a custom that I release someone for you at the Passover; do you wish then that I release for you the King of the Jews? Which of the two do you want me to release for you? Barabbas, or Jesus who is called Christ?” For Pilate knew that it was because of envy that the chief priests had handed Jesus over. At that time the Romans were holding a notorious prisoner, called Barabbas. The man named Barabbas, who was a robber, had been imprisoned with the insurrectionists who had committed murder in the insurrection at Jerusalem. But the chief priests and elders stirred up and persuaded the crowds to ask Pilate to release Barabbas for them instead and to put Jesus to death, and so they cried out all together, saying, “Not this man, but Barabbas. Away with this man, and release for us Barabbas!” Answering again and wanting to release Jesus, Pilate addressed them a second time and said, “Then what shall I do with Him whom you call the King of the Jews? What shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ?” The people in the crowds all shouted back, 6 “Crucify Him!” But Pilate said to them the third time he addressed them, “Why, what evil has He done? I have found in Him no guilt demanding death; therefore I will punish Him and release Him.”
And wishing to satisfy the crowd, Pilate released 7 Barabbas for them, the man they were asking for who had been thrown into prison for insurrection and murder. Pilate then took Jesus and 8 scourged Him/had Him scourged. After the scourging, the soldiers of Pilate took Jesus away into the 9 Praetorium, and the soldiers called the 10 whole Roman cohort to gather around Him. They 11 stripped Jesus of all His clothes, dressed Him up in a 12 purple/scarlet robe, twisted together a 13 crown of thorns and put it on His head as if it were a king’s crown, and gave Him a reed for His right hand to hold as a mock 14 scepter; and they began to come up, 15 mockingly kneeling and bowing before Him and saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” and to give Him slaps in the face. They also took back the reed they made Him hold in His right hand and beat Him repeatedly in the head with it, all the while they were also spitting on Him. After these abuses, Pilate came out again said to them, “Behold, I am bringing Him out to you so that you may know that I find no guilt in Him.” Jesus then came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple/crimson 16 robe. Pilate said to them, 17 Behold, the Man!” So when the chief priests and the officers saw Him, they cried out saying, “Crucify, crucify!” Pilate said to them, “Take Him yourselves and crucify Him, for 18 I find no guilt in Him.” The Jews answered him, “We have a law, and 19 by that law He ought to die because He made Himself out to be the Son of God.” Therefore when Pilate heard this statement, 20 he was even more afraid; and he entered into the Praetorium again and said to Jesus, “Where are You from?” Jesus gave him no answer. So Pilate said to Him, “You do not speak to me? Do You not know that I have authority to crucify You?” Jesus answered, “ You would have no authority over Me, unless it had been 21 given you from above; for this reason he who delivered Me to you has the 22 greater sin.”
As a result of this, Pilate made efforts again to release Him but the Jews cried out saying, “If you release this Man, you are no friend of Caesar; everyone who makes himself out to be a king opposes Caesar.” Therefore when Pilate heard these words, he brought Jesus out, and sat down on the 23 judgement seat at a place called The Pavement, but in Hebrew, Gabbatha. While Pilate was sitting on the judgment seat, 24 Pilate’s wife sent him a message, saying, “Have nothing to do with that righteous Man; for last night I suffered greatly in a dream because of Him.” Now it was the 25 day of preparation for the Passover; it was about the 26 sixth hour . And Pilate said to the Jews, “Behold, your King!” So they cried out, “Away with Him, away with Him, crucify Him!” Pilate said to them, “Shall I crucify your King?” The chief priests answered, “We have no king but Caesar.” They kept shouting all the more, they were insistent, with loud voices asking that He be crucified, saying “Crucify Him!” And their voices began to prevail, along with the voices 27 of the chief priests. When Pilate saw that he was accomplishing nothing, but rather that a riot was starting, he took water and washed his hands in front of the crowd saying, 28 “I am innocent of this Man’s blood; see to that yourselves.” And all the people said, “His blood shall be on us and on our children!” And Pilate pronounced sentence that their demand be granted. So he then handed Jesus over to them to be crucified. Pilate delivered Jesus to their (the chief priests, the rulers; the whole crowd of people) will. The soldiers of Pilate 29 Jesus’s own clothes back on Him and led Him out to be crucified.
Want to continue reading? To read the Splice “The Crucifixion: Part One” click here
NOTES
1 Pilate went out to the Jews: At the time of Jesus’s trial, the chief priests, elders, disciples and Jesus had probably been awake all night. See Matthew 26:17-27:14; Mark 14:12-15:5; Luke 22:1-23:17; John 13:1-18:38) to read about the previous evening. During this last trip to Jerusalem, it was Jesus’s custom to spend His days teaching in the temple and to spend His nights on the Mount of Olives (Luke 21:37) which is out by Bethany (Matthew 21:17; Luke 19:29). People were getting up early so they could listen to Him (Luke 21:38), which means Jesus was up early. He had been awake a really long time by the time He was crucified, assuming He took no naps, which He had done at least once before on a boat. See Luke 8:23; Mark 4:38; Matthew 8:24 regarding the boat. To read the Splice about that time on the boat, “Jesus Calms the Storm on the Sea of Galilee”, click here. (Back)
2 incites the people to rebellion: This is the human reason why Jesus was crucified. The ultimate reason is because it was God’s will (Isaiah 53:10, John 18:11) that Jesus die in this manner (Deuteronomy 21:23, Galatians 3:13) for the sake of those who would believe, for the forgiveness of their sins (Ephesians 1:4-7). Although anyone and everyone is invited and called to believe and receive this salvation (John 3:15-18), only those whom He has given the God-gifted faith can actually believe (John 6:44, Ephesians 2:8-9). This is because the idea of the cross, salvation or sin is foolishness to people without this faith that is God-instilled and not human conjured. (Back)
3 No, nor has Herod: Pilate sent Jesus to Herod when he found out that Jesus was a Galilean. To read about Jesus’s visit to Herod, see Luke 23:6-12. (Back)
4 feast: The Passover feast. (Back)
5 accustomed/obliged: Matthew 27:15 says accustomed (Greek word: ethó) and Luke 23:17 says of necessity (obliged) (Greek word: anagké). Mark 15:8 says as usually he did (Greek word: kathos) and John 18:39 says custom (Greek word: sunétheia). By the words used, we can know that Pilate was accustomed to releasing a prisoner for the Jews every Passover because he was forced to, not because he was a caring, considerate person. (Back)
6 “Crucify Him!”: Jesus had told His disciples that this would happen. Many times He mentioned that He would have to suffer and die, and told them that they too would have to take up their crosses, if they were going to follow Him. See Matthew 10:38, 16:21, 24, 17:22-23; Mark 8:31, 34, 10:32-34; Luke 9:22-23, 18:31-33; John 12:32-33. (Back)
7 Barabbas: The Bible confirms that Barabbas was a violent person (John 18:40), and it says that he was jailed with the insurrectionists who had committed murder (Mark 15:7), that he was a notorious prisoner (Matthew 27:16), that he had been thrown into prison for an insurrection made in the city, and for murder (Luke 23:19). Acts 3:14 tells us (through Peter) that Barabbas was a murderer. What became of Barabbas? With this freedom granted by Pilate, did he become a repeat offender, meeting his end in a crucifixion anyway (robbers/thieves, insurrectionists, and murderers were crucified by the Romans)? Did he thank God for the release from prison and start learning about Jesus, perhaps from some of the disciples, themselves? Did Barabbas ever think about Jesus and what happened that day? Did he realize what was done for him, and respond to the call for repentance and salvation in Jesus? (Back)
8 scourged Him: Scourging was the usual pre-crucifixion punishment, in order to weaken the victim and humiliate him. The Romans used whips made of leather, with several strands of braided leather and those strands had bits of metal or bone attached to the ends of them. These whips were called “flagrum”. The person to be scourged was stripped naked and flogged across the entire backside of his body. This beating tore the flesh off very quickly and sometimes exposed the bones and organs. (Back)
9 Praetorium: This was Pilate’s residence when he was visiting Jerusalem, as he normally ruled from Caesarea Maritima. Scholars debate on where the Praetorium was at in Jerusalem, some stating Herod’s palace and some saying it was at Antonia fortress. We don’t know, because the Bible doesn’t give coordinates, but a nice house (whether it was Herod’s palace or not is up for debate) is more in order than a military barracks for someone like Pontius Pilate. (Back)
10 whole Roman cohort: This could be the whole Roman cohort that was afforded to the Sanhedrin (John 18:3) or the entire cohort that was standing in Pilate’s court or possibly both of them; it’s even possible that they are one in the same. Just the same, it isn’t clear if the Sanhedrin’s cohort had accompanied Jesus, the chief priests, scribes and elders to the Praetorium. We only know that the Roman cohort was present for the arrest of Jesus (John 18:12). (Back)
11 stripped Jesus of all His clothes: Jesus had His clothes forcibly removed from Him several times that day. All floggings took place without clothes, so He was stripped then. He was then stripped afterwards when the Roman soldiers put a scarlet robe on Him (Matthew 27:28). He was then again stripped at the cross, before His crucifixion. Stripping was done for humiliation purposes. (Back)
12 purple/scarlet: Matthew 27:28 uses the word scarlet and the Greek word used for scarlet is kokkinos which means “crimson or scarlet”. Mark 15:20 uses the word purple and the Greek word for purple is porphýra which means “a purple garment indicating wealth”. Helps Word-studies© explains a little more in depth. There were three familiar shades of purple in the ancient world: deep violet, deep scarlet (or crimson), and deep blue. John 19:5 uses the Greek word porphyroús which means a purple (reddish-purple) cloth or dye. All three of these together tells us that the robe was a purple-scarlet color, maybe akin to red-violet or violet-red from a crayons box. We can only speculate on the exact color.(Back)
HELPS Word-studies taken from The Discovery Bible, available at discoverybible.com, copyright © 2021, HELPS Ministries Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
13 crown of thorns: The crown of thorns is mentioned in Matthew 27:29, Mark 15:17, and John 19:2. All three accounts use the word akanthinos or akantha meaning “thorns/thorny bush” or “prickly plant”. There is speculation that these thorns were date palm thorns. Assuming that date palms haven’t changed in the past 2,000 years, date palms have strong spine-type thorns at the base of the leaves. The spines are around 4 inches long. There was even a relatively recent study done on date palm thorn injuries! The Bible does not specify what type of thorns were used. (Back)
14 scepter: Jesus’s next scepter will be made of iron, and He will shepherd the nations with it. Iron scepters would be a symbol of strength (iron) and authority (scepter) (Revelation 19:15). (Back)
15 mockingly kneeling and bowing before Him: There will be a time, when every person will bow down on their knees and confess that Jesus Christ is the Lord. See Philippians 2:9-11. (Back)
16 robe: The Greek word for robe, used in Matthew 27:28 is chlamus which was a short cloak, worn by military officers and soldiers. The Greek word for robe used in John 19:5 is himation and means “a long, loose and flowing outer robe or cloak”. It’s possible that they are both meaning the word “cloak”. It’s also possible that they dressed Jesus in two garments—the one from Herod which is mentioned in Luke 23:11, and uses the word esthés meaning “clothing” or “robe”, and then they threw the cloak on over that. (Back)
17 Behold, the Man: Pilate was probably hoping that the crowd, seeing Jesus beaten, scourged, spit on, and mocked, would be satisfied with that and stop asking for His crucifixion. It didn’t work, if that was what he was aiming for. (Back)
18 I find no guilt in Him: This is proof of Pilate’s sin of murder. He knows Jesus is not guilty of any crimes, making the crucifixion a murder (Exodus 20:13, Leviticus 24:17). (Back)
19 by that law He ought to die: The law that the Jews are referring to is Leviticus 24:16. This law requires stoning, though, not hanging. Regardless, if it had been anyone else that had claimed to be God, they would be correct—a blasphemy against God deserving death had occurred. However, Jesus is God (John 1:1). (Back)
20 he was even more afraid: From John 19:8. In English we might take this to mean that Pilate was afraid to begin with. However, the Greek word used for more is mallon and although its meaning does mean “more”, it also means “much” or “rather”. Perhaps a better translation (for modern English readers) for this sentence would be “he was very afraid”. (Back)
21 given you from above: All authority on earth is granted by God. See Romans 13:1. (Back)
22 greater sin: That is, the Jews had the greater sin. Pilates’s sin was lesser because he was placed there in authority by God, and was given the authority as judge. Those bringing Jesus to him have the greater sin in presenting Jesus to Pilate in the first place. However, Pontius Pilate will put to death an innocent Man, see note 18. (Back)
23 judgement seat at a place called The Pavement: The Greek word for judgment seat is béma and it means “an elevated place” and has the feeling of the judge looking down on the accused. God also has a béma seat of judgment. See 2 Corinthians 5:10 and Romans 14:10 which should be read with the understanding of Revelation 20:11-15. In reading the aforementioned verses, it’s important to understand that the only good that anyone can do is submit, repent and have faith in Christ (Galatians 2:16; Philippians 3:9, 2 Peter 3:9, James 4:6-7), as Christ removes all sin from the person who believes, “as far as the east is from the west”, see Psalm 103:10-14 (this is the Psalm to read when you are feeling weary and downtrodden from your own sins). The bad that people commit is rejection of Him (John 3:18). Therefore, those who reject Jesus have the full weight of the Law and therefore the full weight of all their sin. The penalty for rejection of Jesus is eternal damnation (Romans 6:23, Revelation 20:15). (Back)
24 Pilate’s wife sent him a message: We only hear about Pilate’s wife in Matthew 27:19. It is unknown what her dream was about, or how she suffered, but here was a chance for Pilate to stop the judgment, to take a step back and consider his wife’s advice. He fails to listen. (Back)
25 day of preparation for the Passover: The day of preparation for the Passover is only called so in John 19:14. It is called the day of preparation before the Sabbath in Mark 15:42; Luke 23:54 and John 19:31, 42. It is both things at once. John also mentions that this Sabbath was a high day (John 19:31). The high day refers back to Exodus 12:14-21, where God instructs Israel (through Moses and Aaron) that on the 14th day of the first month (Nisan) until the 21st day of the same month, no one eats leavened bread. On the 15th day is the Feast of Unleavened Bread (Leviticus 23:6). On the 14th is the day that the Passover lambs are slain and eaten, along with the 1st day of observance of no leaven. This particular Sabbath is a high day, as it is during the Passover’s/Feast of Unleavened Bread’s observance. See Leviticus 23 for more on the laws of the Jewish religious feasts and festivals. (Back)
26 sixth hour: Mark 15:25 tells us that Jesus was crucified at 9 am or the third hour. Matthew 27:45, Mark 15:33; Luke 23:44, tell us that darkness falls over the land from about the sixth hour until the ninth (noon to 3pm). John can’t possibly mean noontime, because of these times as recorded. John is possibly using Roman time-keeping whereas, Matthew, Mark and Luke are using Jewish time-keeping. Jewish time-keeping began at sunrise and Romans began counting the hours of the day at midnight, so the sixth hour would be 6am. This would fit with the rest of the time-keeping, as recorded. It’s also possible that John means it was the sixth hour since the trials began or sixth hour since Jesus’s arrest. (Back)
27 of the chief priests: From Luke 23:23. This part of the sentence “and of the chief priests” was in the original Greek, but some English translations omit it. (Back)
28 “I am innocent of this Man’s blood: Not true. God will hold him accountable for killing an innocent man (Exodus 23:7, Proverbs 6:16-17) (Back)
29 Jesus’s own clothes back on Him: His clothes must be full of blood and gore from the flogging He endured, and the subsequent beating. These will be the clothes that the soldiers will divide up (the outer clothing into 4 pieces) and cast lots for (they cast for the under-tunic) later on (Matthew 27:35; Mark 15:24; Luke 23:34; John 19:23-24), as prophesied in Psalm 22:18. (Back)