John 19:6

19:1-18 Little did Pilate think with what holy regard these sufferings of Christ would, in after-ages, be thought upon and spoken of by the best and greatest of men. Our Lord Jesus came forth, willing to be exposed to their scorn. It is good for every one with faith, to behold Christ Jesus in his sufferings. Behold him, and love him; be still looking unto Jesus. Did their hatred sharpen their endeavours against him? and shall not our love for him quicken our endeavours for him and his kingdom? Pilate seems to have thought that Jesus might be some person above the common order. Even natural conscience makes men afraid of being found fighting against God. As our Lord suffered for the sins both of Jews and Gentiles, it was a special part of the counsel of Divine Wisdom, that the Jews should first purpose his death, and the Gentiles carry that purpose into effect. Had not Christ been thus rejected of men, we had been for ever rejected of God. Now was the Son of man delivered into the hands of wicked and unreasonable men. He was led forth for us, that we might escape. He was nailed to the cross, as a Sacrifice bound to the altar. The Scripture was fulfilled; he did not die at the altar among the sacrifices, but among criminals sacrificed to public justice. And now let us pause, and with faith look upon Jesus. Was ever sorrow like unto his sorrow? See him bleeding, see him dying, see him and love him! love him, and live to him!

John 19:6 . Instead of allowing him to release the prisoner, “the chief priests and their officers,” not “the people,” who were perhaps moved with pity (Lücke), “roared” ( ἐκραύγασαν ) “Crucify, crucify”; “To the cross”. To this demand Pilate, “in angry sarcasm” (Reynolds), but perhaps rather merely wishing strongly to assert, for the third time, that he for his part would not condemn Jesus to death, “If He is to be crucified, it is you who must do it,” retorts, Λάβετε … αἰτίαν , “Take ye Him and crucify Him, for I find no fault in Him”.

When the chief priests therefore and officers saw him, they cried out, saying, {a} Crucify him, crucify him. Pilate saith unto them, Take ye him, and crucify him: for I find no fault in him. (a) They will have him crucified whom, by an old custom of theirs, they should have stoned and hanged up as convicted of blasphemy: but they desire to have him crucified after the manner of the Romans.

6, 7. When the chief priests … saw him, they cried out—their fiendish rage kindling afresh at the sight of Him. Crucify him, crucify him—(See Mr 15:14). Pilate saith unto them, Take ye him, and crucify him; for I find no fault in him—as if this would relieve him of the responsibility of the deed, who, by surrendering Him, incurred it all!

Our Lord finds more compassion from Pilate, though a heathen, than he found from those of his own nation; yea, those that pretended highest to religion amongst them: Pilate would have saved him; they cry out for his blood. Pilate leaves another testimony behind him, that what he did, at last overborne with a great temptation, he did contrary to the conviction of his own conscience, and as yet declineth the guilt of innocent blood.

John 19:6 . Ὅτε , when ) Pilate had wished to move their compassion, but he only augments (exasperates) their cruelty.— λέγοντες , σταύρωσον , saying. Crucify Him) Matthew 17:22 . For they rejected one appeal of Pilate to them after another, with this cry (common party-cry or watch-word), “ Crucify Him.” [From the scourging that had taken place, according to the received custom (which made scourging to precede crucifixion), they draw the conclusion of crucifixion.—V. g.]

6 . and officers ] Better (as in John 18:18 ), and the officers . The leaders take the initiative, to prevent any expression of compassion on the part of the crowd. The sight of ‘the Man’ maddens rather than softens them. cried out ] The verb ( kraugazo ) expresses a loud cry, and (excepting Matthew 12:19 ; Acts 22:23 ) occurs only in this Gospel in N.T. Comp. John 11:43 , John 12:13 , John 18:40 , John 19:12 ; John 19:15 . Crucify him ] Omit the pronoun, which is not in the Greek. The simple imperative better expresses the cry which was to give the cue to the multitude. According to all four Evangelists the demand for crucifixion was not made at first, but after the offer to release Jesus in honour of the Feast. Take ye him ] Better, Take Him yourselves , as in John 18:31 . We may admit that it ought to have been beneath the dignity of a Roman judge to taunt the people with a suggestion which he knew that they dare not follow; but there is nothing so improbable in it as to compel us to believe that the Jews had the power of inflicting capital punishment (see on John 18:31 ). Pilate is goaded into an exhibition of feeling unworthy of his office. for I find ] As in John 18:38 , the ‘I’ is emphatic; ‘for I do not find in Him a ground of accusation.’

(6) When the chief priests therefore and officers saw him. —Comp. John 18:3 . The spectacle, so far from moving their pity, excites their passionate hatred, and they frustrate any other cry which may arise by that of “Crucify Him!” (Comp. Matthew 27:22 .) Take ye him, and crucify him: for I find no fault in him.—Comp. Notes on John 18:31; John 18:38. “Crucify Him,” the words mean, “if you dare to do so; there is no charge on which I can condemn Him; and I will be no party to your act.”

They cried out, saying, Crucify him ... - The view of the Saviour's meekness only exasperated them the more. They had resolved on his death; and as they saw Pilate disposed to acquit him, they redoubled their cries, and endeavored to gain by tumult, and clamor, and terror, what they saw they could not obtain by justice. When men are determined on evil, they cannot be reasoned with. Every argument tends to defeat their plans, and they press on in iniquity with the more earnestness in proportion as sound reasons are urged to stay their course. Thus sinners go in the way of wickedness down to death. They make up in firmness of purpose what they lack in reason. They are more fixed in their plans in proportion as God faithfully warns them and their friends admonish them. Take ye him ... - These are evidently the words of a man weary with their importunity and with the subject, and yet resolved not to sanction their conduct. It was not the act of a judge delivering him up according to the forms of the law, for they did not understand it so. It was equivalent to this: "I am satisfied of his innocence, and shall not pronounce the sentence of death. If you are bent on his ruin - if you are determined to put to death an innocent man - if my judgment does not satisfy you - take him and put him to death on your own responsibility, and take the consequences.

John 19:6-8 . Of the presence of the people (who perhaps kept silence , Lücke thinks; comp. Luthardt, according to whom the high priests desired to forestall any possible expressions of compassion on the part of the people) the text says nothing; the Ἰουδαῖοι , John 18:31 ; John 18:38 , were just pre-eminently the ἀρχιερεῖς of the present passage. ὅτε οὖν εἶδον ] The spectacle, instead of calming their bitterness, goads them on. λάβετε αὐτὸν ὑμεῖς , κ . τ . λ .] A paradox , amounting to a peevish and irritated refusal, since the Jews did not possess the right of execution, and crucifixion was certainly not a Jewish capital punishment. Crucify him yourselves, if you will have him crucified! Now, however, they introduce the authority of their law, according to which Jesus (as being a blasphemer, namely, of God, Leviticus 24:16 ; Matthew 26:63-64 ) must die. They thus prudently give to their demand another legal basis, to be respected by the procurator in conformity with Roman policy, and to the accusation the corresponding religious sanction. An admission, however, that their political suspicion of Jesus had only been a pretext (Steinmeyer), is not contained in this; it is only another turn given to the charge. ἡμεῖς ] With haughty emphasis, opposed to the preceding ἐγὼ … αἰτίαν . On ὅτι υἱὸν , κ . τ . λ ., comp. John 5:18 , John 10:33 . μᾶλλον ἐφοβ .] His fear only became the greater ( μᾶλλ ., see John 5:18 ), namely, of suffering Jesus to be executed.