Matthew 27:39

Matthew 27:39-44 . They that passed by reviled him, &c. — As it was a great aggravation of our Lord’s sufferings that he was crucified along with two thieves, and in the middle of them, as though he had been the chief malefactor of the three, so it was a further aggravation thereof that he was reviled, mocked, and derided by different descriptions of persons. The common people, whom the priests had incensed against him by the malicious lies which they spread concerning him, and which they pretended to found on the evidence of witnesses, seeing him hang as a malefactor on the cross, and reading the superscription that was placed over his head, expressed their indignation against him by railing on him, and saying, Thou that destroyest the temple, &c., save thyself — The rulers having, as they imagined, wholly overturned his pretensions as the Messiah, ridiculed him on that head, and, with a meanness of soul which will render them for ever infamous, mocked him while in the agonies of death, and even most basely upbraided him with the saving power, which they could not deny that he had exerted; saying, he saved others, himself he cannot save — Thus they scoff at the wonderful miracles of healing, by which he had demonstrated that he was the Messiah; and they promise to believe on him on condition that he would prove his pretensions by coming down from the cross.

In the mean time nothing could be more false and hypocritical, for they continued in their unbelief notwithstanding that he raised himself from the dead, which was a much greater miracle than his coming down from the cross would have been; a miracle also that was attested by witnesses whose veracity they could not call in question; for it was told them by the soldiers whom they themselves had placed at the sepulchre to watch his body. It is plain, therefore, that their incorrigible stubbornness would not have yielded to any proof, however convincing, and that when they said they would believe if he would come down from the cross, they only meant to insult him; thinking it impossible now for him to escape out of their hands. In saying, He trusted in God, &c., they deride his faith and reliance on God, whom he had called his Father, and thus show themselves to be either real infidels, or very profane, though under a profession of religion. In speaking thus, however, they fulfilled a remarkable prophecy concerning the Messiah’s sufferings, Psalm 22:8 , where it is foretold that his enemies would utter these very words, in derision of his pretensions. The thieves also, &c., cast the same in his teeth — That is, one of them did so, for, according to Luke 23:39 , &c., the other exercised a most extraordinary faith in our Lord, and that at a time when he was deserted by his Father, mocked by men, and hung on a cross as the worst of malefactors.

Matthew 27:39-44 . Taunts of spectators ( Mark 15:29-32 ; Luke 23:35-37 ; Luke 23:39 ). The last drop in Christ’s bitter cup. To us it may seem incredible that even His worst enemies could be guilty of anything so brutal as to hurl taunts at one suffering the agonies of crucifixion. But men then felt very differently from us, thanks to the civilising influence of the Christian faith, which has made the whole details of the Passion history so revolting to the Christian heart. These sneers at the great Sufferer are not invented fulfilments of prophecy ( Psalm 22:7-8 ; so Brandt), but belong to the certainties of the tragic story as told by the synoptists.

(39) They that passed by. —The words bring before us the picture of a lounging crowd, strolling from one cross to the other, and mocking the central sufferer of the three. Rulers and chief priests were not ashamed to take part in the brutal mockery of a dying man. The spoken taunts were doubtless often repeated, and not always in the same form, but their burden is always the same.

Matthew 27:39 Οἱ δὲ παραπορ .] That what is here said seems to imply, what would ill accord with the synoptic statement as to the day on which our Lord was crucified, that this took place on a working day (Fritzsche, de Wette), is not to be denied (comp. on John 18:28 ; Mark 15:21 ), though it cannot be assumed with certainty that such was the case. But there can be no doubt that the place of execution was close to a public thoroughfare. κινοῦντες τὰς κεφ . αὐτ .] The shaking of the head here is not to be regarded as that which expresses refusal or passion (Hom. Il . xviii. 200, 442; Od. v. 285, 376), but, according to Psalm 22:8 , as indicating a malicious jeering at the helplessness of one who had made such lofty pretensions, Matthew 27:40 . Comp. Job 16:4 ; Psalm 109:25 ; Lamentations 2:15 ; Isaiah 37:22 ; Jeremiah 18:16 ; Buxt. Lex. Talm . p. 2039; Justin, Ap. I. 38.