St. Luke tells us, that "the same day Pilate and Herod were made
friends together: for before they were at enmity between themselves."
"Enmity" means just the contrary to friendship: Pilate and Herod had
quarrelled, as the different governors throughout the Roman provinces
were very apt to do. The Bible does not tell us the cause of this
enmity; but from other histories we learn, that some time before this,
Pilate had dedicated some shields of gold to the Emperor Tiberius, and
placed them in the palace called Herodium, built by Herod the Great.
The Jews looked upon this as an insult to their religion, and with
Herod's permission, sent messengers to Rome, to petition the Emperor
to order these shields to be removed. This caused a quarrel between
Herod and Pilate: but when the latter, not wishing to help the Jews in
condemning Jesus, sent Him to Herod, the king, considering this as an
acknowledgment of his authority, was pleased; and willing again to
become friends with the Roman governor.
The Herodium was a very large palace, consisting of two separate
buildings, one called Caesareum and the other Agrippeum: it stood near
the temple. It is probable that Pontius Pilate inhabited one of the
buildings, and Herod the other, so that Jesus was not long gone.
Pilate, seeing that Herod had pronounced no sentence against Jesus,
was still more unwilling that He should die: he was, however, too much
afraid of the people to act as a just Judge should have done, and set
the prisoner at liberty; so he thought that, if he offered to punish
Him in some way, he might satisfy the Jews, and yet save the life of
his innocent prisoner: to propose to punish Him at all was unjust; but
even this expedient availed nothing, as we shall see. Herod having
sent Jesus back, it was necessary that Pilate should take some further
steps. "And Pilate, when he had called together the Chief Priests and
the rulers and the people, said unto them, Ye have brought this man
unto me, as one that perverteth the people: and behold, I, having
examined him before you, have found no fault in this man touching
those things whereof ye accuse him. No, nor yet Herod: for I sent you
to him; and, lo, nothing worthy of death is done unto him. I will
therefore chastise him, and release him."
There was a custom amongst the Jews at this time, that at the Feast of
the Passover the Jews might claim any one of the criminals then under
sentence of death for their crimes. Whoever the Jews chose was to be
set at liberty: this custom appears to have been introduced by some
Roman governor of Judaea, in order to gain favour with the Jews; who
were thus allowed to choose one amongst the prisoners to be pardoned.
"Now at that feast the governor was wont to release unto the people a
prisoner, whom they would; and they had then a notable prisoner,
called Barabbas, which lay bound with them that had made insurrection
with him, who had committed murder in the insurrection. And the
multitude, crying aloud, began to desire Pilate to do as he had ever
done unto them. (For of necessity he must release one unto them at the
feast.)"
"Therefore, when they were gathered together, Pilate said unto them,
Ye have a custom, that I should release unto you one at the Passover:
Whom will ye that I release unto you? Barabbas, or Jesus which is
called Christ? Will ye therefore that I release unto you the King of
the Jews? For he knew that the Chief Priests had delivered him for
envy."
The Roman governor saw truly that it was to gratify private passions
alone, that the Chief Priests had brought Jesus before him; and,
hoping that the people might be more just, he offered them a choice
between Jesus and one of the greatest criminals then in prison: a man
who had committed the very crime, which the Priests pretended that
Christ was trying to stir up the people to commit; who, in the
prosecution of his designs, had committed the murder; and who was also
a robber: his evil deeds had been many; and many must have suffered
from his wickedness and violence. Well might Pilate hope, that the
contrast between such a man and Jesus, Whose whole life had been spent
in going about doing good, would have inclined the people to demand
His liberty, and leave Barabbas to the fate he had so justly deserved.
But no; "the Chief Priests and elders persuaded the multitude that
they should ask Barabbas and destroy Jesus. And they cried out all at
once saying, Away with this man, and release unto us Barabbas."
One reason why Pilate strove anxiously to release Jesus was, that
during the night his own wife had some remarkable dreams concerning
our Lord: what they were, we are not told; but they had convinced her
that He was an innocent and righteous man, and that it would be a sin
to allow any harm to befall Him. Therefore, "when Pilate was set down
on the judgment seat, his wife sent unto him, saying, Have thou
nothing to do with that just man": nothing, that is, in the way of
punishing or harming Him; "for I have suffered many things this day in
a dream because of him."
"Pilate the governor therefore, willing to release Jesus, answered and
spake again to them, and said unto them, Whether of the twain will ye
that I release unto you? They said, Barabbas. Then cried they all
again, saying, Not this man, but Barabbas. And Pilate answered and
said again unto them, What will ye then that I shall do with Jesus
which is called Christ? unto him whom ye call King of the Jews? And
they cried out again, Crucify him; they all say unto him, Crucify him,
Crucify him, Let him be crucified." Pilate made another effort to save
Jesus, by reminding the people of His innocence; and in answer to
their savage cry, "Crucify him, Crucify him," he "said unto them the
third time, Why? what evil hath he done? I have found no cause of
death in him: I will therefore chastise him and let him go. And they
cried out the more exceedingly, Crucify him. And they were instant
with loud voices, requiring that he might be crucified. And the voices
of them and of the Chief Priests prevailed." Pilate could stand out no
longer; the people showed symptoms of breaking out into a riot, which
at that moment would have been a serious matter; as there were an
unusual number of Jews assembled for the Passover, and Pilate had not
soldiers enough to keep order, if the people should make a
disturbance. If anything like a riot had occurred, the Emperor
Tiberius would probably have considered Pilate to blame; and would
certainly have deprived him of his office, and most likely of his life
also. Pilate had not that fear of God, which admits no fear of man;
neither was his wish to save Jesus strong enough to make him risk his
life to deliver Him. As a heathen, the life of one man would seem to
him of little consequence; but whilst he gave way to the clamours of
the Jews, he performed a symbolical action, whereby he testified that
Jesus was innocent, and that he, Pilate, did not consent to His death,
though forced to allow it. For "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 ye to it. Then answered all the people, and
said, His blood be on us, and on our children." Fearful words in the
sense in which they uttered them! meaning, that if Jesus was innocent,
they were quite willing that the punishment for putting him to death
should rest upon them and upon their children. Little did they foresee
how dreadful would be that punishment; and how severely they and their
descendants would suffer, in consequence of the crime they were
wilfully committing. In one sense, we may all pray that "His blood may
be on us and on our children"; even as the blood of the paschal lamb
upon the door-posts turned aside the visit of the destroying angel.
In regard to Pilate's action on this occasion, we must recollect that
it was ordered by the Law of Moses, that if a man were found dead in a
field, and it was not known who or what had killed him, the elders of
the nearest city should sacrifice a heifer, or young cow, with
particular ceremonies: after which they should wash their hands over
the slain beast, and declare solemnly before God, that they had had no
hand in the death of the man, and that they knew not by what means he
had met his death. In imitation of this custom, Pilate now washed his
hands; meaning thereby to show that, if Jesus were put to death, he
was no party to His death. But even in this Pilate was mistaken; for
to allow a bad action to be committed, when we can prevent it, is to
incur the guilt of it. As governor, Pilate might have refused to allow
Jesus to be slain, and it was his duty to do so: had a riot followed,
he could have been in no way guilty in the sight of God: but Pilate,
being a heathen, did not consider the matter in this light. Do not
many Christians, who should know better, act upon the same principles
as those which influenced the Roman governor? They know some
particular act to be wrong, and yet it seems so expedient, so likely
to be useful in some way or other, that they do it. Then, again, they
perceive that they ought to do something which may bring trouble upon
themselves, or displease some one whose favour they wish to gain, and
therefore they leave such action undone.
"Pilate, willing to content the people," and put an end to the tumult,
"gave sentence that it should be as they required. And he released
unto them him that for sedition and murder was cast into prison, whom
they had desired."