Jesus stood bound before Pilate in the judgment hall after the Sanhedrin had condemned Him and brought Him for the sentence to be confirmed and carried out, with the Jewish leaders seeking His punishment. Pilate himself examined Him and found no fault, no blame, the charges unproved, and Herod also, to whom Pilate had sent Him in an attempt to escape responsibility, found nothing worthy of death. It was then that Pilate proposed to chastise or scourge Jesus and then release Him.
The proposal was made to appease, pacify and satisfy the crowd, in the vain hope that pity would make the punishment seem sufficient for them to let Him go. It was a weak compromise that sacrificed justice and principle by being willing to punish an innocent man, seeking a bargain with an angry, unfeeling mob rather than upholding what was known to be right. It exposed Pilate's weakness and indecision and put him at a disadvantage and surrendered control. His yielding and indecision emboldened the crowd to presume upon it and press harder and clamor more fiercely for Jesus' condemnation and death.
The episode shows the Jewish priests and rulers forcing the Roman governor to carry out their will. The scourging was carried out in the presence of the multitude with Jesus stripped to the waist, leaving long cruel stripes from which blood flowed freely. With a crown of thorns and face stained with blood and marked by exhaustion and pain He was placed side by side with Barabbas, yet even then His noble character stood in marked contrast to Barabbas, whose every feature proclaimed a debased and hardened desperado.
When Jesus and Barabbas stood in the judgment hall Pilate asked whom to release, and the people, including those who had taken active part in Christ's death mingling with the rabble, shouted for Barabbas to be released and Jesus to be crucified, thus choosing a robber and murderer rather than the Son of God. Pilate then delivered Christ to be crucified while protesting His innocence and washing his hands of His blood, and the people answered that His blood be on them and their children, leaving the priests and rulers with hands uncleansed from the blood shed in crucifying the world's Redeemer. The verse belongs to the most trying ordeal of Jesus' betrayal, condemnation in the judgment hall, humiliation and crucifixion, when the multitude that had hailed Him as king hissed, reviled and jeeringly cried for His crucifixion.
Jesus foresaw this trial and knew which followers were unbelieving and weak in faith, character and decision, and brought about an earlier crisis while still present to comfort and strengthen His chosen. So it was that when professed lovers turned away the twelve would not be overwhelmed with surprise, sink beneath fear and disappointment and ruined hopes, hang faith on the inconstant favor of the world and opinions of others, or be carried away by apostasy in that hour of horror, but would remember the fickleness before shown and stand prepared.
Jesus stood bound before Pilate in the judgment hall after the Sanhedrin had condemned Him and brought Him for the sentence to be confirmed and carried out, with the Jewish leaders seeking His punishment. Pilate himself examined Him and found no fault, no blame, the charges unproved, and Herod also, to whom Pilate had sent Him in an attempt to escape responsibility, found nothing worthy of death. It was then that Pilate proposed to chastise or scourge Jesus and then release Him.
The proposal was made to appease, pacify and satisfy the crowd, in the vain hope that pity would make the punishment seem sufficient for them to let Him go. It was a weak compromise that sacrificed justice and principle by being willing to punish an innocent man, seeking a bargain with an angry, unfeeling mob rather than upholding what was known to be right. It exposed Pilate's weakness and indecision and put him at a disadvantage and surrendered control. His yielding and indecision emboldened the crowd to presume upon it and press harder and clamor more fiercely for Jesus' condemnation and death.
The episode shows the Jewish priests and rulers forcing the Roman governor to carry out their will. The scourging was carried out in the presence of the multitude with Jesus stripped to the waist, leaving long cruel stripes from which blood flowed freely. With a crown of thorns and face stained with blood and marked by exhaustion and pain He was placed side by side with Barabbas, yet even then His noble character stood in marked contrast to Barabbas, whose every feature proclaimed a debased and hardened desperado.
When Jesus and Barabbas stood in the judgment hall Pilate asked whom to release, and the people, including those who had taken active part in Christ's death mingling with the rabble, shouted for Barabbas to be released and Jesus to be crucified, thus choosing a robber and murderer rather than the Son of God. Pilate then delivered Christ to be crucified while protesting His innocence and washing his hands of His blood, and the people answered that His blood be on them and their children, leaving the priests and rulers with hands uncleansed from the blood shed in crucifying the world's Redeemer. The verse belongs to the most trying ordeal of Jesus' betrayal, condemnation in the judgment hall, humiliation and crucifixion, when the multitude that had hailed Him as king hissed, reviled and jeeringly cried for His crucifixion.
Jesus foresaw this trial and knew which followers were unbelieving and weak in faith, character and decision, and brought about an earlier crisis while still present to comfort and strengthen His chosen. So it was that when professed lovers turned away the twelve would not be overwhelmed with surprise, sink beneath fear and disappointment and ruined hopes, hang faith on the inconstant favor of the world and opinions of others, or be carried away by apostasy in that hour of horror, but would remember the fickleness before shown and stand prepared.