Matthew 26:60

26:60 could not use anyone’s testimony: The evidence was too insubstantial or inconsistent to meet their goal of a death sentence until two men came forward (Deut 17:6; 19:15) with testimonies that did not conflict.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Mat 26:60 . οὐχ εὗρον : they found not false witness that looked plausible and justified capital punishment. πολλῶν π . ψ .: it was not for want of witnesses of a kind; many offered themselves and made statements, but they did not serve the purpose: either trivial or inconsistent; conceivable in the circumstances: coming forward on the spur of the moment from the crowd in answer to an invitation from prejudiced judges eager for damnatory evidence. Those who responded deserved to be stigmatised as false. None but base, mea n creatures would have borne evidence in such a case. δύο , only two had anything to say worth serious attention.

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Verse 60. Though many false witnesses came] There is an unaccountable confusion in the MSS. in this verse: without stating the variations, which may be seen in Griesbach, I shall give that which I believe to be the genuine sense of the evangelist. Then the chief priests and elders, and all the council, sought false witness against Jesus, to put him to death; but they found it not, though many false witnesses came up. At last two false witnesses came up, saying; This man said, c. It is the property of falsity to be ever inconsistent, and to contradict itself therefore they could not find two consistent testimonies, without which the Jewish law did not permit any person to be put to death. However, the hand of God was in this business: for the credit of Jesus, and the honour of the Christian religion, he would not permit him to be condemned on a false accusation; and, therefore, at last they were obliged to change their ground, and, to the eternal confusion of the unrighteous council, he is condemned on the very evidence of his own innocence, purity, and truth!

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

And said, this fellow said,.... Or saith, as De Dieu observes, the Syriac version of this place should be rendered; that is, he has not only said in times past, referring to Joh 2:19, but continues to say it, and glory in it:

I am able to destroy the temple of God, and to build it in three days; in which they did injury, both to his words and sense: he did not say, "I am able to destroy the temple", but only said, "destroy this temple"; signifying neither his power, nor his will and inclination to it; but put it upon the Jews, and left it to them to do it: nor did he say one word about the temple of God, or as it is in Mar 14:58, "this temple that is made with hands"; the temple at Jerusalem, which was made by the hands of men, and devoted to the worship of God; but only "this temple", referring to his body, or human nature; in which he, the Son of God, dwelt, as in a temple; nor did he say that he was able to "build" it in three days, but that he would "raise it up" in three days; intending the resurrection of his body by his own power, after it had been dead three days; and so they perverted his sense, as well as misquoted his words; applying that to the material temple at Jerusalem, what he spoke of the temple of his body, and of its resurrection from the dead, on the third day; designing hereby to fix a charge, both of sacrilege and sorcery upon him: of sacrilege, in having a design upon the temple of God to destroy it; and of sorcery, or familiarity with the devil, and having assistance from him, or knowledge of the magic art, that he could pretend in three days to rebuild a temple, which had been forty and six years in building; and was what could never be done, but by help of Beelzebub, the prince of devils, by whom it was insinuated he did all his miracles.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

60 But found none: yea, though many false witnesses came, yet found they none. At the last came two false witnesses,

Ver. 60. Yea, though many false witnesses came] So adultery was objected to Athanasius, heresy and treason to Cranmer. Also I lay to thy charge, said Bonnet to Philpot, martyr, that thou killest thy father, and wast accursed of thy mother on her death bed, &c. Queen Elizabeth wrote these lines in a window at Woodstock, -

"Much alleged against me,

Nothing proved can be."

Freedom of speech used by the Waldenses against the sins of those times, caused, Ut plures nefariae eis affingerentur opiniones, a quibus omnino fuerant alieni, saith Gerard, That many false opinions were fathered upon them, such as they never favoured. {a} So deal the Papists by us to this day; they tell the seduced people that we worship no God, count gain godliness, keep no promises, eat young children, make nothing of adultery, murder, &c. {b} Good people, these men deny Christ to be God, and the Holy Ghost to be God, &c., said White, Bishop of Winchester, concerning Woodman and other holy martyrs, in a sermon.

Yet found they none] The enemies’ likeliest projects often fail. These false witnesses, as those Babel builders of old, disagreed in their language, which God confounded, and so he doth to this day.

{a} See Alex. Cook’s preface to his Abatement of Popular Brags.

{b} Eudaemon. Johan. contra Casaub.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Found none - That is, they found none on whose testimony they could with any show of reason convict him. The reason was, as Mark says Mar 14:56, that “their witnesses agreed not together.” They differed about facts, times, and circumstances, as all false witnesses do. Two witnesses were required by their law, and they did not “dare” to condemn him without conforming, “in appearance” at least, to the requirements of the law.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

False witnesses. But how were these men false witnesses, who affirm what we read in the gospel? That man is a false witness, who construes what is said in a sense foreign to that of the speaker. Jesus Christ spoke of the temple of his body. Our divine Saviour had said, Destroy this temple; and they affirm that he had said, I am able to destroy. Had the Jews attended sufficiently to our Saviour’s words, they would easily have perceived of what Christ was speaking, from what he there says: and in three days I will raise it up. (St. Jerome) --- These words of Jesus Christ are only mentioned by St. John ii. 19, who marks on what occasion and in what sense there were spoken. (Bible de Vence)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

60. Found none — They found plenty of false witnesses, but they found none that gave in testimony which was evidence before a Roman court to secure their victim’s death.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Found none. Repeated twice (according to the Received Text), showing the earnestness of the pursuit and the absolute failure of the attempt. What was offered was insufficient for the purpose, or inconsistent. (Mar_14:56) The second "found none" is thought by many modern editors to be not genuine, and is accordingly expunged. It does not occur in the Vulgate. At the last came two false witnesses. When the case seemed hopeless and on the point of breaking down, some of the Sanhedrists" own creatures came forward with a distorted account of Christ"s words spoken long before. They brought no accusation founded on any of his late utterances in the temple, or when he was charged with blasphemy and threatened with stoning; (Joh_10:33) they remembered keenly how he had discomfited them on such occasions, and they feared to elicit one of his crushing replies or unanswerable questions. They were glad to fall back upon something else, which especially concerned Annas and Caiaphas, and their gainful trading in the sacred courts (see the next note).

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Yet found they none - On whose evidence they could condemn him to die. At last came two false witnesses - Such they were, although part of what they said was true; because our Lord did not speak some of those words at all; nor any of them in this sense.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

60. καὶ after οὐχ εὗρον, and a second οὐχ εὗρον after ψευδομαρτύρων, deleted on the authority of the oldest but not the majority of MSS. and Versions. Among those which support the textus receptus are A and E.

ψευδομάρτυρες after δύο is almost certainly a gloss, though found in A2CD and a mass of later MSS.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

60.] οὐχ εὗρον, i.e. sufficient for the purpose, or perhaps, consistent with itself. See note on ἴσαι, Mark ver. 56.

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

(M) 60. And did not find (any), though many false witnesses came.] Mk. has: “ And were not finding (any). For many bore false witness against Him, and their testimonies were not agreed.—εὗρον] aor. for Mk.’s imp., as often.

(M) But afterwards two came, (61) and said, This man said, I can destroy the temple of God, and build (it, another) after an interval of three days.] Mk. has: “And certain rose up and bore false witness against Him, saying, That we heard Him saying, That I will destroy this Temple made with hands, and will build after an interval of three days another made without hands. And not even so was their witness agreed.” The narrative in Mk. is not free from difficulty. The authorities sought false witnesses, two at least being necessary according to law, cf. Deu 19:15, but could not find them (55). For many offered witness, but two could not be found to agree (56). An example of the testimony offered by these discordant witnesses is given in 57-58. It seems to be a garbled version of words spoken by Christ, and was no doubt represented as a threat to destroy the Temple. But even these witnesses could not agree. The attempt, therefore, to produce the requisite number of witnesses failed, and it was necessary to find other grounds for condemning the accused. Mt., however, seems to have regarded Mk vv. 57-58 as at least part of the ostensible ground for condemnation. He therefore distinguishes between the witness here recorded and that of the previous false witnesses by introducing it with ὔστερον, “later,” and by inserting “two.” “At last the requisite agreement between the legal minimum number of witnesses was obtained.” Mt. seems to have interpreted the “Temple” of Mk 58 of the literal Temple, and adds τοῦ θεοῦ. At the same time he seems to have found difficulty in attributing to Christ even in the mouth of false witnesses a direct threat to destroy the Temple, and alters the words into an assertion that Christ had power to do so (δύναμαι καταλῦσαι), and to build another in three days. The insertion of δύο in v. 59 carries with it the omission of Mk v. 59, because the consent of two witnesses in the statement was sufficient to make it a ground of accusation.

διὰ τριῶν ἡμερῶν] cf. Mar 13:2 D. For διά =“after the lapse of an interval,” cf. Gal 2:1. It seems to mean “during” in Act 1:3, so Blass, p. 132. So perhaps here “within three days.” But see against this Abbott (Johannine Grammar, 2331c], who renders Act 1:3 “after an interval of forty days.”

δύο] add ψευδομάρτυρες, A2 C D al latt. S1.

International Critical Commentary — older volumes (1896–1929), various authors — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.