Matthew 27:23

Mat 27:23. The governor said, Why? what evil hath he done? — A proper question to be asked before we censure any in common discourse, much more for a judge to ask, before he pass a sentence of death. It is much for the honour of the Lord Jesus, that, though he suffered as an evil doer, yet neither his judge nor his prosecutors could find that he had done any evil. Had he done any evil against God? No: he always did those things that pleased him. Had he done any against the civil government? No: as he did himself, so he taught others to render to Cesar the things that were Cesar’s. Had he done any against the public peace? No: he did not strive or cry, nor was his kingdom of this world. Had he done any evil to particular persons? Whom had he defrauded, or otherwise injured? Not one: so far from it, that he continually went about doing good. But they cried the more, LET HIM BE CRUCIFIED. They do not go about to show any evil he had done, but, right or wrong, he must be crucified. Quitting all pretensions to the truth of the premises, they resolved to hold fast the conclusion, and what was wanting in evidence to make up in clamour.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Mat_27:23 Τί γάρ] does not presuppose a non faciam, or some such phrase (Grotius, Maldonatus, Fritzsche), but γάρ denotes an inference from the existing state of matters, and throws the whole emphasis upon τί: quid ergo. See on Joh_9:30 and 1Co_11:22.

Chrysostom appropriately points out how ἀνάνδρως καὶ σφόδρα μαλακῶς Pilate behaved.

Meyer — Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament — English translation by Peter Christie, edited by Frederick Crombie (T&T Clark, 1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Mat 27:23 . τί γὰρ κακὸν : elliptical, implying unwillingness to carry out the popular will. (Fritzsche, Grotius.) Some, Palairet, Raphel, etc., take γὰρ as redundant. περισσῶς ἔκραζον , they kept crying out more loudly. Cf. Mk., where the force of περισσῶς comes out more distinctly.

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

Verse 23. What evil hath he done?] Pilate plainly saw that there was nothing laid to his charge for which, consistently with the Roman laws, he could condemn him.

But they cried out the more] What strange fury and injustice! They could not answer Pilate's question, What evil hath he done? He had done none, and they knew he had done none; but they are determined on his death.

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

(23) Why, what evil hath he done?—The question attested the judge’s conviction of the innocence of the accused, but it attested also the cowardice of the judge. He was startled at the passionate malignity of the cry of the multitude and the priests, but had not the courage to resist it. We find from Luk_23:22. that he had recourse to the desperate expedient of suggesting a milder punishment—“I will chastise,” i.e., scourge, “Him, and let Him go;” but the suggestion itself showed his weakness, and therefore did but stimulate the crowd to persist in their demand for death.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

When Pilate saw he could prevail nothing,.... That it was to no purpose to talk to them, and in favour of Jesus; he saw they were determined upon his crucifixion, and that nothing else would satisfy them:

but that rather a tumult was made; there was an uproar among the people, and he might fear the consequences of it, should he not grant their request; otherwise, as Philo the (p) Jew says of him, he was, , "naturally inflexible, rigid, and self-willed": but he knew the temper of these people, and had had experience of their resoluteness, when they were determined on any thing; as in the case of his introducing the golden shields into the holy city, of which the same author speaks: and was then obliged, though sore against his will, as now, to yield unto them:

He took water, and washed his hands before the multitude; either in conformity to a custom among the Jews, whereby they testified their innocence as to the commission of murder; see Deu 21:6, or to a Gentile one, used when murder was committed, for the lustration or expiation of it (q):

saying, I am innocent of the blood of this just person; though this did not clear him from all guilt in this matter: he ought to have acted the part of an upright judge, and not have yielded to the unrighteous requests of the people; he ought not to have scourged an innocent man, and much less have condemned and delivered him to be crucified, as he did; though in this he bore a testimony to the innocence of Christ, and which is somewhat remarkable in him; who was, as Philo says (r), notoriously guilty of receiving bribes, of injuries, rapine, and frequent murders of persons uncondemned:

see ye to it; you must be answerable for this action, and all the consequences of it. The Syriac version renders it, "you have known"; and the Persic version, "you know": and the Arabic version, "you know better"; See Gill on Mat 27:4.

(p) De Legat. ad Caium, p. 1034. (q) Vid. Ovid. Fast. l. 2. Anticlidis Redit. l. 74. Triclinius in Ajac. Sophocl. 3. 1. (r) Ubi supra. (De Legat. ad Caium, p. 1034.)

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

23 And the governor said, Why, what evil hath he done? But they cried out the more, saying, Let him be crucified.

Ver. 23. Why? What evil hath he done?] Why? but if he have done no evil, wherefore doth not Pilate pronounce him innocent, contra gentes, facing the people, and not guilty him by proclamation? which because he did not, but the contrary, was he not therefore, by a just judgment of God upon him, kicked off the bench by the Emperor Tiberius? Judge Hales came to an evil end for crossing his conscience. And Judge Morgan, who gave the sentence of that peerless Lady Jane Grey’s death, presently fell mad; and in all his distracted fits, cried out continually, Take away the Lady Jane, take away the Lady Jane from me. It is reported of Nevessan, a better lawyer than an honest man, that he should say, He that will not venture his body, shall never be valiant; he that will not venture his soul, never rich.

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.

Why, what evil hath he done? Ti gahsen ; The particle ga implies a certain reasoning in the question, the speaker for the nonce putting himself in the people"s position, and demanding the ground of their decision. The authorized translation is adequate. Pilate thus showed his pusillanimity and irresolution, while exercising no control over the feelings of the excited mob. But they cried out the more (perisswv ekrazon , they kept shouting out exceedingly). The very sight of the governor"s predilection, combined with his indecision, excited them to more vehement clamour; they saw that he would end by yielding to their violence. Jerome refers, in illustration, to Isa_5:7, "He looked for judgment, but behold oppression; for righteousness, but behold a cry."

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

23. What evil hath he done? Pilate's struggle between his desire to be just and to please a body demanding a crime at his hands is pitiable. He repeats the question three times and offers to appease their rage by chastising the innocent (Luke 23:22). He had, however, lost his power when he began to parley with a mob. They, utterly unreasonable, only demand the move vehemently that Jesus be crucified.

B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.

has he done

"has Jesus done"

they cried out

"the crowd cried out"

washed his hands in front of the crowd

Pilate does this as a sign that he is not responsible for Jesus' death. (See: Symbolic Action)

the blood

Here "blood" refers to a person's death. AT: "the death" (See: Metonymy)

See to it yourselves

"This is your responsibility"

translationWords

crime

crucify

Pilate

blood

innocent

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

23. οἱ δὲ περισσῶς κ.τ.λ. There is no further question even of a show of legality or justice: the traditional clemency is quite forgotten; the fanatical crowd, pressing round the doors of the Prætorium, which they cannot enter, join with excited gesticulation in one loud and furious cry for the blood of Jesus.

It is a forecast of the brutal popular cry ‘Christianos ad leones,’ which in that or more subtle forms doomed many martyrs in all ages.

This is often quoted as an instance of the fickleness of popular favour, and a contrast is drawn between the shouts of ‘hosanna’ a few days before and the cries of σταυρωθήτω now. But when the Jews present at the feast were numbered by hundreds of thousands, it is not necessary to think that the same crowds who hailed Jesus as the Messiah were now demanding his death.

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.

23.] γάρ implies a sort of concession—a placing one’s self in the situation of the person addressed, and then requiring a reason for his decision: and is generally found in this connexion, τί γάρ, in the utterance of impassioned feeling. See Hartung, Partikellehre, i. 479.

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

(M) 23. And he said, What evil has He done? And they the more were crying out, saying, Let Him be crucified.] Mk. has: “And Pilate said to them, Why, what evil has He done? And they the more cried out, Crucify Him.”—ἔκραζον] Mk. has the aor. The position is generally the reverse. But in Mk. A D al 1 69 346 have ἔκραζον, and so probably S1.

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