Matthew 27:25

Mat_27:25

His blood be on us.

God taking self-cursers at their word

God said Amen to this woeful curse, which cleaves close to them and their posterity, as a girdle to their loins, soaking as oil into their bones to this very day. Thirty-eight years after this fearful imprecation, in the same place, and close by the same tribunal where they thus cried out, His blood be on us and on our children, historians tell us that Herod, wanting money, demanded of the Jews so much out of their treasury as would pay for the making of a water-course. But the Jews, supposing it a needless work, not only denied him, but gave him outrageous stud spiteful speeches, tumultuously flocked about him, and with great clamours pressed upon him, even as he was in his seat. Whereupon, to prevent mischief, he sent to his soldiers to apparel themselves like citizens, and under their gowns to bring with them a dagger or poniard, and mingle themselves amongst the multitude; which they did, observing who they were that made the greatest uproar. And when Herod gave the sign, they fell upon them, and slew a great multitude. Many also, for fear of loss or danger, killed themselves; besides others, which seeing this massacre, suspecting treason among themselves, fell one upon another. What a dispersed and despised people they are ever since 1 exiled, as it were, out of the world, by the common consent of all nations, for their inexpiable guilt. And beware by their example, of wishing evil to ourselves or others, as our desperate Goddamn-toes do at every third word almost, and God will undoubtedly take them at their words, as He did those wretches that wished they might die in the wilderness (Num_14:28). As He did John Peters, the cruel keeper of Newgate in Queen Marys days; who commonly, when he would affirm anything, were it true or false, used to say, If it be not true, I pray God, I rot ere I die; and he had his desire. So had Sir Gervase Ellowais, lieutenant of the Tower, hanged in our remembrance on Tower-hill, for being accessory to the poisoning of Sir Thomas Overbury: who being upon the gallows, confessed it was just upon him, for that he had oft in his playing of cards and dice wished that he might be hanged if it were not so-and-so. In the year 1551, the devil in a visible shape lifted up a cursing woman into the air in Germany; and therehence threw her down in the view of many people, and brake her neck. Another brought her daughter to Luther, entreating his prayers for her, for that she was possessed by the devil, upon her cursing of her. For when she had said in a rage against her daughter, The devil take thee, he took possession of her accordingly. The same author relates a like sad story of a stubborn son, cursed by his father, who wished he might never stir alive from the place he stood in, and he stirred not for three years. Cursing men are cursed men. Seest thou another suffer shipwreck, look to thy tackling. (J. Trapp.)

His blood be on us and on our children

I. Consider the daring impiety and wickedness of thus calling down on themselves the blood of Christ.

II. Consider the heavy wrath of God which fell on them. In the destruction of Jerusalem.

1. We gather an awful warning from this history. The fulfilment in the Jew of Gods righteous anger.

2. It establishes the perfect innocence of the condemned Saviour. The destruction of the Jewish nation was Gods seal to the perfect righteousness of Him whom they put to death.

3. This fearful vengeance upon the Jewish nation stands also as an evidence of the truth of the gospel.

4. We have also a moral evidence of the truth of the scriptures in the whole Jewish nation. God hath kept them separate from the nations.

5. Learn to pity and pray for all who do not know the Lord Jesus. (J. Pratt.)

The responsibility of blood

Can we bring this blood upon ourselves? The murderers of Christ may be amongst ourselves. The means of blessing perverted into a curse. The means of blessing is the blood of Jesus Christ, prefigured by sacrifice. Blood provided must be blood imputed. His blood be on us-this is our salvation. Blood provided, imputed, accepted. It was sin that compassed His death. You then who knowingly continue in sin have identified yourselves with the enemies who killed our Lord. His blood is on you. (P. B. Power, M. A.)

.

The horrid imprecation of the Jews

I. The aggravating circumstances with which the imprecation was attended, and the solemnity, unanimity, and warmth with which it was expressed.

II. The wonderful manner with which it was accomplished, in the destruction of the city and nation of the Jews.

III. The justice of God vindicated, in respect to these sufferers. His wisdom, by making them, in their destruction, an irrefragable proof of our Saviours Divine mission; and in their dispersion, means of propagating those Divine oracles that foretold and described him.

IV. Inferences to be deduced-

1. To abstain from all rash and horrid imprecations, and to aim at simplicity of speech, as well as sincerity of heart, and integrity of manners.

2. TO admire the inscrutable methods of Gods providence, in bringing about the salvation of sinners; and making the scandal of the cross turn to its greatest advantage.

3. To attribute the infidelity of those men to a judicial blindness, who live where the gospel of Christ is professed, and yet shut their eyes against the light of it.

4. To be fearful of despising the mercies of God, and falling into that sin, by which Gods peculiar people forfeited His protection and favour. (F. Atterbury.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

27:25 all the people (see 21:43): This does not mean every living Jew. Instead, those urging Jesus’ condemnation are representative of all of unbelieving Israel, whose actions bring consequences for the nation as a whole (e.g., the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70). • We will take responsibility for his death—we and our children (see 23:35; 2 Sam 1:16; 14:9; Jer 51:35; Acts 5:28; 18:6; 20:26): Christians have at times misunderstood and misused this verse in persecution of Jews, but it is not an indictment against Jews in general.

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

Mat 27:25. Πᾶς ὁ λαὸς, κ.τ.λ., all the people, etc.) An argument against the Jews why they are at present in exile, although that exile is somewhat less severe than formerly.—ἐφʼ ἡμᾶς, κ.τ.λ., upon us, etc.) cf. Deu 28:18; Psa 69:24; Psa 109:17. They mean, “We will be accountable for it.”[1189]

[1189] They bind themselves with the bonds of guilt, but yet do not thereby set Pilate free from it. You may possibly, in a single moment, commit an act which you must pay the penalty of throughout your whole life, nay, even throughout eternity. Nor are there wanting persons who have much less hesitation in incurring guilt than Pilate had.—V. g.

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Mat_27:25 Ἐφʼ ἡμᾶς, κ.τ.λ.] Defiant and vindictive cry, in the hurry of which (τοιαύτη γὰρ ἡ ὁρμὴ κ. ἡ πονηρὰ ἐπιθυμία, Chrysostom) the verb is left to be understood (Mat_23:35). Comp. 2Sa_1:16, and see on Act_18:6. From what we know of such wild outbursts of popular fanaticism, there is no ground for supposing (Strauss; comp. also Keim, Scholten, Volkmar) that the language only represents the matter as seen from the standpoint of Christians, by whom the destruction of the Jews had come to be regarded as a judgment for putting Jesus to death. And as for their wicked imprecations on their own heads, they were only in accordance with the decrees of the divine nemesis, and therefore are to be regarded in the light of unconscious prophecy.

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.

If there be any offence committed in slaying him, let us and our posterity smart for it.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Verse 25. His blood be on us and on our children.] If this man be innocent, and we put him to death as a guilty person, may the punishment due to such a crime be visited upon us, and upon our children after us! What a dreadful imprecation! and how literally fulfilled! The notes on chap. 24, will show how they fell victims to their own imprecation, being visited with a series of calamities unexampled in the history of the world. They were visited with the same kind of punishment; for the Romans crucified them in such numbers when Jerusalem was taken, that there was found a deficiency of crosses for the condemned, and of places for the crosses. Their children or descendants have had the same curse entailed upon them, and continue to this day a proof of the innocence of Christ, the truth of his religion, and of the justice of God.

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

(25) His blood be on us, and on our children.—The passionate hate of the people leads them, as if remembering the words of their own Law, to invert the prayer—which Pilate’s act had, it may be, brought to their remembrance—“Lay not innocent blood to Thy people of Israel’s charge” (Deu_21:8), into a defiant imprecation. No more fearful prayer is recorded in the history of mankind; and a natural feeling has led men to see its fulfilment in the subsequent shame and misery that were for centuries the portion of the Jewish people. We have to remember, however, that but a fractional part of the people were present; that some at least of the rulers, such as Joseph of Arimathæa, Nicodemus, and probably Gamaliel, had not consented to the deed of blood (Luk_23:51), and that even in such a case as this it is still true that “the son shall not bear the iniquity of the father” (Eze_18:20), except so far as he consents to it, and reproduces it.

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

25. His blood be on us, and on our children] Also peculiar to Matthew. St Peter finds as the sole excuse for his fellow countrymen, “I wot that through ignorance ye did it, as did also your rulers” (Act_3:17). The prayer of Jesus on the cross for His murderers was meant for these as well as for the Roman soldiers.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Then released he Barabbas unto them,.... The seditious person, robber, and murderer, for which crimes he was in prison. This man was an emblem of the persons for whom Christ suffered, both in his character and in his release: in his character; for they are such as have rebelled against God, robbed him of his glory, and destroyed themselves; many of them are notorious sinners, the chief of sinners, and all of them by nature, children of wrath, as others; and as the descendants of Adam, under the sentence of condemnation and death; and yet in Christ, they are children of Abba, Father; being of God predestinated by him, to the adoption of children: and in his release; for when Christ was apprehended, they were let go; when he was bound they were loosed; when he was condemned, they were released, and acquitted; and when the sword of justice was awaked against him, the hand of grace and mercy was turned upon them.

And when he had scourged Jesus; which was done some time before his examination, trial, and condemnation were over, though mentioned here, as appears from Joh 19:1, and was done by Pilate, in order to move the pity and compassion of the Jews; hoping they would have been satisfied with it, and not have resisted upon his death: and he indeed moved it to them, that he might chastise him and let him go, Luk 23:22, but nothing would do but crucifixion. Whether the previous scourging sufficed, or whether he was not scourged again upon his condemnation, is not certain: if he was scourged twice, John may be thought to relate the one, and Matthew the other; for certain it is, that it was usual with the Romans to scourge either with rods or whips, just before crucifixion (w): our Lord was scourged with whips, as the word here used shows. Persons of birth and blood, and freemen of Rome, were beaten with rods; but such as were servants, which form Christ had taken, were scourged with whips; to which, sometimes were fastened, the hip bones of beasts (x); so that this kind of whipping, was very severe and cruel. The Jews themselves own this scourging of Jesus, only they ascribe it to the elders of Jerusalem, and relate it thus (y):

"the elders of Jerusalem took Jesus, and brought him to the city, and bound him to a marble pillar in the city, "and smote him with whips", or "whipped him"; and said unto him, where are all thy miracles which thou hast done?''

Hereby the prophecy in Isa 1:6, and our Lord's prediction in Mat 20:19, had their accomplishment. This scourging of Christ, was an emblem of the scourges and strokes of divine justice, which he endured in his soul, as the surety of his people; being smitten of God by the sword of justice, as he stood in their place and stead, and stricken for their transgressions; and may furnish out several instructions: as that it is no wonder, if any of the followers of Christ have, do, or shall, meet with such like treatment from men; and that it becomes them to bear patiently the scourges of their heavenly Father, since these are in love; and that they need not fear being trodden down, or carried away by the overflowing scourge of God's wrath, since Christ has endured this in their room. This being done,

he delivered him to be crucified; either into the hands of the Jews, to their will and at their request; or into the hands of his soldiers, to execute the sentence he passed upon him; which was done in a judicial way, and according to the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God.

(w) Lipsius de Cruce l. 2. c. 2. (x) Ib. c. 3. (y) Toldos Jesu, p. 17.

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

25 Then answered all the people, and said, His blood be on us, and on our children.

Ver. 25. His blood be on us, and on, &c.] God said Amen to this woeful curse, which cleaves close to them and their posterity, as a girdle to their loins, soaking as oil into their bones to this very day, Psa 109:18-19. Thirty-eight years after this fearful imprecation, in the same place, and close by the same tribunal where they thus cried out, His blood be on us, &c., historians tell us, that Herod, wanting money, demanded of the Jews so much out of their treasury as would pay for the making of a water course. But the Jews, supposing it a needless work, not only denied him, but gave many outrageous and spiteful speeches, tumultuously flocked about him, and with great clamours pressed upon him, even as he was in his seat. Whereupon to prevent mischief, he sent to his soldiers to apparel themselves like citizens, and under their gowns to bring with them a dagger or poniard, and mingle themselves among the multitude; which they did, observing who they were that made the greatest uproar. And when Herod gave the sign, they fell upon them, and slew a great multitude. Many also, for fear of loss or danger, killed themselves; besides others, which seeing this massacre, suspecting treason among themselves, fell one upon another. What a dispersed and despised people they have been ever since! exiled, as it were, out of the world, by the common consent of all nations, for their inexpiable guilt. And beware by their example of wishing evil to ourselves or others, as our desperate God-damn-me’s do at every third word almost, and God will undoubtedly take them at their words, as he did those wretches that wished they might die in the wilderness, Num 14:28. As he did John Peters, the cruel keeper of Newgate in Queen Mary’s days; who commonly, when he would affirm anything, were it true or false, used to say, If it be not true, I pray God I rot ere I die; and he had his desire. So had Sir Gervase Ellowais, Lieutenant of the Tower, hanged in our remembrance on Tower Hill, for being accessory to the poisoning of Sir Thomas Overbury; who being upon the gallows, confessed it was just upon him, for that he had often in his playing of cards and dice wished that he might be hanged if it were not so and so. In the year 1551, the devil in a visible shape lifted up a cursing woman into the air in Germany; and therehence threw her down in the view of many people, and brake her neck. Another brought her daughter to Luther, entreating his prayers for her, for that she was possessed by the devil, upon her cursing of her. For when she had said in a rage against her daughter, Involet in te diabolus, The devil take thee, he took possession of her accordingly. The same author relateth a like sad story of a stubborn son, cursed by his father, who wished he might never stir alive from the place he stood in, and he stirred not for three years. Cursing men are cursed men. Alterius perditio tua fit cautio. Seest thou another suffer shipwreck, look to thy tackling.

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.

His blood be on us ... - That is, let the guilt of putting him to death, if there be any, be on us and our children. We will be answerable for it, and will consent to bear the punishment for it. It is remarked by writers that, among the Athenians, if anyone accused another of a capital crime, he devoted himself and children to the same punishment if the accused was afterward found innocent. So in all countries the conduct of the parent involves the children in the consequences of his conduct. The Jews had no right to call down this vengeance on their children, but, in the righteous judgment of God, it has come upon them. In less than forty years their city and temple were overthrown and destroyed. More than a million of people perished in the siege. Thousands died by famine; thousands by disease; thousands by the sword; and their blood ran down the streets like water, so that, Josephus says, it extinguished things that were burning in the city. Thousands were crucified suffering the same punishment that they had inflicted on the Messiah. So great was the number of those who were crucified, that, Josephus says, they were obliged to cease from it, “room being wanted for the crosses, and crosses for the men.” See the notes at Matt. 24. To this day, also, the curse has remained. They have been a nation scattered and peeled; persecuted almost everywhere, and a hissing and a byword among people. No single nation, probably, has suffered so much; and yet they have been preserved. All classes of people, all the governments of the earth, have conspired to overwhelm them with calamity, and yet they still live as monuments of the justice of God, and as proofs, going down from age to age, that the Christian religion is true - standing demonstrations of the crime of their fathers in putting the Messiah to death, and in calling down vengeance on their heads.

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

All the people answered: his blood be upon us, and upon our children which continues, saith St. Jerome, to this day. Then Pilate delivered to them Jesus to be crucified. (Witham) --- This blasphemous prayer continues to this day, and will continue a protracted curse upon the Jews, and upon their posterity. (Origen) --- Behold the insanity of the Jews! Their passion and pertinacious obstinacy will not suffer them to see and understand: they draw down curses upon themselves in these terrible imprecations: his blood be upon us and upon our children. Still the God of all mercies did not literally comply with their impious prayer. For, of these children he selected some for himself; amongst the rest even Paul, and many thousands who were converted at Jerusalem. (St. John Chrysostom)

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).

25. His blood be on us — Terrible imprecation of wrath upon themselves and offspring. In less than forty years from this exclamation the Romans came. They crucified such numbers of Jews that, Josephus says, there was no room for more crosses. Doubtless some of these very persons, and certainly their children, died by this very death, perhaps on the very spot.

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

Then answered all the people. Instigated by the Sanhedrists working insidiously among them, the multitude, now very numerous, respond with fiendish alacrity to Pilate"s deprecation. It was a unanimous, a national assumption of guilt, lightly undertaken, terribly vindicated. His blood be on us, and on our children. The consequences of this condemnation, be they what they may, we are willing to suffer. Let God visit it, if he will. upon us and our children; we and they will cheerfully bear the penalty. A mad and impious imprecation. the fulfilment of which quickly commenced, and has continued unto this day. The terrible events connected with the destruction of Jerusalem, the overthrow of the theocracy, and the eighteen centuries of exile and dispersion, bear witness to the reality of the vengeance thus wantonly invoked. "As for the head of those that compass me about, let the mischief of their own lips cover them". (Psa_140:9)

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

His blood be on us and on our children - As this imprecation was dread. fully answered in the ruin so quickly brought on the Jewish nation, and the calamities which have ever since pursued that wretched people, so it was peculiarly fulfilled by Titus the Roman general, on the Jews whom he took during the siege of Jerusalem. So many, after having been scourged in a terrible manner, were crucified all round the city, that in a while there was not room near the wall for the crosses to stand by each other. Probably this befell some of those who now joined in this cry, as it certainly did many of their children: the very finger of God thus pointing out their crime in crucifying his Son.

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

That is, "Let the guilt and punishment of his blood rest upon us and our posterity." A most horrid and impious imprecation; the dreadful effects of it began to come upon them forty years after, in the destruction of Jerusalem, and has rested and remained upon their posterity to this day, near eighteen hundred years; the Jews being vagabonds over the earth, abhorred by all nations where soever they come. The just God has heard their wicked wish, and caused that blood to fall upon them in so severe, righteous a manner, as must pierce the heart of those that read and observe it.

God has given them blood to drink, as indeed they were worthy. This ought to be a terror and a warning to all persons, that they avoid all cursed imprecations, and wicked wishes upon themselves or others. Woe to such as wish damnation to themselves, pox and plague upon others; how if God says Amen, and ratifies in heaven the wicked Jews: His blood be on us, and on our children?

Yet what they with a wicked mind put up as a direful imprecation, we may with a pious mind offer up to God as an humble petition; Lord, let thy Son’s blood, not in the guilt and punishment, but in the efficacy and merit of it, be upon us, and upon our posterity after us, for evermore.

William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

25. His blood be on us. That is, let us have the responsibility and suffer the punishment. A fearful legacy, and awfully inherited. The history of the Jews from that day on has been the darkest recorded in human annals.

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.

May his blood be on us and our children

Here "blood" is a metonym that stands for a person's death. The phrase "be on us and our children" is an idiom that means they accept the responsibility of what is happening. AT: "Yes! We and our descendants will be responsible for executing him" (See: Metonymy and Idiom)

Then he released Barabbas to them

"Then Pilate released Barabbas to the crowd"

he scourged Jesus and handed him over to be crucified

It is implied that Pilate ordered his soldiers to scourge Jesus. Handing Jesus over to be crucified is a metaphor for ordering his soldiers to crucify Jesus. AT: "he ordered his soldiers to scourge Jesus and to crucify him" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information and Metaphor )

scourged Jesus

"beat Jesus with a whip" or "whipped Jesus"

translationWords

blood

Barabbas

crucify

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

25. τὸ αἷμα αὐτοῦ κ.τ.λ. Also peculiar to Matthew. St Peter finds as the sole excuse for his fellow countrymen, ‘I wot that through ignorance ye did it, as did also your rulers’ (Act 3:17). The prayer of Jesus on the cross for his murderers was meant for these as well as for the Roman soldiers.

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.

25.] αἶμα λέγουσι τὴν τοῦ αἵματος καταδίκην, : but more probably with a much wider reference—as the adherence of blood to the hands of a murderer is an idea not bearing any necessary reference to punishment, only to guilt.

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