Matthew Chapter 27 verse 19 Holy Bible

Matthew 27 : 19 Bible Verse Songs

• What Love Looks Like by Elle Limebear

Pulpit Commentary

Pulpit CommentaryVerse 19. - When he was set down (was sitting) on the judgment seat. This was a curule chair placed on a raised stone platform in front of the Praetorium, where the Roman governors sat to give judgment in cases brought before them (see John 19:13). It was while he was waiting to hear the decision of the multitude with respect to the selection of the prisoners that the episode that follows (mentioned alone by St. Matthew) occurs. His wife. Her name, according to ecclesiastical tradition, was Claudia, the addition of Procula being probably a mistake. In the apocryphal Gospel of Nicodemus (ch. 2) she is said to have been a convert to Judaism. Other accounts affirm that she ultimately became a Christian; and the Greek Church has canonized her, and inserted her in the Menology on October 27. It is probable that she was well acquainted with, and favourably disposed towards, the claims of Christ; and if she had impressed her husband in some degree with her own views, this fact may have influenced him to make some effort to save Jesus. Doubtless she had thought much upon the subject, and talked it over with Pilate; hence her dream was the natural sequence of that with which her mind had been filled in her waking moments, though providentially ordered. It speaks for the accuracy of the evangelist's account, that lately the governors had been allowed to take their wives with them into their official districts, a law previously having forbidden this indulgence (see Tacitus, 'Annul.,' 3:33, 34). Have thou nothing to do with that just Man. Wordsworth well remarks, "In the whole history of the Passion of Christ no one pleads for him but a woman, the wife of a heathen governor, the deputy of the emperor of the world." This was another wanting given to Pilate to arrest him in his criminal cowardice. The expression used means literally, "Let there be nothing to thee and that Righteous One," which is equivalent to "Do nothing to him for which you will be hereafter sorry." I have suffered (ἔπαθον, I suffered) many things this day in a dream because of him. It is useless to inquire the nature of her dream. From the way in which it is here introduced, and from what we know of God's employment of dreams in other cases to communicate his will to men, we may reasonably conclude that this was divinely sent to convey a lesson to Pilate through his wife, who alone, perhaps, was able to arouse the better feelings of his heart. The mention of her suffering shows that she had some dreadful experiences to relate in connection with the fate of the righteous Jesus. As at the beginning of Christ's life, so at its close, such communications were addressed to strangers. Pilate's superstitious fears would be excited by this mysterious dream, but they were not able to overpower counteracting influences.

Ellicott's Commentary

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(19) The judgment seat.--The chair of judgment was placed upon a Mosaic pavement, and was indispensable to the official action of any provincial ruler. (Comp. Note on John 19:13.)His wife sent unto him.--Under the old regime of the Republic provincial governors were not allowed to take their wives with them; but the rule had been relaxed under the Empire, and Tacitus records (Ann. iii. 33, 34) a vain attempt to revive its strictness. Nothing more is known of the woman thus mentioned; but the Apocryphal Gospel of Nicodemus (ii. 1) gives her name as Procula, and states that she was a proselyte to Judaism. The latter fact is probable enough. About this time, both at Rome and in other cities, such, e.g., as Thessalonica and Ber?a (Acts 17:4; Acts 17:12), Jews had gained considerable influence over women of the higher classes, and carried on an active work of proselytism.With that just man.--The word is striking, as showing the impression which had been made on Pilate's wife by all she had seen or heard. As contrasted with priests and scribes, He was emphatically the "just," the "righteous "One.In a dream because of him.--Questions rise in our minds as to the nature of the dream. Was it, as some have thought, a divine warning intended to save her husband from the guilt into which he was on the point of plunging? Did it come from the Evil Spirit, as designed to hinder the completion of the atoning work? Was it simply the reflection of the day-thoughts of a sensitive and devout woman? We have no data for answering such questions, but the very absence of data makes it safer and more reverential to adopt the last view, as involving less of presumptuous conjecture in a region where we have not been called to enter. What the dream was like may be a subject for a poet's or--as in a well-known picture by a living artist--for a painter's imagination, but does not fall within the province of the interpreter.