Bible Commentaries
Matthew 27

Verses 1-66

1-2 Compare Mark 15:1; Luke 23:1; John 18:28-32. See Psalms 2:2.

Matthew 27:3-28

3-8 The chief priests, by buying the freehold, which had previously been acquired by Judas, but not paid for (Acts 1:16-19), join the betrayer of our Lord in an unlawful act which manifests their lack of faith in God. True believers, who were looking for the kingdom and the consequent redistribution of the land, would not waste money on a freehold which would be worthless in that day. Instead, they sold their freeholds (Acts 4:34), and gave the money to the apostles. The account in Acts views this transaction from the standpoint of Judas, and tells why he was rejected from being an apostle. He made arrangements not only to betray His Lord (Who, he supposed, would use His power to circumvent His enemies), but he arranged to use the “wages of unrighteousness” for buying a freehold, contrary to the law. The chief priests and elders, instead of repudiating this illegal act, confirm it by hypocritically refusing to put the money in the temple offerings, and by using it to complete the purchase which Judas had begun. The death of Judas is likewise passed over briefly in Matthew, but elaborated in Acts. He hanged himself, but the rope broke and he fell so hard that his bowels spilled out. Thus worked the woe pronounced upon him by the Lord.

5-8 See Acts 1:18-19.

9 See Zechariah 11:12-13.

11 Compare Mark 15:2-5; Luke 23:2-12; John 18:33-38. See 1 Timothy 6:13.

11 The priests should have been models of justice and truth, for they had the form of truth in the law. The governor had no divine light to guide his steps. Yet Pilate is far more just than the priests. He knew very well that they would not demand the death of a Jew who conspired against his government. They would aid him. His suspicions of their motive were confirmed by the Lord's silence. No ordinary man would stand and hear such charges against him without a reply. At no time did the chief priests deceive Pilate. He thought the easiest way out would be to put it to the people, who, he supposed, would release the prophet. He was so sure of their verdict that he was caught in his own device.

15-18 Compare Mark 15:6-10; Luke 23:13-17 John 18:38-39.

17 Bar-Abbas is another contrast with Christ. A murderer, a leader in sedition, he was just what the chief priests represented the Lord to be. His name is very striking. In Aramaic it means “son of the father”. Christ was the Son of the Father, God. Bar-Abbas was the son of another father, the Slanderer.

19 Of all the actors in this tragedy, only one really pleads the cause of Christ, and this one is the most unlikely that could be. It seems almost incredible, when His own nation is against Him, His own disciples afraid to speak a word in His favor, that an alien woman steps in to plead the cause of a just man she may never have heard of before. True, it was the direct effect of divine intervention. But every other act and attitude in this scene can, in its last analysis, be traced to God's foreordination. It must remain a marvelous intimation off God's ways that she alone should voice a solemn protest against the travesty of justice in which Pilate was weak enough to become involved.

20-23 Compare Mark 15:11-14; Luke 23:18-23; John 18:40. See Acts 3:14.

20 The chief priests were aware that they had failed to convince the governor by fair argument, so now they propose to foil his plan of freeing the Lord by persuading the people. It is not necessary to have facts or truth to move the mob. It is the most unjust and unreasonable appeal possible. Had the priests not interfered they undoubtedly would have shouted for His release, as Pilate anticipated.

23 Now that the priests have caught him in his own device, he tries to persuade the mob. Evil or no evil, they want His blood.

24 See Deuteronomy 21:6-7.

24 Pilate had the power to release Him, but expedience and selfishness are always more potent in human governments than justice.

25-38 Compare Mark 15:24-28; Luke 23:32-43; John 19:18-24.

25 See Deuteronomy 19:10; Acts 5:28.

25 The Jews today have good cause to shudder when they read these lines. There is a reason for their terrible history from that day to this.

26 Compare Mark 15:15; Luke 23:24-25; John 19:1.

27-31 Compare Mark 15:16-20; John 19:2-16.

29 See Psalms 69:19-20; Isaiah 53:3.

30 See Isaiah 50:6.

31 See Isaiah 53:7-8; Philippians 2:9-10.

31 In mockery, our Lord went through the mimic ceremony of being invested with imperial dignity. The shining attire with which Herod clothed Him (Luke 23:11) may have been intended to mark Him as a candidate for royal honors. Pilate's soldiers put on Him the scarlet mantle, a sign of His having attained the imperial throne, and add the crown of thorns and the reed for a scepter, and offer Him the homage due to such exalted rank. Little did they dream of His high honors as earth's Suzerain and heaven's supreme Head! And little do His saints discern that this is the essential ceremony of investiture for the King of kings and Lord of lords. He never could assume the place supreme unless He had descended to the depths. Suffering and shame are the divine preliminaries to joy and honor. Those who suffer-they shall reign.

32 Compare Mark 15:21; Luke 23:26-31. See Hebrews 13:12-13.

33-34 Compare Mark 15:22-23; Luke 23:33-36; John 19:17.

34 See 48; Psalms 69:21.

35 Compare Psalms 22:18.

35 The crucifixion of Christ is a holy of holies, where speech seems sacrilegious, and silence sacred.

38 See Isaiah 53:12.

39-44 Compare Mark 15:29-32; Luke 23:35-43. See Psalms 22:7-8.

39 The whole scene is vibrant with the presence of God, not only in the Victim and the feeble few who followed, but in the very words of those who hated Him. They spoke great truths which they could not comprehend. They were demolishing the true Temple of God. They needed salvation. But it could never come if He saved Himself or descended from the cross. The chief priest could not have uttered a more pregnant or more precious truth. How gladly we echo their words! We only change the note of derision into a song of triumph. “Others He saves: Himself He cannot save!” Surely they were inspired!

40 See Matthew 26:61-64; John 2:19.

44 There were four others crucified with Christ. Two were malefactors. Two were robbers. One of the malefactors believed on Him. The robbers reproached Him.

45- 53 Compare Mark 15:33-38 Luke 23:44-46; John 19:25-30.

45 The dread darkness was but an indication of the withdrawal of the divine Presence from the silent Sufferer. This was incomparably more awful than the opposition of His enemies or the desertion of His friends. Until this darkness enveloped Him, He had always lived in the light of God's smile. Now He was hanging on a tree, and became accursed of God (Galatians 3:13). Sinless, He became sin (2 Corinthians 5:21). Then it was that fire from above entered into His bones (Lamentations 1:13). Then the Lord bruised Him (Isaiah 53:10), It was the travail of His soul in these dark hours which settled the question of sin. It is only as we see God against Him then that we can appreciate how much He is for us now. Crucified by man at the behest of Satan, and abandoned by God, He was the most forlorn and forsaken creature in the universe. Only after it is past and the light returns is He able to cry to God. And then He utters that most incomprehensible of all questions, unless, indeed, He suffered for the sins of others. For His own sake God would never have abandoned Him. For my sake (and yours, beloved reader), He endured, not merely the physical pain, the mental torture, the moral degradation which men inflicted, but the deeper, direr despair of the awful enmity of God.

46 See Psalms 22:1.

48 See Psalms 69:21.

50 His death was different from all others. He did not linger until life ebbed away, but laid down His soul while still strong by committing His Spirit to God. His body was laid in the tomb. His soul went to the unseen. His work was done, and death was His portion until His resurrection.

51 See 2 Chronicles 3:14.

51 The flesh of Christ was figured by the curtain in the temple which hid the presence of God from the holy place. God was not manifest in His flesh, but in its rending. Our union with Christ does not commence until His crucifixion. We were crucified, entombed, raised, and are ascended and seated in Him.

54-61 Compare Mark 15:39-47; Luke 23:47-56 John 19:38-42.

54 The kingdom proclamation closed with the acknowledgment of Peter that He is the Christ, the Son of the living God (Matthew 16:16). His priestly ministry closes with the centurion's declaration that He is the Son of God. Thus we are given a foretaste of the final effect of both of these ministries. In the day of His return, Israel will exultantly acclaim Him King and the nations of the earth will acknowledge Him their Lord.

55 See Luke 8:2-3.

56 See Matthew 13:55.

57 The shame and ignominy, as well as the sufferings, are now over. Though they appointed His grave with the lawless, God put Him in a rich man's tomb. The Romans would have left His body till it wasted away or was devoured by birds of prey. The Jews would have put it in a felon's grave. God indicated His mind by providing two honorable men, Joseph and Nicodemus (John 19:39), to attend to His entombment. Joseph of Arimarhea, translated, means “He adds the heights.”

62 The morrow after the preparation was the great sabbath which began the festival of Unleavened Bread. But the religions leaders did not rest nor did they allow Pilate peace. They now realized that they had only fulfilled His own predictions, and that, should He rise from the dead, or even appear to do so, they would be in a worse predicament than ever. From the divine side it was important that they should have ample assurance of His resurrection. Nothing could be more convincing than the story of the guard. Their plan was an excellent one to prove, not disprove, His return to life.

63 See Matthew 16:21; Matthew 17:23; Matthew 20:19.

64 Twelve times we are told that He would rise “the third day”. Why do they tell Pilate “after three days”, and then set the guard hardly more than a day after His death? Pilate was a Roman. They used the Latin idiom. Mark, who wrote for Romans, also uses this form

(Mark 8:31; Mark 9:31; Mark 10:34). In Greek it is literal, “the third day”. In Latin it is idiomatic, “after three days”. In Hebrew it is an idiom which accords with all their chronological computations, “three days and three nights”.

66 The “detail” of soldiers, was a small squad which, in Latin, was called a custodian. From this we get our word custody. Pilate uses the Latin military term for which the Greek had no exact equivalent. Hence it is transliterated, rather than translated in the sublinear rendering.