Grotius paraplirases tlie verse tlius : " Thou hast been long a ruler, and a careful defender of tlie Roman majesty. Hast thou ever heard anything that would impeach Me of a desire to usurp authority against Rome ? If thou hast never known any- thing of thyself, but others have suggested it, beware lest thou be deceived by an ambiguous word."
There is undoubtedly some little obscurity around the verse, and it becomes us to handle it reverently. It certainly looks like an appeal to the Roman Governor's conscience. " Before I answer thy question let Me ask thee one. For what reason and from whal motive art thou making this inquiry about my being a King ? Canst thou say, from thy own personal knowledge, that thou hast ever heard Me complained of as setting up a king- dom ? Thou knowest thou canst not say that. Art thou only asking Me because thou hast heard the Jews accuse Me of being a King to-day? If this is so, judge for thyself whether such a King as I appear to be is likely to interfere with thy author- ity."
Poole says, " Our Saviour desired to be satisfied from Pilate, whether he asked Him as a private person for his own satisfac- tion, or as a judge, having received any such accusation against Him. If he asked Him as a judge, he was bound to call others to prove what they had charged Him with."
Burgon remarks that Jesus did not need information in asking this question. He asked, as the Lord asked Adam, " Where art thou ? " (Gen. iii. 9) in order to arouse Pilate to a sense of the shameful injustice of the charge.
35. — [Pilate answered, etc.] The answer of Pilate exhibits the haughty, high-minded, supercilious, fierce spirit of a Roman man of the world. So far from responding to our Lord's ap- peal to his conscience, he fires up at the very idea of knowing anything of the current opinions about Christ. — " Am I a Jew ? Thinkest thou that a noble Roman like me knows anything about the superstitions of Thy people. I only know that Thine own countrymen, and the very leaders of Thy nation, have brought Thee unto me as a prisoner worthy of death. What they mean I do not pretend to understand. But I suppose there is some ground for their accusation. Tell me plainly what Thou hast done."
Pilate's answer seems tantamount to an acknowledgment that he knew nothing against our Lord. But as He had been brought before him as a prisoner, and he was pressed to con- demn Him, he asks Him what He has done to bring this hatred of the Jews upon Him.
He that would know the depth of scorn contained in that sentence, " Am I a Jew ? " should mark the contemptuous way in which Horace, Juvenal, Tacitus, and Pliny speak of the Jews.