tence appears to me to show tliat Pilate went outside the pal- ace first, and announced that he was goino- to bring out the prisoner, and that then our Lord followed him. The word " forth," both in this and the preceding verse, means literally, " outside," or " without." It is the same that is used in the texts, " His brethren stood without " (Matt. xii. 46) ; and " With- out are dogs." (Rev. xxii. 15.)
That our blessed Lord, the eternal Word, should have meek- ly submitted to be led out after this fashion, as a gazing-stock and an object of scorn, with an old purple robe on His shoulders and a crown of thorns on His head, His back bleeding from scourging and His head from thorns, to feast the eyes of a taunting, howling, blood-thirsty crowd, is indeed a wondrous thought ! Truly, " though He was rich, yet for our sakes He became poor." (2 Cor. viii. 9.) Since the world began, the sun never shone on a more surprising spectacle both for angels and men.
[And PUate...BeJiold the Man.] This famous sentence, so well known as " Ecce Homo," in Latin, admits of two views being taken of it. Pilate may have spoken it in contempt : " Behold the Man you accuse of setting Himself up as a King ! See what a weak, helpless, contemptible creature He is." — Or else Pilate may have spoken it in pity : " Behold the poor fee- ble Man whom you want me to sentence to death. Surely your demands may be satisfied by what I have done to Him. Is He not punished enough? " — Perhaps both views are correct. In any case there can be little doubt that the latent feeling of Pilate was the hope that the Jews, on seeing our Lord's misera- ble condition, would be content, and would allow Him to be let go. In this hope, again, we shall find he was completely de- ceived.
Pilate probably threw a strong emphasis on the expression " Man," indicative of contempt. This may have led to the Jews saying so strongly, in the seventh verse, that the prisoner " made Himself the y6'o/i of God," and claimed to be Divine, and not a mere " man," as Pilate had said. He probably also meant the Jews to mark that he said, " Behold the man," not " your King," but a mere common man.
6. — [Wlien the chief priests... crucify Rim.] We see in this verse the complete failure of Pilate's secret scheme for avoiding the condemnation of our Lord. The pitiful sight of the bleeding and despised prisoner had not the effect of softening down the feel ings of His cruel enemies. They would not be content with any thing but His death, and the moment He appeared they raised the fierce cry, " Crucify Him, crucify Him."
Let it be noted that the chief priests wer6 the foremost in raising the cry for crucifixion. It is a painful fact that in every age, none have been such hard, cruel, unfeeling, and bloody- minded persecutors of God's saints, as the ministers of religion.