o'clock, — Mark calling it the third hour, because it was near our nine o'clock ; John calling it the sixth hour, because it was Bome time between our nine and twelve.
Grotius says, in Parkhurst, that the third, sixth, and ninth hours, which were most esteemed for prayer and other servi- ces, were marked by the sounding of a trumpet, and that after the trumpet sounding at the third hour, the sixth hour was considered to be at hand. Glass and Lampe support this opin- ion ; and Lampe shows from Maimonides, a famous Jewish writer, that the Jews really divided the day into four quarters. Hengstenberg also remarks that the fourth and fifth hours are never mentioned in the New Testament.
This theory undoubtedly brings the two Evangelists near to one another, if it does not quite reconcile them.
(/) Some think, as Augustine in a second place suggests, and Harmer, quoted in Parkhurst, following him, that the " sixth hour here does not refer to the time of day, but to the prepara- tion of the passover;" — and that the meaning is, " It was the preparation of the passover, and about the sixth hour after that preparation began." But as that preparation often began very early indeed in the morning, or about our three o'clock, six hours counted from that time would bring us down to Mark's third hour, or our nine o'clock. Lightfoot supports this view, which is certainly very ingenious, and would clear away all difficulty. But it may fairly be objected that plain readers would hardly attach such a meaning as Harmer sug gests to " the sixth hour."
The difficulty is one of those which will probably never be solved. God has been pleased to leave it in Scripture for the trial of our faith and patience, and we must wait for its solu- tion. Questions of time and date, like this, are often the most puzzling, from our inability to place ourselves in the position of the writer, and from the widely different manner in which measures and points of time are expressed in the language of different nations and in difFerent ages. This very difficulty be- fore us, perhaps, i^resented no difficulty whatever to the Apos- tolic Fatliers, such as Poly carp and Clement. Perhaps they possessed some simple clue to its solution of which we know nothing. It is our wisdom to be patient, and to believe that it admits of explanation, tliough we have not eyes to see it.
If I must venture an opinion, I think there is more to be said for the fifth of the six solutions I have given than for any other. But I allow that it is incomplete. In any case we must in fairness remember that St. John does not say, distinctly and expressly, " it was the sixth hoar," but " about the sixth hour." Tlvis shows that some latitude may be allowed in interpreta- tion, and that the. acknowledged discrepancy between John and Mark, must not bo too far pressed, or made of too much impor- tance. One thing, at all events, appears to me quite inadmis-
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sible. We cannot allow ourselves to suppose that Jesus was not crucified till twelve o'clock in the day, when the miracu- lous darkness began, and that He only hung on the cross three hours.
[And he saith...Be7iold your King !'\ These words must have been spoken in bitter irony, anger, and contempt. " Behold the Man whom you accuse of setting Himself up as a King and being an enemy to Csesar ! Behold this bleeding, weak, hum- ble, meek, helpless prisoner! — this wretched, harmless Person, you pretend to be afraid of, and want me to crucify ! You wish your own King to be put to death ? This, I am to under- stand, is what you desire. Look at Him, and say I "
15. — [But they cried...away... crucify Him.^ As oe former occa- sions, Pilate's public appeal had not the slightest efi'ect on the Jews. Once more they raised their fierce, relentless, obstinate, cry, and demanded the Prisoner's death by crucifixion. Noth- ing but His blood would satisfy them. The horrible excesses of the Parisian mob, during the infamous Reign of Terror in the first French revolution, give us some faint idea of the sav- age spirit which can run through a crowd, by a kind of infec- tion, when their hatred is stirred up against an individual.
The Greek word rendered " away with him," is literally, " take him away ; " and often means, " take him away to exe- cution or destruction."
Henry remarks, that this public rejection of Christ fulfilled two prophecies of Isaiah : " Him whom the nation abhorreth " (Isa. xlvii. 7) ; and " We hid as it were our faces from Him." (Isa. liii. 2.)
[Pilate saitli... crucify your King .?] For the last time Pilate put the question to the Jews, and gave them a last chance of relenting. In bitter irony he asked, — " Shall 1 then really cru- cify your own King ? Shall I, a Roman, order a King of the Jews to be put to an ignominious death ? Is this your wish and desire ? "
[The chief priests... no king "but Ccesar.'] These memorable words inflicted indelible disgrace on the leaders of the Jews, and stamped the Jews forever as a fallen, blinded, God-forsak- ing, God-forsaken, and apostate nation. They, who at one time used to say, " The Lord God is our King," renounced the faith of their forefathers, and publicly declared that Caesar was their king, and not God. They stultified themselves, and gave the lie to their own boasted declaration of independence of for- eign powers. Had they not said themselves, " We be Abra- ham's seed, and were never in bondage to any man " ? (John viii. 33.) Had they not tried to entrap our Lord into saying something in favor of Caesar, that they might damage His rep- utation ? " Is it lawful to give tribute to Caesar ? " (Matt. xs. 17.) And now, forsooth, they shout out, " We have no king