but Caesar ! " Above all tliey madly proclaimed to the world, though they knew it not, that " the sceptre had departed from. Judah," and that Messiah must have come. (Gen. xlix. 10.) Truly the sceptre had departed, when chief priests could say, " We have no king but Caesar."
Cyril remarks, that " while other nations, all over the world, cling tenaciously to their own religion, and honor those whom they call gods, and will not forsake them, Israel revolted from God; cast ofE His authority, and claimed Caesar as their king. Justly therefore they were delivered over into Caesar's hands, and endured the heaviest calamities."
Henry remarks, — " They would have no king but Caesar, and never have they had any other to this day, ' but have been many days without a king, and without a prince ' (Hos. iii. 4), that is, without any of their own, and the kings of the nations have ruled over them. Since they will have no king but Caesar, 60 shall their doom be : themselves have decided it."
Lampe compares the conduct of the priests in this place to that of the trees in Jotham's parable, who said to the bramble, " Come and reign over us." (Judges ix. 14.) The very men who ought to have taught the people to hope for the Messiah, here publicly renounce the Messiah's kingdom, and declare themselves contented with Caesar !
I cannot but think that Pilate's public washing of his hands before the people, and saying, " I am innocent of the blood of this just person " (Matt, xxvii. 24), must come in at this part of St. John's narrative.
16. — [The7i delivered, etc.] This verse describes the conclusion of the most unjust trial of our blessed Lord, when, " in His hu- miliation, His judgment was taken away." (Acts viii. 33.) All was now over. The last appeal had been made to the Jews, and for the last time they had rejected it. What happened is described by Luke, but passed over by John. " Pilate gave sentence that it should be as they required." (Luke xxiii, 24.) He then formally delivered over our Lord into the hands of the chief priests, and formally gave them permission to put Him to death by crucifixion. These hardened and wicked men at once " took Jesus and led Him away." — Of course we must not suppose that the *' chief priests " themselves laid hands on our Lord, and with their own hands led Him away. No doubt the Koman soldiers of Pilate were the executioners, and a centurion had charge of all the bloody transaction of the ex- ecution. But inasmuch as the soldiers only carried out the wishes of the priests, the priests were the responsible persons and prime agents in this judicial murder. Luke says, " He de- livered Jesus to their wilL" (Luke xxiii. 25.)
Let us remember, when we read that word " delivered," that it is expressly written. He was " delivered for our offences,"