Coin of Judaea struck under Pontius Pilate.
, ..- ("OfTlberloa Cesar"), with thi '
.. Il,, ■. . . r .1 ■ • l , > l...r.l'- . in ifixiOn. /.'./■:■■ l.iX.'a Ka.'oa- ,,">, with three ,-nrs i.f i-i.rii t,. Probably ayuarfranj.equivuliMit to two " mit. - '
On two other occasions Pilate nearly drove the. lews to insurrection ; the first w hen, in spite of this warning about the images, he hung up in his palace at Jerusa- lem some gilt shields inscribed with the names of dei- ties, which were only removed by an order from Tibe- rius I Philo, Ad Caium, i 38, ii. 589); the second when tie appropriated the revenue arising from the redemp- tion of vows i ( lorban ; comp. Mark vii. 11 | to th< con- struction of an aqueduct This order led to a riot, which
he suppressed by sending at g the crowd soldiers
with concealed daggers, who massacred a great number, not only of rioters, hut of casual spectators (Josephus, War, ii. 9, I). Ewald suggests that the Tower of Si- Ipam (Luke xiii, l» may have been part of the same works, and that this was the reason why its fall was looked upon as a judgment (Gesch. \i. 10). The Phar- isaic reverence for whatever was Bet apart for the Corban (Mark \ ii. I 1 I, and their BCruples as to admitting into it anything that had an impure origin i Matt, xxvii, 6), may be regarded, perhaps, as outgrowths of the same feeling. See Corban.
To these specimens of his administration, which res( on the testimony of profane authors, we must add the slaughter of certain tlahkeans which was told to our
Lord as a piece of news (('tirayyiWovTic, Luke xiii, l ), and on which he founded Bome remarks on the connection between sin and calamity. It must have occurred at some feasl at Jerusalem, in the out< r court of the Temple, since the blood of the worshippers was mingled with their sacrifices ; but the silence ol Josephus about it seems to Bhow thai riot- and massacres on such occasions were so frequent that it was needless to re- count them all. Ewald suggests that the insurrection of which Mark speaks (xv, 7 i must have been that con- nected \v i i li the appro], nation of the Cnrl.au {supra'), and that this explains the eagerness with which the people demanded Barabbas's release. He infer- further, from Barabbas's name, thai he was the son of a rabbi ( Abba was a rabbinic title of honor >. and thus accounts for the part taken in his favor by the mi mb( rs of the Sanhedrim. See BabABBAB.
(2.) His special Connection with Jesus. — It was the custom for the procurators to reside al Jerusalem dur- ing the great feasts, to preserve order, and accordingly, at the time of our Lord'- last Passover, Pilate was occu- pying his official residence in Herod's palace; and to t he gate- of this palace Jesus, condemned on the charge of blasphemy, was brought early in the morning by the child' priests and officers oi the Sanhedrim, who were unable to enter the residence of a Gentile, lest they should be defiled, and unfit to eat the Passover (John xviii, 28). Pilate therefore came out to learn their purpose, and demanded the nature of the charge. At first they seem to have expected that he would have carried out their wishes without further inquiry, and therefore merely described our Lord as a KaKOTzowg (disturber of the public peace) ; but as a Roman procu- rator had too much respect for justice, or at least under- stood his business too well to consent to such a condem- nation, and as they knew that he would not enter into theological questions. ;my more than Gallio afterwards did on a somewhat similar occasion (Acts xviii, 14). they were obliged to devise a new charge, and therefore interpreted our Lord's claims in a political sense, accus- ing him of assuming the royal title, perverting the na- tion, and forbidding the payment of tribute to Rome (Luke xxiii, '■'<: an account plainly presupposed in John xviii. 33). It is evident that from this moment Pilate was distracted between two conflicting feelings : a fear of offending the .lews, who had already grounds of accusation against him, which would he greatly strength- ened by any show of lukewarmncss in punishing an of- fence against the imperial government, and a conscious conviction that Jesus was innocent. Bince it was absurd to suppose that a desire to free the nation from Roman
authority was criminal in the eyes of the Sanhedrim.
Moreover, this last feeling was strengthened by his own hatred of the Jews, « hose religious Bcruples had caused him frequent trouble, and by a growing respect for the calm dignity and meekness ol the sufferer. First he examined our Lord privately, and asked him whether he were a king. The question which he in return put to his judge, " Sayest thou this of thyself, or <li'l others tell it thet of mi ?" seems to imply that there \\a- in Pi- late's own mind a BUSpicion thai the prisoner really was what he was charged with being; a suspicion which show- itself again in the later question, •• Wl //mil '" (John xix. 8), in the increasing de-ire to r> lease