inces it was the name for the official residence of the Roman governor, as here. Compare Acts xxiii. 35. It came to be ap- plied to any spacious villa or palace. So Juvenal: “To their crimes they are indebted for their gardens, padaces ( pretoria), ete.” (“Sat.,” i, 75). In Rome the term was applied to the pretorian guard, or imperial body-guard. See on Philip. i. 13. Rev., palace.
Early (pw). Used technically of the fourth watch, 3-6 AM. See Mark xiii. 35. The Sanhedrim could not hold a legal meeting, especially in capital cases, before sunrise; and in such cases judicial proceedings must be conducted and termi- nated by day. A condemnation to death, at night, was techni- cally illegal. In capital cases, sentence of condemnation could not be legally pronounced on the day of trial. If the night proceedings were merely preliminary to a formal trial, they would have no validity ; if formal, they were, ipso facto, illegal. In neither case was the law observed in reference to the second council. According to the Hebrew computation of time, it was held on the same day.
Be defiled (wavIdcw). Originally, to stain, as with color. So Homer: “Tinges (u«jv7) the white ivory with purple.” Not necessarily, therefore, in a bad sense, like porvva, to besmear or besmirch with filth (1 Cor. viii. 7; Apoc. iii. 4). In classical Greek, palvw, the verb here used, is the standing word for profaning or unhallowing. So Sophocles:
** Not even fearing this pollution (ulacua) dire, Will I consent to burial. Well I know That man is powerless to pollute (uwalvew) the gods.’” “¢ Antigone,” 1042-1044.
And Plato: “And ifa homicide . . . without purification pollutes the agora, or the games, or the temples,” etc. (“ Laws,” 868). See on 1 Pet.i.4. The defilement in the present case was apprehended from entering a house from which all leaven had not been removed.
VoL. Il.—18