The Pulpit Commentary — Matthew — Volume 2 — Section 598

wicked deed. Very strange is the self-deceH with which hypocrites blind their herirts and cheat their consciences. They bought with the pieces of silver the potter's field to bury strangers in. It was the field, it seems (comp. Acts i. 18), In which Judas had put an end to his miserable life, the field which he had designed to purchase with the reward of hie iniquity. It was well called "the field of blood;" it was defiled with that scene of blood and horror, and it was bought with the price of blood. The chief priest~ perhaps regarded this purchase as a work of charity. So again and again in the course of history have men sought, by charitable foundations of various kinds, to atone for past transgressions. Many such gifts have been given in true repentance; and as the earnest and expression of repentance they are, we may not doubt, accepted. Without repentance and faith they can no more help the guilty soul than the gift of the potter's field could atone for the blood-guiltiness of the chief priests. 4. The fulfilment of prophecy, St. Matthew again, as in so many other places, refers to the writings of the prophets. His thoughts seem to have dwelt much in reverent awe on the gre:it mysteries of the sovereignty and foreknowledge of God, and of that overruling provi- dence which ever brings to pass the counsels of the Most High. There is, app<\rently, an ancient transcriber's error here, and other difficulties, which this is not the place to examine, But the passage (Zech. xi. 12, 13) is very remarkable. The price to be given is weighed, it is to be fixed at thirty pieces of silver. The Lord speaks of it as the "price that I [the Lord God] was prised at of them." The price is cast down in the house of the Lord; it comes ultimately to the potter. The prophecy was fulfilled. The price of the Saviour's blood bought a resting-place for the bodies of Gentile strangers in the neighbourhood of the holy city-an illustration of the great and blessed truth that by the blood of Christ those are made nigh who sometime were afar off, who were aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise; but now, through him, are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow- citizens with the saints, and of the household of God. LESSONS, 1. "The love of money is the root of all evil" Fight hard against it. 2. It grows and strengthens with years. Resist it in its beginnings. 3. Ill-gotten gains bring misery. Flee from them. 4. Mark the strange inconsistencies of hypocrisy, Pray to be trµe and real . .Vera. 11-25.-0hrist befON Pilate. L THE ACCUSATION, 1. Pi?ate's question. Pilate was proud and cruel; he despised and hated the Jews. But he had something of the old Roman love of justice-he would not condemn the Lord unheard, as the Jews at first desired (John xviii. 30, 31). He rejected their request contemptuously, ." Take ye him, e.nd judge him according to your Law." They kept back at first the charge of blasphemy, which they knew Pilate would dismiss at once, as Gallio after- wards dismissed a similar accusation, They invented fresh charges in their cruel injustice-charges which would, they thought, force Pilate to act as they wished. " We found this fellow," they said, "perverting the nation, and forbidding to give tribute to Cmsar, saying that he himself is Christ, a King." The first two charges were utterly e.nd manifestly false ; the third had some show of truth. Pilate put the question to the accUEed, ".Art thou the King of the Jews?" 2. The Lord's answer. "Jesus B~id unto him, Thou sayest," It is an emphatic affirmation ; he was the King of the Jews; he is the King of the Israel of God. At his nativity the Wise Men came from the East, asking, " Where is he that Is born King of the Jews ? " At the beginning of his ministry he permitted Nathanael to address him as the King of Israel; at his solemn entry into Jerusalem ho would not listen to the Pharisees when they b::llle hirn rebuke those who were welcoming him as" the King that cometh in the Name of the Lord." He would not conceal the great and solemn truth; but neither would he leave Pilate in ignorance of the true nature of his claims. " My kingdom is not of this world," he said (John xviii. 36). Pilate understood the hollowness of the charge of sedition; he was not deceived by tho clamour of the Jews, "If thou let this Man go, thou art not Cresar'e friend; whosoever maketh himself a king speaketh against Crosar." He understood enough of the Lord's words and position to feel that the kingdom which he claimed was of a spiritual character, not opposed to the rule of Cresar; he felt that the accusation was false and malicious. 3. Thd Lord:s silence, He had answered Pilate; he would not answer the false charges of the chief priests  6M THl!: GOSPEL AOOORDING TO ST. MATTHEW, [os. nvn.1-68.