The Pulpit Commentary — Luke — Volume 2 — Section 230

body would ha.ve fnllen. The cross was not hist.: ry; so passionately longed lhnt thi, very high, scarcely twice the height of an barrt-'Ilness might not he their portion ! ordinary ma.n. Strong nails were driven Ver. 30.-Tbeu ohall they begin to say to thr1Jugh the hanrle and feet. The victim the moUI1tains, Fall on ua; and to th9 hills, usunlly lived about twelve hours, sometimes Cover us. The allusion, in the fir•t pine~, much longer. The ngouies endnred by the was to the awful siege of Jerusalem and tn crucified have been th ue summarized : "The the undreamed-of woes whieh would Accom- fever whioh soon set in _prncluccd e. burning pany it; e.ncl in the second pince, tlJ tho thirst. The inoreasing rnflamma.tion of the centuriee of misery and persecutio,1 to which wounds in the beck, ho.ode, ancl feet; the the children of these "daughters nf ,Jeru- congestion of the blood in the head, lungs, so.lem" would, as Jews, be subjected in all uucl heart; the swelling of every vein, on lands. indescribablo oppression, racking pains in Ver. 31.-For if they do these things b a the head; the stiffness of the limbs, ea used green tree, what shall be done in the dry 1 by the unnatural position of the body ;- Bleek and others interpret this ea.yin~ here these nll united to make the punishment, in thus: The green wood represents ,Jesus con- the la.nguage of Cicero (' In Verr.,' v. 64), demned to c.-rucifixion o.s a traitor in spite of crudelissimuin teterrimumque supplicium. his unvarying loyalty to Rome and all lawful From the beginning Jesus hod foreseen Gentile power. Th" dry wood picturfs the that such would bo the end of his life," Jews, who, ever disloyal to Rome anrl all Gen- Ver. 27.-And there followed him a great tile authority, will bring on themselves with company of people, and of women, which much stronger reason the terrible vengeance o.lao bewailed and lamented him. The great of the great conquering empire. Theophy- company was me.de np of the usual concourse lact, however, better explains the saying in of curious lookers-on, of disciples, and others his para.phrase, " If they do these things in who hacl heard him in past clays, and now me, fruitful, always green, undying through co.me, with much horror, to see the end. the Divinity, what will they do to Y"u, '1'1,e women specially noticed consisted mostly, fruitless, and deprived of all life-giving no doubt, of holy women of his own com- righteousness?" So Farrar, who well sum- pany, such as the "Maries," together with marizes, "If they act thus to me, the Inno- some of those kindly Jerusalem ladies who cent and the Holy, what shall be the fate of were in the habit of soothing the last hours these, the gnilty and false?" of these condemned ones-unhappily in those Ver. 32.-A.nd there were also two other, sad days so numerous-with narcotics and malefe.otors, led with him to be put to death. o.nodynes. These kindly offices were appa- Many commentators suppose tho.t these were rently not forbidden by the Roman authori- companions of that Bar-Abbas tbe robber ties. This recital respecting the women is wbo ho.cl just been released. They were peculiar to St. Luke. not ordinary thieves, but belonged to those Ver. 28.-But Jesus turning unto them companies of brigands, or revolted J ewe, ~d, Daughters of Jerusalem. '£his address which in those tronblous times were so to them by the Lord indicates that the numerous in Palestine. majority o.t least of this company of sympa- Vers. 38-49.-The Crucifaion. thizing women belonged to the holy city. Weep not for me, but weep for yourselves, Ver. 33.-A.nd whon they were come to the and for your ohildren. Age.in here, as on place, whioh is oalled Calvary; literally, unto the cross, the utter unselfishness of the dying the place which is called the skull. The Master comes out. His thoughts in his familiar name "Calvary" has its origin in dw·kest hour were never of himself. Here, the Vulgate translation, Calvar-iitm, a skull. e.pparently, for the first time since his last in- The name "Place of e. skull," Golgotha terrogation before Pilate does our Lord break (properly Gu.lgoltha,an Ammaic word 1-mShJ, silence. Stier bee.utifully co.Us this the first corresponding to the Hebrew Gulgoletl,, part of the Passion sermon of Clirist. The n,J',J, which in Judg. tx. 58 o.ud 2 Kings second part consisted of the " seven words iic. 35 is translated "skull"), does not collle on the cross." ''Weep," said our Lorclhere. from the fact that the skulls of condemned It is noticeable that it is the only tiibe in persons remained lying there, but it is oo his publio teaching that he is reported to called from being a bare rounded mound have told his listeners to weep. " The same like e. skull in form. Dean Plumptre sug- lips whose gracious breath ho.d dried so gests that the spot in qnestion was oho.en many tears now cry on the wny to the by the Jewish rulers as a deliberate i11sult cross, • Weep for yourselves, and for your to one of their own order, Joseph of Arirua- children.'" thma, whoso garden, with its rook-sepulchre, Ver. 20.-Bleseed o.re the barren. A lay hard by. A Inter legond derives tile strange beatitudo to be spoken to the women 11ame from it~ being tho burying-place of of brael, who, through o.11 _their checkered .Ada!D, an,! that as thll bh,od ilow~d from  'l'IlE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. U:-KE. [en. xxm. 1--50.