The Pulpit Commentary — John — Volume 2 — Section 96

enthuslAPm in ohook. De Wette and Heng- man who WM holding the position &t this 11tenberg strongly urge that by .,.d,roi, WAB aolemu time, with obvioua referenoe to the me11.ni the temple, "the dwelling-ple.oo fact th&t now for m&ny years the functions &nd se&t of the whole people" (Pe. lxxxiv. of the high priest were discharged only at 4; :nvii. 4; cf. M&tt. :niii. 38). Ewald, th_e pleasure. of the ~oml\u governor, who Godel., Meyer, Wntkins, oonBider 'T'&orov t,o be might, RB Ca1&phRB himself so.id, abolish the the oity, the seat or all the power of the office &ltogether if he ohoso &rbitrnrlly to do ntion, spiritual and oivil. The nation WM so. The first words of C&io.pho.s, "Ye know I\ provinoe of the Romnn empire, but the nothing o.t e.ll," are brusque, rough, im- hierarohy WIUl still in vceted with grae.t perious, but are quite akin to whnt we kuow powers. elsewhere of the me.unera of the mo.n Ver. 49.-But a oerta.in one of them, (Josephus,• Dell. Jud.,' ii. 8. 14), o.nd or the (named) Ca.iaphaa, being high prie■t that aristocro.tic clique of which he wo.s the year, ea.id unto them, Ye know nothing at hee.d. all Among ihe divided interoets and irre- Ver. 50.-Nor I oonsider; or, nor do ye solute foul'I! of the PhariBees, who had not take aooount. Hengstenberg shows tho.t m&de up their minds IU! to Jhe right oourse where this verb (Ao1i(<,r8•) elsewhere occurs, to p ul'l!ue, " oue of them," i.e. of the council, it is used intransitively, &nd with this Godet a m&n or firm will &nd hectoring dis- agrees; then they take 8T1, o.s " beco.use" or position, had a olea.r though devilish pur- for it is expedient for you (the text ~,..,, is pose of ~litica.l ex:ped.iency, and R stern preferred by Meyer, Godet, Westcott and resolve, 1f he oould, to repress the incon- Hort, and the Revisers. The chief difference venient manifest&tion of religious ea.mest- in thought is that it makes the lo.nguage Uesil-Caiaphaa. We know that Annas is somewhat more dogm&tic, C&ie.phe.s hardly spoken of as i,;px••p•vs in eh. xviii 15, 19. ol&88ing himself for the moment with suoh And Annas a.nd Caiaphas are both said to irresolut.e oompauions) that one man should be " high priests" (Luke iii. 2). In Acts die for (" on behalf of" amounting to" in- iv. 6 AmlaB is spoken of as high priest, stead of") the people-i.e. for the theoor&tio Oaiaphas being associated with "John and organization, whose were the promises, to Alexander." This becomes more comp~ whom WRS given the dominion--flJld not that hensihle when we learn from Josephus the entire nation (the political aggregation) (' Ant.; xviii 2. 2 and 4. 3) that Valerius perish. Some have supposed (like Lange) Gmtus (in the yea.r A.D. 14) ho.d deprived Divine purpose lurking in the 1va; but it ADD&B (or Ha.nan, Ananias, Ane.nas) of the WRS rather the me.xi.m of worldly expediency office, " when he h&d held it for seven of half-p&ganized superstition allied in this years. n So great, however, was the influ- form to the sacrifice of Oodrus, or of lphi- ence of AnnRB, that, either to consult his geni&, viz. that the extinction of guiltless temper or tllat of the people, who would and innocent victims me.y be demanded by oolllli.der him the legal high priest, the political necessity, o.nd must be determined office was conferred upon members of his upon at onoe, by the chief court of equity and family in succession, first on Ishmael, then criminalj 11dica.ture in the nation. If, thought on Eleazer the son of Ishmael, then on he, the multitudes accept this Sabb&th• Simon his son, e.n.d finally on Joseph breaker, th:iBWorkerofmiracles, this religious Caiapha.s (who is declared by St. John (eh. Enthusiast, this moral Reformer, for their xviiL 13) to be the son-in-law of Annss, Messiah, the Romans will crush the move- thus ex:plaining his appoin1ment on the one ment, will stamp out the entire religious hand, and the continued influence on the order; " we" sh&ll be annihilated &s R other of the unscrupulous Annas, who WRB power, the "nation" will be abolished as high priest d£jare). Joaeph C&iaphas held such. It is more expedient that this one the office from A.D. 25 to A.D. 86, and thus man should BUifer than that the whole of throughout the ministry of Jesus. The our position should be s&cri.6.ced. apostle's re=k (repeat.ed eh. xviii 13) that Vers. 51, 52.-The evangelist discerned he wa.s " high priest tho.t same year " has the preseuce of a deeper meaning in his been set down by 6traUSB. Scholten, and words not intended by himself. As B&l&o.m others to ignorance on tLe part of the writer and N ebuchadnezze.r and even Pb.a.re.oh h&d of the Hebrew law of the priesthood. This uttered uncoDJjcioua or unwilling propheoies, :is exctlollli.vely improbable, even with a late 1 T.R. e.nd Alford (6th edit.) ree.d ·B1<1~0- author of the 118COild century, who evidently knew &11 much concerning Juwee. and its 'Yi(•,r6,, with X. r, A, and others; the Ao-yl• history a.s the author of the Fowth Gospel (,,r6e, adopted by R.T., reats on N, A, B, L, did indubitably poBB888. It is enough that e.nd many cursives. The former alw&ya the ova.ngeli.st singles out " that memorable occurs in the synoptiats, and, Tisohendorf year" (Liioke, Meyer and Lange, eto.) of (8th edit.) thin.kB, has bee11 early substituted ~e death of Chriat ; and remarks on the for it, OH, XI. 1-57.] 'l'IIE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. JOHN. 91