The Pulpit Commentary — John — Volume 2 — Section 416

g'IITC wny to the indomitable t.Emper of verbial fonn)-woven, possibly, by the which Philo nC'rnsl'B him. He fonnd grim m?ther who loved him, and cormipon ling entiefaction in inenlting and browooMing With the dross of the priests. Reim and them for e. moment, •o -yl-y,,a.,p.., ,,1,,,,a<1>a. Thorne. see here "a symboli1dng of J mms ns "I 1111id it, end I mennt it: I ha11e orncifled the High Priest" (see Holman Hunt'e cele• yoor l(irv;J; yee, trne King in his own eense, bre.ted picture the "Light of the World"). but not i!l yonre. Yon have faleely charged Ocrtainly John saw the Lord in bia glory him with r,•belling e.~inst Cmsar, and yon with a garment of the kind (woven of rnd.ie.nt know that yon he.Te lied to my faC'e. Let light, and reaching to the feet, Rev. i.). The be; he ie yonr King, And ~o perish nil your unity of the Saviour's seamless vesture baa futile attempts to shatter the erm thnt holds boon variously treat.ad in pe.tristio litera- ~-ou now in its g,-asp." That end more WRB ture: e.a symbolio of the unity of nntures in <'ondeneerl in this haughty and obstinate hie Pereon, by the Monophysitee: nnd by reply. 'Whill' this WRll going on in the Cyprian (' Do Unitate Ecclosim,' § 7) in Pri,:,torimn, the tragedy Will! proceeding at his conflict with Nove.tianists, as symbolio Golgothe; and St. John now returns thither, of the unity of the Churob, and he e.otunlly nnrl rleecrihee nn eveut of intense interest builds on it his diotum, " Hs oe.nuot possess which ocrnrrcd, R.8 all synoptists say, at the the garment of Christ who parts and divides Ycry time of the elevation of the croes. John, the Church of Obrist." This garment could however, hns further fe.cte nnd eymbolic not be conveniently divided. detail to append which were omitted by Ver. 24.-They said therefore to one them. another, Let 118 not rend it, but let us oast Vers. 23, 24.-{c) The lll!amlellB gaNMnl. lots for it, whoae it shall 'be. How obviously Ver. 23.-Mattbew (xxvii. 35), Mark (xv. we have the eye-witnees age.in, and the 24), and Luke (:i:xiii. 84) all mention that observation of one whoso whole heart wBB the Mldiere took his glll'mcnts (/µ.fru,), and bleeding with unutterable angnish I Here divided them according to the ordinary is the true explanation of the "lot " referred custom followed at execntione amongst to by the synoptists, nnd moreover a subse- themselves. These were tbe hl'.nd-dress, the quent reflection of the evangelist, who sa.w large onter robe with its girdle, the sandals, once more a realization of the prophetic one ta.king one thing and another another, picture of the ideal Sufferer at his last ex- nnd each evangelist added that the eoldiere tremity of reproach and humiliation. He cast lots upon the garments, as to who should quotes almost verbally from the LXX., That teke which. As these garments may have the Scripture might be fulfilled (which 1 been of varied value, the lot may have bel'n saith), They parted my garments among them required; bnt John, in his narrative, throws ( to them.eel ves), and for my vesture ( lµ.a·rnr• fresh light npon this latter and humiliating µ.&v µ.ou) thef did cast lots. If John had oct. Then the soldiers, when they ha.d cru.ci- quoted accurately from the Hebrew, he :6.ed J"esus, took his garmems, a.nd me.de four would have preserved more obviously the parts, to every soldier a part. This shows contr&Bt between the c,l:ll o.nd the lf1:ll7, thot a quaternion of sold.iere, e.nd not the which yet was clearly i~' hie mind. Tlie "whole band," had been told off for the x_mfw we.a the portion of the lµa.rnrµ.&s upon inferno.I deed. Pilato knew now that there which the lots were co.et. Liicke and De wes no need of an e.rmy to keep the people Wette (though not Meyer) regard it as from popnle.r inBmTBCtion. The rest of the certain that John took the lµa-rurµ.&s as garrison were not fe.r off, should they be identical with the x.,.,,:,v. Strauss describes required ; moreover, the servants of the high Ps. xxiL as the programme of the Crucifixion. priest were ready to act on an emergency ; He styles it thus for the purpose of under- bnt John e.dds, And also the coat (the valuing the historical character of tho x.,.,,:,v, the t?'"i:ai~); the long ,·esture which na1Tative, nnd of suggesting that it owed clothed his whole person, reaching from the its origin to the prophetio picture rather neck to the feet, and which. when removed, than to the e.ctn.al fact (so Thomo). There left the sacred body naked. This had pro- is another sense in which the statement is bably not been removed by either Herod or true. Unconsciously tho various concomi• Pilote before, and the cursed indignity thus tauts of the suffering of the Holy One of reached it, climax (Hengstenberg; cf. Job God were being one by one realized by the :u:iv. 7-10). Jrow the coe.t was without Divine Lord. The synoptists, without refer• seam 1 from the top-from the upper por- ence to the ancient oracle, record the foot tions-woven throughout (5" illl.ou, an ad- 1 N, B, and the Italic, and other authori• 1 R.T., T.B., Weiitcott and Hort, and ties omit,;, >.l·1•11~a., with Tischendorf (8th Luthardt spell lipprupos ; but Tisehendorf edit.), and Westcott and Hort. The words (8th edit.) &nd Tregelles read lipa<f>os, with are retained by li.T., T.B., Tregolles, and I<, A, D, and e. large number of later unciale. Alford. OH. x1x. 1---4:J.J THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. JOllN'. 420