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Mat_27:2 Δήσαντες ] The shackles which had been put upon. Jesus at the time of His arrest (Mat_26:50, comp. with Joh_18:12), and which He still wore when He was led away from Annas to Caiaphas (Joh_18:24), would seem, from what is here stated, to have been either wholly or partially removed during the trial. With the view of His being securely conducted to the residence of the procurator, they take the precaution to put their prisoner in chains again. It is not expressly affirmed, either by Matthew or Mark, that the ἀπήγαγον was the work of the members of the Sanhedrim in pleno (as generally supposed, Weiss and Keim also sharing in the opinion); and, indeed, it is scarcely probable that they would have so far incurred the risk of a popular tumult (comp. Mat_26:5). The statement in Luk_23:1 is unquestionably the product of a later tradition. As for Matthew and Mark, they seem to assume that merely a deputation accompanied the prisoner, though doubtless it would be large enough to be in keeping with the importance of the occasion. Comp. also on Mat_27:3.
παρέδωκαν αὐτὸν Ποντίῳ , κ . τ . λ .] For after Judaea became a Roman province (from the time that King Archelaus was dethroned, 759 U.C.), the Sanhedrim had lost the jus gladii. Comp. on Joh_18:31. On Pontius Pilate, the fifth procurator of Judaea, who was successor to Valerius Gratus, and who, after holding office for ten years (from A.D. 26 onwards), was summoned to Rome at the instance of Vitellius, then governor of Syria, to answer to certain charges made against him, and then (according to Euseb. ii. 7) banished to Vienne, where he is said to have committed suicide, see Ewald, Gesch. Chr. p. 87 ff.; Leyrer in Herzog’s Encykl. XI. p. 663 ff.; Gerlach, d. Röm. Statthalter in Syr. u. Jud. p. 53 ff.; Hausrath, Zeitgesch. I. p. 312 ff. For certain Christian legends regarding His death, consult Tischendorf’s Evang. Apocr. p. 426 ff. Caesarea was the place where the procurators usually resided (Act_23:23 f., Mat_24:27, Mat_25:1); but, as it was the Passover season, Pilate was in Jerusalem (to be ready, in fact, to quell any disturbance that might arise, comp. on Mat_26:5), where he lived in the praetorium (see on Mat_27:27).
τῷ ἡγεμόνι ] principi. The more precise designation would have been τῷ ἐπιτρόπῳ , procuratori. Comp. Joseph. Antt. xviii. 3. 1 : Πιλάτος δὲ ὁ τῆς Ἰουδαίας ἡγεμών . On the comprehensive sense in which ἡγεμών is frequently used, see Krebs, Obss. p. 61 ff.