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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadCambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges - John 19:15 - 19:15
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15. ἐκεῖνοι. The pronoun indicates their opposition. The four aorists are all appropriate: ἐκραύγασαν, they shouted out once for all; while the three aorists imperative shew their impatience to have their will. Σταυρώσω is either Shall I or Must I. Note the emphatic position of τ. βασ. ὑμῶν: ‘Must I crucify your King?’ Pilate begins (Joh 18:33) and ends with the same idea, the one dangerous item in the indictment, the claim of Jesus to be King of the Jews. This explains the length at which S. John describes the scenes with Pilate: see introductory note on Joh 18:12-27.
οἱ ἀρχιερεῖς. This depth of degradation is reserved for them. “The official organs of the theocracy themselves proclaim that they have abandoned the faith by which the nation had lived.” Sooner than acknowledge that Jesus is the Messiah they proclaim that a heathen Emperor is their King. And their baseness is at once followed by Pilate’s: sooner than meet a dangerous charge he condemns the Innocent to death. To rid themselves of Jesus they commit political suicide; to free himself from danger he commits a judicial murder.