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63. διαρήξας τοὺς χιτῶνας. In this he was doing no more than duty required. The high-priest was forbidden to rend his clothes for his own misfortunes (Lev 10:6; Lev 21:10), but, when acting officially, he was bound to do so as a protest against any expression that was regarded as blasphemous, and the Talmud prescribes the exact way in which it was to be done. Originally a spontaneous way of expressing grief, perhaps much older than Judaism, it ended in becoming even more formal than our wearing of black or the duration of court mourning. The LXX. expression is διαρ. τὰ ἱμάτια, but τοὺς χιτῶνας occurs in the captains’ lamentations for the death of Holofernes (Jdt 14:19), and in the Ep. Jeremiah 31 the idolatrous priests are described as having τοὺς χιτῶνας διερρωγότας. Apparently Caiaphas acted in accordance with rule. It was the under-garments which had to be torn. This punctilious observance of ceremonial detail (cf. Joh 18:28), accompanied by gross violation of important regulations and of clear principles of justice, was very characteristic. Christ ought to have been arrested before sunset and by the witnesses, and there seem to have been other violations of established rules (Brodrick, The Trial and Crucifixion of Jesus Christ, pp. 30, 65).
Τί ἔτι χρείαν ἔχομεν μαρτύρων; The question reveals that they had been seeking witnesses for the purpose of condemning Him, and the satisfaction of the conspirator is apparent through the distress of the official. What the court must regard as a blasphemous utterance shocked the high-priest, but such an utterance was exactly what he and the other Sanhedrists were desiring to elicit. Cf. Plato Rep. 340 A, καὶ τί, ἔφη, δεῖται μάρτυρος; αὐτὸς γὰρ ὁ Θρασύμαχος ὁμολογεῖ.