Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges - Matthew 27:23 - 27:23

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Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges - Matthew 27:23 - 27:23


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23. οἱ δὲ περισσῶς κ.τ.λ. There is no further question even of a show of legality or justice: the traditional clemency is quite forgotten; the fanatical crowd, pressing round the doors of the Prætorium, which they cannot enter, join with excited gesticulation in one loud and furious cry for the blood of Jesus.

It is a forecast of the brutal popular cry ‘Christianos ad leones,’ which in that or more subtle forms doomed many martyrs in all ages.

This is often quoted as an instance of the fickleness of popular favour, and a contrast is drawn between the shouts of ‘hosanna’ a few days before and the cries of σταυρωθήτω now. But when the Jews present at the feast were numbered by hundreds of thousands, it is not necessary to think that the same crowds who hailed Jesus as the Messiah were now demanding his death.