New Testament Commentary - Matthew 27

by Don R. Hender

Scriptural Text [& Editorial]	Commentary & Explanation	Footnotes ~ References ~ JST
CHAPTER 27 Jesus is accused and condemned before Pilate—Barabbas is released—Jesus is mocked, crucified, and buried in the tomb of Joseph of Arimathaea
1 WHEN the morning was come, all the chief priests and elders of the people took counsel against Jesus to put him to death: 2 And when they had bound him, they led him away, and delivered him to ^aPontius Pilate the governor.		1^a D&C 128:20; 2^a Mark 9:2 (2-13); Luke 9:29 (28-36); John 1:14; 2 Pet. 1:16 (16-19); TG Jesus Christ, Glory of;
3 ¶ Then Judas, which had betrayed him, when he saw that he was condemned, repented himself, and brought again the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, 4 Saying, I have sinned in that I have ^abetrayed the innocent ^bblood. And they said, What is that to us? ^csee thou to that. 5 And he cast down the pieces of silver in the temple, and departed, and went ^aand ^bhanged himself.		1^a D&C 128:20; 2^a Mark 9:2 (2-13); Luke 9:29 (28-36); John 1:14; 2 Pet. 1:16 (16-19); TG Jesus Christ, Glory of;
6 And the chief priests took the silver pieces, and said, It is not lawful for to put them into the treasury, because it is the price of blood. 7 And they took counsel, and bought with them the ^apotter's field, to bury ^astrangers in. 8 Wherefore that field was called, The field of blood, unto this day.		1^a D&C 128:20; 2^a Mark 9:2 (2-13); Luke 9:29 (28-36); John 1:14; 2 Pet. 1:16 (16-19); TG Jesus Christ, Glory of;
9 Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremy the prophet, saying, And they took the ^athirty pieces of silver, the price of him that was valued, whom they of the children of Israel did value; 10 And gave them for the potter's field, as the Lord appointed me.
11 And Jesus stood before the governor: and the governor asked him, saying, Art thou the King of the Jews? And Jesus said unto him, Thou sayest. 12 And when he was accused of the chief priests and elders, he answered ^anothing. 13 Then said Pilate unto him, Hearest thou not how many things they witness against thee? 14 And he answered him to never a word; insomuch that the governor marvelled greatly.
15 Now at that feast the governor was ^awont to ^brelease unto the people a prisoner, whom they ^cwould. 16 And they had then a notable prisoner, called Barabbas. 17 Therefore when they were gathered together, Pilate said unto them, Whom will ye that I release unto you? Barabbas, or Jesus which is called Christ? 18 For he knew that for ^aenvy they had ^bdelivered him.
19 ¶ When he was set down on the judgment seat, his wife sent unto him, saying, Have thou nothing to do with that just man: for I have suffered many things this day in a ^adream because of him. 20 But the chief ^apriests and elders ^bpersuaded the multitude that they should ^cask Barabbas, and destroy Jesus. 21 The governor answered and said unto them, Whether of the twain will ye that I release unto you? They said, Barabbas.
22 Pilate saith unto them, What shall I do then with Jesus which is called Christ? They all say unto him, Let him be ^acrucified. 23 And the governor said, Why, what evil hath he done? But they cried out ^athe more, saying, Let him be crucified.
24 ¶ When Pilate saw that he ^acould prevail nothing, but that rather a ^btumult was made, he took water, and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, I am innocent of the blood of this ^cjust person: see ye to it. 25 Then answered all the people, and said, His ^ablood be on us, and on our children.
26 ¶ Then released he Barabbas unto them: and when he had ^ascourged Jesus, he delivered him to be crucified. 27 Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the ^acommon hall, and gathered unto him the whole band of soldiers. 28 And they stripped him, and put on him a ^ascarlet robe.
29 ¶ And when they had ^aplatted a crown of thorns, they put it upon his head, and a ^breed in his right hand: and they bowed the knee before him, and mocked him, saying, Hail, King of the Jews! 30 And they ^aspit upon him, and took the reed, and smote him on the head. 31 And after that they had mocked him, they took the robe off from him, and put his own raiment on him, and led him away to crucify him.
32 And as they came out, they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name: him they compelled to bear his cross. 33 And when they were come unto a place called Golgotha, that is to say, a place of ^aa skull,
34 ¶ They gave him ^avinegar to drink mingled with gall: and when he had tasted thereof, he would not drink. 35 And they ^acrucified him, and ^bparted his garments, casting lots: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, They parted my ^cgarments among them, and upon my vesture did they cast lots. 36 And sitting down they watched him there;
37 And set up over his head his accusation written, THIS IS JESUS THE KING OF THE JEWS. 38 Then were there two thieves crucified with him, one on the right hand, and another on the left.
39 ¶ And they that passed by ^areviled him, wagging their heads, 40 And saying, Thou that destroyest the ^atemple, and buildest it in three days, save thyself^a. If thou be the ^aSon of God, come down from the cross.
41 Likewise also the chief priests mocking him, with the scribes and elders, said, 42 He saved others; himself he cannot save. If he be the King of Israel, let him now come down from the cross, and we will believe him. 43 He ^atrusted in God; let him ^bdeliver him now, if he will have him: for he said, I am the ^cSon of God. 44 The thieves also, which were crucified with him, ^acast the same in his teeth.
45 Now from the sixth hour there was ^adarkness over all the land unto the ninth hour. 46 And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, ^aMy God, my God, why hast thou ^bforsaken me? 47 Some of them that stood there, when they heard that, said, This man calleth for ^aElias.
48 And straightway one of them ran, and took a spunge, and filled it with ^avinegar, and put it on a reed, and gave him to drink. 49 The rest said, Let be, let us see whether Elias will come to save him.
50 ¶ Jesus, when he had cried again with ^aa loud voice, yielded up the ghost. 51 And, behold, the ^aveil of the temple was ^brent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did ^cquake, and the rocks rent;
52 And the ^agraves were opened; and many ^bbodies of the ^csaints ^dwhich slept ^earose, 53 And came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the ^aholy city, and appeared unto many. 54 Now when the centurion, and they that were with him, watching Jesus, saw the earthquake, and those things that were done, they feared greatly, saying, Truly this was the Son of God.
55 And many ^awomen were there beholding afar off, which followed Jesus from Galilee, ministering unto him: 56 Among which was Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James and ^aJoses, and the mother of Zebedee's children.
57 When the even was come, there came a rich man of Arimathaea^a, named ^aJoseph, who also himself was Jesus' ^bdisciple: 58 He went to Pilate, and ^abegged the body of Jesus. Then Pilate commanded the body to be delivered. 59 And when Joseph had taken the body, he wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, 60 And laid it in his own new tomb, which he had hewn out in the rock: and he rolled a great ^astone to the door of the ^bsepulchre, and departed. 61 And there was Mary Magdalene, and the other Mary, sitting ^aover against the sepulchre.	67^a Arimathaea Arimathaea was the home of the Levite Pharisee named Joseph of Arimathaea who begged the body of Jesus. Arimathaea was called Ramathaim in the Old Testament, and it was the birthplace of the Levite prophet Samuel of the temple, whose Levite family was assigned to minister to the tribe of Ephraim. And thus Samuel's father was called an Ephrathite, meaning being of the tribe of Ephraim as that was the tribal lands of whom they would be called to minister to. This was the same as the hill country of Ephraim northwest of Jerusalem which was also called Ramah and the land of Mount Ephraim. What is of courious coincidence is that Joseph of Arimathaea is traditionally associated with the family of Mary, an uncle. Being a member of the Sanhedrin as was his cohart Nichodemus a Pharisee, this Joseph born in Mount Ephraim or Ramah might also be a Levite as was Mary's cousin Elisabeth, the wife of Zacharias and mother of John the Baptist. Thus this would be the missing link between Mary's and Elisabeth's kinship if it were that this Joseph was of near kinship to Elisabeth and perhap's Mary's mother. Some would make him Mary's father's brother. But Mary, like Joseph was of the House of David. Thus it would be more likely that Joseph of Arimathaea, if in truth were Mary's uncle and also a Levite, he would be her mother's brother and the connecting link between Mary and Elisabeth in that Elisabeth was also Mary's aunt. What else is significant here is that Ramah (Arimathaea), through the association with Jeremiah's prophecy quoted by Matthew in chapter two, is further associated with the coasts of Bethlehem in which Rachel, the true mother of Israel, was heard bemouning the death of all her children over the death of all the babies killed of the House of David by King Herod of the age of 2 and under. This clearly connects to why John the Baptist was raised in the wilderness to at that time avoid being killed by that same edict.
62 ¶ Now the next day, that followed the day of the ^apreparation, the chief priests and Pharisees came together unto Pilate, 63 Saying, Sir, we remember that that ^adeceiver said, while he was yet alive, After three days I will rise again^a. 64 Command therefore that the sepulchre be made sure until the third day, lest his disciples come by night, and steal him away, and say unto the people, He is risen from the dead: so the last ^aerror shall be worse than the first.	63^a After three days I will rise again Here the chief priests and Pharisees are caught in a lie. They falsely represented that Jesus threatened to destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, making him out to be a liar. Now here they set forth that they well understood him, that all the time he did speak of his earthly body, that temple which housed his spirit, that in resurrection he would raise it again in three days, and that he did not hold any threat to the temple of God.
65 Pilate said unto them, Ye have a watch: go your way, make it as sure as ye can. 66 So they went, and made the sepulchre sure, sealing the stone, and setting a watch.