[99] In Münter’s Fragm. Patr. 1, p. 17 ff. For the rest the passage is of very similar tenor with that of Œcumenius, and is partly an exaggeration of it: τοῦτο δὲ σαφέστερον ἱστορεῖ Παπίας, ὁ Ἰωάννου μαθητὴς, λέγων οὔτως ἐν τῷ τετάρτῳ τῆς ἐξηγήσεως τῶν κυριακῶν λόγων· μέγα δὲ ἀσεβείας ὑπόδειγμα έν τούτῳ τῷ κόσμῳ περιεπάτησεν ὁ Ἰούδας· πρησθεὶς ἐπὶ τοσοῦτον τὴν [[668]]σάρκα, ὥστε μηδὲ ὁπόθεν ἃμαξα ῥᾳδίως δίερχεται, ἐκεῖνον δύνασθαι διελθεῖν, ἀλλὰ μηδὲ αὐτὸν μόνον τὸν ὄνκον τῆς κεφαλῆς αὐτοῦ· τὰ μὲν γὰρ βλέφαρα τῶν ὀφθαλμῶν αὐτοῦ (Cod. Venet.: φασὶ τοσοῦτον ἐξοιδῆσαι, ὡς αὐτὸν μὲν καθόλου τὸ φῶς μὴ βλέπειν) μηδὲ ὑπὸ ἰατροῦ δίοπτρας ὀφθῆναι κ.τ.λ. Μετὰ πολλὰς δὲ βασάνους καὶ τιμωρίας ἐν ἰδίῳ, φασὶ, χωρίω τελευτήσαντος κ.τ.λ.. Papias, the disciple of John, gives a clearer account of this (in the fourth section of his exegesis of our Lord’s words) as follows: Judas moved about in this world a terrible example of impiety, being swollen in body to such a degree that where a chariot could easily pass he was not able to find a passage, even for the bulk of his head. His eyelids, they say, were so swelled out that he could not see the light, nor could his eyes be made visible even by the physician’s dioptra, etc. After suffering many torments and judgments, dying, as they say, in his own field, etc. [↑]
[100] Comp. De Wette, exeg. Handb. 1, 1, s. 231 f.; 1, 4, s. 10 f. [↑]
[101] According to Babl. Sanhedrin, ap. Lightfoot, p. 486, this mode of procedure would have been illegal. It is there said: Judicia de capitalibus finiunt eodem die si sint ad absolutionem; si vero sini ad damnationem, finiuntur die sequente. [↑]
[102] Besides this passage of John: ἡμὶν οὐκ ἔξεστιν ἀποκτεῖναι οὐδένα, It is not lawful for us to put any man to death, there is no other authority for the existence of this state of things than an obscure and variously interpreted tradition, Avoda Zara f. viii. 2 (Lightfoot, p. 1123 f.): Rabh Cahna dicit, cum ægrotaret R. Ismaël bar Jose, miserunt ad eum, dicentes: dic nobi, ô Domine, duo aut tria, quæ aliquando dixisti nobis nomine patris tui. Dicit iis —— quadraginta annis ante excidium templi migravit Synedrium et sedit in tabernis. Quid sibi vult hæc traditio? Rabh Isaac, bar Abdimi dicit: non judicârunt judicia mulctativa. Dixit R. Nachman bar Isaac: ne dicat, quod non judicârunt judicia mulctativa, sed quod non judicârunt judicia capitalia. With this may be compared moreover the information given by Josephus, Antiq. xx. ix. 1, that it was not lawful for Ananus (the high priest) to assemble the Sanhedrim without the consent of the procurator. On the other hand the execution of Stephen ([Acts vii.]) without the sanction of the Romans might seem to speak to the contrary; but this was a tumultuary act, undertaken perhaps in the confidence that Pilate was absent. Compare on this point Lücke, 2, s. 631 ff. [↑]
[103] De bell. Jud. II. ix. 3. [↑]
[104] As Lücke supposes, s. 631. [↑]
[106] Lücke and Tholuck, in loc. [↑]