"The Field of Blood." Purchased with money Judas received.
Pilate came down and sat upon his throne as a judge, and said: "What is the charge which you bring against this man?"
Jesus Before the Roman Governor
CHAPTER 92
ALTHOUGH the high council of the Jews had given sentence upon Jesus that he should be put to death, they could not kill him without the consent of the Roman governor, Pontius Pilate; for long before this the Romans had taken away from the Jews the right to put any man to death. So, very early in the morning, before sunrise, the chief priests and rulers brought Jesus to the castle where the governor was staying. His home was in the city of Cæsarea, nearly sixty miles away, on the sea-coast; but at the time of the Passover, when the city was crowded with people from every part of the land, he usually came to Jerusalem to see that it was kept quiet and in order; and at this time he stayed in a castle north of the Temple, called "The Castle of Antonia."
The Jews had condemned Jesus to die, because, as they claimed, he had said that he was the Son of God; and that claim according to their laws was a high crime, deserving of death. Jesus was the Son of God, and as God's Son they should have honored him and obeyed his teachings. But they knew very well that Pilate would not care for their law, and would not order Jesus put to death merely because Jesus had said that he was the Son of God. So they undertook to find something against Jesus which was contrary to the laws of the Romans; and the charge which they resolved to make was that Jesus had spoken against the Roman rule, and had declared that he himself was the King of the Jews. He was, indeed, a king, but not such a king as would be against the Romans or their government.