13. Now when Pilate had heard these words, he brought Jesus forth. Pilate, through fear of the Emperor, at length gave way, and Jesus, who had remained within the house after the interrogation (verses 9-11), while Pilate was signifying his own intention to the people (verse 12), was now brought forth, and Pilate formally took his seat to pass sentence of death.
In the place that is called Lithostrotos, and in Hebrew Gabbatha. The Rev. Vers. renders: “At a place called the Pavement, but in Hebrew Gabbatha.” The judgment-seat was usually in front of the Praetorium, on an elevated platform. The Syro-Chaldaic word Gabbatha means a high place, probably from the root גבה (Gabhah), and such high places were usually paved with many-coloured stones, hence the name “Lithostrotos” (from λίθος, a stone, and στρωτός, covered, or paved). Suetonius (Caes. 8, 46) says that Julius Cæsar carried such a pavement with him on his expeditions.
| 14. Erat autem parasceve paschae, hora quasi sexta, et dicit Iudaeis: Ecce rex vester. | 14. And it was the parasceve of the pasch, about the sixth hour, and he saith to the Jews: Behold your king. |
14. And it was the parasceve of the Pasch. “Parasceve” (Gr. παρασκευή) means preparation, or day of preparation, and the expression: “the [pg 337] parasceve of the Pasch” might mean the day of preparation for the Paschal feast, and hence the day before the feast began. This, indeed, is the meaning given to the phrase by all those who hold that Christ, in the last year of His mortal life, celebrated the Paschal Supper a day before the Jews.[123] They hold that St. John here signifies that the Jewish Pasch had not yet begun. But the phrase may have, and we believe has, a different meaning. We know from St. Mark that “Parasceve” was another name for Friday; “It was the Parasceve, that is, the day before the Sabbath” (Mark xv. 42). Friday naturally enough got this name, because it was the day of preparation for the Jewish Sabbath.
By “the parasceve of the Pasch,” then, we understand the Friday of the Paschal week, and we take it that St. John here indicates the day of the week, as in the words immediately following he indicates the hour of the day. His readers, some of whom were, doubtless, acquainted with the Synoptic Gospels, would be already aware that this day was the first of the Paschal week, and not the eve of the festival. See above on [xiii. 1].
About the sixth hour. A very great difficulty arises from a comparison of this account with that of St. Mark. For St. Mark says: “And it was the third hour, and they crucified Him.... And when the sixth hour was come, there was darkness over the whole earth until the ninth hour” (Mark xv. 25, 33).
Thus, while St. John represents our Lord as condemned about the sixth hour, St. Mark represents Him as already crucified at the third hour. How, it is asked, could He be crucified at the third hour, if He was not condemned till the sixth?
Many solutions of this difficulty have been proposed, but some of them are so improbable, that we will not delay upon them. When, for instance, St. Augustine says that St. Mark, in stating that the Jews crucified Jesus at the third hour, means that at that time they crucified Him with their tongues by calling for His crucifixion, it is plain from the whole context of St. Mark that such a view cannot be admitted; because he evidently speaks of the real nailing of Jesus to the cross. Thus he says: “And it was the third hour, and they crucified him. And the inscription of his cause was written over, The King of the Jews. And with him they crucify two thieves, the one on his right hand, and the other on his left.... And they that passed by blasphemed him, wagging their heads, and saying: [pg 338] ... save thyself, coming down from the cross” (Mark xv. 25-30).
But, setting aside the less probable methods of reconciliation, we must notice four which have found favour with commentators.
(1) Maldonatus and many of the older commentators hold that besides the division of the Jewish day into twelve hours, there was also another division into four periods, corresponding to the four watches of the night.[124] Thus, at the Pasch, which occurred about the time of the vernal equinox, these four periods, or “hours,” would be respectively—(a) from 6 to 9 a.m.; (b) from 9 a.m. to noon; (c) from noon to 3 p.m.; and (d) from 3 to 6 p.m. According to Mald., these periods were called respectively, the third, sixth, ninth, and twelfth “hour.” He curiously supposes, however, that sometimes any one of these “hours” or periods was referred to either by the name of the hour with which it began, or by the name of that with which it closed. Hence the period between 9 a.m. and noon, or, to speak more correctly, a time within that period—about 11.30 a.m.—is referred to by St. Mark as the third hour; while a time within the same period, but about an hour earlier is referred to by St. John as the sixth hour.