Chapter VI

_THE JEWISH TRIAL――REMORSE AND SUICIDE OF JUDAS._
A.D. 30.

BY this time the entire body of the Sanhedrin had assembled in the palace of Caiaphas, and the Redeemer was placed before them.

The first object was to secure the agreement of two witnesses on some specific charge (Mtt. xxvi. 59; Mk. xiv. 55). But this was found to be a matter of the utmost difficulty. Many indeed were at hand suborned to utter any falsehood, but their testimony was so confused and contradictory (Mk. xiv. 56), that the council could not receive it. At length two were found who could testify to the words the Holy One had uttered on the occasion of His first visit to the Temple[518]. _This fellow said_, was their charge, _I will destroy this Temple made with hands, and in three days I will raise up another made without hands_ (Mk. xiv. 58). But besides the fact that their allegations were exaggerated, they themselves did not agree in their statements (Mk. xiv. 59), and though eager to pronounce the capital sentence, the council felt themselves unable with any decency to do so on such evidence.

Meanwhile the Redeemer preserved a solemn and impressive silence, neither interrupting, nor replying to the questions of the high-priest or the statements of His accusers (Mtt. xxvi. 62; Mk. xiv. 60). He condescended not to any defence.

Nothing therefore remained but, if possible, to make Him criminate Himself. Once more, then, the high-priest _stood up in the midst_ (Mk. xiv. 60), and in the most solemn manner adjured Him in the name of Jehovah to declare whether _He was the Messiah, the Son of God_ (Comp. Mtt. xxvi. 63; Mk. xiv. 61).

Thus formally addressed, the Holy One at length broke the silence He had hitherto maintained, saying, in reply to the question, _I am; and hereafter ye shall see the Son of Man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven_[519]. He thus in the most solemn and explicit manner asserted that He was not only the Messiah, but the Son of God, and that in the sublimest sense of the words.

All was now uproar and confusion. In token of his horror the high-priest rent his clothes, and pronounced the utterance of the Redeemer to be direct and treasonable blasphemy. _What further need_, he exclaimed, _have we of witnesses? Ye have heard His blasphemy: what think ye?_ (Mtt. xxvi. 65; Mk. xiv. 63, 64). Carried away by his vehement gestures and words, and his great influence, the court pronounced their opinion, _He is guilty of death_ (Mtt. xxvi. 66). Worse than false prophet, worse than false Messiah, He had declared Himself to be the _Son of God_, and that in the presence of the high-priest and the great council of the nation. He had incurred the capital penalty.

And now ensued a scene of fearful violence. The bystanders were permitted to do their worst to One thus declared guilty of blasphemy. Some _spat upon His face_; others _smote Him with the palms of their hands_; others _blindfolded_ Him, and in derision of His Messianic claims bade Him detect the hand that had been raised against Him (Mtt. xxvi. 67, 68; Mk. xiv. 65; Lk. xxii. 63, 64).

But though the great council of the nation had thus passed sentence, there remained a serious obstacle before they could carry it out. Cases punishable with death, such as false claims to prophetic inspiration, or blasphemy, they were fully competent to _try_[520] (Comp. Acts iv. 5–21; v. 17–40; vi. 12–15; xxiii. 1–10), but they could not _execute_ the sentence of death, for the right had been taken from them ever since Judæa became a Roman province[521]. Mistrusting, therefore, the people who might attempt to rescue the Holy One from the hands of their own officers, reluctant to incur the odium of profaning so sacred a day with a public execution, anxious to shift the responsibility from their own head upon that of the Romans, yet determined to insure the destruction of their Victim, they again reassembled their court (Mtt. xxvii. 1; Mk. xv. 1), and resolved to send the Redeemer before the tribunal of Pilate, who, they might not unreasonably suppose, “would not hesitate, at once, and on their authority, on the first intimation of a dangerous and growing party, to act without further examination or inquiry, and without scruple add one victim more to the robbers and turbulent insurgents, who, it appears, were kept in prison, in order to be executed, as a terrible example at that period of national concourse[522].” Pilate had, as usual, come up to Jerusalem to preserve order during the Passover, and was now residing either in a palace near the tower of Antonia[523], or in the splendid and luxurious structure which had been erected by Herod the Great[524]. Thither, therefore, the Saviour, after He had been again placed in bonds (Mtt. xxvii. 2), was led, attended by a deputation of the Sanhedrin to support and explain the charge[525].

Meanwhile the fact of His condemnation had become known[526] to the traitor Judas (Mtt. xxvii. 3), and filled him with the deepest remorse. Hitherto he had been lured on by covetousness, and his eyes had been blinded by the Evil One. Now they were opened, and he saw what he had done. _He had betrayed innocent blood_ (Mtt. xxvii. 4). Filled with terror and anguish, he hurried to the chief priests and elders, and openly confessed his awful crime. But they received his confession with gibes and taunts. _What is that to us?_ said they; _see thou to that_ (Mtt. xxvii. 4). In frantic despair the wretched man resolved to get rid of the reward of his treachery. Rushing into the sanctuary[527] he flung down the thirty pieces of silver before the priests, and went and hanged himself[528] (Mtt. xxvii. 5), but, probably in consequence of the rope breaking, he _fell headlong, and burst asunder in the midst_ (Acts i. 18), so that, when his body was found, _all his bowels had gushed out_. With the blood-money he had left in the Temple the chief priests were at first perplexed what to do. Though they had not scrupled to pledge it as the reward of the basest treachery, yet they were unwilling to return it to the Temple funds, and at length resolved to apply it to the purchase[529] of a field for the burial of strangers, which was afterwards known as Aceldama[530] (Acts i. 19), or the _Field of Blood_ (Mtt. xxvii. 6–10; Zech. xi. 13).