of Antonia, but, according to Josephus, was connected with the tower Hippicus in the western part of the city. It was at this time called, as in John xviii. 28, the Prætorium.

Along the bridge, which, spanning the valley of the Tyropoon, united Mount Moriah with Mount Zion, Jesus is hurried by his bloodthirsty judges. Scrupulous to observe most carefully the requirements of their traditions, the clamoring multitude halt before the gate of the Prætorium, lest by entering within its unhallowed enclosure they should render themselves unclean for the festival, which is now at hand. Through its portals, however, they thrust their prisoner, in order that he may be brought by the guard before Pilate for the confirmation of their sentence. They think, doubtless, that their demand will be granted without delay; but the procurator, at first true to his Roman instincts of justice, leaving the judgment hall, goes forth to the Jews without, and calls for the specific charges on which they had based their sentence. These they wisely suppress, and craftily substitute others of a political nature, accusing Jesus of exciting sedition among the people, in order to overthrow the existing government. But, as has well been said by another, "Pilate knew too much about Jewish expectations to suppose that the Sanhedrim would hate and persecute one who would free them from Roman authority." He returns accordingly to the judgment hall to investigate the charges preferred, and the examination before Pilate begins.

As represented by the Evangelists, this examination was conducted by Pilate himself, for though the prætor at Rome, and the proprætors in their provinces had their quaestors for this purpose, the procurators always performed this office themselves. The trial was speedily brought to a close. Satisfied of the innocence of the accused, Pilate reappeared before the impatient multitude without, saying, "I find in him no fault at all." In their disappointment and rage, the high priests and the scribes, with still greater vehemence, renewed their charges against Christ, adding, however, the remark, that he whom they had condemned, in his efforts to excite a rebellion among the people, had taught his seditious doctrines, not only in Jerusalem, but "from Galilee to this place."

These last words suggested to the hitherto perplexed procu

rator a question which he had thus far entirely overlooked, and he asked "whether the man were a Galilean?" Assured that he was, Pilate at once declared that this then was a case in which he had no jurisdiction whatever. Accordingly, availing himself of a principle then generally recognized among the Romans of sending a criminal from the forum apprehensionis to his forum originis or domicilii, he abruptly led Jesus away from his enraged accusers, and delivered him into the power of Herod, the tetrarch of Perea and Galilee, who, though he resided chiefly at Tiberias, was at this time, as a Jew, at the capital, in order to celebrate the great festival of his nation, the Passover.

But Pilate, in this act, evidently thought not only to rid himself of a troublesome mob, and of all responsibility in so difficult a matter, but also, as we learn from Luke, to regain the friendship of Herod, which, probably on account of his treatment of certain of Herod's Galilean subjects, as well as his general disregard for the latter's authority, he had recently forfeited.

JESUS BEFORE HEROD:

Herod, to whom Jesus was now sent, was Herod Antipas, a son of Herod the Great. He was originally designated by his father as his successor, but on the death of Herod the Great, the kingdom was left to Archelaus, while Antipas received instead the appointment of "tetrarch of Perea and Galilee." He married first the daughter of Aretas, king of Arabia Petræa; but while in Rome, sometime afterwards, he made overtures of marriage to Herodias, the wife of his half-brother Philip, and the sister of Agrippa the Great. His wife, informed of his design, succeeded, notwithstanding the precautions of Herod in effecting her escape to the dominions of her father. Indignant on account of this insult which his daughter had received from her Jewish husband, Aretas entered the territory of Herod with a large army, and in battle defeated his forces with great loss. Not long before this contest, at the request of Salome, the daughter of Herodias, Herod had beheaded John the Baptist in the castle of Macharus beyond the Jordan. Accordingly, Josephus says that "some of the Jews thought that the destruction of Herod's army came from God, and that justly, as a punishment for what he did against John, who was called

the Baptist. For Herod slew him, who was a good man, and commanded the Jews to exercise virtue, both as to righteousness towards one another, and piety towards God; and so to come to baptism." The closing years of Herod's life were spent in exile; for having come to Rome, at the instigation of Herodias, in order to receive from Caligula the title of king, he was accused of certain political designs by emissaries from the court of Agrippa, and banished first to Lyons in Gaul, and afterwards to Spain, where he at length died.

We do not read that the Saviour ever visited Tiberias, though it was so near the scene of much of his public labors; nor had he ever met in his teachings from village to village the crafty worldling who had made that city his capital. But Herod had heard from time to time of his wonderful works, and, as we learn from Luke, had long desired an interview with him, though his reproving conscience assured him, that, in Jesus, he should recognize none other than John the Baptist, whom he had beheaded. When, accordingly, the Saviour, by order of Pilate, was brought a prisoner before him, he was pleased, not only on account of the courtesy which the Roman procurator had thus shown to him, but also because he hoped that this wonder worker, whose fame was in all Galilee, would, at his request, perform some mighty miracle in his presence. But much to Herod's chagrin, the Saviour throughout the interview maintained a profound silence. The chief priests and scribes who had followed their victim thither, observing the tetrarch's disappointment, renewed their angry clamors, and demanded with still greater vehemence a confirmation of their sentence. Herod, however, mindful of his loss of popular favor on account of his imprisonment and murder of John the Baptist, refused to listen to their urgent appeals, and forthwith sent Jesus back to the Prætorium of Pilate, arrayed in a white robe, and followed by his derisive taunts.

"

According to Friedlich, the robe in which Herod and his warriors arrayed the Saviour, was the white mantle worn on festival occasions among the Romans, either by persons distinguished in civil life, or by those of high military rank. The mockery, therefore, lay in this, that Herod, in bitter irony, sought thus to characterize Jesus as some celebrated person, or

as one "who, at the head of his army, was about to go forth for the defence of his realm."

The white robe was also worn among the Romans by those who desired to be regarded as candidates for public office, and were accordingly called candidati. Some, on this account, have supposed that Herod, in imitation of a custom well known to Pilate, designed thus to set forth the pretensions of Christ to the dignity of the Messiahship.

Ellicott adopts a different view. Aappòs, he says, "does not necessarily involve the idea of whiteness." Accordingly he portrays Christ as "clad in a shining kingly robe, as if Herod desired to intimate that for such pretenders to the throne of David, neither the tetrarch of Galilee nor the procurator of Judæa need reserve any heavier punishment than their ridicule and contempt." So also Bengel, who says, "Herodes videtur contemtim voluisse significare, se nil metuere ab hoc rege. Sed revera eum honoravit inscius veste, ut Pilatus titulo crucis."

JESUS AGAIN BEFORE PILATE.

And now Jesus stands again in Pilate's judgment hall. Uncondemned by Herod, however, he comes only to renew the procurator's embarrassment; for while the latter is more than ever convinced of the innocence of the accused, he can not, if he would, close his ears to the angry surges of the tumult without. Pilate now begins to waver. Going forth from the Pratorium to the chief priests, and the rulers, and the people, though he reasserts the innocence of Jesus, he proposes to so far yield to the desires of the Sanhedrim, as to inflict upon him some slight punishment, and then release him. But with scorn and indignation they reject the proposal.

It was the custom of the Roman procurators at this high festival of the Jewish nation, to order the release of some criminal whom the people should designate. The origin of this custom is uncertain. No traces of it are found either in the sacred writings of the Jews, or in the Talmud. A similar practice, however, existed among the Romans and the Greeks. It would seem, therefore, to have been introduced by the new rulers of Judæa, and perhaps by Pilate himself, who thought

thus to conciliate the good will of a people who bore the Roman yoke only with growing impatience.

Pilate, unsuccessful in his attempts to soften the malice of the enemies of Christ, and mindful of this custom, now turned from the chief priests to the people, who had gathered in crowds before the Prætorium; and in the exercise of his prerogative proposed to release, at their request, one of two, the notorious Barabbas, who for sedition and murder had recently been cast into prison; or Christ, whom but a few days before, they had welcomed to their capital as the Son of David. Pilate doubtless thought that whatever might be the opinion of the Sanhedrim, the people, many of whom in their Judæan or Galilean homes, had witnessed the miracles of Christ, and had listened to his teachings, would be true to their sympathies. Accordingly he ascended his judgment seat in order to receive and declare their decision.

This judgment seat of Pilate, as we learn from John xix. 13, was without the Prætorium, in a place called Adóτpwtov, but in the Hebrew, Gabbatha. Lightfoot supposes that the evangelist here means the hall Gazith, where the Sanhedrim sat, "because it was paved with smooth square stones." But it does not appear that the hall Gazith was called the Pavement. Moreover, as we have already shown from Josephus, this place was no longer occupied by the Sanhedrim in their deliberations. By the term Adóтpwtov is more properly meant the tessellated pavement, on which, after the time of Sylla, the tribunal of the Romans, wherever removed, was usually erected. Thus Suetonius states that Julius Cæsar, in his campaigns, carried with him for the purpose, the square pieces of marble of which such pavements were constructed. Such was the place of Pilate's tribunal.

Meanwhile the chief priests had not been idle. Perceiving that their prize was fast slipping from their grasp, they had rallied in full force, and hurrying hither and thither among the crowd, had succeeded, by threats or entreaties, in so far infusing their own spirit into the people, that when Pilate now formally renewed his proposition from the judgment seat, "Which of the two will ye that I release unto you?" they answered at once, Barabbas. Pilate, disappointed, as if to invite them to recall this unexpected answer, asks, "What will ye then that I shall do