When the morning was come, all the chief priests and elders of the people took counsel against Jesus to put him to death:
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Cornelius a Lapide
AD 1637
s3 , 4. Then Judas, which had betrayed Him, when he saw that he was condemned, &c. Judas, when he sold Christ, did not expect that He would be killed, but merely seized, and either render them some satisfaction, or in some way escape, as before, out of their hands. But on finding Him condemned to death, he felt the gravity of his sin. And repenting, when too late, of what he had done, he was self condemned, and hanged himself. "The devil is so crafty," says S. Chrysostom, "that he allows not a man (unless very watchful) to see beforehand the greatness of his sin, lest he should repent and shrink from it. But as soon as a sin is fully completed, he allows him to see it, and thus overwhelms him with sorrow and drives him to despair. Judas was unmoved by Christ"s many warnings; but when the deed had been wrought, he was brought to useless and unavailing repentance."
That He was condemned. By Caiaphas, i.e, and the whole Council, and that he would shortly be condemned by Pilate on their a...
But when the morning was come (Syr. when it was dawn), all the chief priests, &c. "See here," says S. Jerome, "the eagerness of the Priests for evil," their feet were swift to shed blood ( Psalm 14:6). They were urged on by their bitter hatred of Christ, and by Satan"s instigation. It was the morning of Friday, only a few hours before His crucifixion, when Caiaphas, who had already tried and condemned Him the night before, summoned thus early the great Council of the Sanhedrin. It was to obtain His condemnation by the whole Body, which would ensure the subsequent condemnation by Pilate. S. Matthew omits the proceedings of this Council, as being a mere repetition of what he had already recorded (chap. xxvi59 seq.). But the narrative is supplied by S. Luke (xxii26 seq.), as explained above (see ver59).
S. Leo says strikingly, "This morning, 0 Jews, destroyed your Temple and altars, took away from you the Law and the Prophets, deprived you of your kingdom and priesthood, and turned all yo...
s9 , 10. Then was fulfilled, &c. See on Zechariah 11:12-13.
The price of Him that was valued; Gr. τὴν τιμὴν του̃ τετιμημÎνου. Christ, who is beyond all price (Theophyl.), Whom the Chief Priests bought of the sons of Israel, of Judas, i.e, who was one of them. (So Titelman and Barradeus.) This is stated to add to the ignominy of the transaction, viz, that He was sold not by a Gentile, but by an Israelite, and one, too, who was called after the Patriarch"s eldest son. The plural is here put for the singular. Theophylact explains it otherwise, that Christ was valued, or bought, by the Chief Priests for the thirty pieces. Euthymius and others, that this price was put on Christ by those who were of the sons of Israel, i.e, Israelites.
The Syriac version has the first person, agreeing with Zechariah , "And I took," &c. ( Zechariah 11:13).
As the Lord appointed me. These words can be taken: 1. As the words of Christ speaking by the Prophet, and signifying that G...
When the morning was come: The evangelist is silent with regard to what was transacted during the night, and of the multiplied cruelties and base indignities offered to our divine Redeemer during the whole of the night; for, after he has informed us of Peter's denial, he immediately proceeds to tell us what happened at break of day. (St. Augustine)
The chief priests, with the ancients and scribes, after they had wreaked their vengeance upon Jesus by the vilest treatment of his sacred person, took counsel how they might induce the governor to put him to death. In this Sanhedrim, or full council of seventy-two, they again put the question to hold a council.
Council. Caiphas, in the morning, called a full council of the Sanhedrim. They again put the question to Jesus, and commanded him to tell them if he were the Christ, and the Son of God? He owned he was. (Luke xxii. 70.)
Upon this they led him away, and delivered him to Pontius Pilate, the governor: literally, the president. This th...
The Lord was led not only to Pilate but also to Herod so that he could be mocked by both. Notice the solicitude with which the priests carried out their evil doing; they remained vigilant throughout the night in preparation for committing murder. “And they delivered him bound to Pilate.” It was their customary practice to bind a man who had been condemned to death and to hand him over to his judge. .
O religious leaders [of the Jews], this morning was far from your time of ascendency, as it might have seemed to you. Your sun was in fact beginning to set. The dawn you expected did not come. A night of blackest darkness was brooding over your spiteful hearts. Out of this morning would come the overthrow of the temple and its altars, the surpassing of the law and the prophets, the undoing of the kingship and priesthood, turning youth to continual lament. For you set out that morning on a mad and bloody course. You offered up to die the Author of life, the Lord of glory. Pilate—that terrorstricken judge—was overcome by your shouts, so that he chose a man for pardon who was a murderer and demanded the crucifixion of the Savior of the world.
