28 and no cause of death having found, they did ask of Pilate that he should be slain,
Pilate saith to them, `What then shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ?' They all say to him, `Let be crucified!' And the governor said, `Why, what evil did he?' and they were crying out the more, saying, `Let be crucified.' And Pilate having seen that it profiteth nothing, but rather a tumult is made, having taken water, he did wash the hands before the multitude, saying, `I am innocent from the blood of this righteous one; ye -- ye shall see;' and all the people answering said, `His blood `is' upon us, and upon our children!'
and they again cried out, `Crucify him.' And Pilate said to them, `Why -- what evil did he?' and they cried out the more vehemently, `Crucify him;' and Pilate, wishing to content the multitude, released to them Barabbas, and delivered up Jesus -- having scourged `him' -- that he might be crucified.
said unto them, `Ye brought to me this man as perverting the people, and lo, I before you having examined, found in this man no fault in those things ye bring forward against him; no, nor yet Herod, for I sent you back unto him, and lo, nothing worthy of death is having been done by him; having chastised, therefore, I will release him,'
but they were calling out, saying, `Crucify, crucify him.' And he a third time said unto them, `Why, what evil did he? no cause of death did I find in him; having chastised him, then, I will release `him'.' And they were pressing with loud voices asking him to be crucified, and their voices, and those of the chief priests, were prevailing, and Pilate gave judgment for their request being done, and he released him who because of sedition and murder hath been cast into the prison, whom they were asking, and Jesus he gave up to their will.
From this `time' was Pilate seeking to release him, and the Jews were crying out, saying, `If this one thou mayest release, thou art not a friend of Caesar; every one making himself a king, doth speak against Caesar.' Pilate, therefore, having heard this word, brought Jesus without -- and he sat down upon the tribunal -- to a place called, `Pavement,' and in Hebrew, Gabbatha; and it was the preparation of the passover, and as it were the sixth hour, and he saith to the Jews, `Lo, your king!' and they cried out, `Take away, take away, crucify him;' Pilate saith to them, `Your king shall I crucify?' the chief priests answered, `We have no king except Caesar.' Then, therefore, he delivered him up to them, that he may be crucified, and they took Jesus and led `him' away,
`The God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob, the God of our fathers, did glorify His child Jesus, whom ye delivered up, and denied him in the presence of Pilate, he having given judgment to release `him', and ye the Holy and Righteous One did deny, and desired a man -- a murderer -- to be granted to you,
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Acts 13
Commentary on Acts 13 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 13
We have not yet met with any things concerning the spreading of the gospel to the Gentiles which bears any proportion to the largeness of that commission, "Go, and disciple all nations.' The door was opened in the baptizing of Cornelius and his friends; but since then we had the gospel preached to the Jews only, ch. 11:19. It should seem as if the light which began to shine upon the Gentile world had withdrawn itself. But here in this chapter that work, that great good work, is revived in the midst of the years; and though the Jews shall still have the first offer of the gospel made to them, yet, upon their refusal, the Gentiles shall have their share of the offer of it. Here is,
Act 13:1-3
We have here a divine warrant and commission to Barnabas and Saul to go and preach the gospel among the Gentiles, and their ordination to that service by the imposition of hands, with fasting and prayer.
Act 13:4-13
In these verses we have,
Act 13:14-41
Perga in Pamphylia was a noted place, especially for a temple there erected to the goddess Diana, yet nothing at all is related of what Paul and Barnabas did there, only that thither they came (v. 13), and thence they departed, v. 14. But the history of the apostles' travels, as that of Christ's, passes by many things worthy to have been recorded, because, if all had been written, the world could not have contained the books. But the next place we find them in is another Antioch, said to be in Pisidia, to distinguish it from that Antioch in Syria from which they were sent out. Pisidia was a province of the Lesser Asia, bordering upon Pamphylia; this Antioch, it is likely, was the metropolis of it. Abundance of Jews lived there, and to them the gospel was to be first preached; and Paul's sermon to them is what we have in these verses, which, it is likely, is the substance of what was preached by the apostles generally to the Jews in all places; for in dealing with them the proper way was to show them how the New Testament, which they would have them to receive, exactly agreed with the Old Testament, which they not only received, but were zealous for. We have here,
Act 13:42-52
The design of this story being to vindicate the apostles, especially Paul (as he doth himself at large, Rom. 11), from the reflections of the Jews upon him for preaching the gospel to the Gentiles, it is here observed that he proceeded therein with all the caution imaginable, and upon due consideration, of which we have here an instance.