1. The foregoing part of the verse seems to be parenthetical: (" Then came Jesus "forth, wearing the crown of thorns, and "the purple robe :") in consequence of Pilate's declaration in the foregoing verse.

"Pilate, therefore, went forth again, and “saith unto them, Behold! I bring him forth ❝ to you, that ye may know that I find no "fault in him:-(Then came JESUS forth, wearing the crown of thorns, and the purple robe.) And he [Pilate] saith unto "them: BEHOLD THE MAN!"

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2. The analogy of the subsequent 14th verse, in a case where there can be no doubt of the speaker, appears fully to justify this rendering:

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"When Pilate therefore heard that saying, he brought JESUS forth, and sat down "in the judgment-seat, in a place that is "called the pavement, but in the Hebrew “Gabbatha: (and it was the preparation of "the Passover, and about the sixth hour), "and he saith unto the Jews: BEHOLD "YOUR KING!”

3. The expression, BEHOLD THE MAN! seems to be rather irrelevant, if spoken by CHRIST,

B 2

CHRIST, but perfectly apposite as spoken by Pilate, corresponding to, BEHOLD YOUR KING! afterwards. And as Jesus made no attempt to move the compassion of his pusillanimous judge," when he gave no answer” to his inquiry," Whence art thou?" (verse 9), knowing that his fate was already determined; why should he vainly address himself to the deluded and frantic multitude? On both occasions he resolutely maintained. that dignified silence foretold of him in prophecy : "He was oppressed and he was af'flicted, yet he opened not his mouth: He "was brought as a lamb to the slaughter, "and as a sheep before his shearers is dumb, so "he opened not his mouth." Isa. liii. 7, so expressly applied to JESUS by the HOLY SPIRIT, Acts viii. 32-35.

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4. Influenced by such considerations, we may presume, almost all the ancient versions, the Syriac, the Arabic, the Persic, and the Coptic; and the most approved translations, the Geneva Bible (1594), our present authorized version, &c. and the most learned and judicious commentators, the Critici sacri in Poole's Synopsis, Grotius, Beza, Tremel

lius, Hammond, Wells, Whitby, Clarke, Dodd, Newcombe, Wakefield, Campbell, &c, all concur in expressly representing Pilate as the speaker; and a respectable German critic, Rosenmuller, in his Scholia on the New Testament, makes the following remark on this passage in question:

Joh. xix. 5. Kai λeye autos, scilicet Pilatus. Mirum est viros eruditos nonnullos statuere potuisse, JESUM dixisse hæc verba: δε ὁ Ανθρωπος— Videte ejus miseriam et quam "ridiculum sit in ipso crimen affectati regni."

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I. Whatever might have been Pilate's intention in uttering these words, ide å Avbpwπos, “Behold тTHE MAN!" whether to excite commiseration, or else to express contempt, as in verse 14, ide o Bariλeus úμwv—. “BEHOLD YOUR KING!" they are truly remarkable, as containing a tacit reference to a memorable prophecy concerning THE MESSIAH, Numb. xxiv. 7, which, amidst the corruptions of several prophecies relative

The learned Michaelis also, in his Anmarkungen fur Ungelehrte, gives this speech to Pilate; the latter, as he says, "wishing to awaken the compassion of the multitude "in behalf of Jesus."-The Editor.

to the MESSIAH in the Hebrew Scriptures, has been providentially preserved pure and unadulterated in the venerable version of the Greek Septuagint, as follows:

Εξελεύσεται Ανθρωπος εκ τε σπερματος αυτε
Και κυριεύσει εθνων πολλών.

“There shall come forth a Man of his "seed (JACOB's): And he shall "nations."

govern many

And the authenticity of the Septuagint version is vouched by the most respectable evidence; by the joint testimony of Onkelos, the Chaldee paraphrast, and of Philo and Josephus, the great luminaries of Jewish history and antiquities.

1. Onkelos paraphrases the passage thus: "The King who will be magnified, shall grow of his sons: And he shall govern many peoples."

"The King who will be magnified” was a periphrasis for the MESSIAH, well known among the Jews from Samuel's days: 1 Sam.

ii. 10.

2. Philo thus renders the prophecy, De Vita Mosis, p. 501, Colon. 1613:

Εξελεύσεται

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Εξελεύσεται ποτε Ανθρωπος εξ ύμων
Και επικρατήσει πολλων εθνων.

"There shall come forth at length a Mán "of yourselves: And he shall rule over many σε nations.”

Afterwards he again cites and explains the prophecy : De Præmiis et Panis, p. 716.

Εξελεύσεται γαρ Άνθρωπος (φησιν ὁ χρησμος) και τραταρχών και πολέμων εθνη τε μεγαλα και πολυανθρωπα χειρωσεται το άρμοττον όσιοις επικεριαον επιπεμψαντος Θε8.

"For there shall come forth a Man (saith “ the Oracle), who, leading armies and war"ring, shall subdue nations both great and populous: God sending suitable aid to his σε saints.”

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3. Josephus, the great Jewish historian, chiefly attributes that fatal war with the Romans, which terminated in the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus, to the same prophecy De Bello Jud. vi. v. 4. p. 1283. Hudson.

Το δε επαραν αυτές μάλιςα προς τον πολεμον, την χρησμος αμφιβολος, ὁμοιως εν τοις ιεροις γραμμασιν ως κατα καιρον εκείνον, απο της χώρας τις αυτών, αρξει της οικεμένης.

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