Joh 19:4, 12-13 | Clarke

‏ John 19:4

‏ John 19:12-13

Verse 12. Pilate sought to release him] Pilate made five several attempts to release our Lord; as we may learn from Lu 23:4, 15, 20, 22; Joh 19:4, 12, 13.

Thou art not Caesar's friend] Thou dost not act like a person who has the interest of the emperor at heart. Ambassadors, prefects, counsellors, &c., were generally termed the friends of the emperor. This insinuation determined Pilate to make no longer resistance: he was afraid of being accused, and he knew Tiberius was one of the most jealous and distrustful princes in the world. During his reign, accusations of conspiracies were much in fashion; they were founded on the silliest pretenses, and punished with excessive rigour. See Calmet, Tacit. An. l. i. c. 72, 73, 74. Sueton. in Tiber. c. 58.

Verse 13. The Pavement] λιθοστρωτον, literally, a stone pavement: probably it was that place in the open court where the chair of justice was set, for the prefects of provinces always held their courts of justice in the open air, and which was paved with stones of various colours, like that of Ahasuerus, Es 1:6, of red, blue, white, and black marble; what we still term Mosaic work, or something in imitation of it; such as the Roman pavements frequently dug up in this and other countries, where the Romans have had military stations.

Gabbatha.] That is, an elevated place; from gabah, high, raised up; and it is very likely that the judgment seat was considerably elevated in the court, and that the governor went up to it by steps; and perhaps these very steps were what was called the Pavement. John does not say that Lithostroton, or the Pavement, is the meaning of the word Gabbatha; but that the place was called so in the Hebrew. The place was probably called Lithostroton, or the Pavement: the seat of judgment, Gabbatha, the raised or elevated place.

In several MSS. and versions, the scribes not understanding the Hebrew word, wrote it variously, Gabbatha, Gabatha, Kapphatha, Kappata, Gennetha, Gennaesa, and Gennesar. Lightfoot conjectures that the pavement here means the room Gazith in the temple, in which the grand council, called the Sanhedrin, held their meetings.