The Trial Before Pontius Pilate

• We find that Pilate's character as told in the gospels was different from what history tells us.
• There are other difficulties with the story:
  • The "passover privilege" was undoubtedly fictional.
  • Pilate could have released Jesus had he really wanted to.
  • The shift in the attitude of the crowd towards Jesus is simply inexplicable.

Pilates Character: The Gospels vs. History

Mark 15:1-15 Very early in the morning, the chief priests, with the elders, the teachers of the law and the whole Sanhedrin reached a decision. They bound Jesus, led him away and turned him over to PIlate. "are you the king of the Jews?" asked Pilate. "yes, it is as you say," Jesus replied. The chief priests accused him of many things. So again Pilate asked him, "Aren't you going to answer? See how many things they are accusing you of. But Jesus made no reply, and Pilate was amazed. Now it was the custom of the feast to release a prisoner whom the people requested. A man called Barabbas was in prison with the insurrectionists who had committed murder in the uprising. The crown came up and asked Pilate to do for them what he usually did. "Do you want me to release to you the king of the Jews?" asked Pilate, knowing it was out of envy that the chief priests had handed Jesus over to him. But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to have Pilate released Barabbas instead. "What shall I do, then, with the one you call king of the Jews?" Pilate asked. "Crucify him!" they shouted. "Why? What crime had he committed?" asked Pilate. But they shouted all the louder, "crucify him!" Wanting to satisfy the crowd, Pilate released Barabbas to them. He had Jesus flogged, and handed him over to be crucified.

Matthew 27:24-25 When Pilate saw that he was getting nowhere, but instead an uproar was starting, he took water and washed his hands in front of the crowd. "I am innocent of this man's blood," he said. "It is your responsibility." All the people answered, "Let his blood be on us and on our children!"

Luke 23:13-16 Pilate called together the chief priests, the rulers and the people, and said to them, "You brought me this man as the one who was inciting the people to rebellion. I have examined him in your presence and have found no basis for your charges against him...as you can see, he has done nothing to deserve death. Therefore I will punish him and then release him."

Luke 23:20-25 Wanting to release Jesus, Pilate appealed to them again. But they kept shouting, "Crucify him! Crucify him!" For the third time he spoke to them: "Why? What crime has this man committed? I have found in him no grounds for the death penalty. Therefore, I will have him punished and then release him." But with loud shouts they insistently demanded that he be crucified, and their shouts prevailed. So Pilate decided to grant their demand. He released the man who had been thrown into prison for the insurrection and for murder, the one they asked for, and surrendered Jesus to their will.

Luke 23:7-11 When he [Pilate] learned that Jesus was under Herod's jurisdiction, he sent him to Herod who was also in Jerusalem at that time. When Herod saw Jesus...He plied him with many questions, but Jesus gave him no answer...Then Herod and his soldiers ridiculed and mocked him. Dressing him in an elegant robe, they sent him back to Pilate.

The statement [that Pilate handed Jesus over to Herod when he found out that Jesus was a Galilean-PT] is not only debatable but undoubtedly false. Juridically, the was no need to extradite the accused from the forum delicti commissi to the forum originis, because the sole competent judge was the Roman procurator; nor was it in Pilate's character, if for no other reason than the dignity of his office, to show such deference to the petty Jewish tetrarch. [2]

John 19:12-16 From then on, Pilate tried to set Jesus free, but the Jews kept shouting, "If you let this man go, you are no friend of Caesar. Anyone who claims to be a king opposes Caesar."...they shouted, "Take him away! Take him away! Crucify him!" "Shall I crucify your king?" Pilate asked. "We have no king but Caesar," the chief priest answered. Finally Pilate handed him over to them to be crucified.

The Pontius Pilate of the Christian gospels and tradition is therefore a just, kind, albeit somewhat weak man who caved in to the Jewish demands. What do we know about this man from other, secular, sources? That he existed, we have no doubt. There were numerous contemporary references to him, including in the works of Jewish writers such as Philo and Josephus. And in 1961 an inscription bearing Pilate's name as the prefect of Judea was found in Ceasarea. [5] Pilate, as we know, was the fifth prefect (i.e. governor) of Judea; holding the post from AD26 to 37.

A summary of Pilate's character can be found in the letter of King Agrippa I to Carigula, which was quoted by Philo in Legatione ad Caium

He [Pilate] feared lest they might in reality go on an embassy to the emperor, and might impeach him with respect to the other particulars of his government, in respect to the his corruption, his acts of insolence, and his rapine and his habit of insulting people, and his continual murder of persons untried and uncondemned, and his never ending, and gratuitous and most grievous inhumanity.[6]59

The first incident relates to the image of the emperor on the banners of the Roman soldiers. As the Jews in Jerusalem do not tolerate any graven image in the city, out of abhorrence for idolatry, the previous governors had the soldiers remove this image from their banners before entering the city. Pilate, showing lack of respect for the sensitivities of the Jews, ordered his soldiers to enter the city at night and not remove the image of the emperor. He thought that the Jews would not dare protest once they see that the image was already there. But the Jews did protest, by sending a massive deputation from Jerusalem to Caesarea, the home of the governor.

In the second incident, Pilate set up votive tablets in the palace of Herod on Mount Zion. The Jews again protested this violation of Jerusalem's sanctity and sent an appeal, this time to the emperor, for its removal. In both these cases Pilate was forced to back down. In the first, to avoid a full scale revolt that would look bad on his record and in the second, at the order of the emperor.

The third incident however, did not end without bloodshed. Pilate used the money from the temple tax to build an aqueduct. This was for the public good of Jerusalem, for it would have meant an increase in water supply to the city. The Jews again protested, as it was sacrilegious for the sacred money of the temple to be used for secular purposes. This time Pilate stood his ground. And when the Jews staged a demonstration, he had his soldiers mix with the mob, wearing civilian clothing with clubs hidden underneath. The clubs are then used on the noisy ones first. The resulting confusion caused many deaths; some from the clubbing and some from being trampled by the panicking crowd as they fled from the scene. [7]

Pilate's tenure as governor ended the same way it started, with an act which marked his total lack of compassion for the inhabitants of Palestine. The event that led to his downfall was the appearance of a Samaritan prophet. The prophet gained a large following. Pilate's method of dispelling the crowd around the prophet was typical of his character: he slaughtered them on their holy mountain. About four thousand Samaritans died in that massacre. When this brutal act was reported to the emperor, Pilate was recalled to Rome in 37 CE. We know no more of him from history. [8]

The character of Pilate as given to us by secular historical sources is completely at variance with that given by the gospels. The Pilate in the gospel was amiable, politically naive and easily intimidated by the Jewish crowd. The historical Pilate, as we have seen, was cruel, headstrong and self-seeking. That this Pilate would have allowed a Jewish mob to given his action is unthinkable. It is obvious that the actual role, if any, Pilate played in the condemnation of Jesus was extensively rewritten to exonerate him and to pin the blame on the Jews. We will discuss, later in this chapter, why this became necessary for the early Christians.

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Other Difficulties

The Passover Privilege

nothing is known of any such custom as is here described that at the feast of the passover the Roman procurators regularly released one prisoner, and that the crowd named the individual no matter what his offence had been, is not only without any attestation , but also contrary to what we know of the spirit and manner of Roman rule over Palestine. [10]

The Release of Jesus

The Shift in Attitude of the Crowd

Mark 11:18 The chief priests and the teachers of the law heard this and began looking for a way to kill him, for they feared him, because the whole crowd was amazed at his teaching.

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References

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