Jesus is brought before Pilate - See also Mark 16:1; Luke 23:1; John 18:28.
When the morning was come - This was not long after Jesus had been condemned by the Sanhedrin.
Peter’s last denial was probably not far from three o’clock a. m., or near the break of day. As soon as it was light, the Jews consulted together for the purpose of taking his life. The sun rose at that season of the year in Judea not far from five o’clock a. m., and the time when they assembled, therefore, was not long after Peter’s denial.
The chief priests and elders of the people took counsel - They ned on his trial Matthew 26:65-66 agreed that he deserved to die, “on a charge of blasphemy;” yet they did not dare to put him to death by stoning, as they did afterward Stephen Acts 7, and as the law commanded in case of blasphemy, for they feared the people. They therefore “consulted,” or took counsel together, to determine on what pretence they could deliver him to the Roman emperor, or to fix some charge of a civil nature by which Pilate might be induced to condemn him. The charge which they fixed on was not that on which they had tried him, and on which they had determined he ought to die, but “that of perverting the nation, and of forbidding to give tribute to Caesar,” Luke 23:2. On this accusation, if made out, they supposed Pilate could be induced to condemn Jesus. On a charge of “blasphemy” they knew he could not, as that was not an offence against the Roman laws, and over which, therefore, Pilate claimed no jurisdiction.
To put him to death - To devise some way by which he might be put to death under the authority of the Roman governor.