Luke 23:12 - Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

For before they were at enmity— The cause of this enmity can only be conjectured; perhaps it might be the slaughter which Pilate had made of some of the Galileans, who had come up to sacrifice at Jerusalem. See Ch. Luke 13:1. M. Saurin observes, "that considering on the one hand the jealousy of the Jews, where any foreign power was concerned, and on the other the oppressive measures generally taken by those who are invested with commissions like this which Pilate bore over conquered countries, and especially the accounts that we have of his own bad characterandconduct;theirreconciliationismuchmorewonderfulthantheirenmity." See his Sermons, vol. 10: p. 246.