And all his acquaintance, and the women, &c.— Who these acquaintance were, we learn from Matthew 27:55; Matthew 27:66 and Mark 15:40. The three evangelists agree in affirming that these women stood afar off; yet this is not inconsistent with John 19:25 where our Lord's mother, andher sister, Mary the wife of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalene, are said to have stood beside the cross. They were kept at a distance awhile, perhaps by the guards, or they were afraid to approach; but when the greatest part of the soldiers were drawn off, and the eclipse was begun, they gathered courage, and came so near, that Jesus had an opportunity to speak to them a little before he expired.
When we call to mind the perfect innocence of the Lord Jesus, the uncommon love that he bore to mankind, and the many substantial good offices which he did to multitudes groaning under the burden of their afflictions: when we think of the esteem in which the common people held him all along, howcheerfully they followed him to the remotest corners of the country, and with what pleasure they heard his discourses, it cannot but be matter of the greatest surprise to find them, at the conclusion, rushing all on a sudden into the opposite extremes, and every body as it were combined to treat him with the most barbarous cruelty. When Pilate asked the people, if they inclined to have Jesus released, his disciples, though they were very numerous, and might have made a great appearance in his behalf, remained quite silent. The Roman soldiers, notwithstanding their general had declared him an innocent person, most inhumanlyinsulted him; the scribes and Pharisees ridiculed him; the common people, who had received him with hosannahs a few days before, wagged their heads at him, as they passed by, and railed on him as a deceiver; nay, the very thief on the cross reviled him. This sudden revolution in the humours of the nation may seem unaccountable; yet if we could assign a proper reason for the silence of the disciples, the principleswhich influenced the rest might be discovered in their several speeches. Christ's followers had attached themselves to him, too much from an expectation of being raised to great wealth and power in his kingdom; but seeing no appearance at all of what they looked for, they permitted him to be condemned, perhaps because they thought it would have obliged him to break the Roman yoke by miracle. If the reader can trace out a more probable reason for their silence, when Pilate offered thrice to release their Master, and in a manner begged them to ask his life, his pains in such an inquiry will certainly be well bestowed. With respect to the soldiers, they were angry that any one should have pretended to royalty in Judea, where Caesar had established his authority: hence they insulted him with the title of king, and paid him mock honours. As for the common people, they seem to have lost their opinion of him, probably because he had neither convinced the council, nor rescued himself when they condemned him. They began therefore to look upon the story industriously spread abroad of him, viz. his having boasted that he could destroy and rebuild the temple in three days, as a kind of blasphemy, because it required divine power to execute such an undertaking. Accordingly, in derision, they saluted him by the title of The destroyer and builder again of the temple in three days; and with a malicious sneer bade him save himself, and come down from the cross; insinuating that the one was a much easier matter than the other. The priests and scribes were filled with the most implacable and diabolical hatred of him, because he had torn off their masks, and shewed them to the people in their true colours; wherefore they ridiculed his miracles whence he drew his reputation, by pretendingto acknowledge them; but at the same time adding a reflection, which they thought entirely confuted them, He saved others, himself he cannot save. To conclude, the impenitent thief also fancied that he must have delivered both himself and them, if he had been the Messiah. But as no sign of such a deliverance appeared, he upbraided him for making pretensions to that high character, by saying, If thou be the Christ, save thyself and us.