Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Matthew 27:39
And they that passed by reviled him, wagging their heads,
39. See Psa 22:7.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Wagging their heads – In token of derision and insult. See Job 16:4; Psa 109:25.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Mat 27:39-40
He saved others; Himself lie cannot save.
He saved others, Himself He cannot save
I. The incontestible fact-He saved others. Let us bring forth witnesses: Angels, healed men and women.
II. Himself He cannot save. He is Divine. The world was made by Him; yet Himself He cannot save. The acts of unlimited providence are ascribed to Him He sustaineth all things by the word of His power. Himself He cannot save. The resurrection of the dead, administration of judgment are ascribed to Him. Himself He cannot save. The power to save Himself is demonstrated in those very acts by which He saved others. The devils were subject to Him. No man taketh my life from Me, I lay it down of Myself.
III. However paradoxical all this may seem, I must proceed to establish the momentous truth ignorantly expressed in those words. In its literal sense it was false; Jesus was not destitute of physical power to save Himself; in its theological sense it was true. There was no original necessity that the Son of God must die; He might have left the race to perish. The necessity of the death of Jesus was founded-
1. In the purpose and foreordination of God.
2. On the fulfilment which that event gives to the predictions of sacred Scripture.
3. To fulfil the typical representations by which, under the Mosaic law, it had been prefigured.
4. In order to verify His own declarations.
5. As a sacrificial atonement for the sins of the world.
6. In order to the effusion of the Holy Spirit.
7. Even in order to the perfection of His example.
Learn:
1. The affecting display which our subject presents of the love of Christ.
2. The glorious and certain effects of the Redeemers sufferings.
3. I conjure you to seek a personal interest in the important benefits of the Saviours death.
4. Let it be the theme of your meditation and the confirmation of your faith. (J. Bowers.)
Success in apparent failure
Christ seems a failure. Thus His enemies asserted and His friends seemed to admit it. Where they right?
I. What is success?
1. Certainly not that which is merely in appearance strong, beautiful, or prosperous, for inwardly it may be quite different. The ship on the waters may be beautiful to look at, but if made of inferior material is not a success.
2. Not that which is good merely for the time being. The finest house built on a sand-hill has its ruin beneath it.
3. Nor is it a necessary element of success, that it should confer aught of benefit or reward upon him who has brought it about. The highest favour often comes after death.
4. Nor is any result, however magnificent, obtained on doubtful principles worthy of this royal title. God and His laws are against it. Success is that good purpose which hath been conducted upon right principles to a prosperous and durable completion.
II. Christ we claim was and is a success.
1. His purpose was good-to save His people from their sins.
2. His purpose was conducted upon pure and holy principles.
3. Though small in its beginnings His purpose is evidently intended to prosper. His influence has been steadily increasing.
4. His success is always durable.
III. Hence the pharisees erred. They mistook the dawn of success for the clouds of a coming failure. The causes that led them to the error.
1. The bad habit of looking only at the outside of things. They were quick to see a colour or a cloth, but not a principle.
2. Because they judged results by what they wanted instead of by what He wanted. They wanted a temporal Messiah, He a spiritual.
3. Because they deemed success a matter of thirty or forty years instead of all time.
4. They could not understand His tearing self out of view. The omnipotence of love exceeds mere physical almightiness. (W. W. Walker.)
The Saviour of all bus Himself
I. What they deemed he could do. Himself He cannot save.
1. He could. It was not in the power of man.
2. He could not. He would fulfil the Scripture.
II. What they allowed he could do. (S. H. Simpson.)
When originally spoken.
I. Implied a critical position.
II. Expressed a mistaken view of religion. The men who saw the Saviour dying thought exclusively of the present; were more concerned for pain and physical deprivation than for sin; argued from self-love to the salvation of others.
III. Witnessed unconsciously to the principle of atonement. A moral necessity compelled Him to die: the righteousness of God had to be vindicated; He could only save others (in the deeper sense of the word) by self-sacrifice. The great question with us all now should be, not Could He save Himself? or Could He save others? but, Has He saved us-has He enfranchised us from self? (A. F. Muir, M. A.)
Self-sacrifice
Many voices from Calvary; all significant.
I. A great truth. Truer word never uttered. Who meant by others? Whoever referred to, the words true. This His work day by day. All ages shall declare that this testimony of enemies was true.
II. A falsehood. He could save Himself. Did the speakers know their words were false?
III. A latent truth. Concealed from the men who proclaimed it. A power at work within Christ which made it impossible for Him to save Himself. Impossibility seen in whatever way we regard His death. As a martyr, example, victim of sin, substitute for sin, He could not save Himself. Conclusion: The death of Christ a lesson of self-sacrifice. The highest rule in the world that of Christ. His Spirits rule who could not save Himself. Is the cross of Christ such a power in our lives as to lead us in daily life to feel and to show that though we can, yet we cannot? Appeal to men to yield themselves to Him who gave Himself for them. (J. M. Blackie, LL. B.)
He saved others, Himself He cannot save.–
Necessity of the cross
These men only needed to alter one letter to be grandly and gloriously right. If, instead of cannot, they had said will not, they would have grasped the very heart of the power, and the very central brightness of the glory of Christianity. He saved others; and just because He saves others, Himself He will not, and, in a real sense, He cannot, save. It was His own will, and no outward necessity, that fastened Him to the cross; and that will was kept steadfast and immoveable by nothing else but His love: He Himself fixed the iron chain which bound Him. He Himself made the cannot. It was His love that made it impossible He should relinquish the task; therefore His steely will, like a strong spring constantly working, kept Him close up against the sharp edge of the knife that cut into His very hearts life. Though there were outward powers that seemed to knit Him there, and though to the eye of sense the taunt of the priests might be true, Himself He cannot save,-the inmost verity of that cross is, No man taketh My life from Me, I lay it down of Myself, because I love and will save the world. Yet a Divine necessity for the cross there was. No saving of men from any evil can be effective but at the cost of self-sacrifice. The lamp burns out in the very act of giving light. So that, while on the one side there is necessity, on the other there is free, willing submission. It was not high priests, Pilate, soldiers, nails, that fastened Jesus to the cross. He was bound there by the cords of love, and by the bands of his own infinitely merciful purpose. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)
He saved others, Himself He cannot save
I. The confession made by the bitterest enemies of the Lord Jesus. They had long tried falsehood, now they admit the truth-He saved others. But we may go back to the earlier eras in proof of this assertion. It was He that saved Lot; the Egyptians from bondage; the people out of Babylon. He is able to save others to the uttermost of human guilt, to the uttermost of human life, to the uttermost of human time. How it comes to pass that He who saved others, could not save Himself? It was not for want of power, for He had all power in heaven and earth. It was not through any deadness to a feeling of pain; for his sensibilities were keen. It was not from any ignorance of the issue. The answer is, He came to seek and to save, etc. The inability to save Himself was not physical.
I. It arose from the nature of the work he had undertaken. Without shedding of blood was no remission. If others were to be saved Christ must die.
II. The everlasting purpose of the Father was another reason why He could not save Himself.
III. The Saviours free undertaking of the office of a Priest and Victim and Redeemer brought Him into the condition that while He saved others Himself He could not save. He pledged Himself to go through with the amazing work of redemption, even though hell oppose.
IV. The glory and honour of God made ,it the only alternative that while He saved others, Himself He could not save.
V. The love that He bore to us is another reason of the truth of the text. Learn:
1. The inseparable connection that subsists between the sacrifice of Jesus and the salvation of His people.
2. Deduce the length, height, depth of the love of Jesus.
3. What a fearful and obnoxious thing is sin.
4. What must be the great theme of the gospel ministry. (J. Cumming, D. D.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 39. Wagging their heads] In token of contempt.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
And they that passed by,…. In the road to or from Jerusalem; for, it seems, the crosses were placed by the wayside; or they who passed by the cross, the populace that came from Jerusalem, on purpose to see the sight,
reviled him, or “blasphemed him”: they spoke all manner of evil of him, they could think of, to which he answered not a word; and which may teach us patience under the revilings of men: this was foretold of him, Ps 89:51, “they have reproached the footsteps of thine anointed”, or “Messiah”; and which Jarchi explains by , “the ends of the king Messiah”; his last times, towards the close of his days; and cites that passage in the Misna z,
“in the heels, or, as Buxtorf renders it, in the end of the days of the Messiah impudence shall be multiplied,”
as it now was exceedingly:
wagging their heads; in derision of him, and as exulting in his misery; see Isa 37:22. This also was prophesied of him in
Ps 22:7.
z Sota, c. 9. sect. 15.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Wagging their heads ( ). Probably in mock commiseration. “Jews again appear on the scene, with a malice like that shewn in the trial before the Sanhedrin” (McNeile). “To us it may seem incredible that even his worst enemies could be guilty of anything so brutal as to hurl taunts at one suffering the agonies of crucifixion” (Bruce). These passers-by () look on Jesus as one now down and out. They jeer at the fallen foe.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
Mat 27:39
. And they that passed by. These circumstances carry great weight; for they place before us the extreme abasement of the Son of God, that we may see more clearly how much our salvation cost him, and that, reflecting that we justly deserved all the punishments which he endured, we may be more and more excited to repentance. For in this exhibition God hath plainly showed to us how wretched our condition would have been, if we had not a Redeemer. But all that Christ endured in himself ought to be applied for our consolation. This certainly was more cruel than all the other tortures, that they upbraided, and reviled, and tormented him as one that had been cast off and forsaken by God, (Isa 53:4.) And, therefore, David, as the representative of Christ, complains chiefly of this among the distresses which he suffered; (Psa 22:7.) And, indeed, there is nothing that inflicts a more painful wound on pious minds than when ungodly men, in order to shake their faith, upbraid them with being deprived of the assistance and favor of God. This is the harsh persecution with which, Paul tells us, Isaac was tormented by Ishmael, (Gal 4:29😉 not that he attacked him with the sword, and with outward violence, but that, by turning the grace of God into ridicule, he endeavored to overthrow his faith. These temptations were endured, first by David, and afterwards by Christ him-self, that they might not at the present day strike us with excessive alarm, as if they had been unusual; for there never will be wanting wicked men who are disposed to insult our distresses. And whenever God does not assist us according to our wish, but conceals his aid for a little time, it is a frequent stratagem of Satan, to allege that our hope was to no purpose, as if his promise had failed.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(39) They that passed by.The words bring before us the picture of a lounging crowd, strolling from one cross to the other, and mocking the central sufferer of the three. Rulers and chief priests were not ashamed to take part in the brutal mockery of a dying man. The spoken taunts were doubtless often repeated, and not always in the same form, but their burden is always the same.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
REVILING OF JESUS ON THE CROSS, Mat 27:39-44.
In the extremity of his physical pain the Son of man must endure the utmost that human contempt can think and say and do. The accidental spectator, the chance specimens of our race; the chief priests, the representatives of rank, sacred and secular, are present. The powerful exert the uttermost of their power, and the vilest do their best and vilest. They utter taunts founded on calumnious misrepresentations of his words; they ridicule his kingship, and even his piety. They trample on his pretences, and exult over his weakness.
39. Wagging their heads An accompanying gesture, expressive of the contempt uttered in their words.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘And those who passed by railed on him (literally ‘were blaspheming Him’), wagging their heads, and saying, “You who will destroy the temple, and build it in three days, save yourself. If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross.” ’
The first who mocked at Him and railed at Him were the passers-by. But the words they spoke reveal that these passers-by were well aware of what had taken place at His trial. These were not general pilgrims to the Feast, for they mocked Him with one of the charges that had been laid against Him there (Mat 26:61). Here was a show being put on for the people by the supporters of the Sanhedrin. This was the true blasphemy. Alternately it may simply be that they picked up these ideas from listening to the words of the Jewish leaders around the cross (see Mat 27:41-42 which simply summarise them). But they have the look and sound of hypocrites.
So He will destroy the Temple and then rebuild it in three days, will He? Then let Him now rebuild His own destroyed life. If He truly is the Son of God let Him come down from the cross. Let boasting prove itself by actions. Even here Satan was tempting Him to accomplish His Messianic task in a forbidden way, by extraordinary signs and wonders. But these men did not believe that it would happen, and they wagged their head in the greatness of their wisdom. Little did they think that they were ‘filling to the full’ the Psalm where it was written, ‘All those who see me laugh me to scorn. They shoot out the lip, they wag their heads saying, “Commit yourself to the Lord, let Him deliver Him” ’ (Psa 22:7-8).
‘If you are the Son of God.’ We are taken right back to the language of Mat 4:3; Mat 4:6. Matthew probably intends us to see Satan’s influence again at work here.
There is nothing unexpected about this language given that they knew what had gone on at His trial. These ideas are precisely what we would have expected them to draw attention to, for they were still ringing in their ears. They were not, of course, aware that He had also taught, ‘He who would save his life will lose it’ (Mat 16:25). According to their view God prospered those who were His favourites.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Mat 27:39-40. And they that passed by reviled The common people whom the priests had incensed against our Lord by the malicious lies which they spread concerning him, and which they pretended to found on the evidence of the witnesses seeing him hang as a malefactor on the cross, and reading the superscription placed over his head, expressed their indignation against him by railing on him,blasphemingin the original. See Psa 22:7. They thought their sarcasm, thou that destroyest the temple, &c. the more biting, as this was one of the charges brought against him by the false witnesses, Ch. Mat 26:61 and the latter part of the verse contains the charge on which they had condemned him as being guilty of blasphemy.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Mat 27:39 .] That what is here said seems to imply, what would ill accord with the synoptic statement as to the day on which our Lord was crucified, that this took place on a working day (Fritzsche, de Wette), is not to be denied (comp. on Joh 18:28 ; Mar 15:21 ), though it cannot be assumed with certainty that such was the case. But there can be no doubt that the place of execution was close to a public thoroughfare.
. .] The shaking of the head here is not to be regarded as that which expresses refusal or passion (Hom. Il . xviii. 200, 442; Od. v. 285, 376), but, according to Psa 22:8 , as indicating a malicious jeering at the helplessness of one who had made such lofty pretensions, Mat 27:40 . Comp. Job 16:4 ; Psa 109:25 ; Lam 2:15 ; Isa 37:22 ; Jer 18:16 ; Buxt. Lex. Talm . p. 2039; Justin, Ap. I. 38.
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
39 And they that passed by reviled him, wagging their heads,
Ver. 39. Reviled him, wagging their heads ] God took notice of Cain’s frowns,Gen 4:6Gen 4:6 , Miriam’s mutterings, Num 12:2 , these men’s noddings, Rabshakeh’s lofty looks, Isa 37:23 , Laban’s lourings (scowling), Gen 31:2 , and sets them upon record. He is jealous for Jerusalem with a great jealousy,Zec 1:14Zec 1:14 ; (and jealousy is very wakeful, hardly shall the sly paramour avoid the husband’s eye), if he see any indignity offered to his beloved spouse, he will arise and play Phineas’ part, as that martyr said. The virgin daughter of Zion, though she be but a virgin, hath a champion that will not see nor suffer her to be abused, Isa 37:22 . See how he revileth her revilers, Isa 57:3-4 “But draw near hither, ye sons of the sorceress, the seed of the adulterer and the whore. Against whom do ye sport yourselves against whom make yea wide mouth, and draw out the tongue? are ye not children of transgression, a seed of falsehood?” Yea, he giveth encouragement to his spouse, in a holy scorn to despise and deride her deriders, shaking her head at them, as they do at her, and saying, “Whom hast thou reproached and blasphemed?” &c. q.d. Dost thou know what thou hast done? &c. At Brightwell in Berkshire, one Lener said that he saw that evil favoured knave Latimer, when he was burned at Oxford; and that he had teeth like a horse. But the Lord suffered not this scorn and contempt of his servant to go unpunished. For that very day, and about the same hour that Lener spake those words, his son wickedly hanged himself.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
39 44. ] HE IS MOCKED ON THE CROSS. Mar 15:29-32 .Luk 23:35-37Luk 23:35-37 ; Luk 23:39-43 . Our narrative and that of Mark are from a common source. Luke’s is wholly distinct. The whole of these indignities are omitted by John.
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
39. . ] These words say nothing as to its being a working-day , or as to the situation of the spot. A matter of so much public interest would be sure to attract a crowd, among whom we find, Mat 27:41 , the chief priests, scribes, and elders. These passers-by were the multitude going in and out of the city, some coming to see, others returning.
. . . ] see Psa 22:7 . The first reproach refers to ch. Mat 26:61 ; the second to ibid., ch. Mat 26:64 .
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Mat 27:39-44 . Taunts of spectators (Mar 15:29-32 ; Luk 23:35-37 ; Luk 23:39 ). The last drop in Christ’s bitter cup. To us it may seem incredible that even His worst enemies could be guilty of anything so brutal as to hurl taunts at one suffering the agonies of crucifixion. But men then felt very differently from us, thanks to the civilising influence of the Christian faith, which has made the whole details of the Passion history so revolting to the Christian heart. These sneers at the great Sufferer are not invented fulfilments of prophecy (Psa 22:7-8 ; so Brandt), but belong to the certainties of the tragic story as told by the synoptists.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
Mat 27:39 . , the passers by: the place of crucifixion therefore near a road; going to or from the temple services ( Speaker’s Com. ); or on work-day business, the 13th not the 14th of the month? (Fritzsche, De Wette). . . ., shaking or nodding the head in the direction of the cross, as if to say: that is what it has come to.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
passed = were passing. Another indication that it was not the Passover day. See App-166.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
39-44.] HE IS MOCKED ON THE CROSS. Mar 15:29-32. Luk 23:35-37; Luk 23:39-43. Our narrative and that of Mark are from a common source. Lukes is wholly distinct. The whole of these indignities are omitted by John.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Mat 27:39. , but they that were passing by) Many did not even condescend to stand still.- , shaking their heads) The gesture of one who refuses to acknowledge something.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Mocking the Crucified King
Mat 27:39-40. And they that passed by reviled him, wagging their heads, and saying, Thou that destroyest the temple, and buildest it in three days, save thyself. If thou be the Son of God, come down from the
Nothing torments a man when in pain more than mockery. When Jesus Christ most wanted words of pity and looks of kindness, they that passed by reviled him, wagging their heads. Perhaps the most painful part of ridicule is to have one’s most solemn sayings turned to scorn, as were our Lord’s words about the temple of his body: “Thou that destroyest the temple, and buildest it in three days, save thyself.” He might have saved himself, he might have “come down from the cross; “but if he had done so, we could never have become the sons of God. It was because he was the Son of God that he did not come down from the cross, but hung there until he had completed the sacrifice for his people’s sin. Christ’s cross is the Jacob’s ladder by which we mount up to heaven.
This is the cry of the Socinians today, “Come down from the cross. Give up the atoning sacrifice, and we will be Christians.” Many are willing to believe in Christ, but not in Christ crucified. They admit that he was a good man and a great teacher; but by rejecting his vicarious atonement, they practically un-Christ the Christ, as these mockers at Golgotha did.
Mat 27:41-43. Likewise also the chief priests mocking him, with the scribes and elders, said, He saved others; himself he cannot save. If he be the King of Israel, let him now come down from the cross, and we will believe him. He trusted in God; let him deliver Mm now, if he will have him: for he said, I am the Son of God.
The chief priests, with the scribes and elders, forgetting their high station and rank, joined the ribald crew in mocking Jesus in his death pangs. Every word was emphatic; every syllable cut and pierced our Lord to the heart. They mocked him as a Saviour: “He saved others; himself he cannot save.” They mocked him as a King: “If he be the King of Israel, let him now come down from the cross, and we will believe him.” They mocked him as a believer: “He trusted in God; let him deliver him now, if he will have him.” They mocked him as the Son of God: “For he said, I am the Son of God.” Those who say that Christ was a good man virtually admit his deity, for he claimed to be the Son of God. If he was not what he professed to be, he was an impostor. Notice the testimony that Christ’s bitterest enemies bore even as they reviled him: “He saved others;” “He is the King of Israel” (E.V.); “He trusted in God.”
Mat 27:44. The thieves also, which were crucified with him, cast the same in his teeth.
The sharers of his misery, the abjects who were crucified with him, joined in reviling Jesus. Nothing was wanting to fill up his cup of suffering and shame. The conversion of the penitent thief was all the more remarkable because he had but a little while before been amongst the mockers of his Saviour. What a trophy of divine grace he became!
Mat 27:45. Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land unto the ninth hour.
Some have thought that this darkness covered the whole world, and so caused even a heathen to exclaim, “Either the world is about to expire, or the God who made the world is in anguish.” This darkness was supernatural; it was not an eclipse. The sun could no longer look upon his Maker surrounded by those who mocked him. He covered his face, and travelled on in tenfold night, in very shame that the great Sun of righteousness should himself be in such terrible darkness.
Mat 27:46. And about the ninth how Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me?
In order that the sacrifice of Christ might be complete, it pleased the Father to forsake his well-beloved Son. Sin was laid on Christ, so God must turn away his face from the Sin-Bearer. To be deserted of his God, was the climax of Christ’s grief, the quintessence of his sorrow. See here the distinction between the martyrs and their Lord; in their dying agonies they have been divinely sustained; but Jesus, suffering as the Substitute for sinners, was forsaken of God. Those saints who have known what it is to have their Father’s face hidden from them even for a brief space, can scarcely imagine the suffering that wrung from our Saviour the agonizing cry, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?”
Mat 27:47. Some of them that stood there, when they heard that, said, This man calleth for Elias.
They knew better, yet they jested at the Saviour’s prayer. Wickedly, wilfully, and scornfully, they turned his death-shriek into ridicule.
Mat 27:48-49. And straightway one of them ran, and took a spunge, and filled it with vinegar, and put it on a reed, and gave him to drink. The rest said, Let be, let us see whether Elias will come to save him.
A person in such agony as Jesus was suffering might have mentioned many pangs that he was enduring; but it was necessary for him to say, “I thirst,” in order that another Scripture might be fulfilled. One of them, more compassionate than his companions, ran, and took a spunge, and filled it with vinegar, from the vessel probably brought by the soldiers for their own use, and put it on a reed, and gave him to drink. It always seems to me very remarkable that the sponge, which is the very lowest form of animal life, should have been brought into contact with Christ, who is at the top of all life. In his death the whole circle of creation was completed. As the sponge brought refreshment to the lips of our dying Lord, so may the least of God’s living ones help to refresh him now that he has ascended from the cross to the throne.
Fuente: Spurgeon’s The Gospel of the Kingdom
reviled: Psa 22:6, Psa 22:7, Psa 22:17, Psa 31:11-13, Psa 35:15-21, Psa 69:7-12, Psa 69:20, Psa 109:2, Psa 109:25, Lam 1:12, Lam 2:15-17, Mar 15:29, Mar 15:30, Luk 23:35-39, 1Pe 2:22-24
Reciprocal: Jdg 16:25 – sport 2Sa 22:19 – prevented 2Ki 19:21 – shaken her head Job 16:4 – shake mine Job 17:2 – mockers Job 30:11 – let loose Job 30:24 – they cry Psa 18:4 – floods Psa 88:17 – They Pro 18:3 – General Pro 29:8 – Scornful Isa 28:22 – be ye Isa 37:22 – shaken Isa 53:3 – despised Isa 57:4 – sport Jer 18:16 – shall be Lam 3:14 – General Eze 36:3 – and are Zep 2:15 – every Mat 5:11 – when Mat 9:24 – And Mat 26:68 – Prophesy Luk 22:63 – mocked Joh 9:28 – they Joh 16:20 – but the Heb 13:13 – General 1Pe 2:23 – when he was
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
7:39
Thayer says this wagging of the head was “expressive of derision.” A similar movement is recorded in Job 16:4 and Psa 109:25. Reviled is a stronger term and comes from the same Greek word as “blaspheme.” Thus by the movement of their body and their word of mouth, these cruel people showed their contempt for the Lamb of God who was at that very hour making the supreme sacrifice that creatures like them might have an opportunity of being saved.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
And they that passed by reviled him, wagging their heads,
[Wagging their heads.] To shake the head; with the Rabbins, signifies irreverence and lightness.
Fuente: Lightfoot Commentary Gospels
Mat 27:39. They that passed by. People walking about, probably coming that way, for the purpose of seeing the execution. The morbid taste for horrors no doubt existed then, and popular hatred was aroused. Besides, the dignitaries were there (Mat 27:41)! The elevation seems to have formed a natural stage for the public exposure of the crucified.
Reviled, literally, blasphemed. They reviled, but it was in this case blasphemy.
Wagging their heads (comp. Psa 22:6), in malignant triumph mingled with contempt.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Mat 27:39-44. They that passed by reviled him, &c. As it was a great aggravation of our Lords sufferings that he was crucified along with two thieves, and in the middle of them, as though he had been the chief malefactor of the three, so it was a further aggravation thereof that he was reviled, mocked, and derided by different descriptions of persons. The common people, whom the priests had incensed against him by the malicious lies which they spread concerning him, and which they pretended to found on the evidence of witnesses, seeing him hang as a malefactor on the cross, and reading the superscription that was placed over his head, expressed their indignation against him by railing on him, and saying, Thou that destroyest the temple, &c., save thyself The rulers having, as they imagined, wholly overturned his pretensions as the Messiah, ridiculed him on that head, and, with a meanness of soul which will render them for ever infamous, mocked him while in the agonies of death, and even most basely upbraided him with the saving power, which they could not deny that he had exerted; saying, he saved others, himself he cannot save Thus they scoff at the wonderful miracles of healing, by which he had demonstrated that he was the Messiah; and they promise to believe on him on condition that he would prove his pretensions by coming down from the cross. In the mean time nothing could be more false and hypocritical, for they continued in their unbelief notwithstanding that he raised himself from the dead, which was a much greater miracle than his coming down from the cross would have been; a miracle also that was attested by witnesses whose veracity they could not call in question; for it was told them by the soldiers whom they themselves had placed at the sepulchre to watch his body. It is plain, therefore, that their incorrigible stubbornness would not have yielded to any proof, however convincing, and that when they said they would believe if he would come down from the cross, they only meant to insult him; thinking it impossible now for him to escape out of their hands. In saying, He trusted in God, &c., they deride his faith and reliance on God, whom he had called his Father, and thus show themselves to be either real infidels, or very profane, though under a profession of religion. In speaking thus, however, they fulfilled a remarkable prophecy concerning the Messiahs sufferings, Psa 22:8, where it is foretold that his enemies would utter these very words, in derision of his pretensions. The thieves also, &c., cast the same in his teeth That is, one of them did so, for, according to Luk 23:39, &c., the other exercised a most extraordinary faith in our Lord, and that at a time when he was deserted by his Father, mocked by men, and hung on a cross as the worst of malefactors. Some commentators endeavour to reconcile the two evangelists by supposing, that both the thieves might revile Jesus at first. But this solution is not very probable. In Scripture, a single person or thing is often expressed in the plural number, especially when it is not the speakers or writers intention to be more particular.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
THEY REVILE HIM ON THE CROSS
Mar 15:29-32; Luk 23:35-43; Mat 27:39-44. And passing by, they continued to blaspheme Him, wagging their heads, and saying, Thou that destroyest the temple, and buildest it in three days, save Thyself. If Thou art the Son of God, come down from the cross. Likewise the high priests mocking Him, with the scribes and elders, continued to say, He saved others; Himself He is not able to save. If He is the King of Israel, let Him now come down from the cross, and we will believe on Him. He trusted in God; let Him now deliver Him, if He wishes Him: for He said, I am the Son of God. This scene, led off by the high priests, elders, and scribes, whose honorable example, of course, many thoughtless people followed, both citizens and soldiers, was not only barbaric in the extreme and infinitely worse than brutal, but diabolical in the superlative degree. And yet it was perpetrated by the ministers and elders standing at the head of the Church, illustrating the significant fact that collegiate education, religious professions, official dignity, and clerical sanctity are no guarantee against the vilest and most demoniacal persecutions when the devil is in them. Shall we not all learn a profitable lesson by this scene, and that is, to have no faith in man, but all in God?
The thieves also, being crucified along with Him, continued to cast this same reproach on Him. Luk 22:39-43 : But one of the malefactors, having been hanged up, continued to blaspheme Him, If Thou art the Christ, save Thyself and us. There is no contradiction of the preceding with the following. Simply recognize the fact that both of the robbers at first joined with the high priest and the rabble in reproaching Him. But after so long a time, something in the look or the manner of Jesus sent conviction deep into the heart of one of the malefactors, superinducing a tremendous reaction, such as to evoke from the repentant thief the following: And the other one, responding, continued to rebuke him, saying, Dost thou not fear God, because thou art in the same condemnation? And we indeed justly; for we are receiving the punishment worthy of the crimes which we have committed; but this One has done nothing wrong. He said to Jesus, Lord, when Thou mayest come in Thy kingdom, remember me. And Jesus said to him, Truly I say unto thee, This day thou shalt be with Me in paradise. On the resurrection morn, three days subsequently, Jesus said to Mary, I have not yet ascended unto My Father, setting forth the indisputable fact that He had not met the thief in heaven. He was a Jew, and was saved under the Abrahamic covenant, which all concentrates in Christ. So he went to Abrahams bosom (Luke 16), whither Lazarus and all of the Old Testament saints had been gathering since the days of Abel. Jesus, expiring on the cross, His disembodied human soul (1Pe 3:19) went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison i. e. the inmates of hell the victory won on Calvary (Act 2:27-31); then, crossing the impassable chasm, entered the intermediate paradise i. e., Abrahams bosom and met the thief before the expiration of that day at midnight; spent a wonderful hallelujah Sabbath with the patriarchs and prophets and all of the Old Testament saints; early, the first day of the week, abolished the intermediate paradise, and led up all the inmates with Him (Eph 4:8-10), and, coming to the tomb, received His body, the mighty host of Old Testament saints being invisible, because not having their bodies accompanied Him the forty days, and finally ascended with Him up to heaven. The prophetic eye of David (Psalms 24) catching the vision of the triumphant host, hears the shout, Lift up your heads, O ye gates, and be ye lifted up, ye everlasting doors, and let the King of glory come in. Then the shout roars back from the celestial portals, Who is this King of glory? The answer is prompt, The Lord, mighty to save and strong to deliver; He is the King of glory. Now the gates swing high, and millions of glorified spirits shout Him welcome, with the triumphant host captured from the cruel clutches of Satan. The grandest ovation heaven has seen in all the ages now monopolizes the interest of the celestial universe, while the Conqueror of Mount Calvary leads His blood-washed pilgrims up into the august presence of the Almighty Father, presenting them before Him, Behold, I and the children whom Thou hast given unto Me. O what a thrilling testimony-meeting follows, Father Abraham, the patriarchs and prophets, all participating, to the most delectable edification of angels, archangels, cherubim, and seraphim! A false exegesis has been put on this passage, in order to sustain that miserable materialistic heresy which deprives man of his soul, ignoring the idea that the soul is ever separate from the body, as this false dogma does not concede that you have a soul. As this positive statement of Jesus to the thief, This day thou shalt be with Me in paradise, so clearly and unequivocally recognizes the soul of the thief as going out of the body hanging on the cross and entering paradise that very day, to their ineffaceable shame be it said, they have condescended to the diabolical audacity to change the punctuation of the very identical words which Jesus spoke, so moving the comma as to make it read, Truly I say unto thee this day, Thou shalt be with Me in paradise, making the adverb semeron, this day, qualify say unto thee, instead of thou shalt be with Me in paradise, thus making our Savior commit a solecism and talk nonsense. As this occult form of infidelity i. e., soul-sleeping materialism has been sown by Satan throughout this continent, we feel it our duty to expose it, as it is utterly destitute of truth. The salvation of the thief on the cross is infinitely consolatory to penitent sinners in the hour and article of death. However, it is awfully risky to make our Lords mercy in this notable instance an apology for continuing in sin. All should bear in mind the obvious fact that this poor thief had never seen Jesus before, nor hardened his heart by slighting opportunities.
Fuente: William Godbey’s Commentary on the New Testament
27:39 {11} And they that passed by reviled him, wagging their heads,
(11) To make full satisfaction for us, Christ suffered and overcame not only the torments of the body, but also the most horrible torments of the mind.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
The Romans crucified people publicly to be an example to others. Evidently the site of Jesus’ crucifixion was beside a road. Israel’s leaders had charged Jesus with being a blasphemer because of His claim to be the One they would see seated at God’s right hand (Mat 26:64). Matthew pointed out that the people passing by were really the ones blaspheming since they charged Jesus unjustly (cf. Mat 9:3; Mat 12:31; Mat 26:65). Their derision fulfilled prophecy (Psa 22:7; Psa 109:25; Lam 2:15). These blasphemers continued to question Jesus’ identity (cf. Mat 26:63). Like Satan they tempted Him to prove who He was by demonstrating His identity in a way contrary to God’s will (cf. Mat 4:3; Mat 4:6). Here Matthew showed the Jews mocking Jesus as the Romans had done earlier (Mat 27:27-31).