Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Mark 15:25
And it was the third hour, and they crucified him.
25 38. The Death
25. it was the third hour ] or nine o’clock. St John’s words (Joh 19:14) clearly point to a different mode of reckoning.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
And it was the third hour … – In Joh 19:14 it is said, And it was the preparation of the passover, and about the sixth hour, etc. Much difficulty has been felt in reconciling these passages, and infidels have usually adduced them to prove that the evangelists have contradicted themselves. In reconciling them the following remarks may perhaps make the matter clear:
(1) The Jews divided both the night and the day into four equal parts of three hours each. See the notes at Mat 14:25. The first division of the day commenced at six oclock in the morning, and ended at nine; the second commenced at nine and ended at twelve, etc. The third hour mentioned by Mark would therefore correspond with our nine oclock; the sixth hour mentioned by John would correspond with our twelve, or noon.
(2) Mark professes to give the time accurately; John does not. He says it was about the sixth hour, without affirming that this was exactly the time.
(3) A mistake in numbers is easily made; and if it should he admitted that such an error had crept into the text here, it would be nothing more than has occurred in many ancient writings. It has been proved, moreover, that it was common not to write the words indicating numbers at length, but to use letters. The Greeks designated numbers by the letters of the alphabet, and this mode of computation is found in ancient manuscripts. For example, the Cambridge manuscript of the New Testament has in this very place in Mark, not the word third written at length, but the Greek letter gamma (), the usual notation for third. Now it is well known that it would be easy to mistake this for the Greek letter sigma (), the mark denoting six. An error of this kind in an early manuscript might be extensively propagated, and might have led to the present reading of the text. Such an error is actually known to exist in the Chronicon of Paschal, where Otho is said to have reigned , (six) months, whereas it is known that he reigned but three, and in this place, therefore, the , three, was mistaken for , six.
(4) There is some external authority for reading third in Joh 19:14. The Cambridge manuscript has this reading. Nonnus, who lived in the fifth century, says that this was the true reading (Wetstein). Peter of Alexandria, in a fragment concerning the Passover, as quoted by Usher, says, It was the preparation of the Passover, and about the third hour, as, he adds, the most accurate copies of the Bible have it; and this was the handwriting of the evangelist (John), which is kept, by the grace of God, in his most holy church at Ephesus (Mill). It is to be admitted, however, that no great reliance is to be placed on this account. That a mistake might have occurred in the early manuscripts is not improbable. No man can prove that it did not so occur, and so long as this cannot be proved, the passages should not be adduced as conclusive proof of contradiction.
After all, perhaps, without the supposition that there is any error in the text, the whole difficulty may be removed by the following statements:
(1) Calvary was without the walls of Jerusalem. It was a considerable distance from the place where Jesus was tried and condemned. Some time, more or less, would be occupied in going there, and in the preparatory measures for crucifying him.
(2) It is not necessary to understand Mark as saying that it was precisely nine oclock, according to our expression. With the Jews it was six until seven; it was the third hour until the fourth commenced; it was the ninth until it was the tenth. They included in the third hour the whole time from the third to the fourth. The same mode they adopted in regard to their days. See the notes at Mat 12:40.
(3) It is not unduly pressing the matter to suppose that Mark spoke of the time when the process for crucifixion commenced – that is, when he was condemned – when they entered upon it – when they made the preparation. Between that and the time when he was taken out of Jerusalem to Mount Calvary, and when he was actually nailed to the tree, there is no improbability in supposing that there might have been an interval of more than an hour. Indeed, the presumption is that considerably more time than that would elapse.
(4) John does not profess, as has been remarked, to be strictly accurate. He says it was about the sixth hour, etc.
(5) Now suppose that John meant to indicate the time when he was actually suspended on the cross – that he spoke of the crucifixion denoting the act of suspension, as it struck him – and there is no difficulty. Any other two men – any witnesses – might give just such an account now. One man would speak of the time when the process for an execution commenced; another, perhaps, of the very act of the execution and would both speak of it in general terms, and say that a man was executed at such a time; and the circumstantial variation would prove that there was no collusion, no agreement to impose on a court – that they were honest witnesses. That is proved here.
(6) That this is the true account of the matter is clear from the evangelists themselves, and especially from Mark. The three first evangelists concur in stating that there was a remarkable darkness over the whole land from the sixth to the ninth hour, Mat 27:45; Mar 15:33; Luk 23:44. This fact – in which Mark concurs – would seem to indicate that the actual crucifixion continued only during that time – that he was, in fact, suspended at about the sixth hour, though the preparations for crucifying him had been going on (Mark) for two hours before. The fact that Mark Mar 15:33 mentions this darkness as commencing at the sixth and not at the third hour, is one of the circumstances undesignedly occurring that seems to signify that the crucifixion then had actually taken place, though the various arrangements for it Mar 15:25 had been going on from the third hour.
One thing is conclusively proved by this – that the evangelists did not conspire together to impose on the world. They are independent witnesses, and they were honest men; and the circumstance adverted to here is one that is allowed to be of great value in testimony in courts of justice – circumstantial variation with essential agreement.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Mar 15:25
And they crucified Him.
The mystery of eternity
It was a death of horror; yet inflicted on Jesus, the Son of God, whose crime was mercy, whose mission here was one of redeeming love.
I. All the mysteries of human nature are here.
1. Sin.
2. Freewill.
3. Judgment. After these things must there not be some reckoning?
II. The mysteries of Divine revelation.
1. Gods love.
2. Gods meekness.
3. Gods method of curing sin. By enduring its strokes He shames and vanquishes transgression.
III. The mysteries of salvation.
1. Atonement.
2. Reconciliation. In the cross our love meets Gods love, and we are reconciled.
3. A great inspiration. Ever since, the cross has been the pattern on the mount which holy lives have copied, and it has inspired love and sacrifice into countless hearts.
IV. All mysteries of consolation. Had Christ evaded death, who would have dared to face it? He has changed Jordans streams into still waters, and its banks to green pastures. Death fixed its sting in Christ, and left and lost it there. Thus Christs cross is our Alpha and Omega, glowing with law and gospel, comfort and restraint, power and peace; it is the new Tree of life in the midst of lifes wilderness. (R. Glover.)
Crucifixion of Christ
I. The death of crucifixion.
1. Degrading.
2. Involving self-abasement on Christs part.
3. Conformity in will on ours.
II. The place of crucifixion.
1. Common execution ground for felons and outlaws. A place of desolation and horror.
2. We have to bear His reproach.
III. The blindness of hate. They did all in their power against Him. But with what result?
1. That was the salvation hour for the whole world.
2. Jesus went into the realm of the dead, and revolutionized it, opening the door of Satans stronghold and setting the captives free.
3. He has changed the aspect of death forever-rolled away its sting. (F. B. Proctor, M. A.)
Our part in Christs crucifixion
A traveller ascends a hill: having reached the summit and seen the view, he descends. As he descends he sees at the foot of the hill a little cottage from which cries of lamentation proceed. He enters. He sees the mangled form of a strong man surrounded by a weeping wife and children, He sympathizes. He pities. But when, on inquiry, he learns that a stone rolling down the hill put an end to that mans life, how different are his feelings-not sympathy, but shame; not pity, but anguish: for he remembers that he wilfully (for there was a notice up, warning him) hurled a boulder down the hillside for his own gratification. (G. Calthrop, D. D.)
Whitfield and the execution
During one of the visits which the Rev. George Whitfield paid to Edinburgh, an unhappy man, who had forfeited his life to the offended laws of his country, was executed in that neighbourhood. Whitfield mingled with she crowd that was collected on the occasion, and was struck with the solemnity and decorum which were observable at so awful a scene. His appearance, however, drew the eyes of all upon him, and raised a variety of speculations as to the motives which had induced him to join the crowd. The next day being Sunday, he preached to a very large congregation in a field near the city; and in the course of his sermon he adverted to the event of the previous day. I know, said he, that many of you will find it difficult to reconcile my appearance yesterday with my character. Many of you, I know, will say that my moments would have been better employed in praying for the unhappy man, than in attending him to the fatal tree; and that, perhaps, curiosity was the only cause that converted me into a spectator on that occasion; but those who ascribe that uncharitable motive to me are mistaken. I went as an observer of human nature, and to see the effect that such an example would have on those who witnessed it. I watched the conduct of those who were present on that awful occasion, and I was highly pleased with their demeanour, which has given me a very favourable opinion of the Scottish nation. Your sympathy was visible on your countenances, particularly when the moment arrived that your unhappy fellow creature was to close his eyes on this world forever; and then you all, as if moved by one impulse, turned your heads aside and wept. Those tears were precious, and will be held in remembrance. How different it was when the Saviour of mankind was extended on the cross! The Jews, instead of sympathizing with the Divine Sufferer, gloried in His agony. They reviled Him with bitter words,-ay, with words more bitter than the gall and vinegar which they handed Him to drink. Not one, of all that witnessed His pains, turned his head aside, even in the last pang. Yes, my friends, there was one; that glorious luminary, pointing to the sun, veiled his brightness, and travelled on his course in tenfold night.
Jesus crucified
I. Why Christ was crucified. The sufferings of our Lord were not less because He was the Son of God. His was a Divine sorrow. Natures most sensitive to all that is holy and true, most keenly aware of all that is false, suffer sharpest torture when rudely invaded. These sufferings came upon Him from the first. To John the Baptist He appeared as the Lamb of God. Christs sufferings were public and ignominious. It was in the broad, open day, and in the most public place, that He was crucified. His most sacred sufferings were made a public spectacle. It was a part of His degradation that He did not suffer alone. Two wretched criminals from the city were crucified with Him. For one moment He lost sight of His Fathers face. In that hour He was linked to all that is worst and vilest in our common humanity.
II. How Christ suffered. Through it all He showed the faith of the Son of God-My God. He suffered as a king might suffer.
III. Why Christ suffered. He suffered in order that He might obey the Father. He humbled Himself and became obedient unto death. He suffered to make known the Father. He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father. He suffered that men might be redeemed. (E. B. Mason.)
The sufferings of Christ
Our Lords sufferings were inexpressibly great and exquisitely painful. They may be said to have commenced at the very first moment He came in contact with our nature, He suffered in every possible way, and in every possible degree, he suffered in His body and in His soul; He suffered personally, and He suffered relatively. If we had been told that the Son of God was to come into our world, and to save us by His sufferings, we naturally would have supposed that He was to die, and if to die, that He would die in a state of glory-if He were to fall, that He would fall in the field of war: and that, when He died. His praises would be shouted by the whole world. But how different a lot was assigned to the Saviour of sinners. Moreover, He suffered under the seal of the curse. Crucifixion was, among the Romans, the death awarded only to slaves, and by the Jews it was held in execration. Remember, too, that the influence of many, and of various characters, contributed to our Lords last sufferings. Here, above all the rest, was to be seen the supreme hand of God allotting to Him the various parts of His suffering, and overruling those who had an instrumental hand in bringing it about. Then again, there are wonderful things to be seen in the manner and circumstances of our Lords crucifixion. We see here God withdrawing, and yet God supporting; the Redeemer sinking under His sufferings, and, at the same time, rising triumphantly above them all. And, once more, we observe in the last sufferings of Christ a remarkable accomplishment of the Word of God. In Him all the ancient predictions of the Jewish prophets were fulfilled. So much in relation to the history of the death and last sufferings of our Saviour. Let these things be deeply impressed upon your minds. But beware of regarding them in the mere light of history. You may be acquainted with all the historical facts relating to our Lords sufferings and death, and yet you may obtain no interest whatever in their benefits. They may float in your understanding without ever sinking into your heart, or influencing your conduct. Yet the bare history, the minute facts of the Saviours life are of such importance that they ought to be known. Traced in their connection one with another, they throw a flood of light over the Bible. (Thos. McCrie, D. D.)
Lessons at the cross
I. We may learn something from the fact that our Lord was actually put to death like an ordinary criminal. All of the evangelists call attention to the circumstance of Christs having been associated with two malefactors crucified at the same moment. Thus Pilate makes the two robbers intensify Jesus shame in the eyes of the multitude. Each one of the common people who saw the sad spectacle, would inevitably draw the conclusion that Christ was the chief malefactor of them all. The terrible humiliation of the death which our Saviour suffered is thus made apparent. But the power of this scene is, singularly enough, deepened by this very particular. We call to mind as an illustration of such a statement the tale of Colonel Gardiners conversion,-a tale so remarkable that it has remained historic for more than a hundred and fifty years. He was a gay military man, without any virtues to commend him, licentious, profane, and intemperate. One Sabbath evening he had been carousing in company with some roystering comrades; late at night he retired to his chamber. There his eye accidentally lighted upon a book entitled The Christian Soldier; or, Heaven taken by storm. He took it up to ridicule it, but fell asleep while it lay in his hand. He dreamed: he thought he saw a prodigious blaze of light shining upon the volume; raising his eyes to know what was so suddenly bright overhead, he saw suspended in the air a vivid representation of the Lord Jesus Christ upon the cross; distinctly then he heard someone saying, This I did for thee; what hast thou done for Me? Struck to the very depth of his conscience, he was wakened instantly; at once, filled with contrition, as a sinner he sought peace and found pardon for his soul
II. We may learn, also, something from the record that this form of death was a fulfilment of prophecy. Mark says that when Jesus was numbered with transgressors, the scripture was fulfilled.
III. We may learn, once more, something from the account given of the taunts which our Lord received. It would appear that all sorts of people joined in this sarcasm. The passers-by railed, the rulers derided, the soldiers mocked; even the thieves reviled Him. The utmost ingenuity in invention of jibes and epithets seemed to grow in demand that awful morning. The lesson here is plain; the patience of our Lord is simply wonderful. How He could bear all this contumely and reproach passes understanding.
IV. In like manner, we may learn something from the sudden darkness which Jesus endured on that day. This darkness is to be understood as symbolical of Gods horror of sin even when borne vicariously by an innocent Christ. How an impenitent man can hope to have audience with his Maker, so as to implore and obtain pardon, when even Christ was left in the darkness unpitied, passes all comprehension.
V. We may likewise learn something from the grief of our blessed Lord when He found Himself deserted.
VI. We may learn something, also, from our Lords rejection of the draught proffered for His relief. What an example of self-sacrificing fidelity there is here for us! How little courage we have when our day of trial comes on! Jesus had always been the embodiment and pattern of dutifulness and affection in His Fathers sight; He was not going to shirk and shrink and fail now. He told His disciples once in simple sincerity just what was His purpose: I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge; and My judgment is just; because I seek not Mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent Me.
VII. Finally, we may learn something from the cry which oar Lord uttered as His great voice at the last. It was really a shout-a shout of triumph. There is great significance in the fact that not one of the inspired biographers says Jesus died; they all agree in an unusual form of speech which preserves the notion of His entire voluntariness in the surrender He made to deaths power. He yielded His soul, He gave up His breath-such are the expressions; but the adversary did not gain the victory: it was Death that died in the conflict. What this cry was is told us in the Gospel of John-It is finished! His entire work was done. The Lord standeth sure now for the believer. It is recorded of a dying minister, one of the faithfullest of modern times, that in his last hour his son asked him, Father, are you comfortable now? And he answered, Certainly: why not? for I lie most comfortably resting upon the finished work of my Lord Jesus Christ. (C. S. Robinson.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 25. The third hour] It has been before observed, that the Jews divided their night into four watches, of three hours each. They also divided the day into four general parts. The first began at sunrise. The second three hours after. The third at mid-day. The fourth three hours after, and continued till sunset. Christ having been nailed to the cross a little after mid-day, Joh 19:14-16; Joh 19:17, and having expired about three o’clock, Mr 15:33, the whole business of the crucifixion was finished within the space of this third division of the day, which Mark calls here the third hour. Commentators and critics have found it very difficult to reconcile this third hour of Mark, with the sixth hour of John, Joh 19:14. It is supposed that the true reading, in Joh 19:14, should be , the third, instead of the sixth; a mistake which might have readily taken place in ancient times, when the character gamma, which was put for , three, might have been mistaken for episema, or sigma tau, which signifies six. And , the third, instead of , the sixth, is the reading of some very eminent MSS. in the place in question, Joh 19:14. See Bengel, Newcome, Macknight, Lightfoot, Rosenmuller, &c., on this perplexing point.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
And it was the third hour, and they crucified him. The time of the daily sacrifice of the morning, at which the priests ought to have been; and the time when the sanhedrim usually began to sit x; for
“the grand sanhedrim sat from the daily sacrifice of the morning, to the daily sacrifice of the evening:”
but this being an extraordinary case, and they in a hurry to put Jesus to death, had been sitting up all night; and early in the morning had procured the sentence of death on him, which they were going to execute by the time they used to sit: this was about nine o’clock in the morning, and takes in the time between that and twelve at noon. The Ethiopic version reads, “and it was the sixth hour”, to make it agree with Joh 19:14; and for the reconciling of these two places, [See comments on Joh 19:14].
x Maimon. Hilch. Sanhedrin, c. 3, sect. 1.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
The third hour ( ). This is Jewish time and would be nine A.M. The trial before Pilate was the sixth hour Roman time (Joh 19:14), six A.M.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
1) “And it was the third hour,” (en de hora trite) “Now it was the third hour of the day,” about nine o’ clock in the morning, as the sun rose brightly in the Eastern sky; all was hastily done through the night, and early morning hours, before the masses of people could know what was happening, except the hand-picked crowd assembled early by the Jewish leaders to cry crucify Him, crucify Him, Mar 15:11-15.
2) “And they crucified Him.” (kai estaurosan) “And they crucified Him there,” in the setting, on Golgotha. Here the law was fulfilled, Mat 5:17-18; Gal 3:11-14.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
Mar 15:25
And it was the third hour. This appears not to agree well with the testimony of the Evangelist John; for he relates that Christ was condemned about the sixth hour, (Mar 14:14.) But if we consider—what is evident from other passages—that the day was divided into four parts, and that each of the parts took its name from the first hour of its commencement, the solution will not be difficult. The whole time, from sunrise to the second part of the day, they called the first hour. The second part, which lasted till noon, was called by them the third hour. The sixth hour commenced at noon, and lasted till three or four o’clock in the afternoon. Thus, when the Jews saw that Pilate was wearing out the time, and that the hour of noon was approaching, John says that they cried out the more vehemently, that the whole day might not be allowed to pass without something being done, (Mar 14:15.) But this is not inconsistent with the assertion, that our Lord was crucified about the close of the third hour; for it is plain enough, that no sooner was he hastily condemned, than he was immediately executed; so eager was the desire of the Jews to put him to death. Mark therefore means not the beginning, but the close, of the third hour; and it is highly probable that Christ did not hang on the cross longer than three hours.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(25) It was the third hour.The precise statement of the hour is peculiar to St. Mark, but it agrees with the narrative common to him with St. Matthew and St. Luke of the darkness that came over the land at the sixth hour.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
‘And it was the third hour and they crucified him.’
The third hour would be roughly nine o’clock in the morning, reckoning twelve hours in the day from dawn, but time was not accurately calculated and he probably meant ‘about three hours had passed since dawn and it was mid-morning’. More important to him was probably the significance of the number three. It was the ‘third’ hour, the set and complete period determined by God. The sixth hour and the ninth hour, also prominent, further stress the same idea rising in multiples of three, while the three sets of three confirm the completeness of what was accomplished here.
(Joh 19:14 indicated that the verdict against Jesus was passed at ‘about the sixth hour’, Roman time. This was the comment of someone who vaguely and roughly remembered the time of day, for there had been a meeting of the Sanhedrin as well as the time taken in passing judgment by Pilate and Herod. There were no watches or public clocks and time was not as important then as it is now. Assuming ‘about the sixth hour’ was measured from midnight it would indicate roughly around six in the morning, but it probably meant nothing more than a vague ‘early in the day’ before the ninth hour (Mark’s ‘third hour’)).
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Mar 15:25. And it was the third hour, &c. The third Jewish hour ended at our nine o’clock in the morning: by St. Mark’s account, therefore, the crucifixion and the lots may have been finished at the striking of eight, when the third hour, answering to our ninth, began. This indeed seems at first sight to clash with St. Joh 19:13-14 who tells us, that when Pilate sat on the judgment seat in the Pavement, and brought Jesus out to the people the last time, it was about the sixth hour, that is to say, the sixth Roman hour, the same with our six o’clock in the morning: but to reconcile these accounts, the following series of transactions should be considered: after the governor brought forth Jesus, he spoke both to the people and to the priests, before he finally condemned him; and though each speech is discussed by the evangelist in a single sentence, theymay have been drawn out to some length, that if possible an impression might thereby be made on the people. When Jesus was delivered to the soldiers, they had to strip him of the purple robe, and to clothe him in his own garments; the thieves were to be brought out of prison; the necessary preparations for the crucifixion of the three were to be made; in particular, crosses were to be provided; the crimes laid to the charge of the prisoners were to be written upon whitened boards, in black characters; the vinegar, sponge, and reed were to be procured: soldiers were to be appointed for watching the crosses, &c. &c. In travelling from the praetorium (which may have been situated in that quarter of the town farthest from the place of execution,) they could move but slowly; because Jesus, being verymuch fatigued, must have borne his cross with difficulty. When he grew faint, it might be some time before they found one to assist him in bearing it; and, being come to the place of execution, they had the crosses to makeready, by fixing the transverse beams on their proper supporters; the prisoners were to be stripped, and nailed to them; the titles were to be fixed, the holes for the crosses to be dug, the crosses themselves to be erected and fixed; and, last of all, the prisoners’ clothes were to be divided by lot. These, with other circumstances unknown to us, accompanying executions of this kind, may be supposed to have filled up the whole space between six in the morning when the governor shewed Jesus the last time, and the third Jewish hour when Jesus was crucified; that is to say, a space less than two hours: for about the sixth hour, the expression in St. John, may signify “a while after the striking of six, when the sixth hour ends;” and the third hour, the expression in St. Mark, answering to the ninth Roman hour, maysignify at the beginning thereof, or at the striking of eight, when the eighth hour ends, and the ninth begins. See Doddridge.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
24 And when they had crucified him, they parted his garments, casting lots upon them, what every man should take.
25 And it was the third hour, and they crucified him.
Ver. 25. They crucified him ] i.e. they began to crucify him, but nailed him not to the tree till the sixth hour, Joh 19:14 .
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
25. ] This date is in agreement with the subsequent account, Mar 15:33 , and its [59] in Matt. and Luke, but, as now standing unexplained, inconsistent with John , Joh 19:14 , where it is said to have been about the sixth hour at the time of the exhibition of our Lord by Pilate. I own I see no satisfactory way of reconciling these accounts, unless there has been (see note on John) some very early erratum in our copies, or unless it can be shewn from other grounds than the difficulty before us , that John’s reckoning of time differs from that employed in the other Evangelists. The difficulty is of a kind in no way affecting the authenticity of the narrative, nor the truthfulness of each Evangelist; but requires some solution to the furnishing of which we are not competent . It is preposterous to imagine that two such accounts as these of the proceedings of so eventful a day should differ by three whole hours in their apportionment of its occurrences. So that it may fairly be presumed , that some different method of calculation has given rise to the present discrepancy. Meanwhile the chronology of our text , as being carried on through the day, and as allowing time both for the trial, and the events of the crucifixion, is that which will I believe be generally concurred in.
[59] When, in the Gospels, and in the Evangelic statement, 1Co 11:23-25 , the sign () occurs in a reference, it is signified that the word occurs in the parallel place in the other Gospels, which will always be found indicated at the head of the note on the paragraph. When the sign () is qualified , thus, ‘ Mk.,’ or ‘ Mt. Mk.,’ &c., it is signified that the word occurs in the parallel place in that Gospel or Gospels, but not in the other or others .
All the other solutions (so called) of the difficulty are not worth relating.
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Mar 15:25 . , the third hour = nine o’clock as we reckon; raising a harmonistic problem when compared with Joh 19:14 . Grotius comments: “id est, jam audita erat tuba horae tertiae, quod dici solebat donec caneret tuba horae sextae” (they called it the third hour till the sixth was sounded). = when, Hebraistic, but also not without example in classics in similar connections: the fact stated connected with its time by a simple ; instances in Meyer.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
the third hour. Of the day (Joh 11:9), i.e. 9am. No discrepancy; for the sixth hour of Joh 19:14 was the sixth hour of the night (from about sunset), viz. “about” midnight (in the midst of the trial), when Pilate said “Behold your King”. The context there and here explains and settles the matter. Here, the trial was over; in Joh 19:14 the trial was going on. See App-156and App-165. It was the hour of the morning sacrifice.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
25. ] This date is in agreement with the subsequent account, Mar 15:33, and its [59] in Matt. and Luke, but, as now standing unexplained, inconsistent with John, Joh 19:14, where it is said to have been about the sixth hour at the time of the exhibition of our Lord by Pilate. I own I see no satisfactory way of reconciling these accounts, unless there has been (see note on John) some very early erratum in our copies, or unless it can be shewn from other grounds than the difficulty before us, that Johns reckoning of time differs from that employed in the other Evangelists. The difficulty is of a kind in no way affecting the authenticity of the narrative, nor the truthfulness of each Evangelist; but requires some solution to the furnishing of which we are not competent. It is preposterous to imagine that two such accounts as these of the proceedings of so eventful a day should differ by three whole hours in their apportionment of its occurrences. So that it may fairly be presumed, that some different method of calculation has given rise to the present discrepancy. Meanwhile the chronology of our text,-as being carried on through the day, and as allowing time both for the trial, and the events of the crucifixion,-is that which will I believe be generally concurred in.
[59] When, in the Gospels, and in the Evangelic statement, 1Co 11:23-25, the sign () occurs in a reference, it is signified that the word occurs in the parallel place in the other Gospels, which will always be found indicated at the head of the note on the paragraph. When the sign () is qualified, thus, Mk., or Mt. Mk., &c., it is signified that the word occurs in the parallel place in that Gospel or Gospels, but not in the other or others.
All the other solutions (so called) of the difficulty are not worth relating.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Mar 15:25. , third) which the sixth and ninth hour follows, Mar 15:33. Therefore it is Jewish hours that are here marked. However the case stands in Mark and John as to both the kind of hour and the mode of enumeration respectively employed by them, both mean the one and the same portion of the day, viz. in the forenoon. Nor is there any reason why we should desire to diminish the number of hours of His remaining on the cross. Jesus hung upon it more than six hours: for even six hours, from the third to the ninth hour, were in themselves a longer time than ordinary hours of equal length, inasmuch as the equinox was now past: for they were wont to divide the day, whether it were shorter or longer, into twelve hours: and between the close of the supernatural darkness and the death of Jesus many events intervened. There are some who explain this verse thus: It was the third hour from the time that they had crucified Him. But if this had been his meaning, Mark would have said, There were three hours; and in that case, passing by the hour of the crucifixion itself, he would say, what occurred three hours afterwards [which is not likely]: for, both the casting of lots, and the superscription written, were acts more speedily done [than the act of crucifixion].-) either is used in its strict meaning, and; in order that Mark may intimate, that first of all the soldiers nailed Jesus to the cross, next, that they divided His garments, and then erected the cross: or else, rather, the has a relative force, so that the hour should be precisely denoted, to which the mention of the crucifixion is both prefixed and subjoined.[9] Comp. Joh 19:14; comp. , ch. Mar 2:15, at the end of verse.-) elevating the cross.
[9] It was the third hour when they crucified Him.-ED. and TRANSL.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
third hour
Cf. Joh 19:14. John used the Roman, Mark the Hebrew, computation of time.
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
the: Mar 15:33, Mat 27:45, Luk 23:44, Joh 19:14, Act 2:15
Reciprocal: Exo 12:6 – the whole Mat 20:3 – the third
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
5
The third hour corresponds with our nine o’clock A. M.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
And it was the third hour, and they crucified him.
[And it was the third hour, and they crucified him.] But John saith, Joh 19:14, And it was the preparation of the Passover, and about the sixth hour; namely, when Pilate delivered him to be crucified. From the former clause, it was the preparation of the Passover; hath sprung that opinion, of which we have said something before concerning the transferring of the eating of the lamb this year to the fifteenth day. For they think by the preparation of the Passover is to be understood the preparation of the lamb, or for the eating of the lamb. For which interpretation they think that makes, which is said by the same John, Joh 18:28, “They would not go into the judgment-hall, lest they should be defiled, but that they might eat the Passover.” And hence it is confidently concluded by them, that however Christ ate his lamb the day before, yet the Jews were to eat theirs this very day.
We will discourse first of the day; as it here occurs under the name of the preparation of the Passover; and then of the hour; —
I. Every Israelite was bound, within that seven day’s solemnity, after the lamb was eaten, to these two things: 1. To appear before the Lord in the court, and that with a sacrifice. 2. To solemn joy and mirth, and that also with sacrifices. The former was called by the Jews Appearance. The latter Chagigah, the festival.
“All are bound to appear; except deaf-and-dumb, fools, young children,” etc. And a little after; “The school of Shammai saith, Let the Appearance be with two silver pieces of money, and the Chagigah be with a ‘meah’ of silver. The school of Hillel saith, Let the Appearance be with a meah of silver, and the Chagigah with two pieces of silver.” The Gloss writes thus; “All are bound to make their appearance from that precept, ‘All thy males shall appear,’ etc. Exo 23:17; and it is necessary that they appear in the court in the feast. He that appears when he placeth himself in the court, let him bring a burnt offering, which is by no means to be of less price than two pieces of silver, that is, of two meahs of silver. They are bound also to the peace offerings of the Chagigah by that law, Ye shall keep it a feast to the LORD;” Exo 12:14. Rambam upon the place thus; “The Lord saith, ‘Let them not appear before me empty,’ Deu 16:16. That is, Let him bring an oblation of a burnt sacrifice in his hand when he goes up to the feast. And those burnt sacrifices are called burnt-sacrifices of appearance; and also appearance; without the addition of the word burnt sacrifice. And the Chagigah; From thence, because the Lord saith, ‘Ye shall keep it a feast to the Lord,’ it means this, That a man bring peace offerings; and these peace offerings are called Chagigah.”
II. Of these two, namely, the appearance and the Chagigah; the Chagigah was the greater and more famous. For
First, certain persons were obliged to the Chagigah; who were not obliged to the appearance; “He that indeed is not deaf, but yet is dumb, is not obliged to appearance; but yet he is obliged to rejoice.” It is true some of the Gemarists distinguish between Chagigah and rejoicing. But one Glosser upon the place alleged that which he saith of ‘rejoicing,’ obtains also of the ‘Chagigah.’ And another saith, “He is bound to rejoicing; namely, to rejoice in the feast; as it is written, ‘And thou shalt rejoice in thy feast.’ And they say elsewhere, that that rejoicing is over the peace-offerings, namely, in eating flesh.”
Secondly, appearance was not tied so strictly to the first day, but the Chagigah was tied to it. “Burnt sacrifices by vow, and free will offerings are offered on the common days of the feast, they are not offered on a feast day: but the burnt sacrifices of appearance may be offered also on a feast day; and when they are offered, let them not be offered but out of common cattle: but the peace offerings of rejoicing also out of the tithes the ‘Chagigah’ of the first feast day of the Passover. The school of Shammai saith, Let it be of common cattle; the school of Hillel saith, Let it be of the tithes. What is it that it teaches of the Chagigah of the first feast day of the Passover? Rabh Ishai saith, the ‘Chagigah’ of the fifteenth day is so: the ‘Chagigah’ of the fourteenth, not.” The Gloss is; “The burnt offerings of appearance were not offered the first day of the feast, although they were due to the feast, because compensation might be made by them the day following.”
“The ‘Chagigah’ of the first feast day was without doubt due; although it had flesh enough otherways.” For, as it is said a little before, “They offered peace offerings on that feast day because they had need of them for private food “: and although there was food enough, yet the Chagigah was to be offered as the due of the day.
“The Chagigah of the fourteenth day was this, when any company was numerous; they joined the Chagigah also with the paschal lamb, that they might eat the passover, even till they were filled. But now the Chagigah of that first day was not but of common cattle: but the Chagigah of the fourteenth day might also be of the tithes.”
It was a greater matter to offer of common cattle (or cholin) than of the tithes of the first-born, for they were owing to the Lord by right: but to offer the cholin was the part of further devotion and free will.
That therefore which John saith, that “the Jews would not go into the judgment hall lest they should be polluted, but that they might eat the passover,” is to be understood of that Chagigah of the fifteenth day, not of the paschal lamb: for that also is called the passover, Deu 16:2; “Thou shalt sacrifice the passover to the Lord of thy flocks and of thy herds.” Of thy flocks; this indeed, by virtue of that precept, Exo 12:3; but what have we to do with herds? “‘Of thy herds,’ saith R. Solomon, for the Chagigah.” And Aben Ezra saith, “‘Of thy flocks,’ according to the duty of the passover; ‘of thy herds,’ for the peace offerings,” and produceth that, 2Ch 30:24; 2Ch 35:8. The Targum of Jonathan writes; “Ye shall kill the passover before the Lord your God, between the eves, and your sheep and oxen on the morrow, in that very day, in joy of the feast.”
In one Glosser mention is made of the less passover; by which if he understands not the passover of the second month, which is very usually called by them the second passover; or the passover of the second month, instruct me what he means by it. However this matter is clear in Moses, that oxen, or the sacrifices offered after the lamb eaten, are called the ‘passover,’ as well as the lamb itself.
And no wonder, when the lamb was the very least part of the joy, and there were seven feast-days after he was eaten: and when the lamb was a thing rubbing up the remembrance of affliction, rather than denoting gladness and making merry. For the unleavened bread was marked out by the holy Scripture under that very notion, and so also the bitter herbs, which were things that belonged to the lamb. But how much of the solemnity of the feast is attributed to the Chagigah; and the other sacrifices after that, it would be too much to mention, since it occurs everywhere.
Hear the author of the Aruch concerning the Chagigah of Pentecost: “The word chag denotes dancing, and clapping hands for joy. In the Syriac language it is chigah; and from this root it is, because they eat, and drink, and dance [or make holiday]. And the sacrifice of the Chagigah; which they were bound to bring on a feast day, is that concerning which the Scripture saith, and thou shalt make chag, a solemnity of weeks to the Lord thy God, a free will offering of thy hand,’ ” etc. Deu 16:10.
And now tell me whence received that feast its denomination, that it should be called the feast of weeks? Not from the offering of the loaves of first fruits, but from the Chagigah; and the feasting on the Chagigah. The same is to be said of the feast of the Passover. So that John said nothing strange to the ears of the Jews, when he said, “They went not into the judgment hall lest they might be polluted, but that they might eat the passover”; pointing with his finger to the Chagigah; and not to the lamb, eaten indeed the day before.
The word passover might sound to the same sense in those words of his also, “It was the preparation of the passover, and about the sixth hour.” It was the preparation to the Chagigah; and not to the lamb. But I suspect something more may be understood; namely, that on that day both food was prepared, and the mind too for the mirth of the whole feast. So that the passover denotes the feast; not this or that particular appendage to the feast. The burnt sacrifices which were offered in the appearance, they all became God’s; as the masters say truly; and he who offered them carried not back the least part of them with him. But the sacrifices of the Chagigah; whether they were oxen or sheep, the greatest part of them returned to them that offered them; and with them they and their friends made solemn and joyful feastings while they tarried at Jerusalem. So that the oblation of these on the first day of the feast was the preparation of the passover; and the preparation of Pentecost; and the preparation of the feast of Tabernacles; that is, the day and manner of preparing food for the following mirth of the feast. In the same sense was the preparation of the sabbath; namely, the preparation of food and things necessary to the sabbath. Of which we shall speak at Mar 15:42.
Having thus despatched these things, let us now come to the hour itself. “It was the preparation of the passover (saith John), and about the sixth hour,” when Pilate delivered Christ to be crucified. “And it was the third hour (saith Mark), and they crucified him.”
It is disputed by the Gemarists, how far the evidences of two men may agree and consent, whereof one saith, ‘This I saw done in that hour’; and the other saith, ‘I saw it done another hour.’ “One saith, the second hour; another, the third: their testimony consists together. One saith the third hour, another the fifth; their testimony is vain; as R. Meir saith. But saith R. Judah, their testimony consists together. But if one saith, the fifth hour, another, the seventh hour, their testimony is vain; because in the fifth hour the sun is in the east part of heaven; in the seventh, in the west part.” They dispute largely concerning this matter in the place alleged, and concerning evidences differing in words; nevertheless, as to the thing itself, they conclude that both may be true, because witnesses may be deceived in the computation of hours: which to conclude concerning the evangelists, were impious and blasphemous. But there is one supposes the copiers were deceived in their transcription, and would have the computation of John corrected into and it was about the third hour; too boldly, and indeed without any reason, for it is neither credible nor possible indeed, that those things which went before our Saviour’s crucifixion should be done (to use the words of the Talmudists) in the three first hours of the day. The harmony therefore of the evangelists is to be fetched elsewhere.
I. Let us repeat that out of Maimonides; “The great Sanhedrim sat from the morning daily sacrifice, until the afternoon daily sacrifice.” But now when the morning daily sacrifice was at the third hour, the Sanhedrim sat not before that hour. Take heed, therefore, thou that wouldest have the words of John, “and it was about the sixth hour,” to be changed into, “and it was about the third hour,” lest thou becomest guilty of a great solecism. For Pilate could not deliver Christ to be crucified about the third hour, when the Sanhedrim sat not before the third hour, and Christ was not yet delivered to Pilate.
But you will say, the words of Mark do obscure these things much more. For if the Sanhedrim that delivered up Christ met not together before the third hour, one can no way say that they crucified him the third hour.
We do here propound two things for the explanation of this matter.
Let the first be taken from the day itself, and from the hour itself. That day was “the preparation of the passover,” a day of high solemnity, and when it behoved the priests and the other fathers of the Sanhedrim to be present at the third hour in the Temple, and to offer their Chagigahs that were preparative to the whole seven days’ festivity: but they employed themselves in another thing, namely this. You may observe that he saith not, “it was the third hour when “; but “it was the third hour, and they crucified him.” That is, when the third hour now was, and was passed, yet they omitted not to prosecute his crucifixion, when indeed, according to the manner of the feast and the obligation of religion, they ought to have been employed otherwise. I indeed should rather sit down satisfied with this interpretation, than accuse the holy text as depraved, or to deprave it more with my amendment. But,
Secondly, there is another sense also not to be despised, if our judgment is any thing, which we fetch from a custom usual in the Sanhedrim, but from which they now swerved. They are treating concerning a guilty person condemned to hanging, with whom they deal in this process: they tarry until sunset approach, and then they finish his judgment and put him to death. Note that: ‘They finish not his judgment until sunset draw near.’ If you ask the reason, a more general one may be given which respected all persons condemned to die, and a more special one which respected him which was to be hanged.
I. There was that which is called by the Talmudists the affliction of judgment; by which phrase they understand not judgment that is not just, but when he that is condemned, after judgment passed, is not presently put to death. “If you finish his judgment on the sabbath [mark that], and put him to death on the first day of the week, you afflict his judgment.” Where the Gloss is, “As long as his judgment is not finished, it is not the affliction of judgment, because he expects every hour to be absolved: but when judgment is ended, he expects death,” etc. Therefore they delayed but little between the finishing of judgment and execution.
II. As to those that were to be hanged, “they delayed the finishing his judgment; and they hanged him not in the morning, lest they might grow slack about his burial, and might fall into forgetfulness,” and might sin against the law, Deu 21:23; “but near sunset, that they might presently bury him.” So the Gloss. They put him to death not sooner, for this reason; they finished not his judgment sooner for the reason above said.
And now let us resume the words of Mark, “And it was the third hour, and they crucified him.” The Sanhedrim used not to finish the judgment of hanging until they were now ready to rise up and depart from the council and bench after the Mincha, the day now inclining towards sunset: but these men finished the judgment of Jesus, and hastened him to the cross, when they first came into the court at the third hour, at the time of the daily sacrifice, which was very unusual, and different from the custom.
Fuente: Lightfoot Commentary Gospels
Mar 15:25. And it was the third hour, i.e., nine oclock in the morning. The last examination before the Jewish rulers took place at daybreak, three hours intervened, during which occurred the examinations before Pilate and Herod. A later hour would scarcely give time for all the incidents up to noon, at which time the darkness began. As death on the cross set in slowly, the period could not have been shorter than from nine oclock to early evening, before sunset (see Mar 15:42). The accounts of Matthew and Luke accord with that of Mark in regard to the time of the darkness, and thus support the accuracy of this verse. But John (Joh 19:14) says the final effort of Pilate to release Jesus, was about the sixth hour. The third hour might mean sometime during that watch (i.e., between nine and twelve noon) and about the sixth some time before; but such an explanation is very unsatisfactory. An error in the text of John is possible, owing to the resemblance between the Greek signs for 3 and 6, but this explanation is not supported by any considerable evidence. A third and the most probable solution is, that John uses the Roman mode of reckoning time, from midnight to midnight. In other cases (Mar 1:40; Mar 4:6) he certainly uses the common Jewish method from sunrise to sunset. The supposition of a mistake on the part of one of the Evangelists is inadmissible. About the events of such a day these two men could not make a mistake. With memories so correct about such minute details, they could not possibly forget precisely when Christ was crucified. Some good explanation can be given, even if we are not competent to do so. An apparent discrepancy of such long standing is a proof (1) that there was no collusion between the two writers, if the difference originally existed; (2) that those who have held these writings as sacred have been very honest, or such an apparent disagreement would have disappeared long ago.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Verse 25
The third hour; nine o’clock in the morning.
Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament
This time reference is unique to Mark’s Gospel. The third hour was 9:00 a.m. John located Jesus’ trial before Pilate at "about" the sixth hour (Joh 19:14). This would have been noon. Consequently we should probably understand Mark’s reference as being to the approximate beginning of Jesus’ crucifixion rather than the precise time when the soldiers nailed Him to the cross. [Note: See A Dictionary of the Bible, 1906 ed., s.v. "Numbers, Hours, Years, and Dates," by W. M. Ramsay, extra volume: 478-79.]