Matthew 26:59-68
Sought false witness against Jesus ( εζητουν ψευδομαρτυριαν ). Imperfect tense, kept on seeking. Judges have no right to be prosecutors and least of all to seek after false witness and even to offer bribes to get it.They found it not ( κα ουχ ευρον ). They found false witnesses in plenty, but not the false witness that would stand any sort of test.
I am able to destroy the temple of God ( δυναμα καταλυσα τον ναον του θεου ). What he had said (Joh 2:19) referred to the temple of his body which they were to destroy (and did) and which he would raise again in three days as he did. It was a pitiful perversion of what Jesus had said and even so the two witnesses disagreed in their misrepresentation (Mr 14:59).
Held his peace ( εσιωπα ). Kept silent, imperfect tense. Jesus refused to answer the bluster of Caiaphas.
I adjure thee by the living God ( εξορκιζω σε κατα του θεου του ζωντος ). So Caiaphas put Jesus on oath in order to make him incriminate himself, a thing unlawful in Jewish jurisprudence. He had failed to secure any accusation against Jesus that would stand at all. But Jesus did not refuse to answer under solemn oath, clearly showing that he was not thinking of oaths in courts of justice when he prohibited profanity. The charge that Caiaphas makes is that Jesus claims to be the Messiah, the Son of God. To refuse to answer would be tantamount to a denial. So Jesus answered knowing full well the use that would be made of his confession and claim.
Thou hast said ( συ ειπας ). This is a Greek affirmative reply. Mark (Mr 14:62) has it plainly, "I am" ( ειμ ). But this is not all that Jesus said to Caiaphas. He claims that the day will come when Jesus will be the Judge and Caiaphas the culprit using the prophetic language in Da 7:13 and Ps 109:1. It was all that Caiaphas wanted.
He hath spoken blasphemy ( εβλασφημησεν ). There was no need of witnesses now, for Jesus had incriminated himself by claiming under oath to be the Messiah, the Son of God. Now it would not be blasphemy for the real Messiah to make such a claim, but it was intolerable to admit that Jesus could be the Messiah of Jewish hope. At the beginning of Christ's ministry he occasionally used the word Messiah of himself, but he soon ceased, for it was plain that it would create trouble. The people would take it in the sense of a political revolutionist who would throw off the Roman yoke. If he declined that role, the Pharisees would have none of him for that was the kind of a Messiah that they desired. But the hour has now come. At the Triumphal Entry Jesus let the Galilean crowds hail him as Messiah, knowing what the effect would be. Now the hour has struck. He has made his claim and has defied the High Priest.
He is worthy of death ( ενοχος θανατου εστιν ). Held in the bonds of death ( εν, εχω ) as actually guilty with the genitive ( θανατου ). The dative expresses liability as in Mt 5:21 ( τη κρισε ) and as εις and the accusative (Mt 5:22). They took the vote though it was at night and they no longer had the power of death since the Romans took it away from them. Death was the penalty of blasphemy (Le 24:15). But they enjoyed taking it as their answer to his unanswerable speeches in the temple that dreadful Tuesday a few days before. It was unanimous save that Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus did not agree. They were probably absent and not even invited as being under suspicion for being secret disciples of Christ.
Thou Christ ( Χριστε ). With definite sneer at his claims under oath in 26:63. With uncontrolled glee and abandon like a lot of hoodlums these doctors of divinity insulted Jesus. They actually spat in his face, buffeted him on the neck ( εκολαφισαν, from κολαφος the fist), and struck him in the face with the palms of their hands ( εραπισαν, from ραπις, a rod), all personal indignities after the legal injustice already done. They thus gave vent to their spite and hatred.
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