14:53-65 We have here Christ's condemnation before the great council of the Jews. Peter followed; but the high priest's fire-side was no proper place, nor his servants proper company, for Peter: it was an entrance into temptation. Great diligence was used to procure false witnesses against Jesus, yet their testimony was not equal to the charge of a capital crime, by the utmost stretch of their law. He was asked, Art thou the Son of the Blessed? that is, the Son of God. For the proof of his being the Son of God, he refers to his second coming. In these outrages we have proofs of man's enmity to God, and of God's free and unspeakable love to man.

Verse 65. - And some began to spit on him. St. Matthew (Matthew 26:67) says, "Then did they spit in his face." That Divine face, to be reverenced and adored by every creature, was exposed to this vile contumely; and he bore it patiently. "I hid not my face from shame and spitting" (Isaiah 1:61). And the officers received him with blows of their hands (οἱ ὑπηρέται ῤαπίσμασιν αὐτὸν ἔλαβον).

And some began to spit on him,.... The men that held him, Luke 22:6, fulfilling the prophecy in Isaiah 50:6;

and to cover his face; with a veil, or linen cloth, to blindfold: him, as a person unworthy to behold the light: or rather, in order to make sport with him:

and to buffet him; with their double fists;

and to say unto him, prophesy. The Arabic version adds, "unto us, O Christ, who it is that hath buffeted thee now?" that gave thee the last blow? and to the same purpose the Ethiopic. The Persic version adds, "and deliver thyself";

and the servants did strike him with the palms of their hands. The Syriac version renders it, "on his cheeks": they gave him slaps on the face. These were the officers of the high priest, that used him in this indecent manner. This clause is omitted in the Ethiopic version.

65. And some began to spit on him—or, as in Mt 26:67, "to spit in [into] His face." Luke (Lu 22:63) says in addition, "And the men that held Jesus mocked him"—or cast their jeers at Him. (Also see on [1514]Joh 18:28.)

to cover his face—or "to blindfold him" (as in Lu 22:64).

to buffet him—Luke's word, which is rendered "smote Him" (Lu 22:63), is a stronger one, conveying an idea for which we have an exact equivalent in English, but one too colloquial to be inserted here.

began to say unto him, Prophesy—In Matthew (Mt 26:68) this is given more fully: "Prophesy unto us, thou Christ, Who is he that smote Thee?" The sarcastic fling at Him as "the Christ," and the demand of Him in this character to name the unseen perpetrator of the blows inflicted on Him, was in them as infamous as to Him it must have been, and was intended to be, stinging.

and the servants did strike him with the palms of their hands—or "struck Him on the face" (Lu 22:64). Ah! Well did He say prophetically, in that Messianic prediction which we have often referred to, "I gave My back to the smiters, and My cheeks to them that plucked off the hair: I hid not My face from shame and spitting!" (Isa 50:6). "And many other things blasphemously spake they against Him" (Lu 22:65). This general statement is important, as showing that virulent and varied as were the recorded affronts put upon Him, they are but a small specimen of what He endured on that dark occasion.

Peter's First Denial of His Lord (Mr 14:66-68).

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