Did Pilate Proclaim Jesus to be God as Well as King of the Jews?
He leads me …
Those of us who are familiar with the Gospel account of Jesus’ trial and hanging on a cross will recall His conversation with the Roman procurator, Pontius Pilate. At the beginning of Pilate’s examination of Jesus, he asked Him, ‘Are you king of the Jews?’ Jesus confirmed this statement by saying, ‘You have said so,’
Pilate then announced to the chief priests and the crowd that he could not find any reason to charge Jesus with any crime. The crowd were definitely not happy with this, so Pilate tried to find a solution by sending Jesus to Herod. Herod asked Jesus many questions, but Jesus did not reply. The crowd continued to accuse Jesus, so because he was not making any progress, Herod sent Jesus back to Pilate.
Pilate bought together the chief priests, the rulers and the people and explained that neither he nor Herod could find anything to charge Jesus with. The crowd still wanted Jesus to be punished and kept yelling at Pilate in order to get a decision in their favour. Pilate offered then a murderer named Barabbas in Jesus place, but the crowd still wanted Jesus punished, and they were now demanding that He was crucified.
Pilate saw that he was not getting anywhere, so he washed his hands in water in front of the crowd saying, ‘I am innocent of this man’s blood. It is your responsibility!’ He later said to the Jews, ‘Behold your King!’ The crowd just kept yelling, ‘Crucify Him!’ Pilate then asked them them, ‘Shall I crucify your King?’ And the chief priests answered, ‘We have no king but Caesar!’ So, then Pilate handed over Jesus to be crucified.
When Jesus was crucified on a cross Pilate had an inscription (called a titlon) put on the cross. It read, ‘Jesus Of Nazareth, The King Of The Jews’, and it was written in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin.
The message is a remez A remez, in Jewish hermeneutics (the study of Scripture), hints of a hidden message or a deeper meaning behind what is said or written. It is like the deeper meaning is ‘below the surface’.In this case the a remez was in the words inscribed on the piece of wood that Pilate had nailed to Jesus’ cross.
It was usual for the titlon to list the crime that the offender had been charged with, but Pilate has written, ‘Jesus Of Nazareth, The King Of The Jews’. This really offended the chief priests of the Jews, who demanded, ‘Do not write, “The King of the Jews,” but, ‘He said, ‘I am the King of the Jews.’” Pilate replied, ‘What I have written I have written.’
So, what made the chief priests so angry? There was a remez or hidden message in the inscription that they saw, and it made them angry. The chief priests did not want to acknowledge Jesus of Nazareth as the King of the Jews, but there was something much deeper in the inscription that really stirred them up.
The following information comes from the Bible study teachings of Chuck Missler.[1] There is definitely a message in the inscription, but we cannot be certain if Pilate had intended it to be there. We also do not know conclusively if it was this remez that caused the anger with the chief priests, but there is reason to believe they would have seen the message on the titlon and understood what it proclaimed.
Pilate had the words inscribed on the titlon placed above Jesus’ head in all three of the main languages of the day. Hebrew was the native language of the people of Jerusalem, where Jesus was crucified. Greek was the common language used during that time. And Latin was the official language of the Romans who were the governing authority of the day. We also know that many of the people in Jerusalem would read the titlon above Jesus’ head, because Jesus was crucified near the city; and the titlon was written in the three main languages so that the majority of the population could read what was written.
The remez is found in the Hebrew version on the inscription. It comes from an acrostic that is formed by these words that were inscribed. An acrostic is a form of writing in which the first letters of each word, line or paragraph are strung together to spell a word or message. This is called an acronym (for example, think of USA for United States of America).
The acrostic formed by the first letters of each word in the inscription on the titlon (which reads right to left in the Hebrew) is YHVH. In the Tanakh (the Hebrew Bible) these four letters are the personal name of God. This form of the name appears over 6,800 times in the Tanakh making this name His most frequent title. We see it written in the KJV Bible as ‘the LORD’. It is also the covenant name of God, given to His people. It is also known as the Tetragrammaton, the unpronounceable name of God, and the Great I Am.[2]
The title of God, YHVH is special in other ways too. What does it mean?
· The first letter in YHVH is Yood, which is pictured as a hand. It is a hand that is accomplishing a mighty deed. In the ideal it is a hand that is doing the Lord’s work.
· The second letter in YHVH is Hey, which is pictured as a man lifting up his hands to the heavens. Hey means to reveal to behold or to look. The letter Hey is often used to indicate the presence and work of the Holy Spirit.
· The third letter in YHVH is Vav which is pictured as a wooden peg or hook. It is most commonly pictured as an iron nail. Vav means to secure or to add. It is used to picture securing one thing to another.
· The fourth letter in YHVH is Hey. This is the second time the letter Hey is used in the sacred name of YHVH and as noted above it is a picture of a man lifting up his hands to the heavens. Hey means to reveal to behold or to look. The meaning of Hey can include both doing the revealing or it can indicate receiving revelation. As stated above, the letter Hey is often used to acknowledge the presence and work of the Holy Spirit and indicates the enlightening, revealing and disclosing work of the Holy Spirit.
Hebrew is a verb or action first language, as compared to English, which is a noun first language. So, let us translate this prophetic picture language of YHVH into plain English.
The clearest pictorial translation of YHVH, the Sacred Name of God is: Behold the Hand! Behold the Nail![3]
Did the Jews know what Pilate had written? They should have, because Jews of that time understood and recognized acrostics from many of their writings.
Did the chief priests and Pharisees know that Jesus was God? We cannot be sure, but they definitely felt that Jesus and His committed followers were a threat to what they believed. This is backed up by the chief priests and Pharisees requesting that the tomb be secured, by giving the reason that Jesus had said He would rise again from the dead (Matthew 27:62-64). They were concerned that His body might be stolen by His followers, thereby creating a deception that Jesus was resurrected (when we know that He really was).
Pilate agreed to their request to secure the tomb, and he did so by putting a seal on the stone and posting a guard (Matthew 27:65-66). By doing this, Pilate provided further evidence of the resurrection power of Jesus Christ. No human could have moved that stone, nor would they have escaped past those guards.[4]
It is really amazing to meditate on the name of YHVH. It starts from the fall of creation when God revealed His name as YHVH. The name then comes down through the ages and finds its fulfillment on a cruel wooden cross where Yeshua (Jesus) achieved our salvation.
Dear Reader – If you have found some value in this blog, please feel free to send a copy on to your family and friends. Kind regards, John
[1] Charles W. Missler was an American author, evangelical Christian, Bible teacher, engineer, and businessman.
[2] Did Pilate Proclaim Jesus to be God? A Remez on the Cross, Shari Abbott, Reasons for Hope* Jesus;
https://reasonsforhopejesus.com/pilate-proclaimed-jesus-god/
[3] Hebrew Word Study – YHVH, CJ Lovik, Thye Living Word Discovery in 3D;
http://livingwordin3d.com/discovery/2016/12/05/hebrew-word-study-yhvh/
[4] Did Pilate Proclaim Jesus to be God? A Remez on the Cross, Shari Abbott, Reasons for Hope* Jesus;
https://reasonsforhopejesus.com/pilate-proclaimed-jesus-god/
