… began to accuse … they were the more fierce … stood and vehemently accused Him … they cried out all at once … they were instant with loud voices … and the voices … prevailed.” Luke 23:2, 5, 10, 18, 23 KJV
…began to accuse … they kept on insisting … standing there, accusing Him vehemently … they cried out all together … they were insistent, with loud voices … znd their voices began to prevail.” Luke 23:2, 5, 10, 18, 23 NASB
There is something about a mob of people and their behavior, which transcends the reaction of an individual. Once the frenzy begins, each member of the mob is carried along by the emotion and frenzy of the crowd. Men commit deeds and express words which they would otherwise never descend to utter were they acting alone. As the atmosphere intensifies, each vies to outdo the other in the ardor and passion with which they persecute their goal. Luke seems to emphasize this “mob mentality” in his description of the trial of the Lord Jesus before Pilate and Herod.
The night of physical torture and personal humiliation progressed without respite into the morning of false accusation and public condemnation. The scourging by the Praetorium guard and the final crucifixion still lay ahead. Sandwiched between, however, was the morning of His national rejection.
John in his Gospel account will accurately inscribe the very hour in which it occurred (John 19:14). “He was despised, and we esteemed Him not” (Isa 53:3). The leadership of the nation had passed their perverted sentence at the break of dawn, anxious to speed the process. Now the nation had to appear united in their rejection of the Christ. With devilish skill, the leadership will manipulate the mob and bend them to their will.
Note the account and progression which Luke details for us. Their accusation before Pilate was that He was someone Who was turning the people away from God (v 2). How that must have grieved the tender heart of Christ! Then, the first hints of reluctance on the part of Pilate were met by the fierce demands of the leaders (v 5). Your Bible margin may give a different word for “fierce” such as “urgent,” but it little matters. The urgency of their demand was couched in the fiercest of words and passions.
Pilate attempting to shift responsibility, then sent Him to Herod. When the questioning of Herod was met by majestic silence on the part of Christ, it only evoked “vehement” accusations by the leaders. Their deep-seated hatred and animosity seem to come through in Luke’s use of the word under the inspiration of the Spirit.
The scene then shifted back to Pilate. As he presented Him to the nation, through fiendish, Satan-inspired “crowd control,” the throng assembled at Passover, was whipped into a frenzy of blind uncontrolled passion calling for the death of this “impostor.” So extreme was their hatred, that even a thief and murderer was preferred to the Son of God. They “cried out all at once” (v 18), in their rejection of the Lord Jesus Christ. United, uncompromising and unsparing, nothing would quell their fury but a guilty verdict on the Savior. The repeated remonstrances by Pilate were all too little avail. Ultimately, “the voices of them and of the chief priests prevailed” (v 23). The result was that He was delivered to “their will.”
But over against the cacophony of clamoring voices of men, there is another voice heard that day. It is the voice that only Luke records. It is the voice of the meek and gentle Christ: “Father forgive them” (v 34). Here was majesty surpassing human thought!
Consider:
Look at other unique features as recorded by each Gospel writer in his account of these hours.