John 18:28

"They" (NASB) refers to all the Jewish authorities (cf. Matthew 27:1-2; Mark 15:1; Luke 23:1). They led Jesus from Caiaphas in the sense that he was the head of the Sanhedrin that had passed sentence on Jesus (cf. Matthew 27:1-2; Mark 15:1; Luke 22:66-71). The Sanhedrin had condemned Jesus for blasphemy (Matthew 26:63-66; Mark 14:61-64), which was a capital offense in Israel (Leviticus 24:16). However the Sanhedrin could not execute the death sentence for this offense without Roman agreement, and there was little hope of Pilate giving it. Therefore the Jewish leaders decided to charge Jesus with sedition against Rome.

The word "Praetorium" transliterates the Latin praetorium that identified the headquarters of the commanding officer of a Roman military camp or a Roman military governor’s headquarters. [Note: Carson, The Gospel . . ., p. 587.] Pilate was such a governor. The Gospels use the generic term "governor," though technically Pilate was the prefect of Judea, not its procurator, as the historian Tacitus identified him. [Note: Tacitus, Annals 15:44:4.] Pilate’s normal headquarters were at Caesarea, the capital of the Roman province of Judea. However during the Jewish feasts Pilate came to Jerusalem with Roman troops to discourage uprisings. His headquarters in Jerusalem was either in Herod’s former palace on the western wall of the city or in the Fortress of Antonia immediately north of the temple enclosure. The traditional site is the Fortress of Antonia, the beginning of the Via Dolorosa or "way of sorrow" that Jesus traveled from the Praetorium to Golgotha. However most modern commentators believed Pilate probably interviewed Jesus in Herod’s former palace. [Note: See, e.g., Unger’s Bible Dictionary, 1957 ed., s.v. "Pretorium," p. 881; and Edersheim, 2:566.]

It is not clear just when Jesus first appeared before Pilate on Friday morning. John said that it was "early" (Gr. proi). This may be a reference to the technical term that the Romans used to describe the night watch that began at 3:00 a.m. and ended at 6:00 a.m. Probably it is just the normal use of the word that would not necessarily require a time before 6:00 a.m. It would have been early nonetheless, perhaps between 6:00 and 7:00 a.m. Roman officials customarily began their work around sunrise and often finished their day’s business by 10:00 or 11:00 a.m. [Note: A. N. Sherwin-White, Roman Society and Roman Law in the New Testament, p. 45.] John wrote that Jesus was still in Pilate’s presence later in the morning (19:14).

The Jews who brought Jesus to Pilate stayed outside the Praetorium because they wanted to avoid ceremonial defilement. The Jews thought that merely entering a Gentile’s dwelling made them ceremonially unclean (cf. Acts 10:28). [Note: Mishnah Oholoth 18:7, 9. See also Dan Duncan, "Avodah Zarah, Makkoth, and Kerithoth," Exegesis and Exposition 3:1 (Fall 1988):52-54.] This was because the Gentiles did not take precautions to guarantee kosher (i.e., proper) food as the Jews did. Specifically, Gentiles might have yeast in their homes that would have made participation in the Passover feast unlawful for a Jew (cf. Exodus 12:19; Exodus 13:7). [Note: Bruce, p. 349.]

Ironically these Jews were taking extreme precautions to avoid ritual defilement while at the same time preparing to murder the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world (cf. 2 Samuel 11:4).

". . . they are anxious to avoid external defilement in order to observe a festival whose real significance was that, as well as reminding God’s people of the ancient deliverance from Egypt, it pointed forward to the true Passover Lamb, whose sacrifice would bring to an end all distinctions between what was ceremonially clean and unclean, and effect an inward cleansing; and it was the death of that true Passover Lamb that the Jews at this moment are anxious to bring about." [Note: Tasker, pp. 200-1. Cf. Beasley-Murray, p. 328; and Edersheim, 2:565.]

These Jews’ superficial commitment to the Mosaic Law resulted in it becoming more difficult for them truly to obey that Law. Their punctiliousness separated themselves from Jesus. Pilate had to shuttle between the Jews outside his headquarters and Jesus inside as his examination proceeded.

We have already drawn attention to the evidence that Jesus ate the Passover with His disciples in the upper room on Thursday evening (cf. 13:1, 27). [Note: Morris, pp. 684-95, discussed this issue quite fully.] Why then were these Jews concerned that entering Pilate’s Praetorium might preclude them from eating the Passover? Had they too not already eaten it the night before? The "Passover" was the name that the Jews used to describe both the Passover proper and the entire festival that followed it including the feast of Unleavened Bread (cf. Luke 22:1). Evidently it was their continuing participation in this eight-day festival that these Jewish leaders did not want to sacrifice by entering a Gentile residence.