Charles Ellicott Commentary Matthew 27:2

"and they bound him, and led him away, and delivered him up to Pilate the governor." — Matthew 27:2 (ASV)

Pontius Pilate — It is helpful to review the key known facts about the history of the Governor, or more accurately, the Procurator of Judea, whose name is notable for its unique place in the creeds of Christendom. He must have belonged, by birth or adoption, to the gens of the Pontii. One of its members, C. Pontius Telesinus, was the leader of the Samnites in their second and third wars against Rome (321–292 BC).

The name Pilatus means “armed with the pilum, or javelin,” and may have originated in an early military achievement. However, when applied to Mount Pilatus in Switzerland, it has been suggested that the name is a shortened form of Pileatus, from pilea (a cap), referring to the mountain's often cloud-capped summit. When Judea formally became a Roman province after the deposition of Archelaus, a procurator—a collector of revenue invested with judicial power—was appointed to govern it. This official was subject to the Governor of Syria (Luke 2:2) and typically resided in Caesarea.

Pontius Pilate, whose earlier career is unknown, was appointed as the sixth holder of that office in AD 25–26. Before our Lord's trial, his administration had already been marked by a series of outrages against Jewish religious feelings.

1. He moved his army's headquarters from Caesarea to Jerusalem, and the troops brought their standards—bearing the image of the emperor—into the Holy City. The people were stirred into a frenzy and rushed in crowds to Caesarea to implore him to spare them this religious outrage. After five days of stubborn refusal and a failed attempt to suppress the uprising, Pilate finally yielded (Josephus, Antiquities 17.3.1–2; The Jewish War 2.9.2–4).
2. He hung up gilded shields in his Jerusalem palace, inscribed with the names of pagan gods, and refused to remove them until he received a direct order from the emperor Tiberius (Philo, On the Embassy to Gaius, 38).
3. He took money from the Corban, or the Temple treasury, to build an aqueduct. This led to another uprising, which was suppressed by slaughtering not only the rioters but also innocent bystanders (Josephus, The Jewish War 2.9.4).
4. On some unknown occasion, he killed some Galileans while they were in the very act of offering sacrifices (Luke 13:1). This likely caused the hostility between him and the tetrarch Antipas mentioned in Luke 23:12.

It is important to remember these prior actions, as they reveal his character while we follow him through the series of vacillations we are about to examine.