Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary Matthew 27:25

"And all the people answered and said, His blood [be] on us, and on our children." — Matthew 27:25 (ASV)

To Pilate’s words, “all the people” answer, “Let his blood be on us and on our children!” The idiom is familiar (2 Samuel 1:6; 2 Samuel 3:28; Acts 18:6; Acts 20:26). In the narrative this is a swift retort to Pilate’s taunt and mob pressure for him to pronounce the verdict.

But it clearly is more than that. How much more? Many say that by “all the people” Matthew is saying that the Jews as a whole reject Jesus. To them v.25 becomes a prophecy of the destruction of Jerusalem and the nation; and a new people of God, the church, would take over. There is some truth in this view, but it needs qualification. Matthew certainly knows that all the first disciples were Jews. Thus the gospel’s denunciations of the Jews are not more severe than those of many OT prophets, and in both instances it is understood that a faithful remnant remains. So what Matthew actually says cannot be judged as a general anti-Semitic comment, certainly not any more than Jeremiah’s prediction of the destruction of Jerusalem and the Exile can.