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The soldiers` counsel was to kill the prisoners, so that none of them would swim out and escape.
Verse Takeaways
1
The Logic Behind the Cruelty
Commentators explain that the soldiers' plan wasn't random malice. Under severe Roman military law, guards who allowed a prisoner to escape would face the same penalty as the prisoner, which was often death. Their cruel proposal was a desperate act of self-preservation, as they saw killing the prisoners as the only way to save their own lives.
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18th Century
Presbyterian
And the soldiers' counsel, etc. Why they gave this advice is not known. It was probably, however, because Roman military discipline was ve…
Counsel was to kill (βουλη εγενετο ινα--αποκτεινωσιν). The soldiers did not relish the idea of the escape of the prisoners. Hence …
19th Century
Anglican
And the soldiers’ counsel was to kill the prisoners.—The severity of Roman law, which inflicted capital punishment on tho…
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Baptist
The soldiers were responsible for them. They would be held accountable if a prisoner escaped; so, with that cruelty and yet that obedience to law w…
Roman military law decreed that a guard who allowed his prisoner to escape could expect the same penalty the escaped prisoner would have suffered (…
16th Century
Protestant
The counsel of the soldiers. This was an utterly horrible ingratitude. Though the soldiers could thank Paul two or three times for their l…
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17th Century
Reformed Baptist
And the soldiers' counsel was to kill the prisoners Paul, and the rest: this they had not only an inclination to, bu…
The ship that had weathered the storm in the open sea, where it had room, is dashed to pieces when it sticks fast. Thus, if the heart becomes fixed…
