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2) Pilate
Pilate was by no means lacking in ruthlessness. Using a show of force he asserted his power to rule for Rome. It is recorded that he took some of the Galileans (Jewish residents of that province of the Roman Empire) and mingled their blood with the sacrifices they offered to God, and in general was so severe he offended Herod the ruler of Galilee. Philo and Josephus both paint Pilate when he was Prefect of Judea as insensitive to Jews and their customs. Philo noted he was liable to execute them without trial, and Josephus notes a case where Pilate had his soldiers randomly attack and kill those Jews who gathered to protest his appropriation of Temple revenue.
There has been a lot of nonsense over the years about Jews and the death of Jesus (Yeshua). The records we have call the leaders of Judea 'Jews', but there is no difference between the politics of the events in Judea surrounding Jesus (Yeshua) than in any other nation, in any time or place. In any case to hold the descendants responsible for something their ancestors did is not logical or just. Such events were repeated in Michael Sattler's trial in the dictatorship of the Holy Roman authority in Rottenberg and those people who connived in the death of a man more peaceful than they were, were Austrians, and Sattler was one of their own.
Pilate, by all accounts seems to desire to be a strong leader, and this is consistent with his cynical question 'what is truth?'. Yet the detailed account we have of Pilate in action shows him as vacillating and weak, as he negotiates his way through conflicting political stances, and he makes two actions which show he has no integrity. Pilate, as a result of not having a conviction on truth, appeased everyone who threatened him, and acted even against his own feeling.
We have two main players in Pilate's political dilemma. Pilate's wife and the leaders of Judea there that night, wanting Jesus (Yeshua) killed, because they felt he threatened their power structure. The witness we have tells us that Pilate's wife has a dream and comes and tells Pilate not to have anything to do with the case. She must have been strong willed, or her dreams were perhaps respected by her husband, as famously Pilate washes his hands of the affair,
So when Pilate saw that nothing was being gained, but rather that a disturbance was starting, he took water, and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, "I am innocent of the blood of this righteous person. You see to it." (Matthew 27:24).
Pilate acts firstly in accordance with his wife's influence. He virtually gives the Judean leadership the right to do what they want, and he will ignore what they do. John's eyewitness record backs this up,
Then said Pilate to them, “Take you him, and judge him according to your law.”
The Judeans therefore said unto him, “It is not lawful for us to put any man to death:” (John 18:31).
Pilate is in a bind, for now it is emerging that the Judean leaders aren't going to budge, they want Pilate himself, who has washed his hands of it, to order the man be killed.
It is this point in proceedings that Pilate has a discussion with Jesus (Yeshua) about his 'crime' of being king of the Jews.
Pilate therefore said to him, "Are you a king then?"
Jesus (Yeshua) answered, "You say that I am a king. For this reason I have been born, and for this reason I have come into the world, that I should testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice."
Pilate said to him, "What is truth?"
When he had said this, he went out again to the Jews, and said to them, "I find no basis for a charge against him. But you have a custom, that I should release someone to you at the Passover. Therefore do you want me to release to you the King of the Jews?" (John 18:37-39)
Pilate knows the situation, but is bound by its politics and by his first action to appease his wife. To honourably keep his hands clean, Pilate thinks up an idea of releasing a prisoner. It is possible the releasing a prisoner was something the Judean leadership had desired, as commentators can't find evidence of a custom. In the subsequent events the Judean leadership shows to Pilate that he is not the great leader he thinks he is, unless he makes them happy. When the Judean leadership play the political card of voting for Caesar, then Pilate caves in to pressure and does precisely what he had declared, with an oath and a washing of hands, that he would not do. That Jesus (Yeshua) told Pilate, God was allowing the running of the events, doesn't help, for Pilate seeks to oppose even God's will and would have Jesus (Yeshua) released, to keep his own oath made to appease his wife. This shows the weakness of Pilate, because, if he felt strong, and had also a conviction of truth he could have sent his soldiers to deal with the Judean leadership and released Jesus (Yeshua). If this was a matter of the ordinary rabble, Pilate would have sought to appear strong, but it wasn't, he was dealing with the political power over his life, his wife and the Judean leadership. Objectively, neither were the real power. However because Pilate was actually weak, and had no sense of an objective truth, those who he appeased became the power over his actions- first one way, then the other.
This is a template with which we can compare and contrast action in the modern world, in the 'post-modern' age of leaders subject to relativism.
If we desire salvation we must always recognise the objective God's-eye-view truth in every event, and not be swayed by anything said by humans. The name of the LORD is truth
And the LORD passed by before him, and proclaimed, The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, (Exodus 34:6)
Hezekiah is healed as he could confess that he had walked in truth,
I beseech thee, O LORD, remember now how I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in thy sight. (2Kings 20:3).
Thou have given a banner to them that fear thee, that it may be displayed because of the truth. Selah. (Psalm 60:4)
Isaiah and Jeremiah warns that truth may fail
Yea, truth fails; and he that departs from evil makes himself a prey: and the LORD saw it, and it displeased him that there was no judgment. (Isaiah 59:15)
And they bend their tongues like their bow for lies: but they are not valiant for the truth upon the earth; for they proceed from evil to evil, and they know not me, saith the LORD. (Jeremiah 9:3)
But those who make a lie shall be destroyed (Revelation 22:15). By contrast,
But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeks such to worship him. God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. (John 4:23-24)
This requires active rejection of every lie, whether regarding temporal things or not. We are to prove all things; and hold fast that which is good. (1Thessalonians 5:21)
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