<p>27:19 <em>And while he was sitting on the judgment seat</em>- This may not be strictly chronological. The AV offers: &ldquo;When he was set down&hellip;&rdquo;, as if he had no sooner sat down to consider the case when the message came from his wife, implying that Jesus was a righteous man and should not be crucified with Pilate&rsquo;s involvement. In any case, I suggest that this piece of information is given to explain why Pilate acted as he did in offering the Jews a choice between Jesus and Barabbas, knowing full well that &ldquo;they had delivered Jesus out of envy&rdquo; and therefore blindly wanted his destruction. Although usually conscienceless, Pilate&rsquo;s own nagging conscience was confirmed by the message from his wife, and therefore he came up with this idea of trying to offload responsibility onto the Jews, forcing them to effectively chose that Jesus should be crucified. Of course, the power was ultimately with Pilate, and this was but a desperate ploy to avoid ultimate guilt; but the fact he did it reflects the degree to which the Lord Jesus can touch even the hardest consciences.</p><p><em>His wife</em>- It seems it was Origen who started the tradition that she later became a Christian thanks to a dream given her about Jesus.</p><p><em>Sent a message to him, saying: Have nothing to do with that righteous man, for I have suffered many things this day in a dream because of him</em>- These are the very same Greek words used at least four times to record the Lord&rsquo;s prediction of His crucifixion as being a &lsquo;suffering of many things&rsquo; (Mt. 16:21; Mk. 9:12; Lk. 9:22; 17:25). This sensitive woman had a correct premonition of what was to happen to the Lord, and dreamed about it; and sensing His innocence and origin from God, she didn&rsquo;t want her husband to be involved in bringing those sufferings about. Again this claim has the ring of truth to it the more it is meditated upon.</p>