Again, [p. 870.] Acts iv. 6. Annas is called the high priest, though
Caiaphas was in the office of the high priesthood. In like manner in
Josephus, (Lib. ii. c. 20, sect. 3.) "Joseph the son of Gorion, and the
high priest Ananus, were chosen to be supreme governors of all things in
the city." Yet Ananus, though here called the high priest Ananus, was
not then in the office of the high priesthood. The truth is, there is an
indeterminateness in the use of this title in the Gospel:(Mark xiv. 53.)
sometimes it is applied exclusively to the person who held the office at
the time; sometimes to one or two more, who probably shared with him
some of the powers or functions of the office; and sometimes to such of
the priests as were eminent by their station or character; and there is
the very same indeterminateness in Josephus.
XXIV. [p. 347.] John xix. 19, 20. "And Pilate wrote a title, and put it
on the cross." That such was the custom of the Romans on these occasions
appears from passages of Suetonius and Dio Cassius: "Pattrem
familias--canibus objecit, cure hoc titulo, Impie locutus parmularius.
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